Ardy

Ways of The Land

The land of Arcane is immense in size, many species inhabit its forests, lakes and marshlands. Four flocks of Avians inhabit the large forested and mountainous reigns of the land, these for flocks are the Kindle flock of Black Falcons who live in the south-west corner of the forest atop an extinct volcano, and above an ancient dragon lair, the leader of the Kindle flock, a strong woman with a pure heart, Bazair Wither, she protects her flock with her life and is not one to take threats lightly. The flock to the north-west are the Bluster Flock of Red Kites, the leader of them Naran Arete, another strong blooded female, the Bluster Flock are a very traditional community who keep to themselves on the treacherous mountaintop they call home. Many miles North-East is a flock of small Pigmy Falcons called the Track Flock, do not let their size fool you as they are masters of stealth and see everything as a threat, their leader A bullheaded male named Innes Kuppe, Kuppe had taken over when the previous leader Frea Dunnett had died during a hunting 'accident', he then forced the flock to believe that anywhere outside the flocks territory was dangerous and forced them all to stay put, they have not sent any of the new fledglings out to find mates in years, due to this the flocks numbers are dwindling. the last flock, full of large winged and strong spirited Sea Eagles is the Shore Flock who reside in the South-East, the leader, a loud and jolly woman named Elopia Ridgien, she has been the leader of the Shore Flock since she was 18 since her mother has passed from natural causes, the Shore flock live at the base of a small mountain next to Nymph Lake, the lake being their main source of food.

The flocks have a treaty, to prevent inbreeding and to bring new blood into the Flocks, they send out their young when they reach the age of 17 they can choose to leave their territory and go off in search of mate, this gives the fledgelings choice in who they are to be mated to for the rest of their life and to keep bloodlines clean. if a fledgeling does not choose to leave and decides to stay, they will be put to work in collecting food and materials for the Flock, until another fledgeling stumbles across their Flock. when this happens, all of the fledgelings that decided to stay will be brought forward, if the visitor fledgeling likes one of the flocks own then they will court them, it is then up to the fledgeling of the flock to decide if they want to go with the visitor and accept the courting. A courting ritual consists of, An aerial display, a display of strength and finally the courting fledgeling will groom the courted as a show of care and compassion. If the fledgeling accepts the visitor after the courting, they will leave their flock and go with the visitor to be mated in the visitors home flock, after being mated they will decide together whether or not to stay in the flock or go back to the one the courted Fledgeling came from, even though one of the fledglings has left their home, they will still return to it occasionally as Avians are family creatures they care deeply for each other and can become depressed if they feel alone and separated from the ones they love.

Many other species live in the forest alongside the Avians. In the north, up in the grasslands, there is a thriving Centaur Settlement, Centaurs are a force to be reckoned with, their leader Khall Stronghoove, an 8ft giant who takes pride in his strength and ability to protect his Harem. Deep in the forest is a heard of fawn, they are secretive and secluded, not much is known about them, but the other creatures avoid them anyway as they have heard tales that the leader of the heard kills all those who trespass. The lake where the Shore Flock lives is named Nymph lake, and it is named this for a good reason, many different species of water Faeries, merpeople and Nymph live in it, the lake itself is dangerously deep and is certain death to any creature that is foolish enough to swim too far into its waters, even though the water is beautifully clear, no one can see the bottom of the lake. known for its constantly warm ground, the extinct volcano the Kindle Flock live atop is strangely, always hot. centuries ago, an old tyrannical Dragon named Uümah burrowed its way into the volcano and fell asleep, A Dragons slumber is known to last for a long time but it has been hundreds of years and the Kindle Flock live in fear that the Dragon will awake, but they do not move as they are very protective of their home and will defend it if the Dragon does wake and attack. a few miles from the Kindle Flock is an abandoned human settlement, the humans moved in once they had farmed the land until the soil was no longer fertile, they moved on trekking far away in search of a new home, they boarded the houses up as they plan to return to the settlement in the future when the soil has had a chance to recover.unbeknoen to the humans, many Faeries and Wood Nymphs moved into the old settlement, they only use the houses as shelter and most of them are such gentle creatures that you would never know that they were there. The humans trekked for weeks until they found a flat grassland which they then built houses and begun to farm again, their now home only a few days away from Nymph Lake. There is a river which flows from the waterfall at the top of the Bluster Flocks mountain, the rainwater collects in a gorge which then falls down the side of the large mountain and through the forest where it flows into Nymph Lake, the Kelpie wetlands and faerie pond as well as around to the new human settlement where the humans dug out ravine to channel the water, this is where the river system ends.