# Kuroi Oka ## Geography and Boundaries The Kuroi Oka[^blackhills] province of Nejiro's great continent of Tairiku is geographically diverse, with huge expanses of temperate forest, mountain ranges, and enormous prairie wilderness areas. The region is made up largely of cool temperate pine forests (pine, tsuga[^tsuga], kuromatsu[^kuromatsu], bristlecone pine, foxtail pine, blackjack pine, sugar pine, akamatsu[^akamatsu], scots pine, pinyon, candle pine, and also stone oak, mongolian oak, sasa fir, rowan, fern, aspen, spruce, birch, hiba, faga beech, bamboo, rododendron, redwood, cedar, magnolia, maple, cypress, yoshino cherry, ume, kanzan, sakura). Seen from above, the dense Jukai[^jukai] pine-covered hills and mountains—rising thousands of meters above the surrounding tall grass prairie—appear black. The province is extremely mountainous with micro-climates and local variations due to the complex geography. Natural hazards include severe snowfalls, blizzards, earthquakes, volcanoes, severe thunderstorms, floods, droughts, and wildfires. The area is bounded by the Yoshino-gawa[^yoshino-gawa] in the west; by the Yoshino-gawa delta and the Subarashi Bei[^subarashi-bei] in the north; by the Naminogake[^naminogake] (915 masl)[^naminogake-formation] and the Sangosho Gulf[^sangosho-gulf] in the south; and by the Samenoumi[^samenoumi] in the east. ## Deep History and Land Stewardship Many geological epochs ago the Kuroi Oka province sat over a hotspot that spawned numerous volcanoes. Most are dormant today, but the region still has many active hot springs, a few vast volcanic lakes, and some semi-active volcanoes. This history left the region very fertile and covered with low density, high dispersion black soil. Fifteen percent of the province is Crown Reserve, and about three percent is owned by the Saganami Dai Ichizoku (Aegis Arms Plant 2, Gora Kullinan, Saganami Estates, Cypress Grove, Aozora Mines, Hinotori Hogo-ku, Vertical Farms, Vital Agriculture etc.). The Tikhonovich Dai Ichizoku holds a respectable amount of the region due to their purchase of the Kola Peninsula. Parliament has another fifteen percent of the region held as Parliamentary Reserves for future koichizoku or charters, and the Ministry of National Parks and Reserves has more than three dozen protected areas in the Kuroi Oka province. ## Regions and Climate The province has three distinct sectors: the upper region, the lower region, and the Cypress Basin. The Kuroi Oka province's upper region contains great expanses of tall mountains covered in dense pine forests, contrasted with ample grassland valleys. The upper region has four distinct seasons, with comfortable summer days averaging around twenty three degrees celsius and infrequent thunderstorms, while winter brings below-freezing temperatures, blizzards, and ice storms. It is a popular area for momijigari[^momijigari] from September through November when the mountains are painted blazing crimson and rich gold, for ski season and nearly ten meters of dry natural powder snow in the Northern Hills from mid December through early April, and for the hanami sakura zensen[^hanami-sakura-zensen] from late March through May, following the peak bloom cycle of the wild (and cultivated) delicate vanilla-scented white and pink blossoms found across the area. Many local villages have planted stands and orchards of maple and sakura to attract tourists. The lower region of the Kuroi Oka province includes the three peninsulae—the Chukchi Peninsula[^chukchi-peninsula], the Kamchatka Peninsula[^kamchatka-peninsula], and the Kola Peninsula[^kola-peninsula]—which are mostly densely forested hills, ridges, and valleys of kuromatsu highlands on mountains of granitic gneisses crowned by white quartzite. The peninsulae of the lower region mostly have a warm temperate climate with fairly warm, dry summers averaging around twenty six degrees celsius and mild, frosty winters where temperatures never fall below freezing. Spring and fall in the lower region typically have changeable weather with frequent rainfalls and fog, and a better than average chance of thunderstorms and typhoons attributable to their lower elevation and proximity to the Samenoumi ocean. The Cypress Basin is a combination of