"Now that I have seen Lustria with my own eyes I believe the tales are true - both of the gold that can be pried out of every ruin, and also of the denizens of that cursed land. Lizardmen, savage in deed and heart. It matters not the price, I will not return to those forsaken jungles again."
- —From the logbook of Vincenzo Corenzo, Mercenary Capitano out of Tilea
The damp rainforest jungles of Lustria
Lustria is a large, tropical continent located within the southern hemisphere of the New World and is considered to be the rightful domain of the Lizardmen race. For long ages of the world, the mysterious continent of Lustria has remained hidden to outsiders. This is not by accident or by some geographical oddity, but rather by strongly maintained magical wards, enchantments which disorient intruders. Those that manage to pass through the unseen barriers find other dangers — Lustria’s coasts are home to treacherous tides, unnatural eddies and typhoons of great power. In its clear blue waters lurk scaled reptilian beasts whose jaws can splinter a ship’s hull.[1b]
While the waters surrounding Lustria are perilous, the whole of the enormous continent is one of the most hostile regions in the entire world. The majority of its landmass is covered in jungle, a dark abode where death comes in myriad guises. Mighty, prehistoric carnivores rule the forests — some actively stalking their prey, while others lurk in ambush, awaiting whatever wanders close. No less deadly are the jungle’s smaller killers; everywhere, debilitating parasites lurk, awaiting their opportunity to latch onto a new host, and the humid air buzzes with swarms of blood-sucking insects so voracious they can exsanguinate a man before his body can collapse to the forest floor.[1b]
Only the Lizardmen and other cold-blooded creatures can endure the stifling heat and humidity for long; other races eventually sicken and die. To its native Lizardmen, however, Lustria is a haven — a deathtrap to invaders and a bulwark against the disorder set loose in the world with the coming of Chaos. Lustria contains mighty rivers, vast tracts o f unbroken swampland, arid deserts, soaring mountains and a vast and fertile plain - deep grasslands and savannahs that stretch beyond the horizon. Yet one feature dominates all others.[1b]
History
The Slann record that Lustria was originally attached to the Southlands. As part of the Old Ones' Great Plan, the two were separated by the Great Ocean and changed from barren wastelands into fertile jungles. It was around this time that most of the Lizardmen temple-cities were founded and populated.[2a]
When Chaos first entered this world, Lustria wasn't as dangerous a continent when it first came into being. In desperation, they enchanted the jungle, turning their surroundings into a deathtrap full of carnivorous plants, living quicksand pits and teeming swarms of insects whose stings could crack Dragon scale. Rivers were redirected to impede the daemonic advance and volcanoes rose and erupted to slow their hellish progress. After the Great Catastrophe in which Chaos entered the world, Skaven were the first of the younger species to vie for control of Lustria. There, Clan Pestilens infected many Lizardmen with a plague that weakened their power and caused many of their cities to fall into ruin. This was only reversed with the rise of the Serpent God Sotek and his prophet Tehenhauin, around the Imperial Year 0, who drove the Skaven out of Lustria.[2a]
Before the discovery of Lustria by the Norses, a trading vessel from the Old World was caught in the fierce currents off the coast of Araby and swept into the swirling waters of Ulthuan. The wrecked ship was washed up months later on the southeastern shore of Lustria. Unbeknownst to the crew, one of their passengers, Luthor Harkon, had been a vampire and although all the humans died in the disaster, the vampire and his offspring lived and founded a new realm of Undead in the New World, known as the Vampire Coast. The first human to reach Lustria (and survive) was the Norse seafarer Lost Erik, who recorded landing on an island just off the coast of Lustria and looting gold from Lizardmen. He failed to realize the extent of the land and it was drawn on maps as a small cluster of islands.
