Polar Climates - Worldbuilder's Log 36

[@alecity4877]

You can't call yourself lazy, if *you* are lazy, I am a potato. This is a lot of work Edgar. Good work.

[@GmodPlusWoW]

Exactly. You're not even a potato. You appear to be... an extra-crispy ham-and-cheese toastie, which is the bruncheon of kings.

[@SotraEngine4]

I haven't even done the coastlines of my remaster worldmap. I plan to basically butcher the tutorial and do like 1% of the effort. It will still be so much better than what I had

[@alecity4877]

@@GmodPlusWoW finally someone noticed the ham! I made it the 19th of July of 2019 and still proud, it was delicious.

[@Dragrath1]

To be fair from the OCD completionist perspective the ice has weight which means when it starts to pile up it depresses the surrounding land which along with lower sea levels is why Earth looks so different during glacial maximum. There is always more you can do its a never ending quest if you don't know when to stop. That said anyone who wants to do an glacial maximum and or even marine isotope stage can't neglect the ice effects from mountains. For example its the reason the Cordilleran ice sheet was at one point the largest ice sheet for the earlier glacial cycles because it was seeded high up in the mountains during the Pliocene and thus quickly grew in mass under the colder climate of the Pleistocene only to be starved of moisture as the Laurentide ice sheet grew. Additionally the Andean ice sheet and Antarctic ice sheet were able to grow and eventually merge together effectively cutting the Pacific Ocean off from the Atlantic as the ice sheets became anchored to the sea floor. Maybe there were still tunnels through the ice its hard to say but the bulk flow through drakes passage would have ceased.

[@AaronGeo]

WERE DOING CLIMATES GUYSSS 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥

[@Auroral_Anomaly]

Weddell seals!

[@AaronGeo]

​@@Auroral_Anomaly Omg i love those fellas

[@the-human-being]

Don’t you mean 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️❄️❄️❄️

[@solomon4554]

At long last

[@ShayminLover492]

The ice cap in the southeast could potentially cause that area to be very windy due to katabatic winds, which means in the winter, we could expect quite a few harsh blizzards to happen. However, because the atmosphere is denser than it is on Earth (1.818 g/cm^3 as opposed to ~1.225 g/cm^3), we can expect these blizzards to be more severe than they would be on Earth, so we could potentially see blizzards with hurricane-force winds. In the summer, we could see occasional windstorms ripping through the area, which means vegetation here would have to adapt to frequent battering by hurricane-force winds in addition to the harsh winters. These winds could also be the subject of local folklore. For example, a tale could emerge of an angry god who dwells on the southern ice and frequently blows hard on the land to punish those who defy his commands. As such, a custom could emerge where you have to build sturdy south-facing walls if you want to protect yourself from the god's wrath, and if they fail, you know that you've been doomed to eternal damnation. Just some interesting local flavour.

[@ThatNordicGuy]

In other words, a real shithole!

[@theorixlux]

Crazy to think that the steep plunge into below zero temps is not the highest problem on any organisms in that area.

[@shadowsfromolliesgraveyard6577]

Wouldn't the denser atmosphere let the ice caps grow taller too? I thought the limit on ice cap height was about, how high moisture can reach to keep piling on rather subliminating away, more than it was about gravity

[@FelyneIbuki]

​@@shadowsfromolliesgraveyard6577Higher gravity also alters the 'lapse rate' which makes the atmosphere thin out faster than on earth. I'd imagine it roughly cancels out.

[@joshuabaughn3734]

It's also one of the reasons why fishing for crab in the Bering Sea is so dangerous.

[@fatehbousseniou3217]

FINALLY WE MADE IT TO CLIMATE

[@lassefiedler3542]

That extreme temperature changes will make for some funky biology. I imagine carrot like plants that bury deep roots and that lose their foliage in the summer, and also produce a kind of antifreeze to protect their cells from dying in the winter. I also imagine them having the most vibrant flowers with the most pungent smells to attract any of the few pollinators that make it down there in the summer

[@rossbaygeo]

What is exciting about the temperature changes in these regions is that they are not as alien as we think-or they help us look at Earth's climates in new ways. Siberia and the Canadian territories in North America have comparable temperature shifts from summer to winter!

