Discussion Mapping Lustria

[Scalenex]

So I created a small World Anvil page for my Lizardmen fluff.

Unless @Mr.Crocodile tells me to take it down, I took his regional map of Lustria and put it on the site (with a credit).

Anyway, there is a pin in the location of my own homebrew temple city of Klodorex. If you click on that pin, you can follow a link to read the article I wrote on Klodorex or you can click on link to the laughable crude map I made of Klodorex.

This map has several pins in it for five regions in Klodorex and one region near it (with more to come). If you click on those pins, you can read the article for those regions. Within those articles are sidebars with links to more articles. For instance the temple district has this side bar.

Type
District
Location under
Klodorex
Included Locations

• Great Temple of Klodorex
• Klodorex Inner Walls
• Main Armory Tower
• Temple of Itzl
• Temple of Quetzl
• Temple of Tlazcotl
• Temple of Tzunki

My map is laughable crude but it proves the concept I'm going for.

World Anvil allows for the map of a large regional area, with linked maps of smaller regional areas with links to embedded things with links to embedded things.

Hypothetical a World Anvil style page for the Harry Potter universe could have a world map with a link to a map of England with a link to a map of Little Whinging to a diagram of the Dursley House to an article about the Cupboard under the stairs.

The Lustria Map has only one pin in it (EDIT: Now two), but it could have LOTS of pins.

I can take on co-authors or outside contributors (articles, stories, maps, art) and we can make a map and wiki for ALL of Lustria either on my little World Anvil page or a new one.

If people are interested, let me know.

 

[Mr.Crocodile]

I'm extremely happy you used the regions map, i made it precisely so others could also make use of it!

 

[Scalenex]

I got ten map markers with articles now. Seven of them are in the northwest corner because I have thus far only made writes ups for settings of my fluff pieces. I've put a fair few non-location based articles into the wiki too.

I can post other people's material if they give it to me, or put some co-authors into my WHF World Anvil page if someone has a World Anvil account.

 

[Scalenex]

So currently, I have articles for these places are pinned on the map for the Warhammer Wiki, Scale Universe.

Included Locations

• Citadel of Dusk
• Lost Kahoun of Turochlitan
• lost of Kahoun of Yalthera
• Mount Klodor
• the Biting Bogs
• the Cactus Coast
• the Jungle of Green Mists
• the Reeking Mire
• the Vampire Coast
• Tlanxla, the City of the Sky

Mount Klodor, Klodorex, Yalthera, and Turochlitan are from my fluff and are complete fabrications from my mind brain, that I built up in my fluff.

The Biting Bogs, Jungle of Green Mists, Cactus Coast, the Reeking Mire, and Tlanxla the City of the Sky have a name on the map and little more.

I wrote pretty short articles and I chose very simple explanations for how the names came to be.

The Cactus Coast has a lot of cacti, a special water loving variant of the better known desert cacti plants.

The Jungle of Green Mists is a jungle with green mist.

(I was lucky enough to find a picture of a green misty jungle with five Chameleon Skinks in it)


The Biting Bogs is a series of wetlands with a lot of crocodiles and mosquitos.

The Reeking Mire is a swamp that smells bad. Partially due to all the geysers which a group of orcs worship.

Tlanxla is the City of the Sky, despite being in a low elevation place because the site is a major nexus for wild Terradon flocks.

I outlined Citadel of the Dusk just to put a pin at the southern portion of the map. It actually has an official GW description, I just elaborated on it a little bit. The Vampire Coast has a lot of material but I more or overridden it with my own fluff pieces.

We obviously need moar...

Since Lustria is dominated by jungle, I'd like to tackle the jungles.

The "Great Jungle" in my opinion refers to all of Lustria's rainforest, its is the default setting for Lustria. In other words the other jungles are like children or subjects of the Great Jungle. The "Headhunters" Jungle is south of that. I'd like to know who or what the head hunters are. To the west of Great Jungle is the Jungle of Webs. Is this a "Here there be Spiders" location or is the answer less literal.

North of the Great Jungle is the "Creeping Jungle". Does it have a lot of creeping vines? Creeping predators? Is it haunted?

Way up north, approaching Naggaroth, is the "Forests of the Viper" to the northeast Does it just have a bunch of snakes or is their one solitary "the viper".

You got the "Forest of Ash", to the northwest, adjacent. Just as many questions. Was their a forest fire? A volcano? A plague? A battle?

