Azura

Welcome to Azura

With the exception of a few coastal settlements, Azura is untamed tropical wilderness: dense jungles and snaky rivers ringed by mountains, volcanoes, and sheer escarpments. Walls of mountains to the west, south, and east shield the interior from the sea and from the view of sailors. The rivers are so sluggish that it can be difficult determining which direction is upstream and which is down. The rivers pick up speed only where they thunder down through steep-sided gorges.
The safest entry points into this overgrown realm ("safest" is a relative term in this context) are on the north and east. The coast from the Bay of Azura to Refuge Bay offers beaches on which to embark into the uncharted jungle. Along the entire coast, the Bay of Azura is the only spot where travellers can find welcoming civilization. The rest of the peninsula is a breeding ground for bloodsucking, disease-bearing insects, monstrous reptiles, carnivorous birds and beasts of every variety, and murderous undead. The farther one moves from the coast, the more humid, hot, and inhospitable the land becomes.

Weather

Azura is hot, humid, and rainy throughout the year. The temperature regularly climbs as high as 35 degrees C during the day and seldom falls below 20 degrees C even at night. A day without rain is rare, but rain varies from a steady mist to drenching downpours.
Visibility in heavy rain is limited to 50 yards. Beyond that distance, only Huge or larger objects can be distinguished. Missile weapon ranges are halved during rain.
On days that receive heavy rain, there's a 25 percent chance of a full-blown tropical storm featuring sheets of rain, high wind, lightning, tall waves at sea, and immense surf along the coast. Guides who know the conditions in Azura recommend hunkering down and staying put on these days. Travel by river is impossible (canoes are swamped by waves within 15 minutes of launching). If characters insist on travelling by foot, every character gains 1 level of exhaustion automatically and must make a successful DC 10 Constitution check or gain another. Skill checks to avoid becoming lost are made with disadvantage on storm days.

Dehydration

Characters who explore Azura need plenty of water to stay hydrated. The water found in rivers and on the ground is unfit for drinking unless it is boiled first. If they have a rain catcher characters can use it to collect rain and then store the water in portable containers.
At the end of each day, any character who hasn't drunk at least 2 gallons of freshwater must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer 1 level of exhaustion. The saving throw is made with disadvantage if the character is wearing medium armour, heavy armour, or heavy clothing. Characters travelling at a fast pace, instead of a normal or slow pace, take a -5 penalty on their saving throws against dehydration.
Characters travelling with beasts of burden and other animals must keep them fed and hydrated as well. Dinosaurs and other creatures native to Azura can forage for food and drink as long as they are in their native habitat.

Diseases

The following diseases can affect giants and humanoids exploring the jungles of Azura. Remember that lesser restoration and similar magic can cure a disease.

Mad Monkey Fever

A magical mist creeps through the jungles of Azura. Contact with this thin, blue, odourless mist can infect giants and humanoids with mad monkey fever. A dispel magic spell destroys the mist in a 20-foot square starting at a point chosen by the caster within the spell's range. An encounter with this mist typically covers 1d6 such areas (400-2,400 square feet).
A giant or humanoid that comes into contact with the mist must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become infected with mad monkey fever. The infected creature gains a random form of long-term madness that manifests 1d6 hours after infection and lasts for the duration (1d10 × 10 hours). If the madness is allowed to run its full course, the creature must repeat the saving throw at the end of the madness. If the second saving throw fails, the creature suffers another bout of long-term madness (roll again on the table) that lasts for the normal duration. The madness symptoms continue until the disease ends.

Shivering Sickness

Insects native to the jungles and marshes of Azura carry this disease, shivering sickness. The easiest protection against it is a coating of insect-repelling salve on all exposed skin.
A giant or humanoid that takes damage from insect swarms or from giant centipedes, giant scorpions, or giant wasps is exposed to the disease at the end of the encounter. Those who haven't applied insect repellent since their previous long rest are exposed to the disease when they finish a long rest.
A giant or humanoid exposed to the disease must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become infected. A creature with natural armour has advantage on the saving throw. It takes 2d6 hours for symptoms to manifest in an infected creature. Symptoms include blurred vision, disorientation, and a sudden drop in body temperature that causes uncontrollable shivering and chattering of the teeth.
Once symptoms begin, the infected creature regains only half the normal number of hit points from spending Hit Dice and no hit points from a long rest. The infected creature also has disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls. At the end of a long rest, an infected creature repeats the saving throw, shaking off the disease on a successful save.

Throat Leeches

Minuscule parasites known as throat leeches infect the water in Azura's forests, swamps, and rivers. Any giant or humanoid that swallows tainted water must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be infested with throat leeches. Immediate symptoms include throat inflammation and shortness of breath. After 1d6 hours, the infected character gains 1 level of exhaustion that can't be removed (except as described below) until the disease is cured. At the end of each long rest, the infected creature must repeat the saving throw. On a failed save, the creature's exhaustion increases by 1 level; on a successful save, the creature's exhaustion decreases by 1 level. If a successful saving throw reduces the infected creature's level of exhaustion below 1, the creature recovers from the disease.
Explorers can avoid contracting throat leeches by drinking only rainwater or water that's been boiled or magically purified.

Maps

• 

  Azura

Type

Island

Location under

Mondum

Included Locations

• Port Nyanzaru

Related Ethnicities

• Azuran

Inhabiting Species

• Aarakocra
• Tabaxi

Related Myths

• Tomb of Annihilation

Gods of Azura

A central figure in Azura's history is the greater god Ubtao, who long protected the land and Azuran civilization. But Ubtao grew angry over his worshipers' endless warring and their reliance on him to solve all their problems. More than a century ago, Ubtao simply abandoned Azura, and his influence hasn't been felt there since that day. When he left, the Azurans suffered a crippling spiritual blow, but eventually, the disunited, warring tribes learned to put aside their petty conflicts and unite as one people. To this day, the dinosaurs of Azura are still revered as Ubtao's sacred children by many Azurans, even though Ubtao himself is no longer popular.
With Ubtao gone, the Azurans turned to other deities, including the new gods introduced to them by missionaries from Terra Caelum after the Great Tyranny. They have their own interpretations of the new gods, channelling lesser aspects of their being. Deities with shrines in Port Nyanzaru include Charon (god of craft and the undead), the Raven King (god of divination and fate), Athena (goddess of wisdom and guidance), and Malora (goddess of good fortune).
Besides spreading word of their deities, however, too many foreign missionaries also exploited the Azurans and their land for profit, which led to many conflicts. The temples and shrines persist, but most of the clergy are now Azurans. Foreign clerics who proselytize too energetically aren't welcomed in Port Nyanzaru.

Races of Azura

Members of most races can be found in Port Nyanzaru, but few of them ever travel more than a hundred yards beyond the city walls. The native peoples must be divided into those that are commonly known and those whose presence is legendary or only suspected. The first group consists of Azurans (humans), aarakocra, Batiri (goblins), dwarves (including albino dwarves), pterafolk, and tabaxi. In the second category, weretigers are suspected to be present in small numbers; explorers and hunters sometimes report seeing grungs (frog folk) deep in the jungle; and yuan-ti are rumoured to be making a resurgence in remote areas.