The Silent Vines
The Silent Vines, a place of mystery and danger. It is a place largely unexplored region only truly known to those who dare to venture into its depths and find the secrets that lie within. Tangled within the endless vines and buried beneath the roots of its colossal trees are the ruins of millennia of kingdoms that had risen and fallen in the forgotten history of the Howllands. The jungles is home to thousands of species of fauna and animals some of notable variety to its more sentient inhabitants. One kingdom of Wood Elves and roughly three smaller tribal societies live within the jungle, they being the kingdom of The Hidden Bark led by Tree King Wolkine Jade Star, a noble but grounded elven man with a strong will to protect his people and family. The tribes go by the names of Tree Seer, Brush Borne, and Hidden Leaf. These tribes live deep within the jungle and do not socialize often with the outside world or even with their neighboring kingdom.
Geography
Choking the bulk of the southern land mass of The Howllands with thick castle tower sized trees that stretch a vast shady canopy over the thousands of smaller trees and fauna that make up the lower jungle. The lower floor is a mess of dense vines, thick brush lines and dim light, so dim that the passing of days often goes unnoticed by the beasts and tribes that dwell there. The topography of this region is akin to that of a slowly sloping cliff face with several mile long plateaus that eventually give way to a massive expanse of flat lands covered hundreds of times over by dense fauna, the southern coast of this region is a sharp cove and reef bed backed by a light jungle that goes deeper into the more think undergrowth. The eastern coast is a different story, choosing more often than not to end in a shambling patchwork of cliff edges and rocky beaches battered ceaselessly by the warm surf of the Boiling Sea. Weaving throughout the jungle is a small lanky patchwork of rivers and streams that provide the main ingredient for the size and complexity of the plants that dwell here. Three rivers flow through the Silent Vines, two make their origin in the Rueful Plains and the other pours down from the mountains to the north of the region as they weave a path toward the coasts. The largest of the rivers is The Silent River and it flows from a reservoir in the mountains and down the great plateaus until it reaches the Hidden Bark Delta where it bleeds into the Sulking Sea. The next two run from their deltas in The Rueful Plains and stretch across the entirety of the jungle until they end at one singular water fall on a cliff edge coast that dumps into the Boiling Sea, these two rivers are called the Twin Rivers by the tribes. The rivers connect at a large delta of water falls called The Natural Nexus, it is here that the Voice of The Jungle dwells. Each of the rivers have several streams that branch off of them but most of them are unnamed as they simply do not cross into the territories of those who would name them.
Fauna & Flora
Thousands if not millions of plant and animal life call the jungles home but there are a few select species of note that make up the higher end of the tier list for both plants and animals. beginning with the plants there are a few species that are at the top of their respective food chain, the first being a species of giant fly trap that burrows beneath the ground as a sapling then digs a large chamber for its self under the soils surface when fully grown it fills the chamber partially then it begins to fill its sack like interior with an acid that will corrode anything that it touches including magical items and adamantine, though these take much longer. It has two sets of lips that carry dirt over the entrance to the pit and when a creature walks over the hole the lips quickly retract and the creature will fall into the pit and be trapped. The creature will slowly corrode over the span of a few days and provide the plant a meal that will sustain it for months, when it cannot find prey to walk over it, it can use its small root system to gain nutrients from the soil and in so doing it grows in size and in complexity eventually developing large tentacle like limbs that resemble downed vines that it can use to snare small to medium prey and drag it into its now maw like opening equipped with two new sets of hardened plant material that resemble teeth. At the peak of its age it can grow small sweet smelling flowers upon the roof of the lips that will attract unsuspecting animals to the opening. This plant has become known to the tribes of the jungle as the Sweet Death. The next plant is a massive species of jungle tree,as old as the jungle itself and intimately connected with the greater natural magic of the world. They are called the Wood Sages and they speak in an ancient language that only the oldest and most adept druids and shamans can decipher, they are massive in their size as tall as towers and just as dense, their roots arch and roll in ways that allow for whole carriages to pass underneath without incident. Their bark is a dark brown at the base but becomes lighter as it goes toward the top until it