Terrania Freeholds

North of the inhospitable jungles are the **Freeholds of Terraria**. Lands filled to the brim with wonderous plant and fungal life of brilliant bioluminescence. Woodland spirits populate the region. Many of these same spirits are easily impressed and attempt to mimic the behaviors, dress and fighting styles of adventurers who pass through.

In the western part of the Terrania Freehold, on the large Island known to the locals as the Isle of Speaking Trees, one can find the Chugaranni. The Chugaranni are a tribal people, said to be the result of spirits copulating with lost men from the north. They are dark of skin, with deep green eyes and hair, walking around the Island, hunting game with crude spears and singing songs they claim were birthed as the world came to be. These people have an imoressive ability to speak to animals, spirits, and even to their revered talking trees. These trees are found all over the island, being large, with one or several wooden mouths protruding from the bark. It is said one can hear them whisper when walking alone, and the locals speak to them routinely, worshipping them as living gods.

The only permanent settlement on the island is the city of Ug, centred around the Temple of the Old Man. The Old Man is the name if a giant, old talking tree which sits at the middle of the temple. Over 500 mouths are found on it, and trusted priests talk to it for days at a time, claiming to receive cryptic commands and words of wisdom from the tree.

## History

South of the Desert of the Weariest, there is a region of colorful jungle. Massive palm trees can be seen from miles away, patches of giant mushrooms grow in every surface they could find, vines twist against each other… The region receives near daily rains, which fall quickly and block them from going further inland. During the night some of the species of fungi and plants begin shinning due to their natural bioluminescence to attract insects, which made the sailors that passed near the region to call it the Sea of Brilliant Lights.

This area has been inhabited from ancient times by the “**chotës**”, a race of fairy people, smaller even by the standards of the rest of fairykind. Millennia ago, the chotë warchief Terrania began conquering the jungles around his homeland, which he managed to do in a couple of years. Using his armies of domesticated wasp cavalry, **Terrania** became the lord of the jungle, and he maintained his power until the day he died (which was just a couple of decades, due to the short lifespan of the chotës). After his death, the Terrania Freeholds quickly divided into tribal groups, never again to unify under a singular leader.

The jungles weren’t just inhabited by the chotës. Around 500 ABE, human migrations from the north began arriving to the west of the jungle. It is not really known where they came from, but they had an unnatural connection to the spiritual realm, and they made their home in the Isle of Speaking Trees. Attracted to the spiritual strength emanating from the area, these people, known as the **Chugaranni**, quickly made it their home, serving and praying to the magical trees of the island. For the most part, they are hunter-gatherers, moving in small tribes around the island searching for food and the magical substances the trees require for sustenance. At the center of the island, the eldest tree Ug (in chotëshi meaning “Old and Wise Man”) is adored as the head of the talking trees, and over the years, a city of sorts has been built around it. This is a spot of peace and commerce for all the Chugaranni tribes, a place of communion with nature and of prayer, listening to the many mouths of Ug.

The last inhabitants of the Terranian Freeholds arrived from the sea to the eastern peninsula. In 3.144 ABE, the exploratory fleets of the Kingdom of Drunigzar, in the middle of their 4th colonial expansion, sailed from the Weariest Sand Coast to the eastern peninsula of the Terrania Freeholds, which they named the Shinning Hope Peninsula. For the drunig, the area was a godsend, seeing as they were in desperate need of finding suitable terrain to colonize, not to mention land fit for agricultural purposes. The lush jungles of the Terrania Freeholds were full of exotic plants and animals to bring to the mainland. The drunig colonists quickly settled the colonies of Salamantixa, Ludzia, Goglogogolia, Xifidas and Baidacu, in spots where the jungle was the thinnest and they could build their cities and some agricultural areas

Contacts between the drunig and the chotë tribes are frequent, but for the most part, they are quite friendly. The drunig are not interested in taking down the jungle and turn it into farmland for the most part, jungle exploration and exploitation of its natural resources is much more profitable. Moreover, the chotë do not mind helping and guiding the drunig explorers throughout the jungle in exchange of products that have become extraordinarily popular between the tribes: A seashell from the northern seas is big enough to serve as a home for multiple chotës, and very resistant to humidity. Likewise, amber, glass and metal items are immensely popular between the tribes as decorative items.

