The Cairns

One of the two 'safe' ways in and out of the pass is the Cairns. Seperated from the pass by a pock marked chromite door, the cairns is a plains like valley filled with 'trees' of standing stones. The valley here is pounded by the iron winds, with only lowland scrub resisting its eternal scraping.  

To pass through the Cairns one must be fast like sprint- lizard. But maybe not as bitey.

— Retired raid leader Tynen

  Growing up through the standing stones are the Krom flowers, hardy little plants that reproduce asexually, growing up seed pods that are weathered open by the iron winds to reveal the nest of hardened seed shards, tiny flecks of potential plant matter designed to catch the iron winds and fly through those lethal air currents until they catch on a rocky outcropping to dig in and grow again.   Sprint-lizards and armored bugs are just some of the fauna in the cairns, one designing burrows and moving hyper fast on traction fueled legs to get from outcropping to outcropping, the other designing war armor that they regularly shed when battle damage gets too great. their forearms have long blades designed to help slice away old armor that does not wish to shed, even more exoskeleton layered beneath.  

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