[@stevenhawkinsii7241]

My favorite thing about realistic and process/rules driven physical worldbuilding is discovering things like that bay with the crazy seasonal change. We were born too late to explore the Earth, but you can explore a homemade world at any time. Just imagining what would happen to explorers when they stayed for winter and were ignorant of the change in weather, and what kind of cultures and mythologies a civilization would have if they existed near there... Amazing haha

[@isaacthedestroyerofstuped7676]

The "dontlookatthisthere'slotsoftopographyhere" was golden

[@autochton]

Loving the humor. And yeah, that bay on Picard seems like it might be livable -- but you only ever head south in summer. Lest the snow demons eat you. Kinda curious what sort of wildlife might adapt to that sort of area.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

The kind that's really good at hibernating.

[@louisgray3479]

I'm also thinking about people living there. Like at least in summer people might live near the coast. But staying more permanently? Temperatures are comparable to Greenland (-50°C) so living there could be possible, although not very comfortable.

[@Mercure250]

About that bay : To be fair, in Eastern Canada, which is where I live, you can go from a summer that goes into the 30's, nowadays close to 40, to a winter that goes into the -20's, even touching -30. Doesn't always happen, this winter has been pretty warm for example (we actually broke some records), but it can happen.

[@golwenlothlindel]

Just remember, Edgar hasn't started doing the monsoons yet. What you're talking about is the El Nino effect.

[@Mercure250]

@@golwenlothlindel I was just saying it probably wouldn't be that crazy for people to live near that bay; there are millions of people who live in places with crazier temperature differences than what he's shown for that bay.

[@golwenlothlindel]

@@Mercure250 oh that's true. It wouldn't be a crazy place to live at all, though it would out some interesting pressures on the cultural development of anyone living there. The addition of monsoon effects will probably narrow the temperature range just a bit though.

[@Stephen-Fox]

Edgar making decisions that makes his life _easier_ in a world building project? Is this character development?

[@SebRomu]

Death 1000 ways - mostly just one, but yeah lot's of death. Good vid, easy to follow the logic of the process here.

[@altejoh]

If you were really crazy and had the geographic history of your world back a few thousand years, you could calculate average snowfall in the region and then multiply that by the number of years that it had been able to accumulate - though that can get more complicated with how much melts at the boundaries every summer (if more melts than deposits, the glacier is growing, or shrinking for vice versa), as well as how much snow you can actually pile up before it falls down or gets compacted into ice, etc. On a side tangent, all the weight from the continent scale glaciers will likely push the continental crust itself down, which can have some interesting consequences. Especially if there is a period of geologic time where that weight is "suddenly" released.

[@KiraiKatsuji]

Yes please let this be heard

[@Dorsidwarf]

I was gonna say, putting 4km of ice will cause some major depression in the underlying continent, so Mount Dome might be a lot lower than you expect

[@volcryndarkstar]

Artifexian and Biblaridion posted within a week of each other? Let's fuckin' gooo!!!

[@Not_Dane_Heart]

NEWWWW EPISSSSSSSSODEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and so soon after the biblardion video too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! such a great week!!

[@madelinejameswrites]

Absolutely love this. Shout out to Ross again! OH and I really like how you zoomed into some of these similar places on Google Earth. I think polar climates are a bit obvious, but when you get around to other ones it'll be extra cool.

[@rossbaygeo]

Thanks Madeline!

[@CostaKangaroo]

I'm trying to picture what such a massive ice dome would even look like haha

[@AlexChec]

So massive you wouldn't even perceive it at scale. Say it's 500km from the peak of the dome to the edge - that results in an average slope of less than 1cm rise for every 1m of distance. You could be standing on the summit and barely notice a drop off to the horizon.

[@CuriosityCore101]

Yes! A new Artifexian video! That always brightens my day!

[@theorixlux]

The southeastern part has wide temperature changes much like Mongolia. Unimaginable how Mongolia's climate could change if it bordered an ocean.

[@jonathanthomas8736]

Super psyched we made it to climates, but I really am looking forward to mapping biomes over this.

[@UnderTrack_]

the topical climates on their way to force another temperature map update tangent that'll take forever 😆 good luck anyway, project looking great so far

[@rossbaygeo]

That was the last time Edgar has to edit the isotherms-I promise!

[@UnderTrack_]

​@@rossbaygeo that'd make sense, allthough wouldn't they be influenced by cyclic phenomenoms that happen in the tropics/equator like ENSO or monsoons ? or was that already taken into consideration prior ?

