Verdant Expanse

Summary
The Verdant Expanse is a desne, tropical jungle region situated north of the Gray Coast and southeast of the Beastlands. It is completely void of any normal human civilization, excpet for that of the violent Puushtani barbarians.

Geography
The climate here is abhorantly hot and humid practically all year round. This weather is aided by the dense jungle canopies that prevent sunlight from reaching the forest floor, meaning that at any time of day, the jungle remains somewhat ill lit. Small rivers and streams stretch across the jungle, they are unfortunately too narrow to allow for anything larger than a canoe to go across them, making the area even more difficutl to traverse. Even worse so, these small rivers empty out into large swamps, where they disapate off, meaning that if you take the wrong stream you could end up havingto trek through deep swampland unti lyou find your way to some larger landmass.

The rivers seem to change the direction which they flow in almost once or twice a week, further impeding easy navigation. These bodies of wayer swell up when the heavy rains come down, resulting in the constant submerging of smaller islands ( they will then reapeear once the rains cease).

The forest seems to have this almost other worldly ability to grow ( earning the areas name), as it will engulf roads and any unattended strctures within a mater of weeks, making the development of towns and permenant settlements very diffficult.

People
This region is mostly inhabited by the xenophobic and hostile race of humans known as the Puushtani. They reside in small semipermenant villages, and travel through the jungle in order to hunt and trap on a subsistence level. Their tribes are usually small in size ( comprising no more than 75 persons on average) though they will organize themselves into larger war-bands from time to time.

These people are incredibly adept at warfare within the jungle, and are known for their ability to hide among the dense canopy, making them great at setting up ambushes on unsuspecting enemies.

They dont speak any language that is recognized by any of the peoples that live near the Verdant Expanse, nor do they seem to possess any sort of written language.

In addition to the Puushtani, there also bands of Lizardmen who carve out a primative living inside the Expanse, migrating through the dangerous area to follow game animals. These lizardfolk are the nearest relatives to the Tyrazyne of the coastal areas, but the two groups do not have much sustained contact now, since the Tyrazyne avoid the Verdant Expanse. Thankfully, the Expanse mostly stays inland, without stretching all the way south to the coast. Tyrazyne scribes and fortune tellers warn of an era when the Expanse will swallow all their land right up to the tip of the shoreline, but there seems to be no real current threat of this.