Goldstep Grass

Goldstep Grass forms the endless golden plains that define Tauria's landscape. Its long, narrow blades grow in dense waves that sway continuously under the powerful winds that sweep across the steppe, creating the rippling motion that gives Tauria its characteristic golden shimmer from high altitude. The deep root systems anchor the soil against erosion and provide the nutritional foundation upon which the entire grazing ecosystem depends.

Without Goldstep Grass, there are no Rendals. Without Rendals, no Vargor. Without Vargor, the Rendal population would consume every other ground plant within a generation. The grass is not the most dramatic element of Tauria's ecology. It is simply the one on which all others rest.

Giliad's Field Note

When Tauria first came into view from the descending ship, it was the gold of this grass that I saw — a planet with a golden skin, lit from within by a sun that seemed to live inside the land rather than above it. The gold changes with the season: deep amber at dusk, silver-pale at dawn, almost white when the wind runs through it at midday. — G.