The Western Weave & Kwee Republic

The Western Weave is a vast geographical region that forms the western portion of the Takara Plains, spanning all the way from the western border of the Central Savannah all the way to Borea's west coast. It is also the region in which the majority of the Takara River travels, serving as both a source of drinking water for indigenous animals and, in modern ages, as a canal for trade between Tinria and countries from other parts of the world. It is the primordial motherland of the Shovelfolk, and the cosmopolitan Fauns also have ancient roots here.

The Western Weave encompasses the Kwee Republic, a tribal sovereign nation that was founded roughly 800 years ago through the combined efforts of indigenous Faun, Oliphaunt, and Shovelfolk delegates. Throughout the past millennia, this land was repeatedly exploited by colonists from overseas, bringing with them diseases and dangerous invasive species. The most destructive of these invaders were the Hevecca Empire from the far north, which not only robbed natives of their valuables but also exploited the Shovelfolk specifically for their meat and fur. The founding of the Kwee Republic was made as a direct response to these repeated invasions, since native sovereignty would not only ensure greater strength as a unified cultural identity but also encourage neighboring political powers to come to their aid if they were to be invaded again. Currently, the Kwee Republic is merged with the larger country of Tinria, but it retains much of its sovereignty and remains largely self-governed, albeit with the added benefits of emergency military aid and the adoption of the Tinrian shilling as a secondary currency.

Though the Western Weave is considered to be a single region for geopolitical reasons, it is technically composed of two subregions. The northern subregion, or the "highlands", is a semi-arid temperate steppe that sits from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level, while the southern subregion, the "lowlands", is a savannah that lies at about 2,000 feet. Aside from the frequent mesas and stream valleys that occur between the highlands and lowlands, both subregions exhibit a rather flat topography. The region itself is dominated by low-growing plants and shrubs, with trees only growing in substantial quantities in the lowlands. In the west coast's intertidal zone, where the Comedian Ocean and Takara river meet, however, the brackish mixture of saltwater and freshwater has led to the growth of a dense mangrove-like forest.

Much like the shortgrass prairies of the northern United States, the Western Weave is subjected to an extreme degree of seasonal variation. Swelteringly hot summer droughts are contrasted by bitter cold snaps during the winter, and both the highlands and lowlands experience only brief bouts of precipitation throughout the year. Spring is the most ecologically productive season in this region, as the ensuing rainfall encourages the rapid growth of vegetation and pools up to form temporary watering holes.

Simplified diagram of a star grass.

Technically speaking, there are no grasses in this alien landscape. The equivalent niches are instead filled by the Astrograminidae, a cosmopolitan family of Angiodactyl Olekirkophytes. Also known as "star grasses" by laymen, these peculiar plants are at least marginally similar to our own grasses in the sense that they are low-growing plants that reproduce both sexually and clonally. This is where most similarities end, however, as unlike their Earthly counterparts, star grasses exhibit a clear radial symmetry in which four stolon-like brachia radiate from a central root disk. As these plants grow, their brachia often overlap and loop over and under each other, which forms a distinct "weaving" pattern that spans almost the entire landscape. For this reason, the Western Weave and the various other steppe biomes of Athyrmagaia are often called "weaves" instead of grasslands. There are multiple species that inhabit the Western Weave, and all of them serve as a food source for local grazing herbivores.