Ash Forest

Ash forests are a type of forest found across the North Pole of the planet Uriti in the Ria System. These tropical forests can only survive thanks to the cooler temperatures at the North Pole, and are inhabited by civilisations of uritians, one of two intelligent species native to the planet.

Overview

Ash forests are the most common forest type on the planet, because there is little room to support such a large landscape of densely packed foliage such as these forests. These forests are located in the more humid areas on the planet, thanks to the cooler temperatures where the atmosphere contains much more water vapour and less ash, surprisingly.

These forests are a protected habitat, and under uritian law, it is illegal to chop more than one tree a day per person. Due to the demand for ash wood, corporations have gotten round this by hiring hundreds, sometimes thousands, of part time employees that chop down just one tree a day. This quickly adds up, and has resulted in the deforestation of large amounts of ash forests. This is however countered by ash worms, a small worm species that provides natural fertiliser that is shockingly effective.

Fauna & Flora

Ash forests contain high levels of biodiversity. Not only are there thousands of flora species, thousands more fauna species call these forests home. Currently, 68% of all flora species on Uriti can be found in these ash forests, and 56% of all fauna life too.

One of the more common species in the ash forests are the appropriately named ash worms. These feisty annelids are a bright red in colour, and digest the ash that falls from the ash willows and spew it out as fertiliser. This allows more plant life to grow, and grow stronger and larger, and ash worms are responsible for a 30% growth in ash forests in the last 100 years.

The most notable flora species is the ash willow, a large tree species. Ash willows are the most dominant tree species, with roots reaching up to a mile underground in search of precious water. Ash willows need to take in such little water, yet they have specialised cavities inside their trunks that store large amounts of water. Some animal species have learnt they can rip these trees apart to get at the water.

Type

Forest, Jungle (Tropical)

Location under

Uriti

Inhabiting Species

• Ash Worm

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