[@rossbaygeo]

@@UnderTrack_ The "A" Climate regions certainly are influenced by regular phenomena like monsoons, which-you beat me to it-were taken into consideration in the new precipitation and pressure video in late 2023. The ENSO does have an impact on Köppen-Geiger Climate Classifications; however it is not a yearly phenomena and occurs irregularly. When classifying climates, we look at averages over a thirty year period called a Normal, and irregular events like the ENSO, which happens once up to every 7 years, gets averaged out.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Well, that mountain is fairly balmy compared to Antarctica (< -80°C in the winter), but it's still so cold that atmospheric ammonia and hydrogen sulfide can precipitate in the winter (in fact ammonia would precipitate year round due to doing so below ~-33°C). Perfect for some truly funky biology (such as hibernating extremophile microbes that thrive on the nitrogen rich icemelt near those rapid changes in elevation)

[@altejoh]

Does, this happen on Earth? O.o

[@rossbaygeo]

The -80°C Antarctic temperatures tend to be record lows; for example, at the South Pole in July the monthly mean temperature is -59.8°C, which is ~8°C warmer then summit of the Picardian Ice Dome-but have reached -80.6°C-so we may expect the Ice Dome to have lows similar to Dome A or Dome F in Antarctica. Overall the interior of the ice sheet has a similar mean temperature to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, around -40°C. The main reason that the polar regions of Picard are warmer derives from the land extending well into the midlatitudes. You're right, the speculative biology implications are really exciting!

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@altejoh probably, but also probably isn't really noticeable seeing as ammonia is usually bound up in water and H2S isn't particularly present either. However it may mean that we'd expect to see the snow and ice behave differently in regions that have those transition temperatures. Would have to look into it to be sure. Just took a cursory glance and it seems like ammonia oxidation in the coastal waters of Antarctica is a major source of chemoautotrophy in winter in comparison to the summer, which lines up well with when the average temperature near the coast is between -30 and -35, so it's likely that there's some interesting thermo-chemical interactions at those temperatures (probably the ice sheet is acting to condense and freeze fraction ammonia at those temperatures). There was also some discussion of sulphur chemistry but I didn't want to dive deep into a research rabbit hole just yet.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@rossbaygeo thanks for the corrections/extra info, both very helpful and interesting. Definitely looking forward to seeing some of the hypothermophiles that spring up in the region.

[@davilimalol4612]

​@@rossbaygeoIf you look at the Climate charts in Vostok station (coldest long-running weather station in the world, but still not at the summit), the July average temp is -67 degrees which is nearly precisely in line with the Picardian dome's summit. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_Station#Climate)

[@Zestrayswede]

15:05 So it's like Yakutsk... or any other part of Siberia. Or northern Canada for that matter. _Though I suppose even those places never get that absurdly cold in the winter on average_

[@benparker2522]

just as I was feeling lost from Biblaridion finishing his series, yay!

[@kalez238]

I loved the wild swings there. The -66 actually had me chuckling with surprise. I would love to see the wild weather results in that area.

[@rossbaygeo]

The swing on Picardian Ice Sheets's dome is quite similar to those we see at the South Pole on Earth!

[@CodeMC-w]

mars would call that h-e-double-hockey-stick

[@ananas_anna]

Biblaridion's Alien Biospheres series just concluded, I initially discovered it from the colab you did with him a few years ago. I'm excited to see where he goes next with his world, and I'm excited to see you get started on climates!

[@Ninjaananas]

Nice, finally the climate zones. I have read into a bunch of that myself.

[@TheTrekkie12]

CLIMATES!!!! Yessss it is time!!!

[@altejoh]

Also another way to think of the contour lines: the closer they are, the steeper the slope.

[@asztaqurvapont7350]

WOO, YEAH BABY! THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR

[@shirokamishijisa3945]

Can't wait to get to the point where we add people to this world. I'm interested to see what he'll do with it!

[@dylaneverett4586]

-66°C places well within the liquid range of ammonia. If your world has slightly different biochemistry to Earth that produces ammonia, or is richer in ammonia generally, this could lead to the formation of ammonia rain and ammonia lakes sitting on top of a the polar ice sheets!

[@ubi_ezis]

Wow, climates!

[@zkingsalsa]

wake up babe new artifexian

[@Сергей-в3ж2ю]

Thank you. This videos are so inspirate!

[@Liethen]

I imagine people from that southern continental climate would be quite tough and stoic. And since half the year would be horrifically cold after wind chill is added, I imagine them having a variety of games that can be played at the fire side through the long bleak winter. Or maybe they hibernate like bears.

[@makiarizona]

FINALLY CLIMATES

[@yere7851]

I became lazy at height maps and now I'm just watching the videos to see your amazing work

[@hetzer3316]

When I saw the video, i was like 💥💥💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Yay, here early, even if it's 5am and I need to head to sleep.