West of the Spine of Sotek mountains starting north and sliding down. We got the Jungle of Green Mists which I covered. It's also logical, Sandwiched between a tall mountain range and the sea, there would be a lot of fog, or mist.

Going south but still west of the Spine of Sotek Mountains, you have "the Huanhuan Desert" and a nameless region between them (I also cannot think of why a place near the ocean would be a desert when. Since above the nameless region is a bunch of swamp and jungle. I assume the nameless region is transitional, less vegetation than a jungle, more vegetation than a jungle.

South of the desert is "the Cursed Jungle" and below that "the Forbidden Jungle", then another inexplicable desert then "The Night Forest." Are the jungles cursed and forbidden to Lizardmen or they are cursed and forbidden to the Lizardmen's enemies? Both?

The Night Forest? Is it dark? Cold? Are most of the animals there nocturnal? Does it have Night Goblins? If so, why are they all the way over here and why haven't we heard of them before?

I also like to cover the "Caverns of the Great Bat", which are in the corner of the Forbidden Jungle.

As Warden will attest to, Camazotz is a major mythological figure in Mayan mythology. The death bot. Lots of cool myths and art there. For my fantasy world of Scarterra creating the evil camazotz race and the cuddly kalazotz race.

I suppose an evil race of man bats like the camazotz could be an interested localized variant of the Beasts of Chaos, but I'd like to see if we could come up with something creative and new for the Lustrian "Caverns of the Great Bat" while still feeling grounded in real world stories of Camazotz.

 

[Mr.Crocodile]

Some comments and ideas on what you said:

Cactus Coast: I think we could really explain it as them mostly being normal cacti, first because there actually are some real species which live in coastal regions or invasively in islands, so a desert isn't fully necessary to justify them. Secondly, you could argue that the Cactus Coast is analogous to something like the Tamaulipan mezquital or Tamaulipan pastizal, meaning that the region is semi-arid or arid enough that cacti would fit in.

HeadHunter's Jungle and Jungle of Webs: Personally I consider that the Headhunter refers to some kind of Lizardman or Amazonian subculture that puts a big emphasis on beheading of enemies(something already common in the cultures they draw from). Or considering how big Khorne is on skulls, maybe the name refers to some infamous Khornate daemon who left his mark on the land during the Great Catastrophe and whose legend is still remembered. For the Jungle of Webs, sometimes simple is best, I think spiderwebs from some special regional spider species gives it the name.

Creeping Jungle: I think the "haunted" idea inspired me to make up something similar. What if the plantlife here literally creeps? Picture something like the Fangorn Forest from lotr, trees and brushes slolwy moving over weeks, making it impossible to stablish trails there or make maps. Some strange left over from a great spell by a long gone Slann

Forests of the Viper: With this place I'd do something similar to the Headhunter, the place could be named after some long gone daemon or possibly alegendary Druchii (since it's part of the Naggaroth border).
Forest of Ash: If we assume the Grey Guardians to be volcanos (which could be fun, because that lets you make the comparison of the Guardians' craters being akin to a watchtower's pyre) then the forest of ash could simply be the region in which most lava flows ends up, making for fertile soils but also common forest fires.

Huanhuan Desert: Coastal deserts are actually not that rare, there's examples like the Atacama or Namib.

About the unmaned region thing, I'm not sure what you mean, here's the most up to date map:

Copper Desert: Same thing as I said above, Coastal deserts are not rare, and in irl South America they make up whats called the "Arid Diagonal":

Night Forest: For this place, I'd look at the Valdivian temperate rain forest for inspiration.

 

[Scalenex]

All solid ideas @Mr.Crocodile . Meanwhile, the Muse of Lizardmen Scaliope directly me to write about something I hadn't even mentioned above because I must cluster the northwest corner of the map even more.

Wellsprings of Eternity

The Wellsprings of Eternity were originally a cluster of artesian springs of pure water along an intersection of ley lines that the Slann ordered the construction of some ceremonial fountains around under the direction of the Old Ones in the Time Before creating a holy site for Tzunki and the Old Ones in general.During the Great Cataclysm, the fountains were destroyed by daemons led by Korshalork of the Putrid Waves. Korshalork attempted to corrupt the site and turn it from a site of a purity to a site of corruption until he was interrupted by a daring sortie led by the servants of the Slann Lord Izzatal disrupting his ability to corrupt the Wellsprings of Eternity for....eternity.

It is difficult to say whether the Daemons or the First Children of the Old Ones won this battle.

