Kobari

Kobari is a cluster of islands that are characterized by their swamp-like appearance, as well as a unanimous infestation of mushrooms, which cover the entire island in great variety. It is almost entirely located within the Calm Belt, however the Northernmost tip of the farthest island North touches the New World, allowing a tiny portion of the island to be accessed without having to traverse the former sea, however due to it's proximity to the Calm Belt, Sea Kings often patrol the New World side of the sea surrounding the island as well.

There are three main islands of Kobari, being **Koko**, **Oko**, and **Bako**, lining up from North to South respectively. It is populated by Shroomfolk, which are sentient and intelligence human-like mushrooms, though they vary to great degree in constitution. They are currently unknown to exist (on Kobari) to the rest of the world due to both a lack of exploration into the island thus far, as well as their elusive nature, which sees them actively attempt to mitigate interaction with other potentially threatening species if they have the ability to do so.

To the outside world, the nation has been confirmed to exist, scouted by Svarga in an attempt to discover truth behind the claims of a mystical "Holy Land" by the Kurzhen people, who claim Kobari to be the destination the nation must find to birth an army to rival the gods, citing that there is a mythical mushroom within the island that can grant a Stingblood total regenerative capability, in other words, immortality.

## Geography

All three of the main islands of Kobari share the trait of being lightly submerged with wetlands and marshes, with expansive swamps covering the majority of all three islands' "Land." However the general atmosphere, as well as many of the organisms seen on each respective island varies to a degree, and separating each one from the next is a massive, boggy estuary, of which there are two, one separating Koko and Oko, and Oko and Bako.

The first island, and the one bordering the New World, is known as **Koko**.

The landscape of Koko finds itself to be excessively dark, with smoky clouds covering the sky emitted by a massive species of mushroom that towers high into the sky. This causes all the land below to be nearly devoid of sunlight, though due to many mushrooms here having bioluminescent features, some plants have been able to sustain themselves off of the mushrooms' light alone. There are pockets of land scattered throughout Koko, however the water making up the swamps here is deep, passing six feet in depth consistently if not reaching depths even greater, and it has found itself home to many semi-aquatic lifeforms. These range from those one might expect to live in such a vast expanse of swamp such as fish, snakes, and rats, however it has interestingly also found itself home to some species of sentient mushroom, distinctly more primitive than Shroomfolk, though intelligent in their own right, making small rafts and nets with which to catch fish.

Additionally, Koko finds itself home to an abundant group of giant spiders, which cast massive webs within the canopy of the tall mushrooms that take the place of trees in a typical forest, with a diverse set of other spiders filling a wide variety of niches within the ecosystem.

To reach the second island of **Oko**, one must either travel by ship within the Calm Belt, or pass through a deep and treacherous terrain that takes on the features of both an estuary and a bog, creating strange tides that sometimes see a tangible land-bridge between the two islands, however more often dangerous currents that seep into the area and cast all within it out to sea within the Calm Belt.

The landscape of Oko is a drastic change from that of Koko, with the massive mushrooms that made Koko resemble almost a rainforest disappear almost entirely, only a few strays residing on the coast of Oko closest to Koko. Instead, Oko finds itself resembling a marshy flatland, some rock formations protruding from the ground, often surrounded by pits of sulfur. The mushrooms here are much smaller, however they cover the landscape as if they were grass, almost impossible to avoid by normal travel.

There are additionally a variety of mushrooms here that find defense and predation via noxious gas and fumes, making the terrain dangerous to traverse for those ill-suited, as the fumes are constant and ever-changing within the landscape. Some are of course harmless, though many could easily kill a human with a single deep breath. To adapt to the polluted air of Oko, there are also many lifeforms that have evolved to find such toxins harmless, some even producing their own, stronger toxins, so that they can kill shrooms before eating them as well.

The waters themselves hold little risk compared to the murky waters of Koko, however many are filled with boiling chemicals that simply appear to be water, so avoiding the pools is advised regardless.

Finally, at the southernmost tip of Oko one would find yet another bog-like estuary, though it is of the same nature, so if there was little difficulty crossing the first, there would likewise be little difficulty crossing this passage.

The Southernmost island of **Bako** resembles more closely **Koko** than **Oko**, however where Koko is shrouded by dark clouds and murky waters, Bako finds itself enshrouded with a thick, white mist. The waters sparkle due to bioluminescent lifeforms in the water, and many of the mushrooms here sparkle as if they were gems under a light.

**B**ako is additionally the primary residence of the **Shroomfolk**, with giant dome mushrooms on the ground serving as the roofs to their homes, which most often lay underground in caves on the island.

There are a variety of unique creatures here not found on the other two islands, the most famous and feared of which is the **Elludite**, a creature resembling a cross between a sauropod and a dragon, though in place of wings a host of mushrooms grow upon it's back, which it uses as a self-sustainable food source, though it remains predatory if another form of sustenance were to present itself. In addition to this, there are many types of aviary mushrooms that patrol the skies, filling the niche of an organism between a vulture and a leech, falling from the sky on unsuspecting creatures and latching on to them, sucking their energy dry.

On flora, while there is a great diversity of mushrooms of all shapes and sizes, flora itself does not find much presence here aside from grasses and aquatic plants such as water lilies, mosses, and worts. There are additionally some rare flowers that act as miracle cures for many of the toxins and poisons that exist within the shrooms and creatures of Kobari as a whole, and they are farmed for their restorative qualities by the Shroomfolk