Hune, is a place founded in magic, and its Soto forest is one of the most magical places within. In our planet, the soto forest is a vital place, and plays a key role for our sustainability and environment. Do you know where it is?
In Hune, the Soto forest is where the zhortas live in the Abbey of St. Patrick. This old abbey, wasn’t built by the zhortas, and it was already in ruins when they were forced to move there. The origins of this place are now legends, passed by generations that may or may not be real.
In our world, the Soto forest is real, and you can visit in anytime within our forests.
Soto forest is a rough translation from Spanish, sotobosque. In forestry and ecology, (in American English), the term understory or understorey is used to refer to the plants that grow between the forest canopy and the forest floor. It is also known as underbrush or undergrowth.
The lack of light in this section of the forest, forced the plants to depend on less light for their process of photosynthesis and growth. Some young trees within this part of the forest “wait” until an opening in the canopy allow the sunlight to penetrate and then, they grow into usually very straight trees.
The forest canopy also reduces the sun’s radiation, preventing the fast warming of the ground and slows the condensation. As a consequence, the humidity in the understory is high. This helps the growth of ferns, mosses, and fungi. It also encourages the nutrients recycling, something that is preferred by many animals and plants.
In Hune, the trees from the Soto forest as so high that you can't even see the beginning of the trunk. The races of Hune had to walk through the roots, branches of bushes, and come across many mushrooms (fungi).
If you want to visualize it, take a closer look at the bottom of any forest, right where the moss grows; pieces of roots come out of the ground, and sticks and dry leaves pile together. Now that you are there, lay down and imagine you are so small, just like a tiny ant, looking up…welcome to Hune’s Soto forest.