wetlands and river delta where the Yoshino-gawa and Subarashi Bei converge. The basin has a humid subtropical climate due to its location and contains about sixty percent forest habitat and forty percent marsh, swamp, and open water. The basin's dense bottomland hardwoods, swamps, overflow lakes, and meandering bayous provide tremendous diversity of habitat for more than three hundred species of resident and migratory birds and numerous other wildlife, including great eagles, golden bears, coywolves, alligators, and snakes. Susceptible to long periods of deep flooding, the basin is sparsely inhabited and has few railways or roadways; the few rail lines and roadways that cross it are elevated or follow the tops of natural or engineered levees. ## Parks, Monuments, and Landmarks The upper region of the Kuroi Oka province is home to many national parks and monuments, and the area attracts thousands of visitors each year. The national parks comprise mountains, forests, canyons, gulches, open grasslands, woodlands and glades, tumbling streams, and deep blue lakes. Some of the most well known landscapes and landmarks of the province are: - Black Elk Peak rising 4837-masl is the region's highest peak in The Needles, a mountain range formed as a result of an upwarping of ancient rock; the removal of the higher portions of the mountain mass by stream erosion over centuries produced the present day topography of sharp, angular, and ragged peaks. - Celilo Falls[^celilo-falls] consists of the main falls, which have a 630-meter drop squeezed through a channel of just forty three meters into the Sangosho Gulf west of Fune; the river's secondary falls, the Cascades, are a series of rapids and smaller falls stretching over a thirty kilometer length of the Celilo River that drops more than twenty five meters and narrows to just twenty three meters in width (from its origin over two thousand kilometers away as a tributary of the Yoshino-gawa). - Rubea Montes[^rubea-montes], a dormant volcano complex in the Ishi Obi[^ishi-obi] volcanic arc (itself a treasure box of valuable minerals, metals, and gemstones), is a mountain range in which large veins of red corundum, tanzanite, and blue garnet gemstones are found. - Duren-san[^duren-san] is an erupting stratovolcano in the Kokutai[^kokutai] volcanic belt with a visible lava lake in the 780-m diameter crater of the parasitic cone on its north face; its main peak at 4674-masl is over six hundred thousand years old. - The Moeru Gake[^moeru-gake] of bright red sandstone near the northwestern coast of the Sangosha Gulf is shaped into an array of jagged ridges, narrow canyons, and sweeping plateaus by winds and seasonal rains. This ancient formation is full of fossils approximately seventy five million years old; the cliffs glow with a fiery red light that mimics the radiance of the setting sun, with the most breathtaking views best seen from below or across the escarpment. - Nakizuna[^nakizuna] is a nine hundred sixty five square kilometer erg of shifting sands spreading towards the sea from Moeru Gake, with individual dune heights over eighty meters high and the shifting sands providing distinctive noises and humming. ## Geology and Stratigraphy The Kuroi Oka mountains are over two billion years old, making them among the oldest surface geographic formations on Nejiro. The geology of the upper region is complex, and a Tertiary mountain-building episode is responsible for the uplift and current topography; this uplift was marked by volcanic activity in the Northern Hills. The Southern Hills are characterized by cryptozoic granite, pegmatite, and metamorphic rocks that comprise the core of the entire Kuroi Oka uplift, and the core is rimmed by sedimentary rocks. The stratigraphy of the Kuroi Oka mountains is laid out like a target: an oval dome with rings of different rock types dipping away from the center. The dome layers are described as follows (from center outward): - **Core (“bulls eye”)**: granite emplaced by magma with abundant pegmatite, the Belledonne Massif[^belledonne-massif]. - **Inner ring**: the Folia Schist[^folia-schist], a metamorphic zone with many diverse rock types. - **Deformed belt**: originally a sedimentary layer, but after a collision with a