[@jasonlewis4438]

Oooh, so the extra isotherms near the poles that you got rid of earlier were due to glaciers that weren't there yet!

[@Taqterra]

the tip of the iceberg joke made me smile :)

[@kat_astrophe4279]

HE UPLOADED AGAIN!!!!!!

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

The tropical zone will be much more interesting as we have to take into consideration monsoons and mountains.

[@rossbaygeo]

I am very excited that we have moved onto climate! If anyone has any questions about glaciers, ice sheets, or ice fields and other weather or climate phenomena as it relates to the guide, please comment here so I make sure to answer your question!

[@aharris206]

YAY I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THE GLACIER EPISODE FOR A WHILE :D ❤❤❤

[@dayalasingh5853]

This was a great surprise today 🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@BangladeshTheBest]

damn this was heavenly timing if i do say so myself

[@makiarizona]

1:25 I usually like to say that biomes are based on the ecology of the area while climate zones are solely based on meteorological patterns. You can have a region considered a tropical rainforest climate (Af) and have absolutely nothing in it because maybe that area is too hot to support your fictional world’s life (maybe you designed it so it only supports cooler temperatures).

[@cobaltmn5716]

we found it boiz, the planet with the dry ice snow.

[@ATOM-vv3xu]

🔥

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

Such vast tundras would probably encourage lichens, or lichen equivalents, to play a large part in the ecosystem. The coastlines of these tundras might also experience some cold-driven upwelling, due to the seasonal variation adding additional convection (basically, the colder waters sink, brining in relatively warmer waters closer to the crust). Tundra climates can thus become a paradise for filter-feeders. Some seaweed has evolved to attach itself to ice. Some parts of these colder bioms, in the marine ecosystems, might be highly productive and rich in neutriants. Some species of lichens can photosynthesize in negative temperatures, drastically extending the growing season even in these cold climates. Should some civilisation of fungivores develop, tundra climates might experience harvests equal to those of warmer climates. Now, this equivalent of the Himalayas on steroids with it's vastly extended tundra biom would recieve a lot of sunlight, if fact too much of it, insuring it becomes suprisingly productive of an ecosystem, however, I'm not sure how megafauna would fare with such steep terrain. Plateaux might be a good place for hearding animals of medium size, some equivalents to mufflons, some bisons, thars and goats, although they might be fluffier, however, I don't think they'd be large enough to support stuff much bigger. Agile grazers would probably be the dominant mega-fauna (and not even that big). Flatter tundra would probably support much large moose , some artic horses and raindeer types of herbivores, but the lack of sunlight would prevent them from getting let's say mammoth-sized. Just, any large fuzzy grazer is good for lattitudunal tundra. Mussles (any detritiverous filter-feeder equivalents would work) would probably be the most numerous and successful aquatic fauna. The glacier seasonal run-off would probably create a nice habitat for them in some shallow lakes. Mussles would probably extent far more equator-ward. Oysters would also be the good filterfeeders, and allow kelp-forests to get enough sunlight when the waters are warm enough to allow it. For mega-predatorial niches, they would probably be occupied by cetacians in the waters and by snow-leopard or lynxes in the mountenous tundra. The top of the food chain in mountenous areas does not favor super large animals, but rather more agile ones. Animals in this vast highland tundra would probably have to play a delicate ballance between being bulky to conserve heat and slender enough to be agile. But would have to be fluffy ! Birds would probably not be minuscule in the tundras of Erzi, and be mostly semi-aquatic piscivores, but some terrestrial granivors would probably fly about here and there, and the multiple grasses would be used to build quite elaborate nests. Tundra birds tend to be on the more medium size, since being bigger protects them against the cold, and the lack of trees means being small enough to pirch on top of fine branches would not be a significant evolutionary adventage. The permafrost would also create issues with burrowing, but some lemming equivalents could make a living there too, I guess. The abundont sunlight in these tundras would also push some species to be quite light-colored in fur or plummage not only to camouflage, but also to reflect exessive sunlight. In summer, the lichens, mosses or lichen equivalents could be very bright-colored to reflect the exessive light, creating a very colorful patch work of pastels and bright colors, in this case in more teal and blue tones, and at night the moonlight would reflect brightly upon the pools of water. As it progresses Northward, the colors would get darker and richer, and incorporate not only teals but greens, yellows, oranges, reds, perhaps even purples. Also, such glaciers would probably create some nearby-lakes and rivers which probably would have an effect on climates, as it's never going to be warm enough for these melt waters to evaporate much. These lakes would provide a good habitat for many mussles communities. In a high-fantasy settings, I would place settlements near these stagnant waters, at least the temporary ones, with nomadic tribes moving in-land during summer and near the sea in the winter. Also, if we take Hans Christian's Andersen's little mermaid as inspiration, I think one would have the fun sight of mermaids riding icebergs near the Southpole continent, and it'll be fun !

