Beasts and Plants

Rolling grain plains, river meadows, hedgerows, oak and beech woods. The winters are mild and the springs are wet.

Beasts

• Wenvorm ox [kept] — the big red-brown plow ox of the Heartlands, bred along the river. Slow, strong, and worth more than a peasant's house.
• Heartland gray [kept] — the common riding and cart horse. Never fast. Never lame.
• Chomkel sheep [kept] — dense white fleece. Chomkel wool is the second thing the kingdom sells abroad, after grain.
• Downs hare — a large brown hare of the Southdowns. The longbowmen shoot at it for practice and eat it on Quiet-day.
• Nollen deer — a spotted fallow deer of the Nolsomel woods. It is the king's game, and a man who poaches one hangs.
• Wromthalm otter — the sleek river otter of the lake shore; its pelt lines noble cloaks.
• Hearth badger — a striped badger that digs under hedgerows. If it lives under your barn, you are lucky.
• Wenvorm boar [danger] — a big, bad-tempered wild pig of the river woods. It kills a hunter or two every year.
• Mere wolf — the gray wolf of the Northmere. Since the last great hunt it is rarely seen south of Hethlend.

Birds

• Crown lark — the skylark of the Heartlands. It sings over the wheat, and Aldmere calls it its own bird, though no law says so.
• Hethlend swan — the mute swans of the Wenvorm. Every one of them belongs to the king by law.
• Chomkel rook — the black crows that follow the plow in flocks.
• Wenvorm heron — the gray heron of the river shallows.
• Moot owl — a tawny owl that nests in old towers. It is said to roost above the Moot hall.
• Southdowns buzzard — a broad-winged hawk that rides the warm air rising off the downs.

Fish & river life

• Wenvorm trout — the brown river trout, the finest fish on the kingdom's tables.
• Nollen pike — the long, toothed hunter of the slow rivers. A big one is hung on the wall.
• Surmave perch — the striped lake perch, the everyday fish of Wromthalm.
• Mere eel — long eels of the lake marshes, smoked and shipped to Caelvenne.
• Bridge crayfish — small freshwater crayfish that hide under the bridge stones.

Insects & crawling things

• Hearth bee [kept] — the honeybee men keep. Every village has hives, and Aldmere mead is famous.
• Wheat weevil — the granary pest. A plague of them can ruin a shire's year.
• Wenvorm mayfly — clouds of them rise off the river in early summer, and the trout go mad.
• Chomkel moth — the clothes moth of the wool country.
• Nollen adder [danger] — the only venomous snake of the Heartlands. It rarely kills a grown man.
• Downs beetle — a big black dung beetle of the sheep pastures.

Plants

• Crown wheat [kept] — the tall bread wheat that feeds half the continent.
• Chomkel barley [kept] — brewing barley. Aldmere ale is made from it.
• Wenvorm oak — the great oak of the river woods. Aldmere's castles, ships and longbows come from it.
• Nollen beech — the smooth-barked beech of the southern woods.
• Downs yew — the dark, poisonous yew of the Southdowns hearth-yards. Its wood makes the longbow. Its berries kill.
• Hearth apple [kept] — the orchard apple. The west is cider country.
• Mere reed — lakeshore reeds, cut for thatch.
• Hethlend hop [kept] — the bittering hop, grown on poles along the river.
• Moot thistle — a purple thistle that grows on every fallow field. It is the flower of the common folk.
• Wromthalm flax [kept] — for linen.
• Nightcap [danger] — a small white mushroom of the beech woods. It looks like the kind you can eat. It is not.

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High cold valleys, bare rock, scree, alpine meadows. Pine on the lower slopes, snow above.

Beasts

• Karzhan ibex — a big-horned mountain goat that lives on ledges no man can reach. Hunting one is a rite of the Anvil.
• Tharaxi goat [kept] — the tough, wiry milk goat the Bound herd on the terraces.
• Spine sheep [kept] — a small dark mountain sheep. Its wool is coarse, and its meat is most of what Tharax eats.
• Gap mule [kept] — the sure-footed mule that carries everything through the passes. The Dunmorrow breed the best ones.
• Karzhan bear [danger] — a huge brown bear of the high woods. The Phymun hunt it with spears, on foot, in pairs.
• Crag lynx — a tufted-eared mountain cat. It takes lambs and is trapped for its fur.
• Delver marmot — a fat, whistling ground-squirrel of the alpine meadows. The Dunmorrow call its whistle the mountain's alarm.
• Stair chamois — a small, nimble antelope of the cliffs.
• Spine wolf — a gray mountain wolf, leaner than the lowland kind.

