The Last Strands

The Last Strands

The Last Strands are regions on Dunia that were mostly untouched and unaffected by the desertification have survived as rainforests, ranging from tropical to temperate. These regions are wild and are among the most biodiverse regions on the planet. Strong residual magic protects some of the regions from exploitation, and those that go against nature tend to not survive. The forests themselves fight back.  

Features and Named Locations

  The Northern Barrier Forest   The Northern Barrier Forest sits just South of Barid, across a narrow portion of the ocean. It is home to various surviving clades of druids left over from the Cataclysm.  

The Three Sister Forests

  Home to both the Kikongo humans and the Nguni elves, these three forests act as a last bastion against the extremes of Mudira-Karrah's inner continent. They are fed by an underground body of water called The Eternal Pool.   Imbiza   Imbiza is the smallest of the three rainforests in the Southern mountain ranges of Mudira-Karrah. Its name means 'Flower Pot' in its mother tongue.   Ngasese   Ngasese was protected from the Cataclysm thanks to the plate convergence zone's mountains. It is one of the three rainforests in the Southern mountain range of Mudira-Karrah. It is the largest interior old growth rainforest left over, and as a consequence, it is very dangerous and dark to traverse. Ngasese roughly translates to 'secluded' in its mother tongue.   Ukuvuleka   Ukuvuleka is one of three major rainforests in the Southern mountain ranges of Mudira-Karrah. It is somewhat exposed to the Southern Expanse of The Dust, hence its name translating directly to 'opening' from its mother tongue.  

Preferred Vehicles

 

Inhabitants of The Last Strands

 

Monsters Unique to The Last Strands

  Binding Feeder   A large, blind ape-like monster with eight limbs that everts its stomach in a sort of fractal ribbon structure, coated with sticky acid with which it uses to soften up prey before it pulls it back into its maw to feed on things. It eats plants and there will be vein-like grooves left where it has fed on the plants, but larger, less mobile prey is much more tantalizing to it and it will actively stalk and hunt what it can until it can ambush it effectively. Your only saving grace once it has your tracks is that you will likely outrun it if you know where it is, as it can only ambulate in short bursts. It has a photophoric sort of camouflage that it uses, but when it moves it can't maintain the illusion any longer. The scientific community hypothesizes that this was some mutation of a climbing amphibian or some kind of cave-dwelling aquatic giant olm species. They only appeared after the Karithat-Aldawi occurred.   Reanimator Colony   A rare and strange neon pink worm-colony monster that scavenges for the dead to prop itself up with and ambulate so that it can hunt using the bones of the dead or other hard structures. A reanimator colony can coalesce into an even bigger threat once it's accumulated enough mass and turn into a Supercombined Reanimator. It is capable of using destroyed vehicles as armor and in some rare cases, even use the weapons. A colony is smart but individual reanimator worms are not intelligent enough on their own to perform tasks. Sensitive to light. This one is found in The Last Strands, most specifically in the remnant tropical rainforests in the Vertebra.   Zomiyane (Zoh-me-yah-nay)   A species of malicious feywilder invertebrates, sometimes referred to as Pixies in Common, the Zomiyane are bloodsucking individuals which have multiple rows of hollow 'teeth' in their somewhat freakish, multi-plated, almost-human faces. They are vicious, awful little vectors of disease and misery, and everyone in the "Three Bowls" region (which includes Imbiza, Ngasese, and Ukuvuleka) attack or kill them on sight. They will attempt to lure the unwary to water where they can drown the poor individual, or take advantage of their lack of knowledge to lead them astray and victimize them, robbing them of blood and of their belongings. Others will simply ambush available prey, which includes pretty much anything that has a heartbeat. They like to reside near stagnant water, and will often utilize clay pots filled with such water where they raise their young. Sometimes they utilize clay pots as housing, too. They hide these clay pots near settlements for easy access to prey.  

Major Settlements

      Les Vestiges d'Annecy   Annecy, formerly a populous laketown was quickly inundated with the unstable magic that swept across the planet during the second shockwave. The native squid in the lakes mutated into creatures not unlike an Aboleth's minions. They overtook the land quickly, and ever since, Annecy has sat as a ghost town with strange membranous growths all over its buildings.   Ngemba Yantangu   The largest Kikongo-Nguni cooperative settlement in Ngasese, it resides near a large, spring-fed body of water where the aquifers provide near-constant flow. The city is largely supplied electricity through hydroelectric power and solar. Being as sheltered as it is from the Karithat-Aldawi's first shockwave, its surrounding forest was unfortunately not spared the effects of the Second Fallout. It is home to the Khonto Defense Industries weapons plant, which was established primarily as a defensive industry to ward off other larger national interests in the secluded nations' riches. Now, it is most certain that any attempts to enter Ngemba Yantangu are to be met with frustration thanks to the large old-growth forest surrounding it, filled with dangerous wildlife and mutated monsters.  

Native Species

  Mbemba ya Djalu   The magnificent, multicolored plumage of the Mmbemba ya Djalu flashes through the canopy as it makes its call while flying from one tree to the next. The Mbemba is a rare sight because of how evasive it is. It is, however, the descendant of a domesticated species that used to carry messages from location to location, and as such, can be tamed if raised from birth.