12 Jungle Landmarks
Much of a jungle’s landscape is unremarkable and mundane; however some features become local landmarks used as waymarkers in the jungle’s near-trackless depths or meeting places.
A vertiginous escarpment rises from the fecund jungle. Noisy streams splash down from the Giant's Table plateau atop the escarpment. A tumbled ruin sprawls atop the rocky plateau. Only skilled climbers or birds can reach the ruin which could be a temple, palace or tomb.
Many small sinkholes pierce the jungle floor in this locality. Choked with rampant vegetation, the sinkhole pose significant danger to unwary travellers. Many of the holes intersect with a labyrinthine, miles-long cave complex. A small tribe of carnivorous albino apes dwells in the caves. Knowledgeable travellers avoid this area, as a result.
The Old Man’s House squats atop a steep-sided hill jutting through the jungle canopy. The rambling pile of tumbled stone was once a large building, and its basic floor plan is still evident. Rumours, of fell lights at night and a vampire slumbering beneath the ruin, keep locals away.
The overgrown and shunned Palace of the Silver Princess lies in a narrow valley. The palace's jagged, vine-choked towers yet jut skyward; as a consequence, the place is easy to find. Legends tell of an exquisite silver statue of a beautiful princess guarding the ruin. At night, the statue comes alive to hunt and kill any interlopers invading the ruin.
Travellers describe this swath of low-lying, mosquito-infested bog as a hellhole. Known as the Mire of Hopelessness it fills the land between three steep hills. Portions of the mire have the qualities of deep and deadly quicksand.
Stunted, gnarled and densely-packed trees choke the sunken cairns scattered about this valley. This is the Valley of the Dead. Animal activity in the valley is much reduced and random encounters with such are rare. Perceptive characters may glimpse ethereal spirits moving through the valley's lingering gloom.
The Giant’s Road runs dead straight for five miles through the jungle. The road is 20-foot wide and paved with cut stones of impressive uniformity. Some of the paves have begun to sink under time’s remorseless onslaught but the road is still useable. The road ends at a crumbling cliff edge overlooking a mist-shrouded valley. When the mists thin, stepped ruins cut into the valley's cliffs become visible. A legion of legends and wild stories hang over the valley and the ruins. Several expeditions exploring the valley have disappeared without trace.
The Ziggurat of Ancient Shadow stands amid a swath of dense forest. Here, daylight rarely penetrates the forest's lofty, intertwined canopy. Legends identify a nameless race of snakefolk as the ancient's ziggurat’s builders. A collapse has blocked the only obvious tunnel into the structure's interior.
Dense stands of mangrove trees bound this wide lake. Two islands, overrun by mangrove trees, stand amid the lake's still waters. The rotting remnant of an extensive wooden building stands on the larger of the two islands. Part collapsed, the building was the home of an eccentric hermit who claimed the lake as his home. He has been dead for years, but locals name the place, Restless Spirit Lake. Several people have drowned in the lake, and the hermit's ghost is blamed.
The Well of Lost Souls pierces the bedrock of this range of oft-shunned hills. The well—a flooded sinkhole—intersects with a sunken cave system. Centuries ago, a now extinct people used the well for thousands of ritual sacrifices. Thus, did they attempt to win their blood-crazed gods' favour, but found only their own ruin. Mounds of bones and ancient artefacts yet lie visible in the deep, clear water and ensure a trickle of visitors to the site.
Crowned with vine-choked trees, the Giant’s Dyke forms a circle roughly one mile in diameter. Local legend has the time-worn dyke as the boundary of a giant’s now decayed and lost farmstead.
Towering above its neighbours, the Sky Tree is over 5,000 years old. Its crown is dense and lofty. Rumours describe the Sky Tree as a wizard’s tower of sorts, although no one knows who dwells at its zenith.
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This article is an extract from 20 Things #55: Fecund Jungle Add the book to your GM’s toolkit today! Alternatively, check out the 20 Things Archive for more handy, flavoursome and time-saving 20 Things articles ready for immediate use in your campaign.
Design Creighton Broadhurst Art William McAusland
