02 The Bloodwylds

  Geography and Circumstance: The Bloodwylds comprise the jungles of the continent which occupy the southwestern peninsula and some amount of the mainland, with the southern ranges of the Great Escarpment running down the spine of the peninsula. To the north of the Bloodwylds lurks the lands of the Shadowgave and to the east lie the Sunlands in all their glory.   The Bloodwyld Jungles themselves are home to all manner of wild creatures - the wildlife here is strong and mostly untamable. The few varieties of tameable creatures live closer to the coastal regions or the mountains, rather than the depths of the jungles where predators or creatures with formidable self-defence abilities reign supreme. Examples of animals found in the jungle depths are dire/giant animals, dinosaurs, drakes, and the occasional incarnate demon that hasn’t yet been killed or banished since the Calamity.   As such, most of the settleable land in the Bloodwylds lie along the coast or nestled into the mountains - anywhere that has a source of freshwater and isn’t in the depths of the jungle is technically capable of supporting civilised life. Defending the low quantity of arable land for meaningful farming is a different matter entirely.  

Races of the Bloodwylds:

Due to the nature of the lands and wildlife, the species which have survived and thrived in the Bloodwylds also tend to be strong and durable, or are otherwise well-adapted to jungle life. These primarily include:

• Orcs
• Gnolls
• Hobgoblins
• Fleshwarps*
• Goblins
• Grippli
• Kobolds
• Lizardfolk
• Nagaji
• Vanara

*The Beastkin Heritage is only treated as Uncommon in the Bloodwylds. Fleshwarps are rarer still than the other races, but seem to rarely be born from each of the other races at a low rate.   The most populous of these species are the Hobgoblins (30%) and Orcs (20%), followed by Gnolls, Kobolds and Vanara (10% each). The final 20% is made up of the remaining races in roughly equal proportion.  

Bloodwyld Society:

The Bloodwylds aren’t home to a single society per se, but rather multiple societies of species that learned to live and survive together to form a single mostly-functional community. The dominant species amongst this conglomeration is not the most-numerous Hobgoblins, but the Orcs that make up the next largest proportion of the population, and their chieftain is seen as the de-facto leader of the entire community.   Given that the Orcs don’t actually want to be responsible for the other species, but that threats to the other species would also represent eventual threats to themselves, this arrangement agrees with them. It also allows the Orcs to demonstrate their strength and hardiness, to gain glory and honour, and this also agrees with them.   Given the difficulties in traversing the jungles, metals are rare in the Bloodwylds, and weapons or tools made from near-coastal copper deposits are quite rare as a result. However, by combining the correctly-prepared wood and sap of certain species of jungle trees and plants, a variety of iron-equivalent lacquered weaponry and tools can be created. Creature and monster sinew mostly take the place of rope, and various other crafts take the place of ‘more-civilised’ materials and resources.  

Stronghold (Thornvault):