Orthlands

The land of wind and grass.

"This place hides little from the eyes of those who live there. As far as you can see, you can see everything. At least, that is the impression it gives you. But like the people who live here, there is much hiding below the surface."

— Tasiir of the People of the Horse

Shifting Winds

The seasons in the Orthlands are different than those on the rest Breharan. While two major winds change throughout the year causing the seasons on most of the island, three winds mark the passage of seasons in the Orthlands. The summer wind brings with it warmth to the island of Breharan heavily impacting Burim and Zinato but the mountains between them and the Orthlands limit the effect it has on the land of grass. Instead a third wind - which affects almost solely the area of the Orthlands - beats back the winter wind during the summer. This wind is not as warm as the summer wind and because of this the Orthlands have mild summers during which frost and freezing temperatures are not out of the question.

The Land of Grass

The landscape of the Orthlands is dominated by mostly flat plains covered in grass. Near the mountains the flat plains give way to rolling hills. Toward the edge of the island where the land meets the sky the grass is replaced by moss and other plants that thrive in very shallow soils or on barren rock.
Hidden in this giant plain where the land dips low and the hills protect the small valleys from the winds, there a few small trees take shelter. Some of these areas are tiny, comprised of only a handful of trees while others contain forests.
A few small rivers run through the Orthlands from the mountains. Many of these completely dry up during the summer. Some are big enough during the spring they are impassable with a horse until the water levels drop. While the winter wind brings snow, the third wind can turn it to rain. Though the people of the Orth are used to melting snow on fires.

Life in the Land of Wind

Grass is the basis of all life in the Orthlands. Everything there eats grass or eats something that eats grass. Rabbits are plentiful during all times of the year. Goats are a common sight as well and herds of goats are kept by the Orth for milk, meat, and horn. Deer can be found in the larger forests and on the mountainward portions of the region eating the buds off small trees. Small and large birds are found throughout the Orthlands as well as a few varieties that dig burrows. Some of the birds are large enough to fly away with fully-grown hares and some groups of the Orth have trained these birds to hunt with them.
Few of the plants commonly farmed in other regions will grow in the Orthlands and fewer still will produce a harvest worth the effort. The few that do grow have become important to the people and animals that live there. The fruit of the Whiteapple Tree is eaten by everything except rabbits to which it is poisonous. The apples also make great bait when hunting deer.

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A Life on the Land

The people who inhabit the plains are known as the Orth. They keep animals for many types of work to aid them in their nomadic lives admist the grass and snow.
The Orth are stereotyped as the strongest, toughest, and most stoic people on Breharan. No member of the Orth would agree, instead saying that they are who they are because of the land and that others are who they are because of their homelands.
The art of the Orth often depicts the nature around them. This is even clear in their record of each person's life where the seasons or cycles of animals are represented in how they lived their lives. These records are called leykos - life-quilts.

Third Wind's Home

Yaliru, as she is known to the Orth, is the third wind of Breharan. She lives at the upper limits of the Orthlands, as far from Grara as the territory can be, in a place known as the Throat.
It is a dangerous place where many fae are believed to reside. As a result, it is almost completely unexplored - at least by anyone who has returned. Stormhounds guard the area from intrusive outsiders.

"To make me happy it takes but a horse and the wind,
Rustling in our manes.
And a dream.
Just a dream alone will do,
If horses are few."

— Tasiir of the People of the Horse

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