Garren

The Verdant Forge of Beasts, Fire, and Discord

Overview and Identity

The continent of Garren lies east of Cathall and southwest of Ooloo, wedged between molten cliffs and sprawling tropical canopies. It is a land of relentless growth and raw elemental power, where the ground itself still reshapes underfoot, and the skies weep daily. Garren is known as the wettest and wildest place in all of Mernac, a place where the jungle swallows the ruins of gods as quickly as it nurtures towering, color-drenched trees.

Its landmass is almost entirely cloaked in thick, untamed jungle, save for the far north, where the heat gives way to cliffs, misted ravines, and jagged volcanic passes. Eruptions are frequent, and the ground often trembles with the pulse of the deep earth. To live in Garren is to adapt, to survive, and, above all, to assert dominance over the ever-reclaiming wild.

The Scribes and Sages who know of such things believe Garren to be the birthplace of the Murmil, the enigmatic “Beast Masters” who still dominate much of the continent. Though they are the prevailing Race, Garren is home to an unusually wide mix of Races of both the Light and the Dark, making it one of the most racially diverse lands in Mernac.

This mixture of cultures gave rise to one of Mernac’s earliest multi-racial governments, The Race Forum—founded in the late 9th century AM. Though initially blessed by The Mothers, The Race Forum was swiftly corrupted by self-interest and divine interference. Its legacy today is one of fragmented law, unstable alliances, and concealed power. Garren is a continent where politics are conducted in the shade and power moves as swiftly as a poisoned vine.

Geography and Regions

Garren’s geography is a fusion of volcanic violence and fertile wonder. Dominated by thick jungle, steaming river basins, and yawning calderas, the land is alive in every sense of the word, teeming with color, sound, and transformation.

The Molten North

This region borders the sea and is composed primarily of active and semi-active volcanoes, many of which are sacred to the Murmil and the Dark-aligned Fire Cults. Black ash falls regularly, mingling with the jungle’s edge to create twisted biomes of flame-colored flora. Sharp obsidian cliffs divide the coast, making port access rare and dangerous. Here lie the infamous Fire Steps, a broken range of terraces used by certain tribes to conduct trials of endurance and spiritual awakening.

The Verdant Tangle

At the heart of the continent lies the Verdant Tangle, a dense, primal rainforest with trees the size of castles and vines that can tear down stone walls. The canopy here is so thick that many species have adapted to total darkness below. It is said that even the sky forgets these jungles exist. Entire Murmil settlements reside high in the branches, and many have never touched ground. The Tangle is also where Ketean Butterflies are born, and it is fiercely protected by spells and living wardens.

The River Chasm of Kulrath

A massive rift runs like a claw mark across eastern Garren, carved ages ago by either a god or a fallen star, depending on who tells the tale. Within this chasm flows the Kulrath River, a boiling torrent lined with sulfur pools and geysers. Its water is too hot for most life, but rare minerals make it a key site for magical harvesting. Several Dark Elven covens maintain guarded forges along its edges.

The Sorrowed Basin (Southwest)

Once a plateau, this entire region collapsed during a divine event in the 1100s AM, forming a lush bowl of waterlogged jungle and black-mirrored lakes. The Sorrowed Basin is home to whispering mangroves, unseen predators, and drifting ruins. Murmil druids say the basin breathes and sometimes hungers. It is here that the Order of the Flood Eye resides, an ancient group of scholars who claim to record the continent’s living memory.

The Whispering Coast (West)

On the western edge, where the jungle meets the ocean, lie swamp marshes, barrier reefs, and flooded rainforests. Many of the continent’s amphibious species congregate here, and the coast is dotted with fishing villages, trade posts, and ruins partially swallowed by salt and vine. Winds off the sea carry voices that do not always match the living.

Settlements and Political Powers

True cities in Garren are rare. Most settlements must constantly adapt to natural disasters, overgrowth, or magical interference. Instead of monolithic kingdoms, Garren hosts an ever-shifting patchwork of tribal unions, fortified enclaves, canopy cities, and mobile warbands.

