The Jungle Continent in General
The continent is very tall, stretching from below the equator to nearly the north pole; with a good 3/4ths or so of it being in the northern hemisphere. Because of this well over half of the continent is tropical or subtropical, with the northern reaches being snow covered most or all of the year.
Rinon at the bottom coast is south enough to experience major seasons, though the winter is brisk at best. At the equator summer dominates the entire year, and much of the east coast, going several hundred miles inland is dense marsh. The west coast is in the south is lined by a mountain range that later turns inward before ending just below the equator.
In the southern forests Humans for the most part settle only on the coasts close to their native seas, leaving the forests for the most part to the Korat
Above the equator equally as far as Rinon is below it a massive rock shelf juts up from the forest floor, ranging in height from a few dozen to a few hundred feet and spanning the entire continent. On top of the shelf is desert as plants struggle to penetrate the rock and moist air prefers to stay in the jungle below. The desert fades quickly though, turning to plains that run past the horizon; Originally these plains were carved from the rock plateau by the Cetan and the fast growing grain tended for generations. With the new population much of the plains have grown unruly. A number of paths have been cut through the grass and laid down with stone to keep them clear, and along these paths small settlements and plantations have taken root, mostly Human with some Korat as they are excellent in the ways of plants and farming.
On the west side of the plateau several crevasses run north from the rock face, carved by ancient and powerful rivers that still feed the forest below. These crevasses are very wide, in some places nearly a mile. In several places these cracks have been spanned by bridges, usually spawning cities on both sides and in some cases inside the canyons.
On both sides of the raised portion of the continent the sea is met mostly with sharp cliffs that make it difficult for goods to reach the plateau, but they're also pockmarked with alcoves and crevasses, largely ignored by the Cetan, the Humans took these places and built strange vertical harbors, the docking space at the bottom of the bay was limited but many of these bays are wide, long, or round enough for a long system of ramps up to the top.
Soon enough the rock plateau erodes to dirt and the plains turn to temperate forest before the northern mountains. All the while the landscape strewn with ancient Cetan outposts, usually a few stone dwellings around a great tower, all worn raged by the winds. The outposts increase into the forest, though here they've mostly been leveled by the trees, consisting of scarcely more than a pile of grayed rocks. Farther north the forests, by here converted to almost entirely evergreens, give way to the mountains. Here still the outposts dot the landscape, many of them inhabited by what humans would choose to live in such cold. Where the south and costs serve as a den of crime and villainy people from the north rarely travel south, and those of the south rarely choose to go north, making it a great place to escape your past. The very northern reaches of the continent are home only to the abandoned ruins of a few massive Cetan temples, not often seen by the eyes of man because of how terrible the infinite winters are.
The northern mountains are littered with caves, some of which go so deep nobody's ever seen the end.
Human Architecture
In general human technology is roughly mid evil or renascence level, save for places like Gallin most buildings are constructed of wood and nails with glass windows and stone floors, streets are paved with cobblestones inside the city walls, and usually not paved outside them. Even though magic and the Cards are prevalent throughout most of the world lighting is mostly limited to oil burning lamps.
The typical human town or city would consist of a Pub, a Blacksmith, a Glass-smith, a General Store, and some amount of housing, larger settlements will have an Inn, still larger will have shops. The older cities are often walled as they were built during a time of war, newer cities only have walls if the local wildlife is more than the inhabitants can handle. Human built buildings rarely go higher than two stories, and almost never more than three. Near the central plateau masonry buildings become more common because the stone is readily available if not more accessible than anything else. Save for the most extravagant constructions however, masonry is rare everywhere else.
Korat Architecture
As the Korat are largely nature folk they tend not to build so much on their own, sometimes little more than some trees tied together and covered in leaves to make a large hut that a whole village will share; this is partially because they don't tend to stay in one place as much as Humans or Cetan, most often a large group, considering itself a single family, will travel the forest as the seasons demand. What few actual Korat settlements that do exist are a wonder to see, buildings grown from the forests themselves over generations of tending. Unfortunately such places are not very welcoming to Humans, though the Korat would gladly have us their agility means they have no need for things such as stairs or bridges, nor guard rails. It would be quite easy for a man to stumble off a platform and fall sixty feet, if that man could even get so high. These cities are all of course in the deepest, most sacred parts of the jungle
Since the Korat are largely nomadic it can be hard to tell where a family might be at the time, but they do tend to cycle through the same places, as if the whole jungle was but a giant farm, each family moving on to nurture whatever part of it is about to be in season and an unspoken understanding of which family is responsible for what year after year, so if you want to visit one, you'd best ask a Korat to guide you.
Cetan Architecture
The Cetan were very accomplished architects, and expert masons; Most of their constructions are of stone and very ornate as well as imposing. Several structures in the great city of Gallin are over eight stories. They also made a practice of building things in difficult places, such as the northern reaches, and they even had cities on the Polar continent well before Humans made landfall on the Jungle continent.
By far most Cetan structures exist on the central plains where the heat of the sun would create grand columns of heated air, allowing the Cetan to fly to great heights and glide with ease to neighboring cities. In some cases structures would be constructed specifically to create these thermals and enhance the reach of a city's glide distance. These large, mostly empty areas baffled humans when they first began to occupy Cetan cities, in ignorance they were turned to markets.
Cetan masonry would often include sculptures, deities and heros, or gargoyle like figures
so then, any questions, elaborations, etc?