terrane the rocks folded and twisted into vast mountain ranges; after millions of years these canted rocks—The Needles mountain range and the Katamuki yamayama[^katamuki-yamayama] in many areas at ninety degrees or more—eroded, leaving the rocks ending in an angular unconformity below the younger sedimentary layers. - **Sedimentary ring**: the Kogane no yamayama[^kogane-no-yamayama], with the oldest layers lying atop the metamorphic layers at a much shallower angle, composed mostly of sandstone and limestone with generous veins of gold. - **Valley-forming layer**: Hiironokudo[^hiironokudo], mostly red shale with beds of gypsum[^gypsum-use]. - **Outer ridge**: Kresta Kresto[^kresta-kresto], a hogback ridge of sandstone, grey shale, limestone, and chalk cuestas containing many shark teeth and other marine fossils. - **Pediments**: Shi Qun[^shi-qun], several skirts of gravel covering much of the area, formed as waterways cut down into the uplifting hills; some of these formations are twenty million years old according to the fossils found. ## Protected Forests and Destinations The province's pine forests and the lands that spawned them are considered a National Resource, and many are protected as Crown Reserves and through the Ministry of National Parks and Reserves. Some of the most popular destinations of the Kuroi Oka province are: - Kokai-sha Kokuritsu Koen[^kokai-sha-kokuritsu-koen], popular for its clear night skies and distinct mountain peaks. - Choten Kokutei Shiseki[^choten-kokutei-shiseki]. - Emilia's Wood[^emilias-wood], a Crown Reserve in the Gonzalez Highlands[^gonzalez-highlands], of more than three million acres of forest and hilly crags. - Wind Cave National Park. - Caerula Lacus Koen[^caerula-lacus-koen] is in a Crown Reserve in a dormant volcano complex of Warwar-san[^warwar-san], with an average depth of 75-m and a maximum depth of 205-m due to underwater crevasses and caverns; the crater rim is 857-m with several walking paths and hiking trails. - Kuromatsu hogo-hu to koen[^kuromatsu-hogo-hu-to-koen], a three million acre Crown Reserve conservation area and park. - Ishikari-dake[^ishikari-dake] (3393 masl) is a lava dome volcano in the Ishikari Sanchi volcanic group of peaks arranged around the Nutapukaushipe[^nutapukaushipe] caldera and Ishikari Koya Koen[^ishikari-koya-koen] national park, and a popular destination for hot springs admirers and geyser enthusiasts. - Jewel Cave National Landmark. - The Northern Hills Spearfish Mountain Park Reserve national park, with over three hundred kilometers of snowmobile trails, cross country ski trails, snowshoe trails, hiking trails, biking trails, horseback trails, and three downhill ski and snowboarding areas near Dragonfly Lake (with winter ice skating), and Spearfish Canyon Falls that becomes frozen cascades of ice in the winter. - Jigaku no Kyokoku Koya Koen[^jigaku-no-kyokoku-koya-koen] (264,000 ha). The national park has a sixteen kilometer wide canyon with treacherous terrain formed of harder sandstones, ironstone, limestone, and sedimentary rock covered with basalt lava fields, with a 244-m high escarpment and the deep whitewater Guiyu he[^guiyu-he] gorge more than a kilometer below the Nanatsu no akuma no yama[^nanatsu-no-akuma-no-yama] peaks of an extinct arc of volcanoes. - Wildflower Prairie National Park, where there is a regular pilgrimage in May as it is the best time to see the abundantly growing flora across the more than five kilometer trail that gains less than six hundred meters in elevation across the blooming meadows and tall grass prairie. - Black Elk Wilderness is a Crown Reserve with absolutely no motorized transport permitted. - Bear Butte National Park. - Kuroi Oka Kokuritsu Koen[^kuroi-oka-kokuritsu-koen] has more than five thousand square kilometers of dense pine forests and mountain peaks. - Kuroi Oka Kokuyu-rin[^kuroi-oka-kokuyu-rin] has seven million hectares of towering old growth trees, pristine freshwater lakes, and magnificent wildlife. ## Wildlife The province is famous for its diverse wildlife. - **Mountains and upper forests**: mountain goats, lynx, chamois, scimitar da mao[^scimitar-da-mao], ibex, kamoshika[^kamoshika], dhole, homa[^homa], golden eagles, hyrax, crows, tortoises, fairy sheep, and