Yu'Nvao

Yu’Nvao is a place caught between the ambition of the Empire of the Jade Eye and the wild ankoyan jungle. It sits on the edge of the empire's border, where it has forced its will on a land that does not bow easily. The settlement is a mixture of the typical imperial discipline and experimentation, a place where soldiers march to a steady beat while scholars pour over strange plants and stranger questions.

Agriculture and Experiments

The city proper is surrounded by a wall built from a green-gray stone, marked with the jade stones that prevent any type of magic influence in and around the city. The land around it has been cleared, turned into fields for growing grain and vegetables. These crops feed the settlement and the empire. Beyond the orderly farmland, the researchers’ experimental gardens lie tangled. Imperial scholars have planted native jungle species, hoping to unlock their secrets, but not all of them take kindly to cultivation. Some plants grow wild and unruly, others refuse to grow at all. The soil itself shifts in strange ways, and there are whispers that the anti-magic wards around the city might be to blame. Farmers, who know the land better than the scholars, keep to their own fields, but they watch the experiments from a distance. There’s unease in their gaze. Land taken for research is land that no longer grows food, and not all the researchers’ promises of great discoveries soothe that worry.

Ancient Origins

Long before the imperial city was founded, this place was already a settlement. It is thought throughout the ages, people lived here. The land was mostly cleared of the remnants of these civilizations. Perhaps underneath the earth, ruins and artifacts could still be found of the people that came before the empire. The only remaining evidence of those people stands in the center of the settlement: a statue the creation of which obviously long precedes the imperial city. Aptly named: the Rooted Serpent, it depicts a gigantic Astral Serpent. The statue is carved from petrified wood firmly planted in the earth, its coiled body etched with scales so finely made they glint like pearl when the rain falls. Many believe it is a relic of the Astran culture. The craftsmanship of the statue is believed to be the reason why it was not destroyed by the empire, but what purpose it once served is a question no one has been able to answer. Some say it held some magical power once, perhaps still does, though the anti-magic fields around the settlement have silenced it. Soldiers keep their distance from the statue, and even the researchers approach it with caution.

Dangerous Borders

The jungle presses in on all sides, always watching. Creatures of strange origin move through the trees, unseen but not unheard. Patrols return with tales of glowing eyes in the underbrush or ambushes from beasts too cunning to be mere animals. The land itself resists the empire as well. Not long ago, a mudslide swept through part of the cleared ground, leaving devastation in its wake. The people of Yu’Nvao rebuild quickly, but the reminder of the jungle’s power lingers. Life here is measured and purposeful, but it isn’t easy. The Empire may have claimed the land, but the jungle has not forgotten what it was before the walls went up and the banners flew. Yu’Nvao endures, but for how long, no one can say.