Birds

• Karzhan eagle — the great golden eagle of the peaks. Tharaxi kings are buried with a feather.
• Crag chough — the red-beaked black crow of the cliffs. It nests in the Dunmorrow shafts.
• Snow grouse — white in winter, brown in summer. The Bound snare it.
• Spine raven — a big black raven. It follows Tharaxi armies.
• Gap falcon — a fast falcon that nests on the cliffs. The Phymun keep them for hunting.

Fish & river life

• Headwater trout — small cold-water trout of the mountain streams, the Talodin's headwaters among them.
• Kokekt char — a red-bellied char of the deep tarns above the mines.

Insects & crawling things

• Spine hornet [danger] — big, quick to anger, and nests in the rock. Killed a Tharaxi king once, the Bound say.
• Karzhan blue — a small blue butterfly of the alpine meadows.
• Delver cricket — a pale blind cricket that lives in the deep mine shafts.
• Scree scorpion — small, brown, painful but not deadly. It is found on the sunny south faces.

Plants

• Karzhan pine — the tall straight pine of the lower slopes. Tharaxi spear shafts come from it.
• Spine fir — the dark fir of the high woods.
• Tharaxi barley [kept] — a short, hardy barley grown on the terraces. It makes the black bread the Phymun eat.
• Anvil thyme — wild mountain thyme, crushed on wounds.
• Crag edelweiss — a white felted flower of the highest ledges. Tharaxi brides wear it.
• Delver moss — a glowing green moss the Dunmorrow grow in their shafts for light.
• Gap gentian — a blue trumpet flower. Its bitter root settles the stomach.
• Stonebane [danger] — a purple monkshood of the alpine meadows; the Tyrthas is said to use it.
• Ibex-lichen — the orange rock lichen the ibex scrape off cliffs. It dyes Tharaxi cloaks red.

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Taiga, tundra, glaciers, fjord coast, a frozen lake. Winter lasts seven months.

Beasts

• Farvig elk — a giant elk of the northern taiga. The Hrodvald hunt it in winter on skis.
• Frost bear [danger] — the white bear of the Pale Waste. The Uusung worship it. The Hrodvald fight it.
• Frostmarch wolf [danger] — a large pale wolf that hunts in packs of twenty, and in a Wolf Winter comes into the longhouses.
• Hrodvald hound [kept] — the huge shaggy war hound. It sleeps across the longhouse door.
• Fevur pony [kept] — a small, thick-coated horse that can dig grass out from under snow.
• Ice seal — the fjord seal. The whole coast lives on its oil and meat.
• Barerk whale — the great baleen whale of the northern sea. One whale feeds a clanhold for a winter.
• Tusk-walrus — the walrus of the ice edge. Its ivory is Hrodvald's richest trade.
• Farrur reindeer [kept by the Uusung] — herded across the tundra by the Uusung, hunted wild by the Hrodvald.
• Nugag fox — the white fox of the Frostmarch. In Solvaine its pelt is worth its weight in silver.
• Taiga glutton [danger] — a wolverine. Small, fearless, and it will fight a bear for a carcass.
• Durtha hare — the white snow hare.

Birds

• Storm raven — the sacred raven of the Old Ones. It is bad luck to kill one.
• Snow owl — the white owl of the tundra.
• Fjord gull — the screaming gulls of the coast.
• Farvig goose — gray geese that fly south over Aldmere every autumn. The Hrodvald follow them on raids.
• Ice tern — a small seabird that summers in the Pale Waste and winters no one knows where.
• Taiga capercaillie — a big black forest grouse, the bird of a chieftain's feast.

Fish & river life

• Farrur salmon — the great salmon that run up the River Farrur every summer. The clans meet at the falls to net them.
• Farvig whitefish — netted through the ice all winter.
• Fjord cod — dried on racks along every coast. It is what the Hrodvald eat on longship raids.
• Ice-pike — a huge pike of Lake Farvig's dark water.

