The eastern reaches of the Dygon Beastlands, where the jungle grows thickest and the canopy blocks nearly all sunlight. Blyss is the domain of the green dragon Draphilir, and her presence has shaped the region in ways both obvious and subtle. This is the deepest, darkest part of the Beastlands—and one of the most dangerous places on Ve.
Blyss covers roughly fifteen thousand square miles, stretching from the Bay of Monkeys in the north to the approaches of Disaster Passage in the south. Its western edge bleeds into the central Beastlands without clear demarcation; locals know they've entered Blyss when the light dims, the air thickens, and the jungle's character shifts from merely dangerous to actively hostile.
Character of the Jungle
The canopy in Blyss forms an almost unbroken ceiling a hundred feet or more above the forest floor. Very little sunlight penetrates. The understory exists in perpetual twilight, navigable only by those whose eyes have adapted or who carry their own light sources—which attracts predators.
The vegetation is different here. Plants in Blyss have evolved for low-light conditions: pale leaves, bioluminescent fungi, vines that climb toward any light source with disturbing speed. The trees themselves are massive—trunk circumferences measured in tens of feet, root systems that extend hundreds of yards, bark hard enough to turn steel blades.
Sound travels strangely. The dense growth absorbs noise in some places and amplifies it in others. Experienced guides learn to read the acoustic landscape, knowing which clearings echo and which swallow sound entirely. This unpredictability makes hunting and tracking difficult for outsiders—and easy for things adapted to exploit it.
The air is thick and wet. Humidity approaches saturation year-round. Metal rusts within days. Leather rots. Cloth mildews. Only the Ix'Meglyakuk have developed preservation techniques that work reliably in Blyss, and they don't share them.
The Ix'Meglyakuk of Blyss
Several tribes make their homes in Blyss, adapted to conditions that would kill outsiders. They are distinct from other Ix'Meglyakuk in several ways:
Night-Adapted Eyes: Generations in perpetual twilight have given Blyss tribes larger eyes, capable of seeing in near-total darkness. They find bright light painful and prefer to conduct any necessary dealings with outsiders at dawn or dusk.
Rot Immunity: Through some combination of exposure, diet, or deliberate modification, Blyss Ix'Meglyakuk are resistant to the Green Rot that permeates their homeland. They can pass through rot pockets that would kill others in minutes. This immunity is not transferable and attempts to reproduce it have failed.
Isolation: Blyss tribes have minimal contact with the outside world. They don't trade at the coastal hubs. They rarely attend tribal gatherings at Lizard's Maw. Other Ix'Meglyakuk consider them strange—touched by their dragon, changed by their environment, no longer quite the same species.
The Silence Keepers: One tribe in central Blyss—the Thykkalu—serves as Draphilir's designated intermediaries. They deliver her messages, enforce her tribute demands, and negotiate on her behalf when she deigns to communicate. In exchange, they receive protection and certain privileges within her territory. Other tribes resent them; the Thykkalu don't care.
Draphilir's Graveyard
A clearing in central Blyss filled with the bones of creatures Draphilir has killed over the centuries. Dragon-sized skeletons lie alongside tyrannosaur remains, giant crocodilian bones, and the occasional humanoid. The dragon deposits carcasses here after feeding, creating a record of her hunts stretching back five hundred years.
For scholars, the Graveyard would be invaluable—a fossil record of Beastlands megafauna spanning centuries, plus whatever artifacts the dragon's victims carried. For treasure hunters, the temptation is even stronger: Draphilir doesn't bother recovering valuables from her kills, meaning the Graveyard is littered with the possessions of centuries' worth of failed adventurers.
The Graveyard is, of course, very close to Draphilir's lair. She visits often. The bones of would-be looters join the collection regularly.
Threats and Opportunities
The Rot Spreads: The concentration of Green Rot in Blyss has been increasing for decades. Pockets that were once isolated are merging. Areas previously safe now require caution. Some Ix'Meglyakuk believe Draphilir is deliberately seeding new rot zones; others think the dragon's presence is simply accumulating over centuries. Either way, habitable territory is shrinking.
Draphilir's Mood: The dragon has been restless lately, hunting more frequently, demanding larger tributes. The Thykkalu claim she's preparing for something but won't say what. The most common speculation: she's girding for another war with her sibling Pyaganos. The second most common: she's preparing to expand her territory into the buffer zone.
The Scholarly Expedition: Despite the fate of the 3,289 expedition, Shyonan academics are planning another attempt to document Blyss's unique ecology. They're hiring guards, guides, and specialists in dragon negotiation. The pay is excellent. The survival rate for previous expeditions is not.
What Lies Beneath: The geothermal activity beneath the Breathing Pools hints at something larger—a volcanic system, perhaps, or something stranger. Local tribes tell stories of tunnels that descend into warmth and light, of a world beneath the world where the darkness gives way to fire. Whether these are myths, memories of actual expeditions, or warnings, the stories persist.