big horn sheep. - **Lower forests and valley grasslands**: shika[^shika], okina herajika[^okina-herajika], kuro herajika[^kuro-herajika], shashi[^shashi], saiga[^saiga], macaque, iberlynx, wild horses, hawks, osprey, akagitsune[^akagitsune], pronghorns, akamomonga[^akamomonga], muskrats, eagle-owls, chipmunks, bears, beavers, river otters, minks, obake okami[^obake-okami], ryukyu nousagi[^ryukyu-nousagi], and many other species. - **Creeks and rivers**: trout, carp, bass, pike, bluegill, and pink salmon. - **Woodlands and grasslands**: novosaurs[^novosaurs], bison, storks, idaina kemono, yasei no neko[^yasei-no-neko], ravens, sea eagles, guar[^guar], warthog, horned andalusians[^horned-andalusians], dacho-ba[^dacho-ba], deer, serval, walluru, caracal, wild horses, ezo bears, wildebeast, dingo, moon bears, maned hyena, tanuki[^tanuki], macaque, leopard cats, dhole, golden jackals, tancho dzuru[^tancho-dzuru], copper pheasant, baieyan[^baieyan], izu thrush, obake okami[^obake-okami], prairie dogs, yamakagashi[^yamakagashi], odd-scaled snakes, ruffled grouse, pinyon jay, red-back vole, black-foot ferrets, coyote, squirrels, marmots, martens, white winged junco, song sparrow, and falcons. - **Coastlines and delta**: crocodiles and alligators, stellar eagles, aomigame[^aomigame], sea otters, seals, sea lions, porpoise, and red-bellied snakes. - **Invertebrates**: a preponderance of beetles, mantis, peackock spiders, moths, dragonflies, orb spiders, fireflies, bumblebees, mason bees, damselfly, honeybees, cicada, crickets, and over three hundred species of butterflies inhabiting the province. Wallaru are macropod mammalians native to Nejiro. They inhabit the woodlands of the Eastern Desert province and the warm temperate forests and grasslands of the Yushan province and of the Kuroi Oka province, and also some of the warmer grassland areas of the Southern Steppe province of the Tairiku continent and of the Caoyuen continent. With large back feet, it hops on its two back legs as locomotion at around 25-kph or sprints at about 70-kph, powerful gastrocnemius muscles lift the body off the ground while the smaller plantaris muscle attached near the fourth toe is used for push off. At slow speeds it uses pentapedal locomotion using its tail as a tripod with its two forelimbs. It is a strict herbivore that eats a wide variety of grasses, shrubs, and fungus. The animals are nocturnal and crepuscular. Their bodies do not release large quantities of methane instead the hydrogen byproduct of fermentation is converted to acetate to provide future energy. One of the ways they avoid predators is by running to water sources where they are skilled at drowning their pursuers. Some farmers have domesticated small herds as the meat is high in protein and very low in fat. Their fur grows in shades of grays and browns. They have tail lengths up to 74-cm, with head and body lengths up to 65-cm, and weights up to 22-kg. ## Cypress Basin The Cypress Basin at the Kuroi Oka province's most northern part is a combination of subtropical wetlands and river delta area where the Yoshino-gawa[^yoshino-gawa] and Subarashi Bei[^subarashi-bei] converge over flooded plains on limestone shelves. The canyons between the shelves may have depths over three hundred meters; some have become quite popular fishing holes, while others have swallowed unmindful unsuspecting Mech pilots. The basin contains about sixty percent coastal and forest wetland habitat, and the rest is marshes, swamps, wet prairies, marl prairies, grassy wetlands, and water, with over one thousand islets scattered across the mouth of the delta and hundreds of small islands and islets scattered along the coastlines of Subarashi Bei and along the Yoshino-gawa riverbanks. The Delta plays a very important role in the region's flood control and sediment trapping, and has vast reed beds, grasslands, lagoons, wetlands, sandbanks, riparian forests, and narrow river valleys providing important feeding, breeding, and nesting grounds for a variety of wildlife. The Delta also acts as a natural barrier from storms and helps to maintain water quality for the continent. The basin's dense bottomland hardwoods, cypress swamps, pinelands, hammocks, mangroves, overflow lakes, and