Malundi
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"…Once we set off from the coast and paddled into the interior, Durnsten never stopped complaining. It was too hot, too humid, there were too many insects and the food was disagreeable. It was plain to see that he was too used to the comforts of civilization even when traveling. There was no train, no coach, no grand riverboat with sleeping cabins - only a dozen men on canoes who had to travel along the river using their own arms to paddle…
[…] When he heard the roar of the giant ape, he finally took my warnings seriously not to stray from our camp site. Unfortunately, after that incident he became horribly afraid of all the creatures that might lurk out there and pestered me with constant questions about the safety of our current location…
[…] I had promised him grandiose sights once we reached Shago, but it was clear that he was skeptical. When he saw most of the villagers walking around bare-chested - men and women both - he seemed to have made up his mind that the dark-skinned natives of these regions were nothing more than 'primitives' and 'savages'. I noticed that this did not stop him from staring at the women, though…"
- Hermann Hasse, The Far Corners of the World, Neuer Weltverlag (1414)

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Government: Varies by city-state, but usually monarchies.
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The southern jungles of Malundi are all too often dismissed as savage backwaters by scholars from the northern regions. But this is doing the people of Malundi a grave injustice, for their mighty cities often equal or surpass their northern counterparts in size, splendor, or magical achievements. However, they are often separated from each other by hostile jungles, steep mountain ranges, and harsh deserts, and thus few people try to reach them and find out the truth.

Malundi.png

Industries

Life and Society

Government and Politics

The jungles and mountains of Malundi always were a formidable obstacle to any would-be conquerers, and while any nation or mighty city-state would usually have a ring of subordinate client states and tribute-paying villages surrounding its territory, actual control quickly drops of quickly beyond its core territories. While trade routes exist, especially among the rivers, attempting to control them is nearly impossible as that would also require controlling the side tributaries and hinterlands. As a result, much of the lands of Malundi remains splintered into innumerable tiny nations controlled by various extended families, with ever-shifting alliances and territories. A few major city-states and minor nations exist, but those which survived all found their dreams of further conquest stymied by the jungles.

However, a number of rulers have begun to notice an innovation of the northerners - the Railroad. With a good railroad network, it would be easy to rapidly shift troops around inside one's territory without having them succumb to the rigours of the jungle - not to mention enemy skirmishers. And this, in turn, would make it far easier to expand one's territory - building a large territorial nation where reaching the capital would be a matter of days, not weeks.

Thus, the most powerful rulers of Malundi court the northern railroad companies, who don't understand the region's politics and tend to underestimate them. If it means promising some of Malundi's riches to those outsiders, so be it - the riches of new conquests should return those investments manyfold. The smaller nations, on the other hand, can see all too well what the coming of the trains mean, and usually react fiercely to any attempts to extend them near their territories.

Groups and Organizations

Religion

Important NPCs

Major Geographical Features

Most of the terrain of Malundi is inhospitable to travel. Dense jungle alternates with steep cliffs and impassable swamps. What little travel and trade exists is mostly limited to the coast and the few large rivers that allow passage for boats. And even then, most rivers have a large number of rapids and waterfalls, thus limiting boats to those that can be transported over land across short distances.

This general isolation means that vast territories are basically unexplored by all except those tribes who live there. Anything might be hidden in the jungle - from ancient ruins to full-fledged cities and civilizations which simply have made no contact with the outside world.

Important Towns and Cities

Important Sites

Regional History

Adventure Ideas

Designer's Notes & Resources

This is the Urbis equivalent of sub-Saharan West and Central Africa. Since there is little in the way of large-scale colonialism and intercontinental slave trade in Urbis, this region fares a lot better than its real world equivalents during similar periods. The inhospitable terrain is similar, though.

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