11-06-2009, 03:47 AM
If I may add to this....
From our experience, the Sidh Ohn would have to agree with your hypothesis concerning the ocean currents. As you've commented, the western nations tend to exhibit warmer climates, with the eastern nations experiencing varying degrees of cold to semi-tundra like conditions. Of particular interest to me is the difference between your own lands (cold but not frozen over) and Sidh Ohn (near-tundra conditions) given that our lands lie on your southern border. This has caused many theories among us but is easily explained by our topographies and the clockwise ocean currents the region seems to experience. ie. Sidh Ohn has a topography that largely slopes down the farther east you go, slopes gently up the farther west and south you go, while remaining fairly flat to the northern border. This likely prevents the warmest air currents from the south and west from reaching us, while admitting the colder air from the the eastern ocean and, to a lesser extent, from your own northern lands. So, we have a situation, where the lands of the bears have a relatively open air flow which allows greater temperature variations, which while still very cold, are not arctic, while Sidh Ohn is essentially a bowl of cold air with little temperature variation, resulting in a lower average annual temperature, and thus our near-tundra conditions.
Likewise, we know for a fact that their is at the very least a northern ice shelf that was once much larger as that is how our own people arrived on the continent; ie. over an ice bridge that once connected it with this continent in the north.
This observation leads us to the topic of the highly varied flora and fauna in the region. It is our belief that the two main continents that make up the region are likely sitting on entirely different plates. As stated, our northern continent was once in contact with a northerly ice shelf (whether this was an ice covered land mass or just ice is another question that we are not entirely sure of, though we can say that we migrated from a continent on the other side of it.) Our own migration took place due to a massive geologic upheaval. We also have records indicating that a similar upheaval occurring on the region's northern continent in the wake of our arrival which prevented us from escaping to the north again. This has led us to theorise, that within cultural memory, the plates that the northern and southern continents rest on moved near each other from arctic and tropic climes respectively, until arriving in there current, apparently stabalised locations. So most of the apparent disparity in the flora and fauna of the region would be explained geologically. The remainder seems to have been introduced by immigrants (such as the Sidh Ohn Aurochs and Brother-Wolves.) Of the remaining native species some were driven to extinction (such as arctic wolves from hunting in Bears Armed and competition in Sidh Ohn) and others thriving in the new environment (such as the chromatic crows in Bears Armed and the apparently related ice crows in Sidh Ohn.)
We would be curious if any more of these findings could be verified.
From our experience, the Sidh Ohn would have to agree with your hypothesis concerning the ocean currents. As you've commented, the western nations tend to exhibit warmer climates, with the eastern nations experiencing varying degrees of cold to semi-tundra like conditions. Of particular interest to me is the difference between your own lands (cold but not frozen over) and Sidh Ohn (near-tundra conditions) given that our lands lie on your southern border. This has caused many theories among us but is easily explained by our topographies and the clockwise ocean currents the region seems to experience. ie. Sidh Ohn has a topography that largely slopes down the farther east you go, slopes gently up the farther west and south you go, while remaining fairly flat to the northern border. This likely prevents the warmest air currents from the south and west from reaching us, while admitting the colder air from the the eastern ocean and, to a lesser extent, from your own northern lands. So, we have a situation, where the lands of the bears have a relatively open air flow which allows greater temperature variations, which while still very cold, are not arctic, while Sidh Ohn is essentially a bowl of cold air with little temperature variation, resulting in a lower average annual temperature, and thus our near-tundra conditions.
Likewise, we know for a fact that their is at the very least a northern ice shelf that was once much larger as that is how our own people arrived on the continent; ie. over an ice bridge that once connected it with this continent in the north.
This observation leads us to the topic of the highly varied flora and fauna in the region. It is our belief that the two main continents that make up the region are likely sitting on entirely different plates. As stated, our northern continent was once in contact with a northerly ice shelf (whether this was an ice covered land mass or just ice is another question that we are not entirely sure of, though we can say that we migrated from a continent on the other side of it.) Our own migration took place due to a massive geologic upheaval. We also have records indicating that a similar upheaval occurring on the region's northern continent in the wake of our arrival which prevented us from escaping to the north again. This has led us to theorise, that within cultural memory, the plates that the northern and southern continents rest on moved near each other from arctic and tropic climes respectively, until arriving in there current, apparently stabalised locations. So most of the apparent disparity in the flora and fauna of the region would be explained geologically. The remainder seems to have been introduced by immigrants (such as the Sidh Ohn Aurochs and Brother-Wolves.) Of the remaining native species some were driven to extinction (such as arctic wolves from hunting in Bears Armed and competition in Sidh Ohn) and others thriving in the new environment (such as the chromatic crows in Bears Armed and the apparently related ice crows in Sidh Ohn.)
We would be curious if any more of these findings could be verified.