During the rebuilding that followed the Great Cataclysm the Slann were able to mystically patch up this site a little, so it wasn't an eternal source of Chaos laced poison and illness, but they deemed impossible to restore the beautiful pure water that once existed here. No major reconstruction was attempted here but the Slann ordered the construction of a simple memorial cairn here to commemorate the loss here.

That said, the Wellsprings of Eternity are still a series of springs, and these along with a natural rain shadow are the source of the swamps that are now known as the Reeking Mire.

While this is no longer a holy site to the Old Ones, the Wellsprings are hardly a lasting monument to Nurgle's glory either. The Reeking Mire is definitely unpleasant, but its arguably not any more dangerous than the rest of Lustria. The region is just an ugly patch of marsh, neither a source of eternal pox or a source of eternal life energy.

When neither the Lizardmen nor the Daemons win a decisive victory, you end up with a swamp full of crazy orcs.

 

[Scalenex]

Creeping Jungle: I think the "haunted" idea inspired me to make up something similar. What if the plantlife here literally creeps? Picture something like the Fangorn Forest from lotr, trees and brushes slolwy moving over weeks, making it impossible to stablish trails there or make maps. Some strange left over from a great spell by a long gone Slann

This is worth expanding on. At the very southern tip of the Creeping Jungle is the ruined temple city of Spektazuma.

There is nothing official in GW sources on Spektazuma, but we have a really cool discussion thread full of good ideas on the city here though some of the ideas contradict each other so we cannot use them all.

If the Creeping Jungle was made the way it was by the actions of one or more Slann, that Slann probably lives in Spektazuma or at least used to live there. Perhaps he's a mummy now.

The aforementioned Cactus Coast is nearby though the Cactus Coast and Creeping Jungle could easily have nothing to do with each other.

If you follow north, the main landmark in the Creeping Jungle is the Floating Pyramid. I'm not sure if there is any GW material on the Floating Pyramid. Is the pyramid always floating or is it sometimes floating? Does it hang high in the sky or is it pretty close to the ground? Who or what made it float?

It seems obvious that if there is some weird supernatural stuff causing the trees in the jungle to move, that might be a good enough reason to let a temple float above the mess. Or maybe the potent magic is connected to the moving trees.

North of the Floating Temple is the "Obsidian Face" arguably the most important ley line intersection in Lustria because it's located essentially where Panama is, so it's metaphysically stitching Lustria and Naggaroth together. I'm open to more details.

The Sunken Temples of Itzabello and the Sunken Gateway are nearby off the coast. Either or both could be connected to the Creeping jungle or they could be unrelated. Underwater cities and artifacts of the Old Ones are hardly unusual and some of them were abandoned to sea on purpose when the continents of Lustria and the Southlands were physically separated.

Just above the Creeping Jungles, we have the Aymara. They may or may not be connected to whatever is going on in the Creeping Jungle, but given the coastal location it's probably a salt or brackish water bayou with a lot of crocodiles and other animals that travel between the sea and fresh water.

The Aymara Swamps have their own monument of the Old Ones, the High Sentinel. Unlike most monuments of the Old Ones on the Lustria map, it's not on a ley line intersection but Lustria's map has a lot of "Sentinels" on it and only about half of them are connected to ley lines.

The Sentinels are all on or near the edge of Lustria. I'm just going to run with the basic idea that the Sentinels are essentially border markers that the Slann ordered erected at the edge of "their" territory.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Sentinels have enough magical mojo enchanted in them that the Slann can enact epic magic within the Sentinel zone easier than outside of it. It probably has nothing to directly with what is going on in the Creeping Jungle but it's highly possible that a disruption or attack on "the High Sentinel" would cause a ripple effect in the Creeping Jungle whether the Slann deliberately created the haunted effect there or if the haunted effect is hostile to the Slann and they are trying to contain it.

Anyway, just north of the the Creeping Jungle and Swamps of Aymara is Pahuax the City of Ash. Mostly this is famous as the city state where Oxyotl hails from.

According to one of the army book, the Slann Lord Poxaxalan tried to cast an epic spell to blast the Daemon hordes during the Great Cataclysm and miscast his spell drawing himself and his army into the Chaos Realm. Only Oxyotl. Maybe there were some Lizardmen that were nearby but not in range of Poxaxalan's miscast, maybe not. Maybe Pahuax was resettled, maybe it wasn't.

