Vita Cloud Forest

The Vita Cloud Forest is perhaps the most densely populated area of Lyardia by beasts. It's size, being only marginally smaller than the Boreal Shadowcast Forest, allows for many species to coexist with each other. Most of the forest is made up of Dragon Oak trees, the third-largest growing species of tree in the Creation, with seeds the size of mak-ze tails and leaves that resemble dragon's wings. They are only surpassed by the Needle Sequoias and Bluewoods that grow in Baru. Shorter than the Dragon Oaks grow the Emperor's Laurels, great trees who's branches naturally grow in circle-like rings, and whose flowers rain golden pollen in the spring. The rarest trees that grow in the forest are the Spear Spruce, strange trees whose leaves and bark alike are saturated with Alloy. The Empire of the Butterfly's Wingbeat revered these trees as the source of their arrowheads and spear tips.

Among the canopy created by these trees live the Dartbirds, small beasts related to the Tarantula Hawks. They swoop about in large flocks hundreds of members strong, their flashing colors warning of their venom. They are tiny, perhaps as large as a rat, but their diet of Noxious Insects feeds the supply of venom that flows through their feathers. They are hunted only by Ambush Swans, larger bird beasts that grow saber-claws at the bend in their wings. They are usually a shining white, but they cover themselves with the dirt of the forest floor so that they may capture their tiny, ever vigilant prey. After a successful hunt, they will wash themselves with either dew from the trees or in the River of Life before picking the Dartbirds clean of their venomous feathers.

Below this canopy, among the branches of the great trees who bear witness to all, the carefree Dazzle Peafowl fly. They are beautiful beasts, whose plumage was used by the Empire of the Butterfly's Wingbeat in the clothing of their nobles and priests. Their songs are the clearest sound one can hear in the forest, always ringing through the trees during their mating season. In addition to being brilliant and colorful, the feathers of Dazzle Peafowl, when used as quills, are considered the best for writing in Remnant Celestial, for the peafowl are quite deeply connected to Lux. They share this middle-floor with Southern Treejumpers, belly-armored beasts similar to Night-Terrors who eat the eggs of reptiles and the fruit of Strangler-Vines.

Beyond the upper layers of the trees, numerous herds of beasts roam the ground level. Here in the south, the forests are too warm for the Reigning Deer, but their brothers the Alloy Deer are more than happy to live in the tropical forest. The deer gain their immense amounts of Alloy by eating from the Spear Spruce. The leaf-gatherers of the Wingbeat empire would track the herds to find those precious trees. Among these sharp-antlered deer, the Wampus Cats stalk them as prey. Most common here are the Tigris Cats, who can cover themselves with shadows, and the Jaguas Cats, who can see behind their heads with their eyespots.