Traders of Southern Steppe and Swamp

Serinaustra dries out more slowly than Serinarcta, for it is located beneath circulating polar winds that bring steadier rains off the seas, and at 295 M.PE. it still supports a ring of damp low-growing forest. This is the austral swamp, a relict forest that is the home of the sylvanspark. Moving south, it gradually transitions to polar tundra, and heading north, the trees grow sparser and the land transforms into a reformed southern steppe similar to the flatlands, but wetter; the grass grows taller here, and trees, though not common, still form forest pockets within the steppe. This is the home of the slaughtersprinter. The two scrounger sophonts meet at the margins, with interactions ranging from antagonistic to affiliative. A tentative trade network forms along shared boundaries, bringing aspects of each culture to its neighbor, and sometimes introducing species from one habitat to the next.

Somewhere south of the open steppe, but north of the swamp, there lies a river. It is a small one - little more than a creek, in most years, but to the locals it is very important, for this river is a boundary line. On its north side, the fierce, meat-eating Sprinters claim their vast territory, over which they travel tens of miles each and every day on the hunt for big game. South of the river live the Sylvans, a gregarious, highly innovative gatherer of the forest. Under most circumstances, neither shall cross this river - if they do, they are in enemy lands, and may rightfully be treated with hostility. 

But sometimes, the Whisperwings carry messages on their flights. They tell that the Sprinters wish to meet with the Sylvans. They will bring goods, if the Sylvans will follow suit. And so the birds lead the two cultures together, where the river splits woods and meadow. It is not entirely a peaceful gathering - there is usually some tension, a level of distrust. The Sylvans and the Sprinters do not speak the same tongues. Each negotation is translated by the whispers - and it can never be sure that they are entirely honest, or whether they try to get a bigger cut for themselves. For they are independent of either of the scroungers's worlds, involved only for their own gain, with alliances that can change. 

The Sprinters bring cuts of meat, large game that the sylvans rarely catch on their own. They bring young of exotic animals from far-off regions, able to be tamed and trained, so that the Sylvans can increase their hunting capabilities. They seek in return finer crafts they lack the means or knowledge to produce; baskets and cloth sacs to carry goods, jewelry as a status symbol. But most of all, they seek something the Sylvans have learned to make which no creature before them on Serina has. They seek to trade for the brown metal that they forge through fire from the ground, which can be shaped into strong tips to their weapons and high-value charms which can be further bartered with other, more distant Sprinters.

Today, however, the Sprinters arrive to the trading ground to find something that shocks and alarms them. The Sylvans have tamed a truly astonishing creature, a giant beast, and now sit upon its back unharmed and in control of its movements. The Sprinters approach with caution that gradually turns to awe at their seemingly impossible control of nature. For today, this "horse" is a novelty, one of the very first ever to be successful tamed and trained. It is docile, and the Sprinters need not fear it - yet. But in time to come, its use will spread among the Sylvans, and will ultimately make them aggressively competitive against the Sprinter in its own niche, and ultimately leave them to expand as the dominant species in their environment and to colonize the world beyond the swamp by themselves. 

The horse is just the start.