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<h2>Terrain</h2>
Very little of Ereláean history can be understood without reference to the underlying geography. Rivers and mountains are indicated on the base map; but the more detailed terrain map will repay study.
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<br>Different types of terrain are even more important on Almea than on earth, because the various Almean races are specialized for certain environments:
<ul><li>The <b>ilii</b>, who are adapted to breathe either water or air, have colonized the continental shelf as well as certain coastal areas onshore.
<li>The <b>elcari</b> and <b>murtani</b> live in the mountains.
<li>The <b>ktuvoks</b> in wetlands as well as in the open ocean.
<li>The <b>icëlani</b> live in temperate forests and taiga.
<li><b>Humans</b> (<i>uesti</i>) are basically creatures of the plains, though they thrive in tropical forests as well.
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Mountain ranges have of course enormous importance in history as barriers. The Munkhâshi plain is separated from the rest of Ereláe by the rugged <b>Ctelm</b> mountains, while the formidable <b>Diqun Bormai</b> forms an impassible barrier between Luduyn and the Barbarian Plain south of Eretald. Minor ranges isolate Skouras, and even smaller ranges provide some protection to Bolon (from Xurno), Sarnáe (from Dhekhnam), and Ismahi (from Eretald).
<h3>Climatic zones</h3>
The map shows the Köppen <b>climate zones</b> in Almea. Almost all of the base map is temperate; the exceptions are minor:
<ul><li>The <b>savannas</b> of the Rau in the northwest, and the Langeolë in the northeast. These are hot, semi-arid brushland, unsuitable for almost all temperate crops and domestic animals. As a result the temperate-zone cultures never successfully expanded into this region.
<li>A region of <b>tundra</b> along the frigid eastern coast of Luduyn, in the rainshadow of the peninsula. This formed an important barrier between southeastern Ereláe and the lands to the west, only partially breached by the Skourenes. Some of the southern Skourene islands are also tundra.
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The remaining areas of the map comprise the largest temperate zone on Almea, which is relevant to the fact that it contains Almea’s most advanced civilizations. <b>Arcél</b> is about as large, but is divided into tropical and temperate halves.
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<br>In modern times the overall climate zones determine Verdurian <b>colonization</b>: both Téllinor and Girona Verdúrë lie in temperate zones where Verdurian crops and animals thrive. (There are colonies in tropical areas, including most of Kebri’s; but their purpose is to control trade in tropical goods, not to settle.)
<h3>Agricultural packages</h3>
<a href="Javascript:parent.al('Erel%C3%A1e_temperate_agriculture');">Agriculture</a> developed separately in the north and south, with distinct packages of crops and domestic animals:
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<li><b>Eretald/Dhekhnam</b> is largely <b>subtropical</b> in climate, much like the American South or southern China. Its typical food crops are <i>wheat, corn, barley, round bean, lentils, chickpeas</i>; its textiles are <i>flax, cotton, </i>and <i>silk</i>, and its animals <i>cows, pigs, goats</i>, and <i>chicken</i>.
<li><b>Xengiman</b> is <b>humid continental</b> in climate, like the American northeast or northern China. Its typical crops are <i>oats, rye, </i>and <i>peas; </i>its main textile is <i>hemp</i>; and its major animals <i>horses, sheep, </i>and <i>donkeys</i>.
</ul>
(All these names are of course only analogous to terrestrial crops and animals. For more information on their exact nature see the individual Almeopedia articles.)
<p>These packages have mixed to a large extent, but not completely; e.g. oats can’t be grown in the Mišicama littoral, and lentils don’t grow south of Eretald.
<p>The eastern coast is <b>marine</b> in climate— toward the north, something like the Pacific Northwest; in the south, more like the very cold Magellanic forests of Patagonia. This requried adaptation of the Xengiman agricultural package; there was also a heavy reliance on fishing and on pastoralism in the hills. Some of the boom-and-bust nature of Skourene history is due to the difficult climate.
<p>Deforestation led to ecological collapse in at least two areas: Skouras in the 1200s, and Eretald a thousand years later. In both cases the result was a drastic decline in population, and a search for new methods to restore productivity. It’s been posited that the expansion cycles of Munkhâsh and Dhekhnam are also due to soil exhaustion, which is taken as a signal to expand.
<h3>Farmer and nomad</h3>
Just as important is which lands are best suited to <b>nomadism</b>. The steppe zone extends from the Lenani plateau westward almost to Téllinor, and is the homeland of the Almean <b>horse</b>. Another, smaller steppe zone extends westward north of the Elkarin mountains. Cattle, though not horses, can be raised in the Rau savanna, which thus becomes part of the pastoral sphere though not adding to its military resources.
<p>The nomadic zone is placed to threaten both Eretald and Xenigman (rather less so Dhekhnam), and the latter half of this Atlas is dominated by the struggles between agriculturalists and nomads— a struggle which until only a few centuries ago tilted toward the pastoralists. The nomads, small in number but having the edge in the ways of war, created huge empires over plain and steppe alike.
<p>The boundary between nomad and peasant has not always followed the limits of cultivable land. In times of strength the nomad grazed on whatever lands they could occupy and keep clear of peasants; such areas have included eastern Eretald, Bolon, southern Tyellakh, the upper Ideis, and Upper Skouras.
<h3>Deserts and mountains</h3>
The yellow areas of the map are high mountains; these can be taken as uninhabitable by Almean humans, though not by elcari and múrtani.
<p>(Human states, especially in the eastern portion of the map where there are no elcari or múrtani, may cross mountain ranges, and it’s ugly to leave white spaces for the mountains. This shouldn’t be taken as indicating human settlement there.)
<p>Almean humans don’t take well to deserts; however, they may live on rivers or oases within the desert area. Almost always the people involved come from the neighboring steppe. South of the steppe this would only be a graphical complication adding no real information, but the Lernukh in the west is fairly densely settled, and I’ve indicated who lives there.
<h3>Other lifestyles</h3>
Till relatively recent times, the Qaraus in the east practiced agriculture only sparingly, relying equally on hunting, fishing, and gathering; the Mgunikpe pursued a similar existence in the taiga of Luduyn, where the later Čia practiced agriculture.
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