Mais
by hughpierre
Geography
Mais is a smaller valley hanging off the larger Valley of Man and spilling over, into the Floodlands. It is almost entirely populated by courtiers who concentrates between the twin Meiz and Soonous hills and lesser settlements that dot the Mais Rows and surround the Highwatch garrisons.
Fauna & Flora
Corn Smut: Smut is a fungus that grows on the ears of corn and spread via contact with passing animals. Normally undesirable and culled from the stock, it is also a major ingredient in a myriad of drugs and mild poisons. Care has to be taken to not accidentally eat infected corn, else wise: fever, delirium, vomiting and loss of consciousness can result. Though rare, death is also possible.
Corn smut is also an indicator that the corn's seeds are suitable for a questionable and risky medical practice called Plant Binding.
Tall Maize: Those famously tall maize stalks that grow 20 feet tall in the enhanced soil, spout delicious kernels and impair the vision of travellers to such an extent that haunted tales scared people into building the Golden Bridge.
Ballers: A pint-size rodent with exaggerated hind legs it uses to both escape and kick it's predators. Mostly bipedal in statue; they hop between overlapping home ranges and live solitary lifestyles with little social interactions. They do cluster together in some feeding situations where groups of the rats exist in aggregations and colonies. Male ballers are generally more aggressive than females; and are more dominant over them. Females are more tolerant of each other than males and have more non-aggressive interactions. This is likely in part because the home ranges of females overlap less than the home ranges of males.
Ballers have small front legs, relatively large heads and tails longer than the rest of their little bodies. The coloration varies from cinnamon buff to dark gray, depending on the species. It would appear they prefer to live in areas of low rainfall and humidity, and high temperature. They can be found in the areas of varying elevation; ranging from near the level of the lower sea to about the 4500 feet mark on the Bad Step. They like to live in clay and stony soils. Or gravel and rocks, which are harder than soils preferred by some other species.
Natural Resources
Fertile Soil: Whatever ancient spells or mechanisms instilled the superior fertility in the Mais soil is highly sought after by areas with poor soil quality, and willing given over by many Corn Queens.
Maize: The biggest export in the Mais valley which makes the wild harvest the most profitable industry in the Court.
Tourism
Mais Rows
On the north end, the Mais Rows continue out of the geographic Mais onto some of Dragonsgrave which has been an area of a lot of fighting between Soonous and its past colonies; and more recently with the Sang Empire. The soil in the Rows is so rich, it is the only place able to sustain the growth of tall maize: a unique strain of corn that sprouts many repeated cobs from single steams that in turn are huge.Painted Beaches
On the south side, the ground turns rocky and, though they are still apart of Mais, are populated by a tribal people who are as home with the floodwaters as with the land.Meize Hill
The western hill on which the Sheien braces itself. Urban sprawl from Soonous creeps along its slopes which is advantageous to defense in depth on the north-side. On the south-side; the town of Muttli, founded and inhabited by the painted tribesmen, is fairly spread out and colourful.Soonous Hill
The eastern hill on which the Sheien braces itself. There are minor buildings and small settlements in what is otherwise a protected nature reserve and where those with special licenses can hunt and gather wild plants.
Alternative Name(s)
- Maize Valley
- Soonous
- Corn Court
Type
Valley
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