Southern Oriens

Southern Oriens is a geographic region of Ecumene, generally defined as the lands South of the Serento Mountains on the continent of Oriens. It is a rainswept land, lying on the opposite end of the Serento's rain shadow, although this is welcomed by the native Nereids. Most of the land here is covered by dense forests and pierced by babbling brooks, making it one of the finest on Ecumene, due in large part to the warm waters flowing up upon the Suntouched Current.   Up until you reach the Serento Mountains, the land here is quite low to the sea, due in part because most of Southern Oriens is right on the coast. The aforementioned Serento Mountains are almost entirely included within this region, and while much of the meat of the range is around the Western areas, a hillier area extends down to the Ocagan Peninsula, causing the inland of that area to be a bit higher than usual. One of the major rivers of Oriens also originates within the Serentos, the Issel, although it does not spend much time in the region before it flows out into the World Ocean.   The region is dominated by a temperate rainforest biome, due to its dry summer climate and the heavy influence of the nearby mountains. Summers here are warm, whereas winters are fairly chilly, but not too long. The effects of the Serento Rainshadow, when combined with the Suntouched Current, results in the colder months being racked by rain while the warmer months get little in relation (though more than the nearby regions of Southeastern and Eastern Sahul).

The pristine forests of those lands to the South of the Serento Mountains have a great amount of native flora and fauna, some found nowhere else in the world. Ducks, geese, scaups, quail, grouse, turkey, pheasant, doves, cuckoos, hummingbirds, rails, gulls, loons, petrels, bitterns, ospreys, woodpeckers, and hawks make up the native bird population. Some smaller mammals include raccoons, hares, shrews, squirrels, gophers, and porcupines, with some larger herbivores including elk, mountain goats, and black-tailed deer. Lastly, some common predators include bobcats, brown bears, wolverines, and grey wolves.   Treants, which are the much larger relatives of stick bugs, can be found lumbering through the forests here, with many mistaking them for moving trees. The long, ambushing Drakes known as Lindwurms can also be found within the region's deep forests, as with their cousins the Dragons, though they can be found almost everywhere in Ecumene.   As stated before, forests cover much of the region, and those forests have trees, namely firs, cedars, hemlocks, pines, and redwoods.

Aside from its logging and importance in trade, Southern Oriens holds many natural resources, including but not limited to gravel, gypsum, magnesium, gold, limestone, nickel, iron, zinc, lead, and copper.