[@idle_speculation]

You might want to revisit the topography of the polar regions since glaciers have a massive effect on the shape of the land. You probably already know that’s why there are so many lakes and fjords and little islands near the poles, and that under the ice sheets Antarctica’s been carved up into an archipelago.

[@melissaharris3389]

I would say you need to reduce your elevations under the largest ice sheets slightly. The ice sheet would be heavy enough due to continental glaciation to cause isostatic depression; especially with the high gravity.

[@Emerald-DragonFlame]

I can't wait until 2030 when we finally get to single celled organisms lol. Amazing work as always. o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

[@SIZModig]

Looking forward to the episode when Edgar will finally talk about climate change and how the people of this new world is managing to ruin it!

[@petersmythe6462]

Caveat: 0 degrees in summer is definitely relevant for ice caps, but it's not going to force an icecap to form. Ice caps will slowly sublimate at any temperature, meaning it must also have frost or precipitation to avoid glacially slow evaporation of the glaciers.

[@ElibertoYepez]

When you get back to the old videos can you also do mapping for the super hot planets like earth when it had polar rainforest

[@malusignatius]

So, if you're feeling masochistic, there's another variable to consider with ice sheet topography. Ice is heavy, and it depresses the land it's sitting on due to it's mass, sometimes fairly considerably. This is referred to as Isostatic Depression. There's formulae to figure out the rates of depression, based on ice mass and substrate, but like I said, this is probably way too much work for what is at the end of the day an artistic endeavour.

[@DecadeAgoGaming]

That sea in the south would 100% be covered by a massive ice shelf

[@echoecho3155]

You know, I wonder if higher gravity planets could theoretically produce more radical elevation changes. While their gravity is stronger, it could also increase the heat and pressure of the planet's mantle, increasing convection and tectonic activity. So while the gravity might fight it, perhaps mountain ridges, stratovolcanoes, and shield volcanoes could be larger due to accelerated growth and activity.

[@АлександрГриханин-р4г]

Edgar is fascinated about temperature difference on the south continent like he doesn't know about Yakutsk in Siberia

[@umbrynnoctis9831]

Dunno if anyone's able to help but I'm having a minor issue with my moon building? Specifically the tides. I've got 2 moons but one of them (The smaller and further out one) seems to have the neap tides backwards? The high tide is lower than the low tide which doesn't seem to make sense? Unless I'm missing something. the moon is like 0.2 lunar masses so maybe it's just cause it's so little?

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

Last comment on this video. Just, the currents for Picard with this peninsula and these climate zones kind of remind me of the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, making it possible to have mermaids riding icebergs and being drifted to the currents to the tropics. Just, mermaids playing with icebergs and drifting off to the tropics. Also, appearently, round, octogonal or hexagonal shapes are the ones that are best equipped to handle wind, with some chien-couché windows near the roofs...Architectural possibilities.

[@amehak1922]

Tip of the iceberg 😂🤣

[@thatprogramer]

How do you come up with these ideas Artifexian?

[@fauxkiwi]

You cold mark glaciers with white on the topography map. I've seen many maps doo that

[@Dragrath1]

I'm late to the party for this video but I think is important enough to still warrant saying it that the above prescription and really the whole climate zone system used here only works for Earth during an interglacial within an ice age climate. Also the elevations will realistically be lower than given because ice displaces weight and in the case of the continents causes them to tilt as they float in Earth's mantle. Thus consequently the nonfrozen regions of the continents will be pushed upwards as the ice sheets grow or sink as ice is removed. This is normally quite slow though in tectonically hot regions like the Antarctic rift zones it can be quite measurably fast as seen with the effects of the collapsing Ice of West Antarctica. For anyone who wants to do an glacial maximum and or "even" marine isotope stage in particular can't neglect the ice effects from mountains the ice has weight which means when it starts to pile up it depresses the surrounding land which along with lower sea levels. For example its the reason the Cordilleran ice sheet was at one point the largest ice sheet for the earlier glacial cycles because it was seeded high up in the mountains during the Pliocene and thus quickly grew in mass under the colder climate of the Pleistocene only to be starved of moisture as the Laurentide ice sheet grew. Additionally the Andean ice sheet and Antarctic ice sheet were able to grow and eventually merge together effectively cutting the Pacific Ocean off from the Atlantic as the ice sheets became anchored to the sea floor. Maybe there were still tunnels through the ice its hard to say but the bulk flow through drakes passage would have ceased. The Alps ice sheet also had major effects particularly is shaping what species could survive to retreat as the ice advanced splitting off an island of hospitable land for plants to both the North and South.

