Elteria’s Ecosystems: The Far Corners

Work in progress of the next iteration of Elteria world. Screenshot from internal tool showing islands and different biomes.

There are several reasons as to why there is still no such thing as a comprehensive map of Elteria. For one thing, it’s simply too dangerous to venture too far from what the adventurers call the Central Island, as any insufficiently prepared to-be-cartographer would most likely find their eternal rest on some of the fringe islands. And for another thing, these same islands do not always stay the same - the violent clashes of different, sometimes opposing magical energies of different biomes, or the sheer concentration of such energies deep in the territories occupied by a biome, sometimes force into existence what can be called sub-biomes.

These sub-biomes can be dangerous - deadly even - or they can provide a moment of reprieve between inhospitable lands. Either way, after acquiring such information from both those who survived the trip (and from the notes of those who did not), and verifying it in our expeditions, it is our duty to inform you of these phenomena, and it is your duty to assist us by sharing this knowledge with your fellow adventurers.

These notes consist of Stable Sub-Biomes that have already formed and show little to no signs of any further anomalies, Unstable Sub-Biomes that are still actively changing and as such are still under surveillance, and Volatile Sub-Biomes that are absolutely off-limit for anyone not willing to part with their mortal coil in a magical freak accident.

Table of Contents

• STABLE SUB-BIOMES:
  • Frosty Mystic Forest
  • Golden Bamboo Thickets

• UNSTABLE SUB-BIOMES:
  • Mushroom Birch Hills
  • Pumpkin Mountains

• VOLATILE SUB-BIOMES:
  • Dark Crystal Gardens
  • Fire Slime Zone

Biomes by Tier

Frosty Mystic Forest

Inhabitants: Crystal Llamas
Tier: 2nd

The Mystic Forest is far from being a hospitable place. The magically reanimated carcasses of unlucky explorers roam these lands in an endless and aimless pursuit of destruction, the wild beasts from the Birch Hills and Tentacle Grove come to this place looking for the toxic mushrooms and explosive pumpkins that grow here in abundance, while the sinister energy of dark crystals slowly but steadily transforms these lands into something even more dangerous.

And yet, it is here, on the edge between Mystic Forest and even more perilous Frosty Gardens, a lucky adventurer may find a long-wanted breather in the cold sub-biome of Frosty Mystic Forest.

This place does not contain enough Dark magical energies to sustain the life of the greater types of Undead, while otherwise having most of the natural resources of both Frosty Gardens and Mystic Forest. This made a certain race of magical creatures choose this place as their home.

The Crystal Llamas are creatures that, thanks to their warm, thick and fuzzy coats, thrive in colder environments - so the chilliness and relative safety of the Frosty Mystic Forest seems to be kind of an obvious choice of a home for them. Here, with the liberal use of their innate magical powers, Crystal Llamas had both cleared this sub-biome of any dangers to llamakind, and raised entire villages of ice and wood to live in.

Adventurers that had ventured there, report that the Crystal Llamas happily trade for anything they regard as food - so as long as you don’t visit their villages empty-handed, you will not have to leave empty-handed as well.
We’re currently launching the final expedition into this place in order to map it out.

Golden Bamboo Thickets

Inhabitants: Coin Cats
Tier: 1st and 2nd

While many adventurers had stepped into the Bamboo Thickets and met the creatures that are commonly known as Coin Cats, very few could actually ever claim to have seen the village where these creatures live. Still, over time the collected reports of such place have allowed us to make quite a comprehensive picture of it.

Golden Bamboo is a rare type of bamboo that, since it was but a sapling, was infused with the energy of a Nature Gem. This bamboo gets its name from the beautiful, golden leaves that form a magnificent golden crown. It is extremely hard to grow, and even harder to sustain - which speaks volumes of the abilities of Coin Cats who surround their homes and villages with entire thickets of these beautiful trees.

The homes of Coin Cats, surrounded by the Golden Bamboo Thickets, absolutely live up to their surroundings - built of bamboo and gold, these buildings both show high level of craftsmanship and the sheer wealth of these creatures. And of course, this wealth is also well guarded, as the Coin Cat Boar Riders patrol these lands in looking out for any troublemakers.
While this place is stable, our info on it seems to be somewhat outdated. We’re preparing one more expedition into Golden Bamboo Thickets in order to both make sure it’s safe to travel to, and to put it on everyone’s maps.

