The Mistwood

        The southern half of Solair is covered in even thicker jungles than those of the rainforest lowlands to the north. The Mistwood is named for the vapor trapped by the almost impenetrable canopy, which shrouds then jungle in a perpetual white haze. The jungles are darker and more dangerous than the more open lands to the north, and perhaps even more ancient, with trees that may have seen thousands of years go by. Here, there is surprisingly little sound, only the faint and muffled chirping of birds within the sun-lit upper canopy. Everything below creeps. Spindly poisonous insects, deadly spiders and ant swarms, carnivorous plants, and a host of other predators all pose a serious threat to the uneducated. It was the koba, in fact, who taught the lutrai to survive in these jungles, and helped them establish a village here.

        The Mistwood also contains the overgrown and half-sunken remains of an ancient Creator city. This nameless ruin of swamp-drowned buildings forms a haunting bayou near the heart of the Mistwood, a silent testimony to the lost wonders of the past. Most of what remains, however, is anything but wonderous. Leaning, moss-covered towers rise from the dark waters that drown the ancient ruin, along with the colossal shapes of long dead labor-Machines. Most have crumbled down to modest stature, though a few of the buildings may have once stood hundreds of feet tall. This area is generally avoided by the more intelligent dwellers of the Mistwood, seen as a place of ghosts and other unhappy spirits. This comes as little surprise. The city ruins cover an area of approximately twenty square miles, all of it semi-submerged. There is indeed little of value here, as the nameless city was still under construction when the end of the world came out, three thousand years ago.

Carnivorous Plants

        The extremely dense canopy of the Mistwood leads to a certain lack of sunlight around the forest floor, making it difficult for most plants to grow. For this reason, an alarming percentage of the local flora is carnivorous. These deadly plants use a variety of methods to lure, trap, slay, and digest their victims, which range from insects to unwary humanoids. Most are fairly large and physically attractive, drawing in unsuspecting creatures with alluring chemical pheremones and then immobilizing them with naturally secreted toxins. Others will make use of strangulation, impalement, and even spore infestation in order to bring down their prey, which fertilizes the soil in which they thrive. Overgrown bones are a sure sign of these leafy predators, though most 'higer lifeforms' don't see them until it's too late.

        The local inhabitants know each and every one of these plants. They have to, if they expect to come out of the jungle alive. In fact, many lutrai of the Leafshadow Tribe make use of the natural toxins and extracts found in these plants, collecting them for use in elixirs or as the coating of blowgun darts. Only the most skilled and nimble herbalists dare approach these natual sources, which are all too eager to extract the various substances they need from anyone who isn't on their toes. Here are just two examples.

Smothergourd: It's easy to see where this plant gets its name. The smothergourd is quite simple but effective plant trap, using a chemical lure to attract its prey. One to four large, pitcher-shaped bulbs hang low to the ground amid a plethora of long, glossy leaves that conceal both the true size of the gourd traps and the undigestable bones of previous victims. The bottoms of these pitchers are filled with a sugary mixture that most mammals find irresistable. Any creature that comes to drink from the lust-enducing pheremone nectar is drawn in by a series of quick, powerful swallowing actions, and smothered in the narcotic slime. The sealed bulb then digests the hapless creature over the course of several weeks, during which time the grourd's colors will grow richer and brighter. Whatever is left is then dicretely disgorged and concealed as the opd re-opens and resets for the next unwary visitor.

Bonebloom: This is the plant world equivalent of a vampire, an irridescent fungal bloom that spreads through the use of living hosts. Those drawn by the scintilating colors of the deadly colony run the risk of inhaling some of its spores, which take root in warm, wet surroundings and begin to spread through the body, eventually reaching the brain. The infection is undetectable at first, though the host will be overcome by great bouts of hunger that no amount of food will quench. The more the victim eats, the faster the infection spreads, until eventully the hapless, fattened creature is overcome by the spore growth, and dully shambles back to the colony that infected it, to die. The bloom then feasts upon the decaying remains, inside and out, covering the bones in layers of new growth.

Back...