Maybe this is mishap connected to the Creeping Jungle, but probably lot. But chances are if Pahaux and/or Spektazuma were resettled, the First of Pahaux would occasionally have to deal with spillover issues from Spektazuma and visa versa. Pahaux would probably be under the political thumb of Hexoatl.

In one of my fluff pieces, I mentioned Spektazuma in passing (they loaned a couple units of Saurus warriors to the forces of Klodorex), so I guess that means at least one Slann in Spektazuma is in Merestar's coalition.

 

[Scalenex]

Here is my blurb outlining the Isthmus Region as a whole, feel free to praise and/or pick this apart, but this is the baseline I want to establish before hitting the smaller landmarks. I do like the idea that the Grey Guardians and the Forest of Ash are all related to volcanoes.

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Isthmus of Lustria

The Isthmus of Lustria is loosely analogous to the region around Panama in the real world.

Per square mile, the Isthmus of Lustria is the most densely pack region of Lustria with mystic ley lines and monuments to the Old Ones.

The exposed location of the Isthmus would theoretically leave the region vulnerable to outsiders but this region of Lustria is probably the safest for the First of any other region of comparable size simple because of how heavily patrolled it is.

The geographic and political center of the Isthmus is the Temple City of Hexoatl, the City of the Sun. The entire Isthmus is part of the official protectorate of Hexoatl and by extension Slann Lord Mazdamundi. If any of the Slann here disagree with Mazdamundi, they probably keep their telepathic mouths shut.

Not only is the region heavily patrolled by armies of Sauri and Skinks but a large population of unusually active Slann with access to a lot of intact monuments harnessing the power of magical ley lines means that Mazdamundi have the embarrassment of riches in that they can crush enemies in the region with either magic or armies as they see fit.
Ecosystem
Despite being unique in terms of the Lizardmen inhabiting the region, I don't believe the Isthmus of Lustria differs significantly from the the Lustria norm, aka the Great Jungle.

Given that the region is smaller geographically, the First of Hexoatl have to be more careful with harvesting resources from the jungle lest they overtax their local ecosystem, but this is only a minor inconvenience.

Compared to other temple cities, Hexoatl is micromanaged so they certainly have efficient farming and similar infrastructure in place and with an active and powerful Slann population they could life magic to accelerate regrowth if a localized area has an "oopsy" and suffers non-supernatural ecological damage.
Climate
Hot and humid like everywhere else in Lustria. The Isthmus has two massive oceans on both sides which produces a lot of moisture, but without the Spine of Sotek mountains acting as a rain shadow or wall, rain clouds tend to move in an out pretty quickly.

In my head canon, the difference between the "wet" and "dry" seasons of Lustria are less pronounced here.
History
The Isthmus of Lustria, at least in my head canon is the safest place in Lustria...for Lizardmen.

They suffered losses in the Great Cataclysm (which ruined Pahaux) but no major loss occurred here since though it is possible there could have looting or desecration by surprise looters in some of the outlying regions.

In my head canon, the fact that the Isthmus of Lustria has suffered fewer great losses than the rest of Lustria has resulted in Lord Mazdamundi having an aggressive overall strategy for fulfilling the Great Plan, he is not in a particular hurry. Given that Mazdamundi wants to evict all humans back to the Old World, Port Reaver and Swamp Town are on borrowed time and it's only a matter of time before the axe falls.

Also, given that incursions that do happen are dealt with very quickly, most of the Slann and their minions have not had much time to study their enemies. This is why the Lizardmen here rarely if ever draw any distinctions between the High Elves and the Dark Elves or the Empire and the Warriors of Chaos. All elves/all humans look alike to them. Whereas to Lizardmen in other parts of the Lustria there is a large distinction between Fallen and Anathema that dictates what kind of response they are likely to commit against incursion.

Outside of the Great Cataclysm where Daemons were the Lizardmen's greatest foes and the Time of Sotek where the Skaven were the Lizardmen's greatest foes, the First mostly have to deal with Dark Elf raiding parties and human dominated treasure hunting expeditions.

There is no official account in published works of a major Dark Elf incursion against this region and according to my head canon, I imagine Malekith or Morathi have issued a proclamation warning their minions that attempting a casual raid on the Isthmus of Lustria is suicidal.

I suppose Malekith and/or Morathi have the resources and mystic might to seriously challenge Mazdamundi and launch a devastating massive invasion of the isthmus, but Malekith isn't likely to commit this much of his resources for an large scale attack against some target other than Ulthuan though Malekith versus Mazdamundi would be an epic story.