Mushroom Forest

Inhabitants: Airshrooms, Shoomcubators, Walking Toxic Shrooms
Tier: 2nd

While Birch Hills, despite its vast population of highly aggressive Boarmelons, had proved to be one of the easiest to adapt to and the most adventurer-friendly biomes of Elteria, it’s important to remember that, just like any other place on these islands, it has its own magical energies, that can concentrate, clash or merge with their surroundings. One of the most obvious reminders of such a fact is the frequent appearance of a transitional sub-biome on the edge of Birch Hills and Tentacle Groove - the Mushroom Forest.

This humid, warm sub-biome is an ideal place for the growth of mushrooms - edible, poisonous, living and living poisonous. Indeed, the Mushroom Forest is home to the colonies of living, semi-sentient mushrooms.

As of this moment, our scouts were able to recognize four different types of said mushrooms. The first, Airshrooms, appears to be completely harmless and unable to defend itself with its only defining feature being its ability to create vertical air currents strong enough to propel a human-sized object into the air. The second, Walking Toxic Shroom, acts as the guard of the colony, and attacks any and all trespassers with highly dangerous toxic blobs and poisonous gas. The third, Shroomcubator, seems to be the propagator of the shroomkind as these mushrooms constantly produce new spawn. The fourth is Shroomies, the mushrooms that are spawned by Shroomcubators and act as their guards whenever Shroomcubator is being attacked.

These Mushroom Forests seem to appear and disappear overnight, which indicates that the magic energies responsible for them are still unstable. Once these sub-biomes stabilize, we’ll be able to fully research and map them.

Pumpkin Mountains

Inhabitants: Pumpkees, Pumpkings
Tier: 3rd

For some reason, the Mountain sub-biome statistically has the highest amount of interplanar breaches compared to nearly any other part of Elteria. Most of these inter-planar breaches close quick enough to only affect the ore deposits that can be found in the mountains - but sometimes, such a breach lasts for longer. These breaches can be easily identified from afar by a very distinct cinnamon smell - which is good, since you do NOT want to stumble upon this place by accident.

This sub-biome, for now called Pumpkin Mountains, is home to the new, living species of mutated explosive pumpkins. These creatures, Pumpkees, attack anything in sight, trying to quickly reach a careless adventurer, and then explode upon contact, causing grievous injuries and, in some cases, overwhelming an unlucky explorer by their sheer numbers.

And if Pumpkees are not bad enough news for you, this sub-biome also contains one of the most dangerous creatures seen on Elteria yet - the Pumpking. This monstrous, huge living pumpkin has enough firepower to all but guarantee the demise of anyone unfortunate enough to aggravate it. We’ve seen the bodies, and we really wish we did not.

The location of this sub-biome is still in constant flux. For now, just be warned - if you get across the smell of cinnamon, get as far away from it as possible.

Dark Crystal Gardens

Inhabitants: ???
Tier: 4th

There is a rumor going among the explorers that frequent the Crystal Gardens, that sometimes, as you venture through this location, you’d experience a sudden cloudiness of vision and, if you don’t turn back, you’ll soon find yourself half-blind and growing weaker by the second in a place that is quite like the Crystal Gardens, but much darker, and much more lifeless. And, with each step you take, you are less and less likely to make it out alive.

This eerie place, aptly named Dark Crystal Gardens, appears to be an actual sub-biome that is a result of a sequence of constant, powerful energy surges in Crystal Gardens. Its energy draining qualities are hypothesized to be the result of its current instability - and as such, we urge our fellow adventurers to be patient and wait until this sub-biome is stable and safe enough to explore.

Fire Slime Zone

Inhabitants: Fire Slimes, Elite Fire Slimes
Tier: 3rd

This fascinating sub-biome was noticed by some explorers in the distant corners of the Slime Savanna. We are not exactly sure if it’s the result of the concentration of the magical energies of Slime Savanna, its clash with some other biome, or even a result of a dimensional breach - but from the reports we do know that the resulting sub-biome has a significant abundance of lava, as it quite literally grows on trees.

The slimes in the Fire Slime Zone appear to be extremely dangerous which, along with the fact that the air in this sub-biome is quite literally rippling with magical energy, means that it would take some time for us to ascertain the exact qualities of this place.