simmers into a pale brown. At the base just above the root system is a large face that blends almost seamlessly into the bark and from the eyes bleeds a stark white runny sap. They are docile in nature and do not seem to be bothered by the countless species of other fauna that have made homes within their limbs and upon the faces of their trunks. The animals of the jungle are no less interesting than the plants, there are several species of animal that are considered the top within their given food chain. At the bottom of this chain is the species of predatory fish that swim in the clear but dark depths of the rivers that flow through the jungle. A cat sized species of piranha dominates the waters as they swim in ravenous schools of ten at their smallest and fifteen at the largest, they use the currents of each river to give them an almost unnatural speed and ability to track their swimming prey. One bite from these fish is enough to take a hand or sizable chunk off of a limb or torso, once one of them has attacked the sent of blood attracts the rest and within mere moments a large beast has now become a hulking pile of bones at the bottom of the river. The only sign these creatures give to their prey is a small glimmer of vibrant blue as their hind fins flash right before they dash forward with the current for an attack. The next species is also aquatic, it is a mysterious and rare species of eel that dwells in the stagnant ponds that form the the roots of the ancient trees. These eels are five feet in length, four inches in width, and five inches in height, they are brown with a dull green mucus covering their bodies like soaked algae, they lay at the bottom of these ponds like wet logs for prey to come near, they mostly prey on small birds that come to bathe in the water or some other creatures that dare to drink the water from the ponds, the eels have even been known to eat elven children who venture too close to the water edge. The eels have four mandibles on the sides of their main jaws that fold open and can stretch forward an additional three feet from the tip of their body in a grotesque net of loose flesh and spiked bone, this net is used to snare prey and drag them closer to the rest of the eel where they can bite into the flesh and use their elongated fangs to suck the blood from the creature. The next animal is considered the Apex of the water dwellers within the jungle, they are a species of large slightly sentient nocturnal frogs. These frogs resemble closely with poison dart from except they are the size of dogs, they are coated with a slim layer of poisonous mucus that they can sling at enemies or prey using their hind legs. The poison acts as a nerve agent paralyzing the victim and softening the flesh so the frogs can have a much easier time devouring them. When dealing with more intelligent prey the frogs will built extremely simple traps like poison filled pits, or almost invisible nets of collected spider webs. The frogs dwell primarily in the darker northern reaches of the jungles near free flowing pools and small streams where their traps can have the best effect. The land dwelling creatures of the jungle are almost if not more interesting than their watery counterparts, comprising of giant constricting snakes and venomous centipedes and dog sized spiders that weave webs between the massive sage trees like enormous fishing nets. The Apex of these beasts is a species of horned lizard as large as a small horse and armed with razor sharp fangs and corrosive saliva, they are nocturnal in nature choosing to sleep within burrows underground during the day only to emerge at dusk to begin the hunt. They are solitary creatures only coming into contact with each other to mate, males are fiercely territorial willing to rip apart any other creature that dares to impede upon its land. They are large and fast, covered in thick dark brown almost black scales that erupt into large horned spines and fins at the center of their backs. They will devour anything that they come across be it plant, animal, or otherwise, and their hunger is never ending, they have no need for subtlety choosing to run down their prey then to lay in wait for it. Their feet are webbed and equipped with large talons that they can use for digging or climbing allowing them to get food from any place within the jungle. They have no known predators but they have sometimes been brought down by large schools of piranhas and sometimes have been caught in the webs of the tree spiders. The sky is no less dangerous than the rest of the jungle being dominated by large eagle like birds that make their nests in the top leaf layer of the upper canopy of the sage trees, they dive down from their lordly perches only sparingly to claim a victim that they will rip apart in mid air and drag back to feed their young.
Natural Resources
The jungle can be used for many purposes, the herbs and mushrooms that grow on the floor can be made into all kinds of potions and medicines.
Alternative Name(s)
The Screaming Jungle
Type
Forest, Jungle (Tropical)
Included Organizations
Related Ethnicities
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