meandering bayous provide tremendous diversity of habitat for more than three hundred species of resident and migratory birds and numerous other wildlife (including idaina washi[^idaina-washi], kinkuma[^kinkuma], coywolves, hana-koumori[^hana-koumori], alligators, and venomous sea snakes). It contains the largest forested wetlands and the largest floodplain forest on the continent. The Cypress Basin is home to the Valley of the Lakes (500-km long and up to 100-km wide), a chain of saline lakes across the valley bottom originating from the delta mixing with the sea. It is a popular migratory flamenco and waterfowl breeding ground with numerous crustaceans, ray-finned fish, daces, minnows, and osman fish inhabiting the waters. The Cypress Basin region susceptible to long periods of deep flooding is sparsely inhabited by people. The few exceptions are the city of Bridges, the agricultural areas of Mandarin Valley and Fimble Dingle, and the two Koichizoku landholds of MacDiarmid and Hohki (located southwest and northeast of the city of Bridges and Laguna Venezia), plus several small scattered bayou communities (traditional fishers, loggers, hunters, trappers, and coffea growers that live in stilted buildings or treehouse communities that exclusively use boats as transport) who have all adapted structurally and socially to their environment. The Narenta River[^narenta-river] (originating in The Needles mountain range) is one of the larger and colder rivers of the delta, and its pure waters has spawned a host of awe-inspiring turquoise lagoons and deep blue lakes teeming with over fifty species of freshwater fish. The Cypress Basin has several (natural water movement) hydropower plants (powering the city of Bridges including its metro area and the province in general), as well as sizable agricultural areas. - Fimble Dingle[^fimble-dingle] has great plantations of hemp, flax, cannabis, and bamboo for food, paper and wood products, composite materials, textiles, plastics, building materials, water and soil purification, weed control, biofuel, medicinal, and recreational uses. - Mandarin Valley (a vast floodplain over twelve thousand hectares) is where the swamp basin's rich soil has been adapted into floating garden plantations accessible only by boat, and growing over sixty thousand tonnes of mandarins annually (plus tonnes of grapes, currants, olives, apples, pears, peaches, cherries, plums, figs, dates, macadamia, pecan, coconut, cashews, pomegranate, berries, peonies, iris illyrica flowers, catmint, lemons, kiwi, banana, oranges, kumquat, maize, tomatoes, zuccchini, cucumbers, watermelons, apricots, trout, carp, eels, mollusks, catfish, frogs, greens, legumes, winter and root vegetables, herbs and more are harvested year round). The attractive appearance of the green plantations full of orange-colored mandarins is slowly drawing a greater and greater number of organized tourists who come to try their hand in the mandarin harvest in the autumn, finding something out about their cultivation and leaving happy with bags full of juicy fruit which they have picked themselves. The mandarin harvest itself is a special procedure because the fruits of this citrus cannot be simply pulled from the stems; instead, they are specially cut with clippers so that the mandarin remains on the stem fresh and full of tasty juice. With over 2700 hours of sunshine each year the region has a climate excellent for vine growth. The area is very fertile and is utilized to grow a variety of grapes, and the wine world was taken aback when the Chardonnay from Mandarin Valley was declared the best in a blind taste test in Yousai. The Green Pearl Wetlands are an ichthyological - ornithological Crown Reserve home to many protected objects of nature crucial for fish spawning, bird migration and wintering. The delta reserve occupies over twenty thousand hectares and is grouped into five categories - ornithological preserves, icthyological preserves, horticultural monument trees, significant landscapes, and park forest. There is an intricate network of waterways and canals throughout the Cypress Basin region—the Navigli Waterways—which provides access for maritime traffic. The few railways and roadways that cross the Cypress Basin