Yožýr-Hbüš

Yožýr-Hbüš, or the Living Cliffs, is a stretch of land located at the northeastern corner of the Blýfónic Valley. It is bordered by the Ðýmóš Plains to the west and south and the Khamalov Ocean to the north and east. Possessing heavy winds and wild climates comparable to that of the Hýyó-Hayïd, it differs from the Hýyó-Hayïd in the glass-like consistency of its soil, which are routinely swept up by the winds and sculpted into three-dimensional curves ranging from 20 to 40 feet in length.

Geography

The Yožýr-Hbüš does not have a clear delineation, but gradually transitions from it to the Ðýmóš Plains as one moves southward and/or westward. This transition is a downward slope from the cliffs to the plains, as the buildup of layers renders the former much higher in elevation.

The cliffs are the smallest of the biomes in the Blýfonic Valley, owing to the specific circumstances required for the geologic behavior that occurs here. Typical estimates place it around 3 to 5 million square kilometers in area, which amount to 8 to 14% of that of the Valley.

The geographical features of this region comprise semi-regular instances of plateau-like flatness, called Ŋöbrak, and sudden cliffdrops, called Yožýr, which together give the area a certain step-ness, with each flat area and its corresponing cliff comprising one step. In select areas, certain formations called Šar-Húðúŋ are naturally created when the top few layers of Ŋöbrak become dislodged.

Ŋöbrak

The Ŋöbrak are characterized by layers of rock whose fracture planes are extremely straight and parallel to the horizontal. Unlike all other biomes, these are almost always perfectly straight, showing no curves or slants. These are primarily a result of the bitter winters that sweep through the area at select times of the year.

During warm months, the ground consists of previously-formed layers and a small dusting of sediments, deposited there from the winds. During this coldness, the compounds that comprise the rock become rearranged via precipitation, and the extreme cold fuses them together into structures that possess these fracture lines. After formation, these planar structures shift around a bit as the temperatures rise back up again. Between temperatures of 5 and 20 degrees Celsius, the rock's consistency becomes gel-like, and any disturbances, like objects falling into it or the footprint of an animal, become permanent. It may even occur that any parts of the rock drifting past the edge of the cliff subsequently deform and drip down the sides of the cliff, forming veiny lines and pillars typical of the region. Curiously, any imperfections in one layer are subsequently 'patched up' in future layers, which also serve to prevent that above layer from moving. These imperfections, although few and far between, serve to protect the structural integrity of the entire area, keeping the many layers from moving on their own. As the temperature stabilizes and the layers experience prolonged contact with each other, bonding agents within each layer solidify their placements and gradually reduce their ability to slip and slide past one another. If the layer is dotted with imperfections, this process will go twice as fast as a layer that is perfectly smooth.

Being made from sediments of different materials, the layers can be multicolored as befit the types of sediments that exist there. However, the majority of it is silica grains, which give the overall material a very white and reflective appearance.

The density of these Ŋöbrak layers is chiefly the reason why the ground here is far more stable than that of the Hýyó-Hayïd. Although it is also situated between two mountain ranges, here the Ýhasin Mountain Range and Aragnia Mountains, the gap between them is much larger than that of the Nuzowli and Arbin Ranges (between which the Hýyó-Hayïd are situated), and as such, much less wind and rain come here.

Yožýr

The Yožýr are the cliffs that give the region its name. These vary wildly in shape and size, being as little as 20-25 meters in height above the lower ground. These result in a gradual but stepped decrease in elevation as one heads towards the coast, with the coastal cliffs being around 2-3 kilometers above the ocean.

There are two different methods by which formation of these cliffs occurs.

The dominant process is most likely due to the gradual process by which layers of Ŋöbrak are built up. Certain areas are favored much more than others, allowing the formation of much more layers and causing cliff formation. The means by which an area is considered 'more favorable' has to do with the placement relative to the coast, as the winds are much more numerous there. As a gust flows into the area, it almost always comes at an angle, meaning it impacts the ground upon first contact. This impact scatters its sediments in all different directions, pushing them either more inland or back off the cliff and into the water. Eventually, the buildup of sediments in these inland portions would cause the formation of Ŋöbrak in much quicker speeds than those of the cliff edges, forming a new shelf.

The secondary process is the method by which layer sections are eroded away, forming new isolated cliffs from previously unbroken ones. These are born from fractures at some point in the rock, fractures deep enough to break through at least 15 different layers. Upon fracturing, the smooth texture of the rock renders this free portion extremely slippery, and within moments, gusts of wind will likely push it off into the water below. These fractures can be caused by many different factors, but require an extreme amount of force, around 15-20 kJ, and the fracture lines are very unpredictable.

Šar-Húðúŋ

The Šar-Húðúŋ are a very distinct phenomenon and one of the most recognizable aspects of the Yožýr-Hbüš. They are created when a certain crack appears in the top few layers of Ŋöbrak. When a particular gust of wind angled at around 25-35 degrees towards the ground contacts it, it has a small chance of striking such that the wind actually gets trapped between the dislodgd layers and the rest of the Ŋöbrak, raising the former by a small amount. Over time, successive gusts progressively widen the gap, and when sufficiently loosened, a particular strong horizontal gust will exert so much force that it will peel back the layers and form a majestic spiral-like formation. The nature of the material causes it to shatter into many different pieces as it peels back, but bonds made during layer formation causes the different pieces to cave into each other and form a stable, supported structure. Given the increased frequency and strength of these winds as one moves closer to the coast, the spirals can be as numerous as around 50 individual formations per square kilometer.

However, if these bonding agents have not had time to form, or if the surfaces are too smooth, the fractured pieces do not attach to the spiral but are flung off by the wind, becoming deadly shards of glass that have the potential to deal serious damage to unlucky passerbys. If they instead contact the rock, the velocity of the shards is still so great that they can actually cause cracks in a few layers, further increasing the probability of spiral formation. Due to the variability in the rock, these loose shards almost always happen, with around 15-80% of the spiral's total mass being flung off in this manner depending on its quality. Since spirals become so numerous at the coast, the stretch of land up to 200 kilometers away from the water is notoriously dangerous, as the sheer volume of shards there render settlement near-impossible.

The end effect of the pieces is that the spiral adopts a many-planar crystal-like appearance. Due to the whiteness of the silica it is made from, the pieces are very reflective, and at times like sunset and sunrise, they are known to be magnificent in quality.

History

The region known as Yožýr-Hbüš was first discovered around 24985 AYM by members of the Lrhúuŋðarr Tribe. This was one of the tribes known as the Heta-Alšewharžar, that is, the first major set of tribes established after the Abolishment of the Kavamïŋ-Ïlýrhonid in 25025 AYM. The Lhrúuŋðians, in their formation as a major power, came to occupy a vast expanse of land comprising much of the Interbiotic Range and the northern half of the Ðýmóš Plains.

Coming off of their victory in the First Ýlëntukian War and the subsequent completion of the Palïŋ-Lhrúuŋðarr (the first major trading route), the Lhrúuŋðian Golden Age, or Ýmor-Lhrúuŋðarr, would begin. During this period, the Lhrúuŋðians conducted several movements eastward in attempts to create more settlements and open up new opportunities for trade. However, upon reaching the Yožýr-Hbüš,