Tailté na Bearú

Geography

The Gravelands stretch from the south-central foothills of the Ardenroots and roll south to just north of the Washer's Shoal river, then stretch east to the Great Rime and Nigh Meánach rivers and just shy of the forests surrounding Loch Bán. The plains are filled with barren rock outcroppings that jut like jagged teeth randomly from the tall-grass seas.

Small forests dot its surface, sparse and unkempt groves of briar weeds and oaks, extending along its southern and eastern border where they grow thicker. These forests grow greener and more alpine to the north edge of the heartlands. In either case, the forests to the north, east and south of Tailté na Bearú are known as the Edgewold. Small streams and rivers trickle down from the Ardenroots and crisscross almost as numerous as the thousand roads that stretch across the barrows.

History

During the Age of Summer the Ardruids and their mortal kin came down from the north and built manors, homes and farms here in the hills. This required heavy deforestation to accomplish and drove many of the endemic animals to the surrounding regions or eventually, to extinction, although the Ardruids did their best to find a balance here.

During the end of the Age of Summer and with the mortal population of humans fleeing the Wounding of the Good Son by moving south Tailté na Bearú was the first stop. Many refugee camps became impoverished settlements while the more affluent moved to more defensible regions or already established Caern-Raths.

Its unknown why exactly this seemed to be the chosen place many of the ancient kin of the Ardruids chose to bury their dead, but its evidenced by the thousands of barrows discovered on an almost regular basis. As the old saying quickly became; one can not plough a furrow in the Gravelands without angering a dead king.

Ecosystem

In the spring the rains come heavy and frequently but are quickly drained by the thirsting soil when summer arrives. In the winter most of Tailté na Bearú is a blank white canvas broken only by the rocky teeth thrust precariously up from the soil. Otherwise it is a mild region with little weather between winds.

Some elk and other large mammals move between groves of nettle trees and briars, but most of the large animal life is accounted for by the herds of Bó, or cattle, the farms tend. Sometimes packs of wolves and cwn annwn roam among the hills and there are hundreds of species of birds and rodents that call the Sombergold home.

When spring and summer hold dominion of the plains, its a somber but lively place where flocks of small birds fly below the bleak clouds overhead and herds of Bó range across the open spaces tended by herders and shepherds. In the winter it is an eerie, desolate place that does not seem to welcome sound, let alone travel.

Flora & Fauna

Endemic life is much like Coillte ag Screadaíl but much reduced and far less monstrous. With wolves, barghests, saber-fangs and rarely the bevulf found prowling the Sombergold. The flora is comprised of oak, elm, ash, linden, and maple, tall plains grasses of various kinds and berry-bearing bushes.

Localized Phenomena

Lords of the Barrow Lands - Barrow-Born are an undead that claw their way out of the ancient barrows scattered throughout Tailté na Bearú. Typically, these creatures are armed and armored with ancient Lughlinn panoply as in times long gone only the rich or legendary could afford to be buried in barrows. In some cases a cohort of Chrualinn who died in battle alongside the lughlinn are interred with the barrow-born. So being, they often animate alongside their liege lord and follow him. Barrow-born are possessed of a single-minded intelligence. They are war-driven creatures that sally forth into the Sombergold and attack everyone they come across whom bears different heraldry than they. Destroying a barrow-born is not the end, either. Some foulness pulls their corpses back to the barrow of their dark birth. Where they bide their time, slowly reforming until they martial their long-dead soldiers to once again plague the living.