The Soddenlands

The Soddenlands, as they're called, are one of the largest forests on Valadania. Spanning some 372,000 square kilometers of the Cildron Peninsula, a great headland situated at about 38 to 46 degrees north of the equator. Due to its coastal location, the warm ocean current which flows by it, and the fact that the local prevailing winds blow right into it, the Soddenlands receive an incredible amount of precipitation - the region is, in fact, a temperate rainforest.
It is both a beautiful and disquieting place to roam. The forests and quagmires are rich in life, and steamy air pours from the treetops. Much of the ground is saturated to swampiness, hence the name, and the dense trees create a roof-like canopy which blocks much sunlight. Nevertheless, there are many who call these soggy rainforests their home - a total of 44 tribes, in fact. Native Soddenlanders are mobile gatherers, fishermen and occasional hunters, adapted to the darkness, humidity and thicket, adept at survival in this rich, but harsh, environment.

Geography

The Soddenlands cover most of the area known as the Cildron Peninsula, a landmass which juts out of Valadania's largest continent, Juman, pointing to the east. Along the Peninsula's southern edge, a warm surface current flows northeast - bringing unstable, humid air which encourages the formation of clouds. The clouds are blown north by Valadania's westerlies, right into the Soddenlands - where they dump their loads of rainwater. This combination of ocean currents and wind direction (as well as a little help from topography) are what makes the Soddenlands so... sodden.

Rivers:

There is an incredible amount of rivers in the Soddenlands - most of the area is in the drainage basin of one major river, the Teawater (so named because dissolved tannins from neighbouring bogs and swamps stain its waters the colour of strong tea), which is about 320 kilometres long. However, the Teawater has 55 tributaries, some of them over half as long as it is, giving the Soddenlands an extraordinary density of rivers.

Fauna & Flora

For a region in the temperate latitudes, the Soddenlands are highly biodiverse. First, we'll look at the vegetation of this rainforest.

Flora:

On the slopes of the Cildron Mountains in the north (the driest part of the Soddenlands, though that is a relative term), the forests are comprised of beeches, redwoods, and monkey puzzle trees. However, much of the Soddenlands are covered by laurel forests - populated by evergreens with glossy, elongated leaves. In the forests' most humid of lowlands, there are occasional stands of bamboo, too. On the forest floor, the ground is shrouded in countless types of fern and giant rhubarb.

Birds:

There are plenty of animals which populate the Soddenlands, too - we'll look at birds first. This place has a wealth of bird life, over 600 species in fact. Hummingbirds pollinate the flowers, while warblers, rollers, turacos, and camouflaged nightjars prefer insect prey. There are more raptorial birds, too fish owls and hawks among them. In the swampier areas, you can find all manner of avifauna, such as herons, storks, ducks, kingfishers and plovers.

Reptiles & Amphibians:

The moist, saturated conditions of the Soddenlands make the place a veritable paradise for amphibians - as such, frogs, newts, salamanders and caecilians (blind, worm-like creatures) are abundant. Though less diverse, reptiles are common, too - especially snakes, from vipers and cobras to pythons, which lurk in the shallow murky waters. Also patrolling the waterways are crocodilians such as alligators and caimans.

Mammals:

There isn't much in the way of megafauna in the forests and wetlands - partially due to the dense vegetation which has to be slipped through, but also because the canopy limits sunlight, and therefore Vitamin D, and therefore calcium, availability. However, there are a few species of large mammals in the Soddenlands - deer, waterbuck, wild pigs and pacas (capybara-like rodents), for example. They, and other animals, are preyed on by a variety of cats, including lynxes, pumas, jungle cats, fishing cats and kodkods (tiny South American felines), as well as bears and civets. Otters and genets swim in the rivers and swamps, and in the trees above, there are gibbons, macaques and red pandas.

Inhabitants

As said, there are currently 44 "tribes" inhabiting the Soddenlands, all of them hunter-gatherers. Soddenlanders are typically olive-skinned, short, and slim, with the average adult individual weighing only 50 kilograms. Their small size allows them to pass through thickets with ease, and is also an adaptation to the darkened forest floor where calcium is hard to come by.

Diet:

Given that most plants in the temperate rainforest have inedible, woody stems and high-hanging fruit, not much of the Soddenlander's diet is gathered food - only about 10%, in fact. A further half comes from fish, and the remaining 40% is hunted tetrapod prey. The most prized item on the Soddenlands menu is wild pig, since they're so meaty, closely followed by venison. Of course, with 44 different tribes in the region, diet does vary from group to group, being influenced by the local geography and ecology.

Technology:

Most tribes of the Soddenlands are in a Mesolithic stage of technological advancement - they wield tools and weapons of wood, stone and bone, and wear garments of barkcloth (a versatile material made by beating strips of inner tree bark into sheets). Dugout canoes and reed boats are widespread. Some tribes build their houses - which are built out of wood, dried leaves and occasionally reeds - upon ten-foot stilts, to protect their dwellings from flooding, a major force in the Soddenlands. Other groups prefer to construct treehouses, having large communal huts at the tops of tall trees, with wooden stakes hammered into the trunk to serve as ladder rungs. This is helpful, since an attacker not raised in a climbing way of life would have much trouble getting to the top.

Natural Resources

The most obvious natural resource in the Soddenlands would be wood - the region is, after all, one of the largest forests in Valadania. The Soddenlanders build their houses, canoes and many of their tools out of this wood, and use it to fuel their fires as well. They peel off the trees' fibrous inner bark and hammer it into sheets too, to make barkcloth - one of the most crucial materials in the Soddenlander culture. Barkcloth is used to make clothing and furnish dwellings with mats, draperies and the like.
Another notable resource is peat, which is harvested from the many peat swamp forests of the Soddenlands. This, like wood, can be used as fuels for fires. Peat swamps are also a place where the dead can be buried (as the Celts did) and preserved, and a source of so-called "bog iron" - impure iron ore which forms in the swamps. A few Soddenlander tribes have learnt to use this ore to create stronger tools, but haven't yet figured out the benefit of smelting.

Type

Forest