It is vague in official sources how much outsiders know about what is going on in Hexoatl or the outlying region, but in my head canon, while outsiders may not know "There is a powerful and active ancient Slann named Mazdamundi that runs this region like an efficient engine of death" the outside world must have pieced together some clues.

I figure the High Elves of Ulthuan and the Dark Elves of Naggaroth must know that this is a region of potent and dangerous magic. Their wizards are too powerful and well organized not to have sensed some of what is going on here. Add to the fact that there is enough espionage between these two nations, if one elf nation finds out a geographic secret, chances are the other will learn this secret eventually.

For their part, the casual human raiders of Lustria might have noticed that while well over half of expeditions to Lustria never return, expeditions to the Isthmus of Lustria have an even lower success rate.

Human adventurers seem more foolhardy than Elven adventurers so a few Human groups probably invade here anyway, or they may land here by accident after their ships are blown off course.

Normally in published GW works, the Warriors of Chaos are single-mindedly focused on destroying the Empire of Man. Hypothetically, if the forces of Chaos decided that the Lizardmen need to be taken out of play, Hexoatl would relatively easy for a Chaos invasion fleet to sail towards and breaking Hexoatl would definitely cripple the Lizardmen as a whole.

(sidebar)
Type
Isthmus
Location under
Lustria
Owner/Ruler
Note, as I/we develop articles for the locations of interest within the Isthmus of Lustria, links will pop up for these in the sidebar which could potentially include every spot named on this map and more.

 

[Scalenex]

On my World Anvil Lustria page, if you click on the icon by the words Isthmus of Lustria, it will take you to a second map, specifically of the Isthmus of Lustria. I haven't figured out how or if it's possible to navigate from the Isthmus to the main Lustrian map.

I got three pins in this map so far. The Grey Guardians which I decided is the name of the little mountain range. Full article is here, but the cliff notes version is that these mountains are volcanoes that Mazdamundi can cause to erupt whenever he wants to.

The "Tomb of Gold", located within these mountains, you can read all about here. The cliff notes version is that this is a spent gold mine that Mazdamundi converted into a tomb for Slann mummies.

The "Forest of Ash" is a piece of jungle that is fertilized by a lot of volcanic ash and is subject to frequent forest fires.

If you look on the map, one of the Lizardmen monuments is in this forest, "The Fallen Gates". Maybe someone has a different explanation but I think the simplest explanation is this is the spot where the Old Ones where the mahrlect up and accidentally created the Great Cataclysm.

Maybe my interpretation is off base, but I like the idea that this is the site where everything went down really doesn't matter anymore.

This marks the spot where Daemons first set foot on the mortal plane but they didn't stay here very long and once they portaled in here, they were able to quickly portal in elsewhere. In other words, the Daemons didn't bother to taint the land here and they no longer care about this site.

So my idea is the "Fallen Gates" was the single most important site in history but in the present has nothing of interest.

At this point, "The volcanic soil allows for unique plant life" now matters 100 times more than "this site has lots of history."

 

[Imrahil]

The "Forest of Ash" is a piece of jungle that is fertilized by a lot of volcanic ash and is subject to frequent forest fires.

If you look on the map, one of the Lizardmen monuments is in this forest, "The Fallen Gates". Maybe someone has a different explanation but I think the simplest explanation is this is the spot where the Old Ones where the mahrlect up and accidentally created the Great Cataclysm.

Maybe my interpretation is off base, but I like the idea that this is the site where everything went down really doesn't matter anymore.

This marks the spot where Daemons first set foot on the mortal plane but they didn't stay here very long and once they portaled in here, they were able to quickly portal in elsewhere. In other words, the Daemons didn't bother to taint the land here and they no longer care about this site.

So my idea is the "Fallen Gates" was the single most important site in history but in the present has nothing of interest.

At this point, "The volcanic soil allows for unique plant life" now matters 100 times more than "this site has lots of history."

Sounds like a good point of view.

btw: I love the map structure with the pins and all. Really nice feature.

Grrr, !mrahil

 

[Scalenex]

Sounds like a good point of view.

btw: I love the map structure with the pins and all. Really nice feature.

I just added three more pins to the map of the Isthmus of Lustria.

The Fallen Gates have a pretty simple article. I am cross posting the others because I put a bit more effort and I found some lovely free to use photos that fit.

