Black Gold
A learned commentator once said that the Lightless Jungle* is "not quite a hell you can walk to, but is certainly the next best thing". Beneath trees so large that the only way to see a whole one is to climb a mountain some distance away, it's full to bursting with venomous animals, carnivorous plants, blind albino gorillas, flesh eating dragonflies the size of eagles and mad, dangerous tribes of shamanistic sorcerors.
Nobody in their right mind wants to go there, but there are plenty of people, many of them very wealthy, who will pay the unsound of mind to venture into the stygian mulch in search of rare animal parts, horrible poisons, fabulous gems, lost cities, the carcasses of three-hundred foot ticks and new and fascinating magics. It's dangerous work, of course, but you don't have to do it for long to retire a very wealthy individual.
You may be crazy enough to venture in beneath the trees, where maps are useless and the normal rules of the world seem to fall away from you. Alternatively, you could just sit back in Hearthlight, the tiny city-state that huddles behind its walls and listens to the screeches of mad, blind birds as it sends cargoes of the jungle's bounty to buyers across the world. After all, there's challenge enough in staying afloat in a cut-throat world of commerce, even without the oppression and interference of the Hearthlight Guild.
Or, if that doesn't appeal, bring religion to Hearthlight's godless heathens, and then, if you dare, spread it to the tribes of the Jungle. Or bring the entire area under the sway of one of the neighbouring kingdoms. Alternatively, stop someone unworthy from doing either, or both.
Just remember that, no matter how far you think you can see, the Jungle always has something waiting for you, just out of sight...
So, another REIGN setup. I like to think that Hearthlight is a lot like Sanctuary in the early Thieves' World books - shabby, ignored for the most part, but with the potential for a lot of fast, dirty money.
*Further information on most of the proper nouns in this entry can be found at Greg Stolze's Reign Wiki.
Nobody in their right mind wants to go there, but there are plenty of people, many of them very wealthy, who will pay the unsound of mind to venture into the stygian mulch in search of rare animal parts, horrible poisons, fabulous gems, lost cities, the carcasses of three-hundred foot ticks and new and fascinating magics. It's dangerous work, of course, but you don't have to do it for long to retire a very wealthy individual.
You may be crazy enough to venture in beneath the trees, where maps are useless and the normal rules of the world seem to fall away from you. Alternatively, you could just sit back in Hearthlight, the tiny city-state that huddles behind its walls and listens to the screeches of mad, blind birds as it sends cargoes of the jungle's bounty to buyers across the world. After all, there's challenge enough in staying afloat in a cut-throat world of commerce, even without the oppression and interference of the Hearthlight Guild.
Or, if that doesn't appeal, bring religion to Hearthlight's godless heathens, and then, if you dare, spread it to the tribes of the Jungle. Or bring the entire area under the sway of one of the neighbouring kingdoms. Alternatively, stop someone unworthy from doing either, or both.
Just remember that, no matter how far you think you can see, the Jungle always has something waiting for you, just out of sight...
So, another REIGN setup. I like to think that Hearthlight is a lot like Sanctuary in the early Thieves' World books - shabby, ignored for the most part, but with the potential for a lot of fast, dirty money.
*Further information on most of the proper nouns in this entry can be found at Greg Stolze's Reign Wiki.