[@realityhelix564]

Any advice for what would happen on a planet with no substantial landmass at the south pole?

[@zfloyd1627]

It would probably be slightly warmer

[@YeetyboisEmpire]

My world is kinda interesting... I'm working with a supercontinent with a very large amount of land in the southern midlatitudes and an almost-separate northern lobe reaching up to the pole. I got an ice sheet up there, but not a super large or high one, only about 2km max height.

[@jesterglee1319]

Yeyeye

[@fernandorevilla3518]

Hell yeajhhhhh

[@AuroraRaiju]

The man used high complex forms of mathematics and science to make a realistic planet In a realistic solar system and calls himself lazy for making a creative decision about ice. Guess we all got to draw the line somewhere 😅

[@caracaracoral9847]

Does anyone know what software he uses to create these?

[@tec-jones5445]

How might this work if the world is on average warmer than modern Earth? I've been trying to worldbuild with polar forests based on those in Cretaceous Antarctica, and I've had issues trying to infer exact latitude and humidity for each zone.

[@tillledente]

Hi. I follow your channel for long time now, and try to build my own fantasy world with your expertise. I have to thanks you a lot for your work but today i've question: Before i re-draw a temperature map, will you consider to talk about isostatic uplift and glacial isostatic adjustment ?

[@khilorn]

Dammit Edgar I just got caught up... XD

[@kremstoin]

Climate already?? I feel like we just started with the tectonic plates

[@amgclark]

Honestly, I'm a bit dissappointed that Edgar didn't take the time to calculate the age of the ice sheets by using a glaciation history. He could then determine the avg. thiccckness by calculating the rate of ice accumulation, and thus how thiccck they would be.

[@luftwaffesheep]

Okay guys, I need HELP! So not to long ago I was inspired to start my own world building adventure. On account that all of us, myself included, are watching this video it will not surprise anyone to know that I wanted to do things the artefaxian way but that was a massive task I was undertaking due to a few problems namely: 1. I do not use a Mac 2. I am not subscribed to the Adobe suite of apps I need someone to help Windows users on a budget like me. I tried GIMP once and it was awful so no GIMP for now. And also no 'switch to Mac/Apple' argument either.If anyone knows how to aid this horrendous situation PLZ REPLY!!!!

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

If Cretak was high fantasy instead of speculative bio, I would imagine Elves and Dwarves beign the masters of the tundras of Erzi, elves prefering the one closer to the coasts while Dwarves would love the continental tundra in the mountains, although elves would be in the most dry regions of said tundra. Humans would fight both for the flatter tundra. Elves, with their hollow bones would have an adventage of oxygen, while dwarves with their bulky stature would have an adventage over heat conservation. In the continental montains covered in mostly tundra, salt and kelp would be a very rare and precious commodity, worth more than gold, to the point some ethnicities of dwarves based in the in-land mountains might have smaller kidneys to keep in more salt, especially those who live closer to ice caps. Elves, as mostly fungivores (for my own verse) would have an adventage were lichen is abundant, while dwarves would dominate in more graminae based tundra. Erzi would have elves and dwarves in multiple societies and clans, all united by the cold and hazardous terrain. Access to fresh water however, would probably not be a huge thing. With this very dry tundra, elves would be the dominant culture, but they would have to compete with the clans of undead choosing these inhospitable lands to slow down decomposition. The flat tundras of Jannar would probably be a good terrain for flying vampires, the cold slowing down decomposition and making them require less blood, and they might also be associated with angels and giants.

[@Aerostarm]

what a dry way of ruining an interesting setting

[@kadenvanciel9335]

What is next?

[@petersmythe6462]

"climate zones are not the same as biomes" Wait... You mean... saying the Sahara is BWh and the surface of the sun is BWh doesn't imply that both will have camels?

[@Rim-3.1415]

Hmm nice walk DEATH DEATH I SAY DEATH