Insects & crawling things

• Taiga midge — the summer plague of the north: clouds of biting midges that drive elk mad.
• Frost mosquito — worse than the midge, and larger.
• Bark beetle — it kills whole stands of taiga pine in dry years.
• Ice-bee — a fat furry bumblebee that flies in cold that kills other bees.

Plants

• Taiga pine — the tall northern pine. Longship keels and longhouse posts are made of it.
• Farrur birch — white birch. The bark is tinder and kindling; the sap is a sweet spring drink.
• Frost spruce — the dark, dense spruce of the deep taiga.
• Hrodvald rye [kept] — the only grain that ripens in the Frostmarch. It makes the black bread of the north.
• Tundra lichen — the reindeer's winter food. In hard years the Uusung boil it into a bitter soup.
• Cloudberry — an orange bog-berry of the tundra, fit for a chieftain's gift.
• Ice-heather — the purple heather of the fjord hills. The bees make a dark honey from it.
• Storm-oak — the rare northern oak. Selthar's Oak is the largest. Sacred.
• Wolf-lichen [danger] — a yellow-green lichen used to poison wolf bait.
• Fjord kelp — cut from the coast for salt and fodder.

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Old-growth rainforest of the west coast, cool and wet. Trees a hundred feet across. Rain most days.

Beasts

• Warden elk — a dark, quiet forest elk. The Waheli hunt it with the bow and never take a calf.
• Greenwarden bear — a black bear of the great trees. It climbs.
• Root boar [danger] — a huge dark wild boar that roots among the giant trunks.
• Hollow marten — a pine marten that dens in the hollow trees. It is the Waheli's own animal, the sign of their people.
• Warden stag-cat — a big spotted forest cat (a cougar). The Waheli call it the Warden and never hunt it.
• Bark squirrel — a red squirrel of the canopy.
• Moss deer — a small, shy roe deer.
• Green-wolf — a dark forest wolf of the west. It runs in small packs.

Birds

• Warden woodpecker — a huge black woodpecker. The Waheli use its drumming as their signal call.
• Hollow owl — a great gray owl of the old trees.
• Green jay — a screaming blue-and-green jay that warns the whole forest of strangers. Castavari loggers hate it.
• Circle dove — a soft gray wood-pigeon.
• Greenwarden goshawk — a fierce forest hawk.

Fish & river life

• Warden salmon — salmon that go down to the sea and come back to spawn in the coastal streams.
• Root newt — an orange-bellied newt of the forest pools. It is poison to eat.

Insects & crawling things

• Greenwarden stag-beetle — an enormous horned beetle. Waheli children keep them.
• Warden moth — a huge green moth with eyes painted on its wings.
• Root leech — waits in the forest streams.
• Tree-tick — carries a fever the Waheli treat with bark tea.
• Warden viper [danger] — a dark forest viper. The Waheli tip their arrows with its venom.

Plants

• Warden redwood — the giant trees of the Greenwarden, some of them three thousand years old. The Waheli live inside hollowed ones. Castavar wants them for masts.
• Elder oak — huge oaks of the forest edge.
• Root fern — waist-high ferns that carpet the forest floor.
• Greenwarden moss — it hangs in curtains from every branch.
• Circle mushroom — the fairy-ring mushroom. The Waheli hold council inside the rings.
• Bloodroot — a red-sapped root, the Waheli's war paint and a dye.
• Wardenbane [danger] — a white bell-flower whose pollen brings sleep. The Waheli use it on trespassers.
• Hollow ivy — it climbs the redwoods. Its berries feed the birds and poison men.
• Green-hazel — the Waheli bow-wood.

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Dune seas, salt flats, red mesas, a green river valley, a salt lake.

