Western Oriens

Western Oriens is a geographic region of Ecumene, being on the smaller side. It is comprised of the Arkadī Isle and a good portion of the Western reaches of Oriens. The last wisps of the Suntouched Current (which snake between the Isle and the Continent, preventing Borealia from being warmed by its flow) do not bring much warmth, but they do bring more than enough rain, filling the West with bogs and rainforests.   Most of the region is flat, save for a small grouping of highlands in the Southwest of the region. While most of the region consists of farmland or forest, there are a great many boglands throughout the West. Mostly found in the coasts and central inland of the Arkadija and Abendufer, the bogs limit the advance of modernity into these regions, but they are vital to the environment's health. Despite the region's general wetness, there are no major rivers within it.   The rain the Suntouched Current brings fills the region with temperate rainforests and a subpolar oceanic climate. The climate here is fairly mild, at least for its latitude, with mildly warm and rainy summers contrasting with long, cold (sometimes even freezing) winters with plenty of snowfall. Precipitation is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year.

Several species call the bogs and forests of Western Oriens home, including birds such as geese, ducks, teals, scoters, quails, partridges, nightjars, swifts, needletails, bustards, cuckoos, doves, pigeons, crakes, moorhens, grebes, oystercatchers, pratincoles, gulls, sparrows, catbirds, bitterns, eagles, and marsh harriers. Some small mammals include wallabies, squirrels, voles, wood mice, nutrias, shrews, rabbits, and hares. Across the West, herbivorous mammals such as roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, elk, and reindeer are found, being hunted by wolves, lynx, polecats, brown bears, and seals.   Other animals include Owlbears (burrowing owls with claws instead of wings), Harpies (a type of large vulture), and several species of Drakes, including Lindwurms, Peluda, and Tatzelwurms.   The most common trees of the region include oak, ash, hazel, pines, and rowans. The many boglands of Western Oriens have very little tree cover, instead being covered by heather, sedges, and peat moss.

Western Oriens does not have many natural resources, being quite a poor region throughout modern history due to this. What is not bog or deep forest is mediocre farmland or logging yards, although some mines producing copper, lead, limestone or silver can be found.