Random World Part 2: South of Cryham and the Jungle of Spears

The short and simple fleshing out of a map with meaningless words and locales on it into something more coherent and usable continues.

South of Cryham.

The Jungle of Spears

Magic the Gathering Forest by Zoltan Boros(?)

As one goes south from Cryham they will slowly but surely make way toward lush and warm lands. These lands border the immense Jungle of Spears, a sprawling region of endless vegetation and perils. The Jungle of Spears can be roughly separated into three areas: the Northern Borderlands, which trade extensively with Cryham, the Jungle Folks who form the vast majority of it's human population and the people of the Three Inner Seas. All of these are but large categories where thousand of distinct ethnic groups and cultures exist.

The Borderland People

These people are mostly feudal in nature and inhabit the lush, but mostly tamed lands between the upper lands (and Cryham) and the wild jungle to the south, with whose inhabitants they often share a common ancestry.

• Large and rather diverse group of people who descent from northerners and the people living down south in the jungle lands, leftovers of an ancient civilization.
• Feudal, with a strong focus on agriculture and the product of spices and drugs.
• Extremely prone to greed at the cost of abandoning many old values if it mean their nobles can buy goods from Cryham.
• Practice slavery in mass in order to maintain their workforce. Not above declaring war with a weakened neighbor to enslave their people if it mean double production of goods to sell to Cryham.
• A strong source of mercenaries who hire themselves to rival nations to fight their war and/or to conquer smaller tribes close to the jungle edge.

The Jungle Folks

The Jungle Folks is less of a racial denotation more than a cultural one, as they live in their ancestral homeland (now the Jungle of Spears) rather than in the hybrid feudal society of their neighbors to the north or the way of life of their southern relatives.

• They are an ancient people whose history is often forgotten to themselves and their neighbors.
• Like their northern relatives they are not a distinct ethnic group but rather several hundred of them, with many languages, dialect and ways of life.
• Their source of metal are several, millennia-old Metal Trees (see Part 1) in the depth of the jungle. The other tribes and nations rely more on the chitin of giant insects to make arms and armor.
• They have many large cities which are more sacred locales and trading ground than places where people live full-time, barring a few exceptions which are cities built upon major rivers.
• It is said their greatest warriors wield magical spears, are dressed in armor made from jungle drake scales and have poisonous blood. These warriors have a strong honor code. Think Paladin.

The People of the Three Sea

South of the Jungle of Spears are three inland sea and many rivers and it is upon these rivers that a society flourished. As with the other two, this classification is more geographic than cultural or ethnic. Great city-states have been built on lake and rivers, such as the Ilethy River. There is also Pabrygg, which is the only land-bound city and connected via an extensive network of man-made canals which took centuries to build.

• Relatives of the above two people and those further down south. Not an homogeneous group either.
• City-states built around waterways and lake edges. Cities very often make use of canals and boats.
• Societies are more inter-connected via the waterways and canal, both natural and man-made. Lots of trade going on.
• Raiding via canoe and raft is not uncommon, both from rival cities and bandits alike.
• Tribes of scaly humanoids, ancient inhabitants of the region, interact with humans: however in  most settlements these 'lizard men' are second-class citizen. In truth they are not lizards but rather somewhere halfway between fish, lizard and frogs and they are not wholly of this world, with roots in the spirit world some say.

Yarford

Temple of Plenty by Noah Bradley.

Proud, ambitious and imperious. Yarford traces it's origin to the exploration of lords of northern kingdoms and their foray into southern land who went down the Ilethy River and through parts of the jungle. Centuries later, the people of Yarford and neighboring cities and town are a unique people to both the people of the Three Sea and their ancestors.

• Feudal people with strong martial and hunting traditions.
• Yarford is their capital and is well fortified. It's castle is decorated with the bone of slain beasts.
• Pride, duty, martial skill and a pioneer spirit are considered its core values as a society.
• Can be friend or foe depending on circumstances and if the adventurers can be of use to the local lords.
• The lords of Yarford (and their bloodline) have slain many spirit-beasts when they arrived and they are gifted with a double-edged endowment of their power, which grant them enhanced senses but also increase aggression. Some say they are prone to Theriantropy.
• Their lord is called the Jaguar Lord, after the great beast which prowl from the Jungle of Spears down to the Three Sea. To bear the mark of the Jaguar is to be a great warrior and hunter and only their nobles and greatest hero may bear it on their armor or helm.

Cafeld, the City of Mercy

City of Temples by surendrarajawat.

A holy city, known for it's many shrines and more importantly for its healer-monks: doctors, alchemist, mystics, assassins and councilor all at once and more (they have a lot of sects, its just the healers are obviously the most famous). Individuals seeking healing and relief from curses travel there in hope of being healed. Given it's high population of sickly individual, one is more likely to catch a disease there unless they are one of the monks born there, who are often immune to sickness.

• A holy city, most famous for it's healer-monks.
• The monks, in theory, don't need money. However they will often ask for indebted servitude for their service, which is also used as a conversion tool. Alternatively donating one of your children to the monastery also works.
• Full of competing sects of monks, mystics and alchemist with wildly varying dogma and field of study.
• Thousand of people flock to this city for it's healing, magical or otherwise. The sick outweigh the monk population 3:1 and the monks can't heal everyone.
• Has massive slums of mutants who could not be cured but now live as an underclass in the city, hoping that living piously will grant them a healthy body in a future life or cure their children. Some are disfranchised and violent, however.