Beasts

• Talodin camel [kept] — the one-humped desert camel. The Spice Way runs on its back.
• Zarvani horse [kept] — the fine-boned, tireless desert horse of the cataphracts. The Khaasar's stud at Mazbaaran is the most valuable herd on the continent.
• Sunmaw oryx — a white antelope with straight horns that lives without drinking. It is the Khaasar's hunting beast.
• Dune gazelle — small and fast, hunted with falcons.
• Mesa lion [danger] — the pale desert lion of the red mesas. A Zarvani prince must kill one before he can inherit anything.
• Sand cat — a small pale wildcat that never drinks.
• Talodin jackal — the golden jackal of the river villages.
• Shorooq hyena — the striped hyena of the salt lake. Its laugh is a bad omen.
• Deep Sands fox — a little fox of the dune seas with enormous ears.
• Mazbaaran ass [kept] — the working donkey of the valley.
• Sunmaw addax — a spiral-horned antelope of the deepest dunes.

Birds

• Talodin falcon [kept] — the desert falcon the Zarvani train for the hunt. A good one is a gift for a king.
• Shorooq flamingo — pink flamingos that crowd the salt lake in the thousands.
• Sand grouse — it flies fifty miles to water every morning and carries water back in its breast feathers.
• Mazbaaran hoopoe — the crested orange bird of the gardens, sacred to the Flame.
• Dune vulture — the big bald vulture that follows caravans.
• Mesa eagle — a dark desert eagle.
• Desert bulbul — the singing bird of the caravanserai courtyards.

Fish & river life

• Talodin carp — the river's main fish, raised in the salest pools.
• Talodin catfish — a whiskered bottom-feeder, the poor man's fish.
• Shorooq brine shrimp — the tiny red shrimp the flamingos eat. Men take it for dye.

Insects & crawling things

• Deathstalker of Shorooq [danger] — a yellow scorpion of the salt flats, the most venomous thing in Zarvand.
• Sunmaw viper [danger] — a horned sand viper that buries itself and waits.
• Talodin cobra [danger] — the hooded snake of the river reeds. The snake-charmers of Mazbaaran use it.
• Desert locust — the swarming grasshopper. A locust year is a famine year.
• Dune beetle — a black beetle that drinks fog from its own back at dawn.
• Caravan fly — the biting fly of the camel trains.
• Talodin mosquito — carries the river fever.
• Mazbaaran silk-moth [kept] — the moth whose caterpillar spins Zarvand's silk, raised on mulberry in the garden cities.

Plants

• Talodin date [kept] — the date palm. It is the valley's bread, sugar, rope and roof.
• Mazbaaran mulberry [kept] — for the silk-moths.
• Zarvani pomegranate [kept] — the fruit of the Flame. Its seeds are blessed at every fire temple.
• Feshfaan saffron [kept] — the costliest spice in the world, grown in the Feshfaan meemakh.
• Kebidaan pistachio [kept] — the orchard nut of the western valley.
• Sunmaw acacia — the thorn tree of the dry washes, good for camel fodder and gum.
• Tamarisk — the salt-cedar of the Shorooq shore.
• Dune grass — planted by the Jaarzebeem to hold the sand back from the road.
• Talodin reed — a tall reed of the river. Zarvand's paper is made from it.
• Fire-rose — a deep red desert rose grown in every walled garden. It is the Zarvani perfume.
• Wormwood of the Sands — a gray bitter herb, the desert's medicine for fever and worms.
• Sunmaw poppy [danger] — the opium poppy, grown by leave of the Khaasar and sold by the House of Learning's physicians. Illegal in Castavar.
• Salt-bush — a gray, fleshy plant of the flats. It is the only thing goats will eat there.

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Volcanic slopes, ash fields, hot springs, sulfur, naphtha seeps.

Beasts

• Cinder goat [kept] — a black goat that eats anything, the ash-grass included.
• Ash-fox — a dark fox of the lava fields.
• Teeth bat — it lives in huge colonies in the lava tubes. The Hizkari sell the droppings to spread on fields.
• Vent lizard — a big black spiny lizard that basks on the warm rock.

Birds

• Cinder swift — it nests in the cliffs, and the Hizkari collect the nests.
• Ash vulture — a black vulture of the peaks.

Insects & crawling things

• Fire-beetle — a red-and-black beetle drawn to the naphtha seeps. The Hizkari say it can walk through flame.
• Vent scorpion [danger] — a black scorpion of the warm crevices.

Plants

• Ash-grass — a coarse grass, the first thing to grow after every eruption.
• Cinder fern — grows around the hot springs.
• Sulfur-flower — a yellow flower of the vent fields, ground for a skin salve.
• Teeth-pine — a twisted pine of the upper slopes.
• Lava-moss — the black crust on old flows.