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the forests of the Viper

The Forests of the Viper is the geographic region to the east of the Grey Guardians mountain range.

While occasionally, the Forests of the Viper are occasionally fertilized with volcanic ash and/or set on fire by the volcanos of the Grey Guardians mountains, there are relatively fewer eruptions on the east side of the mountains than the western side. Also, prevailing winds in the Isthmus go from east to west, so more ash is carried west to the aptly named Forest of Ash.

The Forests of the Viper are known for having lots of snakes which is saying something because Lustria as a whole is teeming with snakes. Generally, the snakes here are relatively small and quite poisonous though there are a few giant constrictors, the big boas are mostly in jungles south of here.

Whether or not this forest is coincidentally full of snakes or because Slann Lord Mazdamundi terraformed this jungle to be full of snakes is up for debate, but none of the First are complaining about how good the local snakes are at biting would-be invaders.

The local Lizardmen are pretty good at avoiding being bit, and they regularly carry anti-venom medicine just in case. While the Lizardmen themselves have few major problems with the snakes here, this jungle is a terrible place to bring one's llama herd.

Geography
Relative to the rest of the Great Jungle, the trees here are a little bit shorter and the vegetation is a little bit denser, and it's a little bit more dry because rain clouds are usually pushed west fairly quickly.
Ecosystem
A lot of fast growing and nutrious roots and nuts grow in the local soil conditions and this attracts small mammals and lizards. A lot of fruit and rotting vegetations attracts insects which attracts lizards and frogs which eat them. The large population of snakes feeds on the aforementioned lizards, frogs, and mammals. A few venom resistant predators eat the snakes.

It is "Forests of the Viper" plural not singular. This is a proverbial Galapagos Islands that Charles Darwin would love to see if he could somehow survive here and did not suffer from ophidiophobia. Each forest is slightly different and has slightly different native snake species.

There are relatively fewer large predators here, but that is not to say this region never sees a Carnosaur, they are simply relatively uncommon here.
Natural Resources
There are a lot of nutritious edible plants here, but most Skinks don't like foraging here. Even Skinks are not completely at ease among poisonous snakes.

The main resources here are the snakes themselves and the venom they produce.

There are a handful of rare plants that can only be found in this region, but that is unique to almost all of Lustria, almost everywhere has some rare plant that is only found in one specific region.
History
If an invader wants to land on the east coast and attack Hexoatl by the shortest possible route, than that invader will march his soldiers through the Forests of the Viper.

While the famous vipers in this forest have bitten the ankle of many an invader, the vipers are not sufficient to defend Hexoatl by themselves.

Many battles have been fought here and the jungles are routinely watered with blood.
Tourism
Some Skink priests with an aptitude for Beast magic choose to make a pilgrimage and "become one with the vipers" in a spiritual sense.

It is noteworthy that Skink priests that routinely visit the Forest of the Viper often are more powerful than average.

It is not especially common for Slann Lord Mazdamundi or his minions to utilize serpent swarms in their armies but if they want biting serpents, this is the logical place to get them and it is the beast caste Skink priests who have this task.


Note the region around the Temple of Huanchi, I vote we name that region the Jungle of the Jaguar for obvious reasons. Speaking of which.

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The Great Temple of Huanchi

"The Great Temple of Huanchi can only be found by those who already know where it is."
-Common Skink Adage

Almost every Temple City and Kahoun has it's own Temple Huanchi. The Great Temple of Huanchi is not even technically the biggest Huanchi Temple in terms of square feet, but it is still worthy of the title "Great".

The Great Temple of Huanchi is unique for several reasons.

First off, The Great Temple of Huanchi is a stand alone temple with no City or Kahoun associated with it. It has no spawning pools either.

Second off, the Great Temple of Huanchi represents one of the main arteries of Lustria's mystical ley lines connecting Isthmus of Lustria with everything south of it.

Third off, the Great is an upside down stepped pyramid. The top level of the traditional "top" of the pyramid is deep underground.

The base of the pyramid has no very tall trees on it but it looks pretty indistinguishable from a hundred other natural forest clearings throughout the Great Jungle of Lustria and it is magically concealed with passive ongoing spells so as to look unremarkable to passerby, so as none could find the secret entrance by accident.