Drunig plans to establish a land route between the different colonies in the Shinning Hope Peninsula is underway, but the quickly growing jungle has made those efforts ineffective, even with the help of the chotë.

## The Chotë

The Chotë are diminutive fairies, some of the smaller that have been recorded in the world. They are so small they are able to ride comfortably their war wasps around without impeding their flight. The chotë also have a pair of wings, but it is only able to keep them airborne for very short periods, and it takes a lot of energy, so they prefer using domesticated insects to move around the jungle. They are insect-like creatures with four pairs of arms, two legs and a head with antennae. They have four fingers on each hand, and they are quite adapted to grasp to any surfaces, to protect themselves from the rains and the wind that might sweep them away if they are not careful. Their eyes are compound eyes, and are able to see quite well in the dark, being able to pick up even the tiniest bit of light around. They also have no sense of smell as we might think of it. Instead, they are able to see smells and essences through their eyes, and thus are able to pinpoint and locate the sources of smell by just seeing the tracks.

Their small size gave them many problems to communicate with the human tribes of the west and the drunig colonists in the east. Chotëshi speak is, by the untrained ear, just a bunch of chirps and buzzes, but in reality is a very complex language, using both oral communication and wing buzzing to express themselves. The size difference between a human and a chotë, however, makes the former sometimes unable to pick up all of the details of the speech of the latter, so it can be difficult for chotës and humans to interact. The Chugaranni’s spiritual abilities compensated for this, but their contacts with the drunig were quite troublesome at first. The first drunig settlers recorded tales of dozens chotës bringing fruits, bird feathers and brilliant pebbles to the colonies to try to show they came in peace, but when trying to speak to the drunig, the strangers were mostly confused and could not understand them. Fortunately, the chotës were able to learn a crude version of the drunig’s language, enough to start diplomatic and commercial conversations.

Chotës live in tribes of around 100-200 individuals. They are hunter-gatherers, travelling the jungle searching for their prey or the natural growing mushrooms they feast upon. Some have also developed herding, moving hundreds of flying aphids, which they use for their meat and their milk. They are used to feed themselves and the war wasps, something possible due to the quick reproduction of the aphids. Chotë society is tribal, with a chief leading the group to the best feeding grounds, depending on the rains and the season. Chotës use small spears made out of wood and stone to hunt bigger prey and to defend themselves from the many predators the jungle has. Since the beginning of the trade with Drunigzar, the chotë tribes have developed bronze spears and swords, since iron rusts much easier in wet climates, and bronze is sufficiently powerful for their needs.

Chotë lifespans are very short, around 20-40 years, reaching adulthood at around 8 years of age. Once a chotë reaches maturity, they have to pass a series of trials to be truly considered an adult. Men chotë will have to go into the jungle and bring down a beast on their own (often a centipede, but it can also be a beetle or a spider), to then cook them for the tribe. It is said that the great Terrania bested a lynx in his coming of age ritual, using a poisonous barb directly in the beats’s inner eardrum. The pain of this act made the lynx mad of pain and rage, and after days of hunt and chase, Terrania then made the beast chase him to the tribe, since part of the ritual is bringing the prize back home. The lynx died of pain and exhaustion right at the doorstep of where the tribe had settled, and it is said that the carcass fed many local tribes for months. Women’s rituals consist of sneaking in the lair of a “great beast of the forest” and bring a prize from them, usually larvae rich in protein. Women can also choose to instead opt for the “ritual of needles”, which consists of covering the woman’s body with needles of a poisonous tree. The tree itself is not lethal, but it’s highly painful, and they have to resist the pain for an entire week without rest. This is said to make the woman strong enough to resist childbirth. After the rituals are complete, the young are immediately married, the elders picking a partner for them.