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Rainforest, tea-colored rivers, ancient ruins, rain every afternoon.

Beasts

• Nhal jaguar [danger] — the spotted great cat of the jungle; the Tzalan Sun-Speakers wear its pelt.
• Verdant tapir — a big snouted forest beast like a pig. It is the Tzalan's main meat.
• Deep sloth — hangs in the canopy and moves once a day.
• Howler of the Deep — a black monkey whose dawn roar carries three miles. The Tzalan say it is the pyramids calling.
• Serpent-monkey — a small long-tailed monkey that steals from the spice camps.
• Nhal river-cow — a manatee of the slow river.
• Tzalan peccary — a small tusked forest pig that travels in herds of a hundred.
• Pyramid bat — huge fruit bats that roost in the ruins.
• Sutzam dog [kept] — a small hairless dog the Tzalan keep for warmth and, on feast days, for food.

Birds

• Sun-quetzal — a long-tailed emerald bird. Its feathers are the Sun-Speaker's crown, and killing one is death.
• Deep macaw — screaming red-and-blue parrots.
• Nhal toucan — a fruit bird with a huge beak.
• Serpent-eagle — a crested eagle that hunts monkeys and snakes.
• Pyramid hummingbird — a tiny bird of the temple flowers.
• Verdant hoatzin — a stinking, clumsy bird of the riverbank that climbs with claws on its wings.

Fish & river life

• Nhal caiman [danger] — the river crocodile. In the deep pools it grows twenty feet long.
• Serpent-fish — a great river fish of the Nhal, ten feet long. The Tzalan harpoon it from canoes.
• Razor-fish [danger] — the piranha of the tea-colored rivers.
• Nhal electric eel [danger] — it stuns a man in the shallows.
• Verdant turtle — a river turtle. The Tzalan count its eggs a delicacy.
• Nhal anaconda [danger] — the great water-snake. The Tzalan say the largest are the First Sun's servants.

Insects & crawling things

• Blue morpho of the Deep — a huge blue butterfly. The Tzalan set its wings in mosaics.
• Deep army-ant [danger] — columns a mile long that strip anything that cannot move.
• Leaf-cutter of Sutzam — ants that carry leaves in endless lines. The Tzalan learned their farming from the ants' fungus-gardens.
• Dart-frog [danger] — tiny brilliant frogs. The poison on their skin tips Tzalan blowgun darts.
• Verdant tarantula — hand-sized and hairy, harmless unless cornered.
• Nhal mosquito [danger] — carries the jungle fever that kills Zarvani and Kaishoni garrisons.
• Pyramid centipede [danger] — a foot long, red and venomous. It lives in the ruins.
• Sun-scarab — a golden beetle sacred to the Sun cult.
• Fire-ant of the Deep — the biting ant of the clearings.

Plants

• Verdant mahogany — the great red hardwood, and the reason Kaishon and Zarvand cut into the jungle.
• Nhal kapok — a giant tree with wide buttress roots. The Tzalan carve canoes from it.
• Serpent-vine — thick lianas that hang from everything. They are rope, bridges, and the Tzalan's climbing paths.
• Tzalan maize [kept] — the jungle corn, grown in cleared plots and on the pyramid terraces.
• Deep cacao [kept] — the cacao tree. The Tzalan drink it bitter with chili. Caelvenne pays gold for it.
• Nhal pepper [kept] — the black pepper vine. Zarvand's spice caravans exist because of it.
• Verdant vanilla — an orchid whose pod is worth more than silver.
• Sun-orchid — a golden orchid that grows only on the pyramids.
• Rubber-tree of the Nhal — the Tzalan tap it for a bouncing gum used in their ball game.
• Strangler fig — it grows on the ruins and slowly pulls them down.
• Deathvine [danger] — a vine whose sap blisters skin.
• Bitter-bark — the Tzalan fever medicine. The jungle garrisons will trade anything for it.

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Open steppe, rolling grass, hard winters, no trees.