Murrasil (Murmil Capital)

Built into the giant banyan trees of the Verdant Tangle, Murrasil is less a city and more an elevated web of canopy dwellings, rope bridges, and spirit-totems. It serves as the cultural capital of the Murmil people. Every three years, beast-tamers from across Mernac make pilgrimage to Murrasil to offer tithes and receive new markings of mastery. No roads lead to it; the trees themselves decide who may pass.

Xar’deth Hold

A fortress-city built into the cooled walls of an extinct volcano along Garren’s northern volcanic belt. Ruled primarily by Trolls and Dark Elves, Xar’deth is known for its lava-forges and strategic use of magma canals. It is a rare site of architectural permanence in a continent that typically swallows stone. The hold also houses several guilds of Ketean dust refiners and is one of the only known exporters.

The Flood Eye Sanctum

Hidden in the Sorrowed Basin, this semi-mythical library is said to float on woven reeds and memory. It holds living maps made of water and moss, and tomes that bleed ink when opened. The Order of the Flood Eye is politically neutral, but will sell information to those deemed “echo-bound”, a cryptic designation determined by ancient, unknowable criteria.

The Forum Ruins

Once a grand amphitheater built for The Race Forum’s assemblies, it now lies in ruins—its white stones overtaken by creeping vines and whispermoss. Though abandoned officially, emissaries still meet in secret here. It is said that The Forum still speaks, and that a decision made within its broken pillars gains unseen weight among the continent’s factions.

Here is Part Two of the Garren continent article, completing the full 2,000 real-word entry. This section continues in your established tone and structure, with special care to align with known lore and formatting preferences.

Climate and Natural Cycles

If Cathall is the heart of civilization and Ooloo the cradle of purity, then Garren is Mernac’s sweat-drenched lungs—wet, thick, steamy, and never still. Garren is widely known as the wettest place on the planet, and not without cause. For thirteen of Mernac’s twenty calendar months, it rains nearly every day, often for hours at a time. Thunderstorms are routine; fog, a constant.

Temperatures remain high year-round, hovering between sweltering and barely breathable. There is no true winter in Garren, only two seasons:

The Greenflood (Womb to Spear): a time of rising waters, increased rainfall, and explosive plant growth. Insects breed in terrifying numbers, and the land becomes so damp that entire trade routes vanish.
The Ashblight (Spear to Song): a relatively drier season marked by increased volcanic activity, where jungle fires break out frequently, especially in the Molten North. This is considered a sacred time by many Fire Cults and Dark Faerie mystics.

Rainwater is life, death, and communication in Garren. Many tribes use rain drumming on hollow trees to communicate across vast distances. Entire treaties have been negotiated with the help of such instruments, though no outsider has ever deciphered the code.

Lightning rituals are also common. In the River Chasm of Kulrath, metal towers are erected to channel skyfire into volcanic pools, believed to forge “liquid soulsteel.”

Unique Ecology

To know Garren’s jungle is to accept that one’s senses may lie. The ecosystem here is not merely dangerous—it is sentient, according to many Murmil and Elven scholars.

Flora:

Brambleglass Vines: Translucent and razor-sharp, these vines can sever bone and are rumored to react to emotion.
Wailing Orchids: Rare jungle flowers that emit soft sobbing noises at night, used in certain necromantic rites.
Lumen Ferns: Glow faintly when touched. Used to mark safe jungle paths and as an aphrodisiac in certain Murmil rituals.
Rootbound Trees: Massive ancient trees whose roots pulse faintly and are said to transmit emotion between distant groves.

Fauna:

Ketean Butterflies: The crown jewel of Garren’s ecology, these magical insects come in hundreds of subspecies, each with distinct effects. Their wing dust is used in illusion spells, memory potions, dream-walking, and forbidden rites. Some butterflies are rumored to implant visions when landing on flesh.
Rain Stalkers: Semi-invisible lizards that shimmer in falling water. They stalk prey silently and pounce from the canopy. Their blood is a powerful dye.
Gloom Apes: Introspective primates that mourn their dead and have been observed painting cave murals. Said to harbor a limited form of spell-speech.
Ghost Eels: Found only in the boiling rivers of Kulrath, these translucent creatures are used in lightning-based rituals and are said to scream when removed from water.

