Orienal Taiga

The Orienal Taiga is a geographic region of Ecumene, traditionally defined as the taiga-dominated lands to the Far North of the continent of Oriens. The lands here are frigid, dominated by coniferous forests, and suffering long winters. Despite this, the area is home to the Satyrs, who mainly reside in the more hospitable South, but have made even the farthest Northern regions home.   The land here is normally quite hilly, especially the inland areas, although those on the coast of the Horned Sea are considerably less so, though the coast of the Horned Sea is marked by many, many fjords. The islands off the coast of the continent are similarly low to the sea. Three major rivers run through the region, namely the Lutto in the West, the Raudanjoki in the East, and the mighty Syl, which runs down the highlands and into the heart of Oriens. Due to its location in the Far North of Ecumene, a phenomenon known as the Northern Lights happens frequently here. Solar winds made of pure mana often drift here, resulting in beautiful light shows in the sky, as well as having the side effect of empowering magicians during this time.   Due to its far Northern latitude, the region is mainly made up of taigas and small areas of temperate rainforest or deciduous forest, due to its subarctic climate type. This climate type brings long, cold winters, and short, but interestingly warm summers. In comparison with the fairly similar Arctic Chain, the Orienal Taiga does not have nearly as much permafrost, with it only covering the farthest tips of the region.

Despite the cold, a fair few animals have made their home here, including birds such as geese, scoters, eiders, quail, wood grouse, doves, swifts, avocets, lapwings, jaegers, auks, puffins, gulls, loons, albatrosses, storm-petrels, cormorants, ospreys, kites, harriers, and eagles. Some small mammals commonly found in the region are hares, beavers, water voles, red squirrels, and dormice, who often scamper beneath the hooves of muskox, elk, roe deer, wild boar, and reindeer. The animals mentioned earlier are often hunted by arctic foxes, red foxes, wolves, lynx, wolverines, brown bears, and even seals.   As with Northern Oriens, species such as the Owlbear and Orienal Giant Elk can be found. In addition, Harpies are also a common sight along the coast, and the frozen islands within the World Sea.   The most common species of tree in the Orienal Taiga are pine, spruce, and birch.

Logging is one of the biggest money-makers for those within the area, but the highlands within the depths of the taiga also hold a great amount of mineral wealth. Resources like copper, gold, iron, lead, silver, and zinc can all be found in the region.