5/30/2023 0 Comments Venture forthe store![]() ![]() Who needs planar metropolises and dreamscapes and crystal spheres when I can give you nearly alien skylines on your own frontier?Īnd that’s the part of Southlands that gets me all excited when I start writing: the cities. These are liminal places, straddling both known and unknown worlds and yet existing in a heady realm all their own. The cities like Siwal and Mhalmet, where the strangeness of the lands beyond mingles with the brave explorers from the heart of the familiar. ![]() I smiled and laughed back at him, raising my cup in celebration…įor me, the best things about a fantastic setting like the Southlands are cities on the edge, or just over the edge of the border. But this man held the key to the ruins I sought beyond the Crescent Desert, and I would need to tease it from him if I hoped to decipher the glyphs we’d recovered from the sandship wreck. I knew I couldn’t trust the merchant across the pillows from me as he laughed a deep, booming laugh, which was why I had paid for a heroes’ feast that afternoon. Dusk in Mhalmet was always a rich, decadent time, where exotic music mingled with the scent of lotus, and tantalizing dancers seemed to make the wine more potent. The sultry air hung thick with the smell of curried goat, sea salt, and the bleating calls of both slaves and camels. If you are looking for an exotic location to entice your players, the Living Jungle of Kush is sure to please.īen’s offering takes us out of the hinterlands and back into the many civilized realms of the Southlands… My favorite is the Redsight Berry the juice of which, when squeezed into the eyes, grants darkvision for a few minutes. For every plant that can poison, maim, melt, impale, or kill, there are others who heal, restore, and even enhance. Even Impaling Vines, huge animated vines that lance through their targets like spears.Īnd yet, where there is risk there is also reward. Flesheater orchids whose lovely fragrance melts the flesh for easy consumption. Greenspore pods that infect their victims with vines until they end up as plant zombies controlled by the walker. ![]() I have to be honest I had a marvelous time coming up with the weird (and lethal) plant-life that a perpetually evolving, living jungle produces. When Ben and I decided that the Southlands had produced a “nature-based” Green Walker, it was logical that the catalyst nature of the entity would change the once-normal jungle of Kush into a semi-sentient ecosystem tied to the Walker’s own subconscious mind. One of the most fascinating locations in the Southlands is the Living Jungle of Kush. As his body was dragged back, Nkumu realized he should never have entered the Living Jungle. Other vines exploded out of the jungle canopy to wrap themselves around his arms and legs. The twisted, thorny tip of the vine burst through Nkumu’s chest from behind. The two Zobeckian swordsmen choked and gagged, infected by tiny green tendrils that crept out of their eyes and mouths. The three Nurian merchants screamed as their skin peeled from their bones. ![]() He had watched his companions fall one by one. Nkumu flailed through the vine-choked trees with death only steps behind. To share a hint of what’s to come, we asked Ben McFarland and Brian Suskind to tell us about their favorite locations from these lands, and they were more than happy to share. Big adventure-with ancient hieroglyphic magic, powerful genie lords, and some monsters that would give Sinbad nightmares-is the keystones of what you’ll find in this soon-to-be-Kickstarted project. The Southlands is a vast space, full of mysterious ruins and thriving cities alike. ![]()
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