Purpose / Function
The temple serves as a site to glorify the Old One Huanchi, god of darkness. It also serves as a major ley line anchor.
Defenses
By Mazdamundi's orders, this temple always houses at least two Slann at all time, one in the bottom of the pyramid (where the conventional top of the pyramid would be) and one at the top of the pyramid (where the base of a conventional pyramid would be).The Slann in the lower levels is the called the Shadow Master and maintains and monitors the magical effects powered by the ley line. Usually this is an older Slann, commonly of the Third Generation.

Most Lizardmen temples climb upward for a reason, Slann have better telepathic reception at higher altitudes. This means the Shadow Master cannot extend his mystical senses very far beyond the Great Temple and has trouble telepathically contacting other Slann.

The Slann at the top of the pyramid is the Eclipse Slann, usually a younger Slann of the Fifth generation. The Eclipse Slann's job is to relay telepathic messages and images to and from the Shadow Master.

Most Slann consider assignment to the Great Temple of Huanchi to be mildly unpleasant and Slann are rotating in and out of this duty relatively often, typically serving between 20 and 50 years shifts.

With two Slann present, the site always a lot of Temple Guard and other Lizardmen to guard and attend the Slann, which also by extension guards the Great Temple of Huanchi.
History
Despite Hexoatl being "the City of the Sun" and Huanchi is the god of night and darkness, Mazdamundi claims this temple as a protectorate of Hexaotl.

The Slann and their attendants present here are nearly always native to Hexoatl.The magic of the site has attracted invaders both during the Great Cataclysm and many times sense.

Given that the site is magically obfuscated by a permanent magical effect that can be carefully aimed and directed by the Slann inside the temple, enemies seeking the temple usually get close to the temple but never quite find it.

Then they end up fighting the army of Hexoatl and losing.
Tourism
Most Slann prefer to avoid this Temple but a few make it a point to visit on or near the Winter Solstice and/or Autumnal Equinox if they need to truly commune with Great Huanchi.

The area also sees pilgrims from around Lustria from among Skinks, Sauri, and Kroxigor seeking to pay homage to Huanchi here for the Winter Solstice and Autumnal Equinox.

It is noteworthy that jaguars also like to visit the temple site in great numbers on the nights of the Solstice and Equinox.

 

[Scalenex]

I added a map pin for the Mosquito Swamps and wrote a short article on it which you can read here.

 

[Scalenex]

I wrote a short blurb on the Forgotten Isles

And I spent a few minutes coaxing Midjourney to generate an AI art picture to approximate what I was envisioning for them.

I am open to suggestions for concepts of the nearby "Copper Desert" and "Dust Gate". I am willing to modify the Forgotten Isles material I have written to match with the lore of these places.

As for the nearby Night Forest, I am envisioning a temperate deciduous rain forest or even a cooler mostly evergreen rain forest.

Here is what Midjourney AI created from "Coniferous rain forest"

Here is what it might look like in the winter.

The Night Forest has a ruined temple city in it called "Kaiax the Lost City". I imagine the Lizardmen were not 100% comfortable in the cooler climate and that this was probably a relatively small city. Maybe the city was destroyed, maybe it was just abandoned. Maybe it still has a small garrison with a Slann or two babysitting the cross node of ley lines and a couple hundred or a couple thousand skinks and Saurus aiding the Slann. Either way, it represents the southern most Lizardmen city ever, so perhaps it deserves some lore.

 

[Killer Angel]

The Night Forest has a ruined temple city in it called "Kaiax the Lost City". I imagine the Lizardmen were not 100% comfortable in the cooler climate and that this was probably a relatively small city. Maybe the city was destroyed, maybe it was just abandoned. Maybe it still has a small garrison with a Slann or two babysitting the cross node of ley lines and a couple hundred or a couple thousand skinks and Saurus aiding the Slann. Either way, it represents the southern most Lizardmen city ever, so perhaps it deserves some lore.

I could imagine the presence of a "hot spot" or some thermal points, probably magically crafted by Slanns eons ago, which once kept the city alive and well, able to mantain a warm enviroment for the lizardmen inside its wall, thus limiting the difficulties only to expeditionary forces or patrol duties outside the city, during the harsher seasons.

 

[Scalenex]

I could imagine the presence of a "hot spot" or some thermal points, probably magically crafted by Slann eons ago, which once kept the city alive and well, able to maintain a warm environment for the lizardmen inside its wall, thus limiting the difficulties only to expeditionary forces or patrol duties outside the city, during the harsher seasons.

That's a good idea. This gives me two diverging ideas.

1) The city was built in honor of the Xohlanka the Lost One and they thought that Xohlanka would be more likely come to such a remote location than the rest of Lustria.

