Karnica Stretch

The Karnica Stretch is the peninsula, and the islands around it, in the south of Kadagard. This formation has long been a hub and port for trade and commerce, and for centuries has been a massive cultural melting pot. This gives the stretch its own identity, ascetic, and attraction, but it has also caused strife, struggle, and bloodshed for many.

Geography

The Karnica Stretch is the southern most tip of Kadagard, and is so named because it appears to be stretching out of the land. The peninsula is a skinny, curvered formation of rock and soil, dry and craggy the further from the sea and closer to the center one gets. The terrain is rugged and craggy, with many high rises and low falls. One of the most spactacular features of the land is Agrågōr, the Broken Mountain.
Surrounding the peninsula are hundreds of islands, big and small, and these islands have influenced the environment significantly. The shores of the peninsula and islands are rocky, with spires rising out of the water randomly with no pattern. This makes the waves rough and liable to severely damage even destroy a small vessel.

Climate

The Karnica Stretch is a dry, warm environment, with some seasonal periods that are even drier than is typical. Hot is the general rule in Karnica, with the central-northern regions bordering on deserts.

Fauna & Flora

Fauna

To survive, animals in the stretch have to be tough and able to survive in a place where one has to work for their water. Many reptiles call this land home, as do many birds that prey upon them. Eagles, hawks, falcons, and many small ground birds inhabit the land to prey upon the reptiles. Many burrowing animals also live in the region, easily escaping the heat by waiting underground for night. The deer that inhabit the region are known to eat the most water rice plant matter, almost entirely relying on them for hydration. The nominal grazer of the open parts are known as Catoblepas, a massive, lumbering mammal, with that has also become the region’s number one livestock. In fact, due to their general habits and the great amounts of grass they can eat, they often restrict the diversity of grazers heavily on the stretch. Because of these factors, other than catoblepas are restricted generally to small sizes or mobile specialists, such as the Karnica oryx. By far one of the most common predators are the Karnica jackal, also called the golden bellied or black faced jackal due to their distinctive patterns, and the Karnica hyena, notable for its pale yellow coat broken up with jagged grey stripes and also for being the most prevalent terrestrial scavenger. Other sorts of small predators include wildcats, mongooses, the occasional rodent, and some variaties of lizard. The largest predator in the region is the Leucrocotta, a strange, hunched predator, that attacks at night and is said to mimic the voices of people, although this has yet to be proven. The Giants called ogres are also common in the region, with many fearing attacks by them on settlements for food.
While the catoblepones are the dominant grazers of the lowlands, the highlands and mountains are too steep and rugged for the heavy set beasts to clamber and so tend to be much more diverse in terms of herbivores. Ibex, mountain goats, and sheep are extremely common on these cliffs, browsing on the grasses, sedges, and bush found on these rocks. In addition, there are also a type of antelope common in the foothills and lower highlands, being similar in anatomy and niche to the related klipspringer of Ktavama. These rocky slopes are also much to rugged and treacherous for leucrocotta to climb and so are left to much more nimble predators, such as the jackals that would be subordinate to them in the lowlands and the greater Karnica wildcat, a felid similar to a serval/caracal the size of leopard. These cliffs are also the nesting places for many species of birds, from seabirds nesting in the mountains to the west to mainland Kadagardian birds on the northern side of the northernmost mountains. Resident species and migratory species in their southern ranges are both represented in great numbers and there are many a prey bird, from hawks to falcons to eagles to owls, with plenty of species of all in each of the limited environments the Stretch has to offer. However, the true king of the Karnica skies is without a shadow of a doubt the Gryphon, which nest on the Karnica sides of the great mountains and on the tall rocks and mesas that dot the northern, inner landscape. These aerial hunters take down prey on anything from antelope to the calves of catoblepas herds that graze in the foothills of the mountains, although their bias is typically towards goats, sheep, horses, and oryx. Gryphons are also known to prey on smaller predators like jackals and hyenas, keeping these smaller predators in check with the leucrocatta of the lowlands.

Flora

The Karnica Stretch has a fairly diverse ecosystem, in spite of the dry climate. Plant life must be adapted to a climate with less water than most places, and thus most of the plants are excellent at retaining water. Common to much of the peninsula’s scrublands, many different species of cacti can be found through the stretch, and bear succulent fruits for all to feast upon. Trees and bushes are mostly thorny and have thin, twiggy branches.

Natural Resources

The stretch’s most valuable resources are primarily gems, of which the rocky parts of the land are brimming with. The most of these gems are rubies, amethyst, and emeralds, but the greatest prices are the so called Lightning Diamonds, a special gemstone found only in the stretch. These diamonds are hotly contested over by the cultures of the region, as of the result of differing beliefs about the gem’s value; some believe it to be a valuable trade commodity, while others view it as a holy stone that is never to be discarded. Despite its dry climate, the vast grasslands make suitable grazing grounds for herders. Cattle and sheep may struggle but will survive, but most of the livestock comes in the form of the Catoblepas, with many surviving on its milk and meat. Most of the wood is not very valuable, but many of the surrounding islands have ebony trees, which fetch a high price for their beautiful design.

History

Scholars have concluded, based on the positioning and ages of the Stretch's mountains and its fauna, the Karnica Stretch was not always the southern most tip of Kadagard and is the result of a Crumbling event. Fossil evidence comparing animals of the Stretch, Kadagard and Ktavama, Karnica was once an island, close to Ktavama but still separated as it holds clades of organisms that seem to have been extinct on Ktavama for some time. It would seem that such an event survives in rock art believed to predate many of the modern Karnica cultures, containing images that have been interpreted as representing earthquakes and moving ground.

Type

Peninsula

Location under

Kadagard

Included Locations