Beasts

• Cherüsh horse [kept] — the small, tough, shaggy steppe horse. Every rider owns ten. It is the Horde.
• Grass Sea saiga — a strange-nosed antelope that wanders the steppe in herds of ten thousand.
• Steppe wolf [danger] — it hunts the saiga and the horse herds.
• Tsanha fox — a red steppe fox. Its pelt is what the Cherüsh trade.
• Grass Sea marmot — the fat burrowing marmot. The Cherüsh hunt it, and it carries a plague.
• Tontanor wild ass — a wild donkey of the western steppe.
• Steppe eagle-hare — a large hare, hunted with eagles.
• Cherüsh sheep [kept] — fat-tailed steppe sheep, for mutton and wool felt.
• Steppe camel [kept] — the two-humped, shaggy cold-weather camel of the eastern steppe.

Birds

• Cherüsh eagle [kept] — the great golden eagle the Cherüsh train to hunt foxes and wolves. An olriq's eagle is buried with him.
• Grass Sea bustard — a huge ground bird. One feeds a whole tent.
• Steppe crane — gray cranes that dance on the Tsanha in spring.
• Tsanha lark — the singing bird of the steppe.
• Grass Sea vulture — it follows the Horde's battles.

Fish & river life

• Tsanha sturgeon — huge, ancient, a bottom-feeder. Its roe is a Caelvennois luxury.
• Ford carp — the common fish of the Tsanha crossings.

Insects & crawling things

• Grass Sea locust — the swarming plague of the steppe.
• Steppe viper [danger] — a small gray viper of the grass.
• Horse-fly of the Tsanha — it torments the herds all summer.
• Steppe tick — carries a fever.
• Grass Sea beetle — a green scarab the Cherüsh set in their belts.

Plants

• Feather-grass — the silver waving grass of the Grass Sea. In a wet year it stands taller than a horse.
• Steppe wormwood — gray and bitter. It is the smell of the Grass Sea.
• Tontanor thistle — grows in the ruins of the old charnazin.
• Tsanha willow — the only tree of the steppe, and it grows only along the river.
• Grass Sea tulip — red tulips that carpet the steppe for two weeks in spring. They are the Cherüsh's one festival.
• Wild onion of the steppe — dug and eaten raw with mutton.
• Steppe hemp — for rope and felt-cord.

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River valleys, rice terraces, bamboo, mountains around Lake Tsenkin, a long coast.

Beasts

• Muhau buffalo [kept] — the water buffalo of the rice paddies.
• Tsenkin panda — a black-and-white bear of the bamboo mountains around the lake. It is the imperial beast and is never hunted.
• Kaishon tiger [danger] — the striped great cat of the southern hills, the Emperor's hunt.
• Kokrin pig [kept] — the black farm pig of every village.
• Shanyo deer — a spotted deer of the northern woods. The velvet of its antlers is a medicine.
• Tsenkin macaque — the mountain monkey that raids the archive-city's gardens.
• Chaiyo sea-lion — it barks from the harbor rocks.
• Sorogei gibbon — a long-armed singing ape of the southern forests.
• Silk-goat of Tsenkin [kept] — the long-haired mountain goat. Its hair is woven into the finest cloth.
• Rampart ox [kept] — the big draft ox that hauls stone to the wall.

Birds

• Jade crane — the red-crowned crane of the Muhau marshes. It is the sign of the Dominion, painted on every magistrate's robe.
• Kokrin pheasant — a golden pheasant of the palace parks.
• Tsenkin mandarin duck — brightly colored ducks of the lake that pair for life. Weddings are marked with them.
• Rampart hawk — a small fierce hawk of the wall towers.
• Chaiyo cormorant [kept] — fishermen fish with it on a leash.
• Shanyo magpie — the black-and-white bird of luck.

Fish & river life

• Muhau carp [kept] — the common pond carp, bred in every color in the palace ponds.
• Tsenkin sturgeon — a sturgeon of the deep lake.
• Chaiyo tuna — the great fish of the eastern sea. Chaiyo's fleet lives on it.
• Muhau river-dolphin — a pale blind dolphin of the Long River, growing rare.
• Coast crab — the hairy crab of the Chaiyo estuaries, eaten as a treat in autumn.
• Rampart eel — paddy eels, the conscripts' ration.

