Amber Fallow
The Amber Fallow is a subarctic taiga encompassing the northwestern tip of Varzzen. Snow is a constant sight, with cold-climate beasts thriving amidst howling winds and half-frozen streams. Within the taiga, evergreen woods stretch as far as the eye can see atop a hilly landscape, supporting a vast array of mosses, lichens, and shrubbery. This taiga houses most of the creatures found within the Amber Fallow, with the bordering Celestia Peaks providing the region with caves. The southernmost reach of the Amber Fallow borders the Salt Coast.
Along the far northern coastline, the Amber Fallow becomes a bleak arctic tundra. There is little life along the water's edge, and temperatures can freeze anything unprepared solid. The tundra takes the form of a smooth white blanket of snow, with a few rocks jutting up as stepping stones. Under the snow, the coastline appears as a hardy grassland, supporting mosses and perennial grasses. The westernmost extent of the coastline borders the Amrita Hills.
Aside from natural conditions, the Amber Fallow is host to more strange and arcane happenings, sights and sounds otherworldly. Since the creation of Alvandis, the Amber Fallow has been blessed with a rich presence of amber. The divine substance breathes power into every corner of the land, allowing life to flourish in the taiga where it usually wouldn't survive. Auroras shimmer across the night sky nearly every night. Trees grow to exponential proportions, towering over the landscape, creating a robust snow laden canopy which darkens the forest floor below. Other kinds of plants punch through rock and snow to flourish in cool wind, with or without sunlight. Even the tree ears and other bioluminescent mushrooms are amplified, providing the forest floor with a soft light. The taiga’s wildlife is also imbued with vitality, swelling their numbers and individual size. The northern coastline benefits from the amber just as much, turning patches of the arctic grassland into a shimmering savanna with a few lonely trees. On certain nights, the coastline’s flora shimmers like the auroras above, and the trees appear as crystals reflecting the stars.
Adding onto the strange occurrences, before the Age of Order, a star fell into the Amber Fallow. This star was a fragment of the Cullpines, a brutal plane that exemplifies survival of the fittest. The impact crater of the fragment became a barren valley known as the Ambermaw, and to this day serves as a ground zero of extra-planar incursions. From this portal, the first thoptras snuck through, fleeing the monstrous fiends that stalked the infinite pines, establishing an early nation around the Ambermaw. Upon entering Alvandis, the crickets slowly discovered their innate magical charm was no longer suppressed by the Cullpines. They quickly made use of it, enslaving their locust brethren, and using them to dig up amber. This hoarding of amber would attract the fiendish strixians, destroying the nation from the inside and killing most crickets. Using this opportunity, the locusts then escaped into the Amber Fallow, becoming early Fallowfolk. What remained of the crickets were not far behind, narrowly escaping the monsters that assailed them. These refugees used their charm to sneak into other nations, compelling early bugs not to ask questions. The strixians then spread into the Amber Fallow as well, and twisted a great portion of its wildlife into the monstrosities bugs can encounter in the present day.
Later, just before the Age of Chaos began, the old wasp nobility sent an expedition through the Celestia Peaks and into the Amber Fallow, establishing an outpost at its border. After The War of Stripes broke out, the wasps and their remaining nobility, House Varundom, were banished to this same place, forced to repurpose it into a new capital. With the discovery of amber, House Varundom and its criminal underside began to regain power, formally reinstating themselves as a nation and beginning to focus their efforts on mining amber. These mining operations have taken their toll upon the region, as many wooded areas are now bare, sacrificed to support the wasps' efforts in making amber quarries, which leave the earth forever scarred. This has caused some Fallowfolk to attack the wasps, wishing to stop them from ruining the land. However, the fighting has only led to further damage to the region, leaving scars and clearings scattered along the border of the wasps’ growing influence.
Deep Haven, The Plentiful Hinterlands Type
Taiga, Tundra Parent Location
Varzzen Included Locations
Sapperville, Ambermaw Owner/Owning Faction
The Black Leaf Guild / House Varundom Terrain
Subarctic Taiga, Arctic Tundra, Mountain Foot, Savanna
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