Geography of Etrand

The geography of the Kingdom of Etrand is diverse, as the sheer size of the kingdom ensures that it covers a wide range of climates and terrain forms. Etrand's territorial extent is roughly 460 919 square kilometres or 177 962 square miles.

Temperature and percipitation
Etrand's temperature and percipitation are influenced by both heavily influenced by its topography. If one takes away the mountains, the general rule is that climate gradually changes from a cold subarctip/boreal (Steelhelm and the Autonomous Dwarven Region) to a mild continental (Grandfolk and Dracfold) to a warm mediterranean (Talon and Copperport), as one goes from North to South. This is made a bit more complicated by the presence of high mountains, which are cold. In general, the more mountainous north - except the humid coastlines - is dry, due to the mountains creatring a rain shadow effect that reduces humidity. In contrast, no such thing occours in the south, creating a more humid environment.

With that being said, Etrand has no deserts, and no parts of it are dry enough to be considered a desert. With the notable exception of the Autonomous Dwarven Region and other mountains high enough to be characterized by perpetual snow, all regions of Etrand are characterized by rainy authumns - even the otherwise dry ones. In the boreal and continental north, the norm is cold and snowy winters, mild springs, hot and dry summers, rainy authumns. In the more mediterranean south, snow during winter is rare, summers and authumns are hot, authumns are rainy, winters are rainy and cold, but typically not cold enough to generate snow.

Western Etrand and Inner Etrand
Western Etrand and Inner Etrand are dominated by plains rather than forests. As such, the weather is characterized by hot and dry summers, rainy autumns, cold and snowy winters. The monotony of the grassy fields is often interrupted with small numbers of oak trees, but overall, the grasses reign supreme.

The wild fauna of Western Etrand and Inner Etrand consists mostly of wild horse, aurochs, bison, wild boars, bustards, wild ducks, but also hosts feral pigs, feral cattle, feral goats and feral sheep. A unique animal that roams the plains of Western Etrand is the musk bison, hunted for its musk, fur and meat alike.

Northern Etrand
Much of Northern Etrand happens to have an elevation that guarantees eternal snow. In such environments, most conventional plants fail to grow, but that does not mean that Northern Etrand had a poor flora or fauna - where civilization has not spread yet, there are plentiful spruce forests, and there are several edible mushrooms that not only tolerate the cold climate of Northern Etrand, but in fact thrive in it. There are also some species of wild grain and edible berry that also prefer the cold climate.

That extraordinary flora of Northern Etrand also gives rise to its extraordinary fauna - white tigers, mountain lions, dire wolves, ice goats, rocs, thunderbirds and many more animals that have managed to adapt to the region's cold climate and rocky terrain, and feed of its exotic flora.

Southern Etrand
Southern Etrand has a Mediterranean climate, meaning that there is little to no winter snow, summers are dry and hot, autumns are rainy but somewhat warm, winters are usually mild and rainy, rarely snowy.

The natural terrain of Southern Etrand consists mostly of oak forests at the northern and central portions, however, the very southernmost areas transition into swamplands, swamp forests. At certain points, the swamp forests are so dense that they warrant being called jungles. In the non-swampy parts of Southern Etrand, human habitation have caused the creation of wheat fields and vineyards at the expense of forests.

The native fauna of Southern Etrand is variable. At the areas covered or formerly covered by oak forests, the animal life is mostly dominated by wild geese, wild ducks, wild turkey, capybaras, wild boars, and brown bears.

In the swamplands and swampy jungles, the wild fauna however is markedly different - domination by lizards, meat-eating flies and plants, basilisks, giant spiders, and similiar man-eating abominations.