Insects & crawling things

• Tsenkin silkworm [kept] — the moth whose cocoon is Kaishon's wealth. To carry the secret of its rearing out of the Dominion is a crime against the throne.
• Muhau cicada — deafening in summer, and kept in cages for its song.
• Paddy leech — every rice farmer's companion.
• Bamboo mantis — a green praying mantis of the groves. A Kaishoni way of fighting is copied from it.
• Kokrin cricket [kept] — bred and fought in the capital's gambling houses.
• Sorogei centipede [danger] — a red centipede of the southern hills.
• Coast krait [danger] — a banded sea-snake, and deadly.

Plants

• Muhau rice [kept] — the terraced paddy rice that feeds fourteen million people.
• Tsenkin bamboo — everything Kaishon builds that is not stone is bamboo: scaffolds, kites, crossbow bolts, paper.
• Kaishon mulberry [kept] — for the silkworms.
• Shanyo tea [kept] — the green tea of the northern hills. It is the Dominion's daily drink, and after silk the second thing Kaishon sells abroad.
• Kokrin lotus — the flower of the palace ponds. Its root is eaten.
• Jade pine — the twisted pine grown for beauty at the mountain shrines.
• Tsenkin ginseng — a mountain root worth its weight in silver. The archive-city's physicians grow it.
• Chaiyo seaweed — dried and eaten along the whole coast.
• Sorogei camphor — a great sweet-smelling tree of the south. Its wood keeps insects off and is made into chests.
• Rampart soy [kept] — the bean of the conscripts' rations.
• Scholar's plum — the flowering plum that blooms in snow. It is the Doctrine's sign of merit under hardship.
• Bitter-bell [danger] — a purple bell-flower of the hills, an old poison of the court.

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Dry hills, olive and cork country, vineyards, silver mountains, ocean coast, reef islands.

Beasts

• Castavari destrier [kept] — the great warhorse, bred at the Craucan. It is the finest horse on Aethorra.
• Llovo bull [kept] — a black fighting bull of the Llovo March, run through the streets on the saint's day.
• Cork-hill pig [kept] — a black pig that fattens on acorns under the cork oaks. Its ham is Castavar's pride.
• Grarañe merino [kept] — a fine-wooled sheep that walks the old drove roads each season.
• Upland ibex — a curled-horn goat of the silver mountains.
• Puesdro lynx — a spotted, tufted lynx of the scrub, nearly hunted out.
• Llovo boar [danger] — a dark wild pig of the river thickets.
• Tandosa dolphin — it rides the bow-waves of the galleons.
• Isle seal — a monk seal of the Shattered Isles' sea-caves. To the Salt Brotherhood it is the omen of a good voyage.
• Rock rabbit — everywhere in the dry hills. It is the peasants' meat.

Birds

• White-thorn stork — the white stork that nests on every church tower, sacred to the Berrode.
• Upland vulture — a huge bearded vulture that drops bones on rocks.
• Tandosa gull — the harbor gull.
• Llovo kite — a red kite of the river valley.
• Isle petrel — a small seabird that nests in the pirates' cliffs.
• Sonvera flamingo — pink flamingos of the coastal salt lagoons.
• Cork-oak hoopoe — a striped crested bird of the orchards.

Fish & river life

• Tandosa sardine — the coast's staple, salted in barrels.
• Ocean tuna — the great wandering tuna netted off Tandosa in the spring. The crown alone may sell it.
• Isle grouper — a big reef fish of the Shattered Isles.
• Llovo barbel — the river's bony fish.
• Tandosa octopus — dried on lines in every fishing village.
• Reef shark [danger] — the Salt Brotherhood swims with them. Sailors do not.

Insects & crawling things

• Cork-oak cicada — the deafening summer drone of the hills.
• Castavari bee [kept] — the honey of the thyme hills; the Berrode's candles are made from its wax.
• Upland scorpion — a small yellow scorpion. Painful.
• Llovo viper [danger] — a snub-nosed viper of the dry stone walls.
• Tandosa fly — the harbor fly of the fish markets.
• Isle land-crab — it swarms the Shattered Isles' beaches at night.