are elevated or follow the tops of natural and engineered levees and escarpments. The basin is about one hundred sixty five kilometers in width and nine hundred kilometers in length, and it is the largest wetland ecosystem on the continent of Tairiku. [^blackhills]: Black Hills [^tsuga]: pine [^kuromatsu]: black pine [^akamatsu]: red pine [^jukai]: sea of trees [^yoshino-gawa]: pleasing river [^subarashi-bei]: wonderful bay [^naminogake]: wave cliffs [^naminogake-formation]: limestone and sandstone cliffs, slot canyons, and massive sinewy rock formations that resemble the waters that helped to create them, that geographically separate the Eastern Desert province and the Kuroi Oka province [^sangosho-gulf]: coral [^samenoumi]: shark ocean [^momijigari]: hunting autumn leaves [^hanami-sakura-zensen]: flower viewing cherry blossom front [^chukchi-peninsula]: rich in deer [^kamchatka-peninsula]: at the far end [^kola-peninsula]: gathers wealth [^celilo-falls]: echo of falling water, sound of water upon the rocks [^rubea-montes]: red mountains [^ishi-obi]: stone belt [^duren-san]: endure volcano mountain [^kokutai]: black belt [^moeru-gake]: burning, flaming cliffs [^nakizuna]: singing sands [^belledonne-massif]: beautiful elevated rock valley, deadly nightshade [^folia-schist]: leaves [^katamuki-yamayama]: tilted mountains [^kogane-no-yamayama]: golden mountains [^hiironokudo]: scarlet hollows [^gypsum-use]: which are used in the manufacture of cement and ferrocrete [^kresta-kresto]: crest ridge massif [^shi-qun]: stone skirts [^kokai-sha-kokuritsu-koen]: voyagers, navigators national park [^choten-kokutei-shiseki]: pinnacle national landmark [^emilias-wood]: strength [^gonzalez-highlands]: battle or war elf, war hall; twenty seven thousand square kilometers of ancient uplifted rocks and pine forests - its highest point at the summit of the Nebh (connected with water and clouds, 'the misty one') is 2543 masl - with granite and igneous intrusions with fossil beds more than four hundred million years old and a rift valley [^caerula-lacus-koen]: deep blue lake park [^warwar-san]: crow country mountain [^kuromatsu-hogo-hu-to-koen]: black pine preserve [^ishikari-dake]: a greatly wandering river - magma [^nutapukaushipe]: the mountain above the river [^ishikari-koya-koen]: wilderness park [^jigaku-no-kyokoku-koya-koen]: hell canyon wildnerness park [^guiyu-he]: salmon river [^nanatsu-no-akuma-no-yama]: seven devils mountains [^kuroi-oka-kokuritsu-koen]: black hills national park [^kuroi-oka-kokuyu-rin]: black hills national forest [^scimitar-da-mao]: sabretooth big cat [^kamoshika]: serow goat-antelope [^homa]: bone breaker vultures [^shika]: sika deer [^okina-herajika]: great elk [^kuro-herajika]: black elk [^shashi]: mountain lion [^saiga]: antelope [^akagitsune]: red fox [^akamomonga]: red flying squirrel [^obake-okami]: ghost wolf with black and brown undercoats [^ryukyu-nousagi]: dragon ranked hare is a nocturnal antlered furry-scaled lagomorph typically 75-cm long and 5-kg with extended incisors [^novosaurs]: native to the forests and grasslands of Nejiro the feathered and scaled 'velociraptor' stand about one meter tall and a cohesive cru - family unit of three to five hunting adults with as many as nine - working together may bring down a herajika or idaina kemono [^yasei-no-neko]: wildcat [^guar]: native wild bovine [^horned-andalusians]: native wild equidae [^dacho-ba]: ostrich horse [^tanuki]: raccoon dogs [^tancho-dzuru]: red-crowned cranes [^baieyan]: white front goose [^yamakagashi]: tiger keelback [^aomigame]: green sea turtles [^idaina-washi]: great eagles [^kinkuma]: golden bear [^hana-koumori]: flower bat - a native flying and climbing diurnal frugivorous feather-scaled mammal with dark membrane wings supported by finger like digits covered with a dusting of golden fuzzy tendrils that shade into prismatic dark green tendrils along its head, body, and clawed feet with curling prismatic feathery sensory tendrils covering its body and a foxy whiskered muzzle that inhabits subtropical and tropical forests on Nejiro [^narenta-river]: leadership, dignity, strength [^fimble-dingle]: a narrow enclosed wooded valley of about five thousand three hundred hectares with a temperate microclimate