2) The city was built for some other purpose and became lost after something bad happened to it. In this case something bad could be a volcanic disaster. If the Slann used volcanoes to heat the city, it would be relatively easy for hostile forces to "sabotage the furnace"

I'm leaning towards two, because Xohlanka is probably too obscure to have his own major Temple City (besides my little Kahoun of Klodorex is the center of Xohlanka's cult).

I suppose it's possible to do both and have a city dedicated to Xohlanka get buried by a volcano, but I'm going to run without a direct Xohlanka connection. There is a lot to ponder assuming the volcanic eruption left something of the city to attract Lizardmen and/or others to the site.

Besides the Night Forest being a familiar but also alien forest to the Lizardmen, there is another thing that makes this place interesting fluff wise.

On the southern tip of Lustria, it would be relatively exposed to various outside sea forces, but it would relatively untouched by the Lizardmen's traditional enemies of the Skaven and Dark Elves. The Skaven didn't push that far South and the Dark Elves have an underground equivalent to the the Panama canal so they don't have to sail around Lustria.

Definitely a lot of contact with High Elves. They were the first to explore those seas and they have the Citadel of the Dusk nearby. Probably some contact with the Cathayans and Empire contact. If the ancient Nehekharans every had a seafaring tradition, they would have reached the area before they became a bunch of skeletons.

 

[Scalenex]

Three new map pins with related articles (with pictures!)

Night Forest

the Swirling Swamps

the Copper Desert

 

[Scalenex]

I'm still in the brainstorming phase but I have some ideas for fleshing out the western section crudely marked.



We have two deserts, "The Cursed Jungle" and the "Forbidden Jungle" and the "Mal'iente Swamp" which is an indirect way of saying "Malignant Swamp" or "Malevolent Swamp".

There are a couple monument in this region, but there are not any Temple Cities nearby, ruined or otherwise.

The Forbidden Jungle also has the "Caverns of the Great Bat". I have always been intrigued by the Mayan god of death Camazotz which takes the form of a great bat. That's why in my own fantasy world of Scarterra I created a fantasy race called the camazotz. I definitely wouldn't mind giving Lustria some evil bat people somewhere.

My broad concept is that during the Great Catastrophe, the Slann had to prioritize what they were going to defend and what they were going to have to abandon. Since they didn't have a whole lot worth defending in this general region, they didn't commit a lot of their resources here.

Now the area is home to Beastmen. But not like the goat headed Beastmen of the Old World, but Beastmen based on jungle creatures, perhaps some of them are humanoid vampire bats...

The Lizardmen probably don't like having a bunch of Beastmen in their backyard, but they have to focus on more important things. It's like worrying about your house's mouse infestation while it is on fire. If they marched an army across the Spine of Sotek mountains to exterminate these Beastmen, they would leave their Temple Cities relatively open to treasure hunter, dark elves, Daemons, and skaven.

Then there is the problem, if they don't get ALL the Beastmen, the survivors could just breed back to their old numbers later. As long as the Beastmen here don't join up with one of the Lizardmen's stronger and smarter enemies, the Lizardmen can give them a free pass.

What if the local dinosaurs and other Lustrian fauna gradually take on Chaos taint here. What would they look like? What would they act like considering non-corrupted dinosaurs are so frightening?

Maybe Fimir are pulling the puppet strings of the Beastmen here, or maybe they are trying and failing to pull their puppet strings.

Maybe they have a couple Kahoun here desperately holding the line defending the few Monuments to the Old Ones still here or maybe these Monuments were corrupted or destroyed. Maybe they were hidden. Maybe they just aren't important.

One fun aspect here is that if the Beastmen here resemble jungle creatures and some dumbass human or elven force lands on Lustria's west coast, they will assume they are being attacked by Lizardmen. The more forward thinking Lizardmen are probably unbothered when their enemies fight.

 

[Sudsinabucket]

That's why in my own fantasy world of Scarterra I created a fantasy race called the camazotz. I definitely wouldn't mind giving Lustria some evil bat people somewhere.

Love this idea

 

[Killer Angel]

The Forbidden Jungle also has the "Caverns of the Great Bat". I have always been intrigued by the Mayan god of death Camazotz which takes the form of a great bat. That's why in my own fantasy world of Scarterra I created a fantasy race called the camazotz. I definitely wouldn't mind giving Lustria some evil bat people somewhere.

@Sudsinabucket is right.
Really cool idea!