Meino'ng Jungle
"The Jungle is alive with worlds beyond your wildest imaginings, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, great blinding flashes of light cascading onto a million marbled mirrors, pulsing wild and wonderful like great flames of uncorrupted youth, out here on the perimeter there are no stars, gone and forever alone amongst the dying embers."
Geography
This massive jungle complex spans hundreds of miles across the eastern lands of Ardras, connecting the dry and airy lands of the Crystcrown Desert with the calm and peaceful plateau of the La'Taos Coast. It is filled with coarsing, winding rivers, thick vines, and massive jungle trees. Across the landscape, massive glowing crystals grow out from the ground and illuminate the darkest recesses of the wilds.
As one traverses through the jungle, the landscape has the tendency to change dramatically. As one begins to get afflicted with the magical Jungle Madness, reality itself begins to shift and change, leading to a world of infinite possibilities.
Ecosystem
In this bizzare and erratic environment, nura rich water and plant life spontaneously create new living beings with simple biological systems; only for them to tear back apart shortly after and transfigure into a new form of life, fauna or flora. The incandescent glow from the nura crysts enchants creatures and flowers, influencing strange behavior and offbeat reactions. A walk through this jungle is truly a stroll along the multiplicity and maleable nature of existence. There are no common creatures within the jungle, as new entities are continuously spawned into and out of existence with lifespans of anywhere from several moments to many months. Chaos is the natural state of this jungle's ecosystem.
Localized Phenomena
The depths of this landscape are often described as disorienting and confusing; magical energies animate tree limbs, making paths difficult to recall. Illusions permeate one's mind with the abundance of nura, causing people to percieve their environment through different lenses.
Natural Resources
Not only is the jungle full of unique organisms and esoteric ruins, but it is the only place on Ardras in which one can find nuracryst of such grandiosity and magnitude. Opportunistic merchants harvest crystals from deep within the jungle depths to sell on the marketplace at luxuriant prices.
History
Long ago in the Era of Light, nomadic people groups moved eastwards across what is now the Crystcrown Desert towards the Meino'ng Jungle. Though interaction with the jungle is not very well documented, it does pop up in several tales from ancient Meinongian texts, often portrayed as a dark place full of evil things.
Following the Sundering, refugees from the fallout and collapse of the human kingdoms drove these nomadic people further east into the jungle. During this time, a mysterious group of mages from the west brought with them an ark containing a powerful source of magic and were guided into the jungle by the old wise men of the Meinongism philosophies. Following the Meinong River, these mages and Meinong monks erected massive pillars and embedded the power of the light to ward off the magics within the jungle. Not long after small settlements and villages were established as the Mein'ong Temples began accumulating followers and disciples of the faith.
Several hundred years later, these people groups would go on to improve the warding pillars, connecting their magical energies to provide a clear path through the Meino'ng Jungle, breaking on through to the La'Taos Coast. This day is often celebrated in Meinongian culture with festivals.
Oka'uhane Valley
This central valley is protected from the mind-bending magics of the jungle by ancient towers built by monks.
Archae Prima
A densely forested region known as the jungle's entry point to most explorers and adventurers.
Genesii Secunda
The deepest parts of the jungle, said to be the nexus of many worlds and ancient secrets.
Dashnu Tetra
Spoken of in A'nuiism tales as the cradle of mythology and storytelling, traversed only by shamans.
Alternative Name(s)
The Mad Jungle, The Great Jungle, The Jungle of a Thousand Dreams
Type
Jungle