Lost Erik's son, named Losteriksson, was the first Old Worlder to reach the mainland of Lustria. After trekking inland in search of treasure, Losteriksson and his men left Lustria as rich men, only to return and settle down where they first landed, naming the settlement Skeggi, after Losteriksson's daughter, the first human to be born in the New World. Since Losteriksson returned with gold and riches, Lustria has been a popular destination for adventurers seeking to make a fortune and this has resulted in several Lizardmen cities being looted. The increase in traffic to Lustria has also increased the number of ships wrecked on its coast, which has served to swell the number of helpless victims the Undead of the Vampire Coast can add to their ranks.[3a]
Geography
A map of Lustria
At least four-fifths of Lustria is covered in jungle so thick that its many levels of canopy block out the sky. Even the high peaks and plateaus are blanketed, and it is said that arboreal creatures can cross the entire continent without once stepping upon the ground. In places, the trees soar many hundreds of feet in the air and are older than the race of Man. The jungle floor is choked by dense undergrowth and there are few true paths beyond animal trails. Visibility is limited and the air is thick, often wreathed in drifting mists.[1b]
To an outsider, the claustrophobic jungles of Lustria are much the same, but to its native creatures, nothing could be further from the truth. The dense ferntree valleys, the titanic skywoods and the moss-covered flood zones each offer their own deadly perils. To creatures that have lived their lives braving such dangers, it becomes instinctive to identify the hundreds of different environments, anticipating the types of plants and creatures that might lie in ambush. In the jungle, you are always being stalked - knowing by what can mean the difference between life and death. To intruders, it is an alien landscape, a singular green hell, where anything (or everything) is trying to make a meal of them.[1b]
A great amount of the plant life of Lustria is carnivorous - grasping creeper vines, blood-hungry spore clouds and impaling spikethorns all seek the unwary. Yet even the omnipresent dangers of lethal flora pale in comparison to the many creatures that make the jungle their hunting ground. Every hanging vine might be home to fist-sized stinging insects, and prides of scale-maned reptilions wait in concealment ready to pounce upon passers-by. Great hunting cats, cannibalistic monkey-kin, and the buzzing swarms of enormous insect life make the jungle a constant battle zone, where survival is an hourly struggle, let most dangerous of all that hunts beneath the canopies are the giant reptiles. These beasts have long been extinct from the rest of the world, but in Lustria, they rule supreme.[1b]
Swift-moving colonies of bipedal razorbeaks scurry through the underbrush, while packs of Cold Ones hunt the game paths, seeking fresh meat. From the canopies above swoop down Terradons and all manner of lesser winged reptiles. The jungle floor trembles with the tread of the mighty Stegadons, their passage uprooting trees and making shortlived roads through the jungle. Enormous sauropods stretch their necks to pluck creatures out of even the uppermost branches, while plodding Thunder Lizards actually penetrate above the canopy, seeking to swallow entire cloud banks, altering weather patterns for miles around in order to charge the fearsome attacks they use to kill their prey. In the deepest jungle, rarely seen even by the Lizardmen, lurk strange, feather-winged serpents, multi-legged behemoths and the mysterious Arcanadon. Yet all of these creatures know fear when they hear the roar of the Carnosaur — for none are safe from the relentless ferocity of that king of savage killers.[1b]
Notable Locations
- Hexoatl - City of the Sun and the most northernly of Lustria's temple-cities.
- Tlaxtlan - City of the Moon and the third greatest of the Temple-cities.
- Xlanhaupec - City of the Mist and the second greateste of the Temple-cities.
- Itza - The First City and the greatest of the Temple-cities.
- Skeggi - One of the few Old World settlements within the New World.
- Citadel of Dusk - the most southernly settlement within the continent and the only High Elven outpost within Lustria.
- Vampire Coast - A coast inhabited by the zombie fleet of Luthor Harkon.
- Lake Huhua - a small inland lake which contains great treasures in the lakebed.
- Stellar Pyramids of the Southern Skies - a small pilgrimage site for Mage Priest.
- Ziggurat of Dawn - A small abandoned temple west of Skeggi.
- Sentinels of Xeti - A small location known for its monolithic structures.
- Marks of the Old Ones - A small earthwork of geometric symbols south of Skeggi.
- Emerald Pools - A small pool of magical power just north of Itza.