Some chotë tribes are beginning to work alongside the drunig colonizers in the east. Their contribution mostly consists of guiding the human explorers through the jungle, since there are dangers lurking in unexpected places. The projects of connecting the different colonies together through land roads is difficult, and the only reason the authorities haven’t fully shut it down is because it helps to explore the Shinning Hope Peninsula, finding great treasures along the way. However, some chotë tribes are actually beginning to learn from the outsiders, and have shown a great interest in agriculture. The way chotë participate in the colonial agricultural efforts of the drunig centers around pollination. Their size and ability to fly makes them excellent for taking care of the crops the drunig are able to grow in the land, and since they can detect many signs of good or bad growth in the plants from close proximity, they are excellent at choosing the initial seeds and cuttings. They have not abandoned their nomad ways, however, and once the initial crops are underway, they go back to the jungle.

## The Chugaranni and the Talking Trees

The Chugaranni are a race of dark skinned humans, with a taller than average complexion and very distinctive green eyes and hair. The origins of this group are poorly understood, especially considering how they claimed to come from the sea. The regions closer to the west of the Terrania Freeholds have no real groups that look like the Chugaranni, nor do they have records of nomadic people crossing through their lands. In addition, the technological level the Chugaranni have demonstrated is in no way able to produce ships stable enough for long sea travels. Some have argued that the only possible and logical origin of the Chugaranni is the Eldritch Jungle, but considering how little is known about that place, we cannot be sure. When asked about their origins, they mention how they were travelling through the world following the “voices of nature” and they finally found what the voices were telling them to go. Their arrival is estimated to be at around 500 ABE, and they settled in the Isle of Speaking Trees, the biggest island in the western archipelago of the Terrania Freeholds.

The Chugaranni are hunter-gatherers, chasing the abundant game of the island as well as collecting the many fruits and mushrooms from the jungle. They live in groups of 30-40 individuals, with a matriarch leading the groups alongside the elders of the tribe. The daily activities of the Chugaranni, when not looking for food, revolve around the caring of the Talking Trees. They offer them great tributes, keep them free from parasites and cut the rotting branches if they ever appear. The Talking Trees are adored in Chugaranni society, considering as living gods. They frequently consume a series of mushrooms that grow in the Talking Trees’ trunk to commune with their deities. This makes them hear the voices of the trees, whose message then has to be interpreted by the shamans of the tribe.

The trees themselves are huge, with a height considerably higher than most of the local vegetation, they definitively dominate the landscape, blocking the sun from lesser plants with their expansive canopies. Their wood is incredibly dense, and throughout their trunk they have a series of protrusions that somewhat resemble the shape of human mouths. From these protrusions, a slight air current can be heard coming out in different pitches at certain moments of the day. The Chugaranni interpret these sounds constantly, a task left to the shamans of the tribe, who then decide what is the will of the trees.

At the center of the island, the Elder Tree Ug towers above all other beings in the jungle. A tree of colossal proportions, it’s canopy has, over the years, grown to host the single sedentary settlement in the isle. The city of Ug (named in honor of Ug itself) is dedicated exclusively to the adoration of the great Ug, though it also serves as a gathering place for the nomadic tribes. Ug is essential for the Chugaranni culture: couples can only marry under the shade of Ug, least great catastrophe befall upon them. Around the first days of summer, the great Ug begins sprouting its flowers, transforming the green giant into a polychrome marvel. It’s this time of the year when the shamans from the different tribes get together to recover the great sap from the mouth protrusions of Ug. This phenomenon is exclusive to Ug, as no other talking tree has been shown to do this. Some speculate that the extensive roots of the colossal tree reach some sort of natural deposit underground that allows the tree to produce this sap. The Chugaranni then drink the sap, which will keep them under trance for a full week. After this, they will return to their tribes and tell the rest of the group the divine revelations learnt from the great Ug.