Northern Magnesia has a number of varied ecosystems. Below are the more prominent ones.

Staker’s Strand

The great coastline of the North. Popular imagination holds that derelicts litter its shores. Not true. Although a few relatively undersized ships have beached its shore, these are the exceptions, not the norm. In a way, it is Northern romanticism. There are more ghost towns along the Strand than there are crusty ships of another time. That being said, these coastals (or their ruins) are commoner in the Lower Strand where the climate is a bit warmer and the ground both firmer and flatter. The Upper Strand, past Twin Gates, is largely untapped wilderness with harsher winters and picturesque dunes of compact sand. There are few forests along Staker’s Strand, the soil being unfit for their roots. Hardy scrubs are frequent, however. In general, Staker’s Strand is an extensive, open coastal ecosystem with miles of wild beach and steep scarps sculpted by the Atalan♦ tides.

Some animals common to Staker’s Strand: sea turtles, sea birds such as gulls and loons, mice, crabs, seals, fish such as grunions, and snails.

The Great Pinewood Forest

The preeminent forest of the North, and in truth, all Magnesa. Before the arrival of man to the land that would be named Magnesa, the Great Pinewood Forest extended all the way to the North’s eastern seaboard and even into the Spiritmark. But the advent of industry coupled with a boom in population reduced this forest beyond even its present-day boundaries from Cloud Marrow Mountains to the Gurgling River in the northwest corner of the Spiritmark. Concerted conservation helped to restore the forest. Because of the logging, human settlements were built over the deforestation, then abandoned due to the efforts of conservationism. Their overgrown remains can still be seen. As can the old roads that were used up to Year Zero of the War.

The tallest trees on Magnella have their home in the Great Pinewood Forest. Although the pines and firs that constitute this forestland are indeed great in their extent, they are not of that arboreal family that gives this forest its tallest inhabitants and its fame. It is the sunwood, a conifer, that holds the honor. For a sunwood can grow beyond 500 feet. Oddly enough, however, the tallest sunwood doesn’t even reside in the Great Pinewood Forest but in the forests between Little Flock River. This unique loner, known as the Sir’s Tree, soars to almost five hundred and sixty feet. Not only is it thought to be the tallest tree in existence, but the eldest too—well, according to Northerners. Practically every Northerner has heard of this tree. Although not one of them has any idea how the Sir’s Tree came to be away from its kin, naturally, this does not stop them from speculating. Legends abound.

Some animals common to the Great Pinewood Forest: wolves, birds of prey such as eagles and herons, black bears, wolverines, moose, lynx and insectoids such as monarch caterpillars.

Havashat Hinterlands

North of the Louisiana Mountains is the region popularly known as Havashat. “Have a Shit” is its cruder name, if you will. It is a landscape thick with fertile, nutrient-rich soil. But few trees exist in its interior save those that ring the region along its boundaries. Soft, grassy hills and hillocks populated with wildflowers dominate Havashat. Because of the ubiquitous openness, the skies appear larger than life. Although streams and rivers are sparse, water, in particular, warm water, is still present via underlying springs. There are several gysers that dot this undulating landscape.

Havashat has a rather genial climate, particularly during the summer and autumnal months when the seasonal winds aren’t as strong. Since there is little in the way of valuable resources here, few settlements occupy this region. Nevertheless, Havashat did not escape the War, and so bones and relics of defunct combat machines can be discovered. During the springtime the region is racked with storms, but also abloom with tall grasses and spotless white and periwinkle hues. The commonest flower is the starsucker (i.e., star of Bethlehem).

Some animals common to Havashat Hinterlands: rodents such as gophers and marmots, goats, wild pigs, cows, canines and venomous snakes; specifically, the perilous cyth lord.

Old Winter’s Valley

A great basin roughly fifty miles southwest of the Forlorn Horn. Indeed, it is technically a depressed shallow more than it is a valley. In prehistoric times, Old Winter’s Valley was underwater, an insignificant blot in a much larger Castriann Sea. As a consequence, fossilized aquatic life can be excavated from its substratum. Old Winter’s Valley, or just the Valley, is about 1500 feet below the surrounding land. It is thought to be the site where Death was summoned into the mortal plane, thus its notoriety in the minds of many a Northerner.

The Valley is rife with superstitious tales that follow the staple “traveler beware” theme. In reality, this region is two-faced: While during the winter it is a barren flatland of irrepressible chill, once late spring rolls around, the thaw recedes revealing vast hectares of fescue grass. Despite the ostensibly endless nothingness, there are a few lakes, each teeming with acquatic life. Still, the Valley’s short summers and frigid winter temperatures guaranteed few settlers. All but a handful of settlements were established, though long abandoned now, and each one adjacent to water. Of the few scutums that call the North home, Old Winter’s Valley’s exact location has passed out of memory.

Some animals common to Old Winter’s Valley: brown foxes, grizzlies, fishes from pike to pollock to trout, field mice and elk.

♦Atalan: adjectival form of Atlas (i.e., Atlas Ocean).