Quor Zanin

Quor Zanin

The jungles of Quor Zanin are a beautiful place. Beautiful, but deadly. Home to strong trees with deep growing roots, it's lumber has traveled as far east as Grikani, used to build strong ships of trade and war. But hidden amongst these trees, danger awaits. But also, wonder and beauty.

The lionfolk, tall, powerful people with the manes of lions and claws to match, farm the reeds that grow along the Shoviaad. These reeds become baskets, toys, and even weapons, which they trade in the markets of Holdurin's Rest with emissaries all the way from Rendgarde. They are a peaceful people, though they often rise to violence against the dangers of the mighty river dragons that prowl the waters, massive, 30 foot long flightless scaly beasts that breathe acid. They hold a long-standing rivalry with the lizardfolk, and often come to blows over treatment of the river dragons. Where the lizardfolk are far more docile, the lionfolk remain generally peaceful and welcoming, though they are quick to draw a blade and fight with ferocity and elation.

The river dragons aren't the only menace these people face. On the Southern coasts, a peaceful race of aquatic humanoids live and fish in the Sea of Hiding. But a certain sect of these have fancied themselves conquerors, and adrift on wooden boats, they patrol the river, pirating, plundering and pillaging where they may.

Hidden amongst the trees are various tombs and temples for ancient gods and heroes. Gods that no longer have names in this world. Cults of immense power and danger lurk here, and will pick innocents to kidnap and torture or sacrifice in their deadly rituals.

Laxeiorin

One of it's greatest mysteries, though, and one of it's greatest horrors, is a hive mind of insectoid beings called the Laxeiorin. They hide in massive hives built of bone and muscle. Animated by the dark magic these creatures emit, these hives are living creatures in themselves, and prowl through the underbrush and treetops, waiting to consume anything that will feed the colonies within. These living hives are also known to sting unsuspecting victims, injecting them with a fast acting and, as yet incurable, corruption that will turn the victim into a slave to the hive mind. Chitinous spikes will grow through the blighted creature's skin in bloody eruptions, and their faces slowly begin to malform into oozing, bleeding messes. The corruption within them keeps them alive and aware, but not in control. A huge central hive is buried somewhere in the jungles, where the king and queen sit and control their brood. Hyper-intelligent, they would be a great threat if they ever turned their eyes outward.

Frisa Streyis

One of the more hospitable aspects of the jungle, though, are the elves of the city of Frisa Streyis, set at the northwest edge of the jungles. An enigmatic cousin of the elves of Oakanrel, these elves range in appearance from being dark-skinned versions of an Oakanrelian, to being covered in a thin layer of orange fur, with unnaturally long canine teeth, short, clawlike nails, and a distinctly catlike appearance. The latter of these are exclusively members of the military, choosing to take this potion upon their enlistment. They can refuse, though most like the fighting edge it gives them. Their cavalry is legendary, their mounts being tigers, lions, cheetahs, and leopards trained from cubhood into fine fighting mounts.

Zormeni

The dank and gloomy salt marshes of Zormeni border the Sea of Hiding on the southwestern corner of the jungle. It's a thick tangle of biting insects and biting plants. The flora here is alive, though not always aware, but some plant life is more aggressive than others. Hidden at it's center is an old temple, though nobody knows it, save in legend. It is a temple to an old horror, as yet nameless, hiding at the bottom of the sea, and hides a necropolis beneath it, where an ancient people, long dead, or so is said, lies, untouched by natural light for millenia. What treasure awaits there? What honor, glory? What horror? In this hidden city, known as Sundragar, a high fae priest of Lhireiya, goddess of the sun, has transformed himself from the pure, beautiful dragon he once was into a fearsome dracolich. He has convinced the other worshippers of Lhireiya to capture and imprison the goddess far beneath the ground, where she cannot see the sky and can never escape. The cultists eventually succumbed to vampirism, a curse the priest bestowed upon them, and have begun drinking of the ever flowing blood of the goddess, building up a resistance to sunlight, and, eventually, invulnerability to it.