Súilíneach Péine

The Silver Pines

The Silver Pines, as Súilíneach Péine is sometimes known and with justification; its the literal translation in New Moni. The name of the region comes from the short, but sturdy pines that grow from the hinterlands of the Ardenroots all the way to the Roiling Sea. These forests are evergreen, perfumed by the scents of conifers and fur trees. However, beneath their bushy boughs darkness congeals like a physical thing.

Even with the dappled sunlight that frequently breaks through the clouds overhead, the shadows beneath the trees seem to physically stop light from touching the forest floor in many places. Winding trails and roads, most without menhirs, cut their way between the soft loamy soil beneath the trees. Along those footpaths many a story has been told of skilti brigands possessed by fey waylaying travelers, of elk-spirits who tread the forest with dawn in their crowns or swathes of ground where the ferns skitter away like timid cats.

Geography & History

Geography

In the northwestern quarter of the country the Ardenroots seem to slope ever constantly down to the Roiling Sea. These mountain hinterlands stop abruptly and open up to an immense boreal forest. The hills here are often steep and sudden, hidden beneath the thick spruces and furs. Few places, as by Lwyg-Rath in particular, are open and flat enough to be considered taigas, but they do exist.

The shores of the Roiling Sea here are rocky, frigid and covered in scattered rocks worn smooth by the freezing tides. In a few places the sea leaks in and doesn't drain properly leaving perfect bogs for black spruce trees to launch themselves up at the skies. Everywhere else the ground is coated in thick layers of wet mosses and damp pine needles.

History

When the Ardruids came down from the Summerlands it was said that Súilíneach Péine was the route that lead them past the Ardenroots and into the wider southern reaches. It was colonized by them and their children first. Erecting very small, but cozy Unknown throughout the region. The Ardruids themselves constructed Lwyg-Rath, it was said, as they found Súilíneach Péine to be the perfect place for quiet contemplation away from their great city and its wonders in the Summerlands.

When the Age of Summer came crashing to an end, something pulled the people from Súilíneach Péine in droves, heading back to the Summerlands. Much of the region sponsors the remains of these old homesteads. Their crumbling edifices mired in moss and ferns. When what few did return to Lwyg-Rath, there was an attempt to set up Unknown again, but many failed due to lack of skill and materials.

With the War of Spears, blood stained the ground for years in Súilíneach Péine. The Argent Roads ran with it, as North-the-Lake and Lwyg-Rath did bitter war upon one another in the northwest. When eventually the War of Spears ended and North-the-Lake settled into its role of vassal state, the land saw quiet again. Somewhat ironically, the war between these two caern-raths required outposts and fortresses to be setup along the Argent Roads. These in turn flourished into small caern-hearths that now dot the taigas and the boreal realm.

In 2808 AoA, the Year of Invasions, the Fomorii invaded the shores of the Inis across the country. Such an overwhelming force was held at bay in the southern areas. During this time Lwyg-Rath as the throne-city of the country for the new Ard Righ Cian an Nathair and would remain that way almost until the end of the war.

October 24th, 2024 March 25th, 2026

Ecosystem & Species

Ecosystem

Life is fast and vicious in Súilíneach Péine and it has to be. The summer and spring are often wet and clammy, but provide food and sustenance to the myriad animals, quest beasts and fey that crawl beneath the shadowed furs. Small birds of various kinds duck and dive away from eagles and glintwings. In the more serene locations can be found the enfields and deer-foxes, lounging peacefully in their small conclaves.

With the ground almost constantly wet, its becomes a haven for boggy spruce forests and creatures like salamanders and some frogs. The taigas, like the one that surrounds Lwyg-Rath, are dry and covered in permafrost with scrub brush thrusting out defiantly.

Summer lasts for a small, short time and allows both the people and animals a brief window to make a mad dash at surviving the winters. The winter itself is a blanket of ice and snow that seems to almost literally smother the life from the region, crushing it beneath its quiet drifts. When the thaw arrives, the rivers and streams flood as ice from the Ardenroots plunges down the slope and into the Silver Pines.

Flora & Fauna

The animals here are immense, even for their species. With moose, elk, bobcats, wolves, saber-fangs, bears, bevulfs, glintwings, eagles and owls dominating the forests and taigas. Marmots, pikas, grouse and other small mammalian vermin can be found year long, while the frogs and salamanders disappear in the winter.

The forests are dominated by pines with green-grey needles, black spruce, white spruce, and a smattering of oaks. The thick foliage of ferns below juts up from a bed of green mosses and decaying needles. The darkness beneath these trees is thick and most places require a lantern to traverse even along the menhir way that stretches up from near North-the-Lake to Lwyg-Rath.