Beasts in Garren often mutate in strange ways. The continent is home to creatures that exist nowhere else on Mernac, and many scholars believe this is due to the land itself being partially sentient, or affected by ancient divine bleed.

Races and Inhabitants

While nearly all known Races exist somewhere in Garren, none shape the land more than the Murmil, widely accepted as having originated here.

Murmil

Masters of beast-bonding and ecological empathy, the Murmil hold sway over much of the continent. They view themselves not as rulers but as keepers and interpreters of Garren’s will. Their skin tones and features often reflect their animal companions, and many wear elaborate tattoos infused with animal soul essence. Every Murmil child must bond with a creature by age ten, or be exiled.

Other Inhabitants:

Dark Elves have a strong presence in the volcanic north and near the Kulrath Chasm. They dominate the refining and trade of Ketean dust.
Humans, though rare, have formed semi-nomadic swamp clans on the Whispering Coast, known for spirit-binding and skeletal flute rites.
Trolls and Dwarves co-inhabit mountain caverns in the northwest, often clashing over thermal forges and mineral rights.
Succubi and Incubi, drawn by the continent’s rampant vitality, have several hidden enclaves deep within the Sorrowed Basin.
Faeries, both Light and Dark, ride the seasonal insect migrations and are known to disappear entire trade parties when offended.

Myths and Moments

The Binding of the Butterfly

It is said that Ketea, a servant of The Mothers and guardian of memory, wept over a dying Murmil child who could no longer recall his own name. Her tears mixed with jungle pollen, creating the first Ketean Butterfly. From then on, memory could be carried on wings. Some say this act was punished by Barak, who cursed the butterflies to lose their color upon death, hence the powder.

Each Festival of Wings, held at the start of Greenflood, commemorates this tale with dances where performers wear butterfly masks that “bleed” pigment when touched by rain.

The Ash Vow

According to legend, when The Race Forum was first corrupted in the 900s AM, an envoy of The Mothers placed a test before its members: stand in volcanic ash for one day and speak no lies. Only three passed. The others burst into flame as their tongues betrayed them.

A stone arch now stands near the original Forum site, carved with the names of the three who endured. These names are never spoken aloud; to do so is to take a vow of political honesty under divine witness, a practice only the most devout or foolish undertake.

The Day the Jungle Closed

In 1742 AM, the jungle near the Sorrowed Basin reportedly sealed itself for 33 days, encasing an invading Troll legion in an impenetrable green dome. When it finally opened, not a single body was found, only vines spelling the phrase “We Are Not Yours.”

Since then, many tribes believe Garren itself holds memory, justice, and wrath. A memorial of chimes and vines has been built at the site. It is said the air hums if you bring iron into the clearing.

Relevance

Garren remains a mystical powerhouse and material resource hub, thanks largely to its Ketean dust and rare magical reagents. Mages, warlords, and traders alike seek the continent’s hidden riches, but few return unchanged.

Politically, The Race Forum remains defunct as a central authority, though its idea lingers. Small factions still claim lineage to its founding tribes, and efforts to revive it as a pan-racial council are underway, though deeply opposed by the Murmil and the Fire Cults.

Ecologically, many outside scholars believe Garren may be key to understanding Mernac’s magical history. Others fear it may awaken something ancient, buried deep beneath its volcanic roots.

The Scribes and Sages who know of such things often note: “What grows unchecked may bloom into wonder—or consume the world.”

Quotable Lore

“We do not shape Garren. Garren shapes us.”
— Murmil saying, whispered before battle

“In the jungle, the law is breath. Hold it too long and you die.”
— Succubus emissary, before disappearing into the Whispering Coast

“The butterflies remember what the gods forgot.”
— Carving at the Festival of Wings altar, Murrasil