Plants

• Castavari olive [kept] — the olive. Its oil is for lamps, for food, and for the anointing of kings.
• Llovo vine [kept] — the grape of the river valley. Castavari red is drunk from Solvaine to Mazbaaran.
• Cork oak — the oak stripped for cork every nine years. The Llovo March is a forest of them.
• Tandosa pine — the umbrella pine of the coast, cut for galleon masts.
• Puesdro holm-oak — the evergreen oak of the silver hills.
• Grarañe orange [kept] — the bitter orange of the palace courtyards.
• Upland thyme — the smell of Castavar in summer.
• Rosemary of the Thorn — the herb of the knightly orders, worn in the helm.
• Sonvera rice [kept] — grown in the coastal marshes.
• Tinoda almond [kept] — the almond orchards that bloom white in the dead of winter.
• Isle agave — the spiny plant of the Shattered Isles; the Brotherhood makes rope and a rough spirit from it.
• White-thorn — the thorny hawthorn whose white blossom is the Order's badge.
• Hemlock of the Llovo [danger] — the poison of the Office of Truth.

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The great lake, its delta islands, and the villa country of the eastern shore.

Beasts

• Surmave otter — the lake otter. It ends as a Caelvennois lady's muff.
• Delta heron-cat — a spotted marsh cat of the reed islands.
• Solvaine cat [kept] — the sleek gray house cat of the canal city. Every warehouse has a dozen.
• Villa greyhound [kept] — the slim coursing hound of the Nine Houses.
• Larvir mule [kept] — it hauls the tow-barges along the Tsanha.

Birds

• Mirror swan — the great white swan of the lake. It is Caelvenne's bird, and it is roasted at the prince's table.
• Delta ibis — a white marsh bird of the reed islands.
• Solvaine pigeon [kept] — bred by the Quiet Office to carry messages.
• Surmave tern — small white terns that dive on the lake shallows.
• Ienvaune nightingale — it sings in the villa gardens, and a thousand Caelvennois poems are about it.

Fish & river life

• Surmave whitefish — the whitefish of the deep lake, Solvaine's table fish.
• Delta eel — netted in the reed channels.
• Mirror pike — the lake's big hunter.
• Accord clam — a freshwater mussel of the island shallows. Its pearls are small and prized.
• Lake sturgeon — rare, huge, and kept by law for the prince's table.

Insects & crawling things

• Surmave midge — summer swarms over the canals. They are why the Nine Houses summer at Ienvaune.
• Delta mosquito — carries the lake fever in bad summers.
• Solvaine glass-fly — a jewel-green fly of the glassworks canals.
• Villa firefly — the summer lights of the vineyard terraces.

Plants

• Ienvaune vine [kept] — the grape of the eastern shore, Caelvenne's white wine.
• Delta reed — the reed of the islands. Solvaine was built on pilings driven into a reed marsh.
• Surmave willow — weeping willows along every canal.
• Solvaine lily — a white water-lily of the delta channels; the Valcroix lily comes from it.
• Larvir cypress — the tall dark cypress of the villa gardens.
• Claupiose mulberry [kept] — it feeds the silk-moths of the dye-houses.
• Villa rose — bred in a hundred colors by the Nine Houses. It is the perfumers' rose.
• Shore lavender — the purple hills above Claupiose, and the perfume trade that lives on them.
• Mirror-weed — a lake weed that fouls galley oars.

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• Common dog [kept] — every realm has its breed: the Hrodvald hound, the Villa greyhound, the Sutzam dog, the shepherd dogs of Chomkel and Grarañe.
• Common cat [kept] — the Solvaine cat went along the trade roads to every granary on the continent.
• Road horse [kept] — the Qaflan caravan clans breed a plain brown crossbreed that will go anywhere and eat anything.
• Gray rat — it followed the grain barges from Aldmere to every city. The Gray Cough is blamed on it.
• House sparrow — from the Frostmarch to Sutzam.
• Carrion crow — it follows every army.
• Honeybee [kept] — every realm keeps hives, and every realm claims the best honey.
• Wild wolf — in every country but the deep desert. Every realm has its own name for it and its own fear.
• Common oak, pine, willow — with local names wherever they grow.
• Wheat, barley, rye, rice, maize [kept] — the five grains of Aethorra, each ruling a different part of the world.
• The Great Winter bear — the name given after 1089 R. to any bear seen far south of where it belongs.

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There are no monsters in the One Land. The beasts of the old tales are real animals, told larger. And what lies north of the ice is a Builder town, not a creature.