Skyreach Temperate Rainforest

Southern Skyreach is a temperate rainforest, defined by high precipitation and variable temperatures. The lowlands are warm, while the highlands are much cooler and frequently shrouded in fog. Forest fires are rare in the higher elevations, playing a negligible role in the ecosystem.

Consumers

• Secondary and Tertiary Consumers
  • Harpy Bats: Dominant flying predators of the Skyreach mountains aside from dragons. Nocturnal, sleep in the caves along the mountains, solitary creatures.
  • Dragons: Varying types, but become the apex predators of whichever realm or biome they find themselves in. Solitary, territorial, and highly intelligent.
  • Bears: Just bears.
  • Axe-Head Salamanders: Submerged ambush predators, hunting in rivers and lakes.
  • Flydragons: Medium-sized flying insects, feeding on small insects and amphibians near rivers and marshes. Domesticated as messengers.
  • Blood gnats: Mosquitoes than can grow up to two inches in wingspan
  • Other: Mountain Lions, Salamanders, Spiders
• Primary Consumers
  • Elsewhales: Rare, Giant flying whales that feed on readily-available Whisps (Whispering Maple seeds) and Flydragons
  • Swaybacks: Large, scaly bipedal grazers. Domesticated as pack animals.
  • Backhoppers: Large omnivorous grasshoppers, preferring to eat plants and dead insects.
  • Brassback Beetles: Medium-sized beetles that eat fallen leaves, fruit, and sap. Highly territorial, and equipped with powerful pincers on their head.
  • Walking Sticks: Small tree-climbing stickbugs which eat leaves.
  • Other: Groundhogs, Squirrels, Flying squirrels, Cicadas, Elk, Snails
• 5-8 Scavenger/Detritivore Species
  • Carrion Raptors: Flying reptilian carnivorous scavengers.
  • Gigapedes: Many-legged arthropods, growing up to a foot in length.
  • Bonefilchers: Small beetles that feed on corpses, able to vomit an enzyme that dissolves bones(but not flesh)
  • Poly-Pods: Cat-sized isopods, which feed on moss and plant rot. Smart and loyal, often domesticated as pets. Able to roll into a defensive ball when spooked.
  • Coyote-foxes: Pack-hunting canine scavengers. Able to burrow and construct underground warrens.
  • Other: Raccoons, Millipedes

Producers

• Overview
  • Evergreen spruce and fir forests at higher elevations
  • Deciduous cove forests at lower elevations
• Foliage: Flowering plants, mosses, ferns
• Climbing flora(prevalent in deciduous forest): Oldwind(Virginia) Creeper, Poison Ivy, Grapevines
• Shrubs: Rhododendron, Raspberry, Blackberry, Hobblebush, Bearberry, Red Elderberry, Minniebush
• Trees
  • Highlands: Spruce(dominant in middle regions), Fir(dominant in highest regions)
  • Lowlands:
    • Overstory: Basswood, Beech, Tulip Poplar, Sugar Maple, Red Maple, Yellow Birch, Red Oak, White Ash, Magnolia, Bitternut Hickory, Hemlock
    • Understory: Little Silverbell, Eastern Redbud
  • Whispering Maple
    • Mostly thrives in the lowlands
    • 2-3 times bigger than average maple
    • Powerful Mycorrhizal networks with other trees and animals.
    • Important nodes for nutrient sharing in rainforest
    • "Whisp" seeds are capable of sustained flight, gathering and sequestering carbon and other nutrients from the atmosphere in the ground.
    • Whisps are believed to be the secret to the tree's ability to communicate with other species, making them a key ingredient in Wilding Water.

Reference: Appalachian Temperate Rainforest