Chapter 7. Old Marvia and Northern Jungle.​

Old Marvia is the oldest part of the country, and the Imperia was situated in this place over five hundred years ago. Now these places are safe mostly, but that time the giant dragons had lived in the jungle, about 50 meters long... Now there are no dragons, and the most dangerous ones are Marvian "luck hunters", who attack all trespassers. They, though, are afraid of some animals too - and, at first, they are afraid of Marvian meat-eating cockroach. Also, the golden bulls and giant dragonflies live here.

Meat-eating cockroach ​

The appearance of this insect can disorientate the inexperienced trespasser. Big, about one cubit long, this creature has very sharp jaws, which it uses to pierce the flesh of the enemy. This creature is probably the most dangerous enemy in the world - not counting winged demons, which I'll tell you about later. The cockroaches live in wet, shaded places - for example, in palm groves - there are a lot of them in Marvia. For now, the weakness of these creatures for raw meat remains unexplained, but many people think that the amount of the protein they receive from the raw meat is something they need for reproduction. So, the fact, that only female cockroaches attack haematherm creatures, seems to be approved.

Northern Jungle​

This is quite big region, situated at the north of Old Marvia, and bordering the Eastern Sea. Though these places are the part of Marvian Empire, they have no practical value, and that's why they are not populated by people and are neglected by the government. The more you advance to the north, the colder the climate, and the more dangerous and angry are the creatures that live here. Many honest people haven't returned from the Northern jungle, and that's in many cases because of mennadas and ice demons... But, let's start from the beginning.

Mennada​

These ones are the flying demons in female forms, and they are extremely dangerous. Their enormous leather wings end with hands which have claws as sharp as razors. Mennades are the creations of one old witch. That witch was unlucky - the men always had forsaken her. Had created the mennades, she had revenged herself upon all men. That's why these creatures attack only men. Their kind of hunting is interesting. Having a walk, the man sees the figure in seductive red lingerie. Of course, every good man will try to find out what has happened, and if the young girl needs help... Some of the hunters, who, by chance, has stayed alive, explain such concern that way: they have daughters, and that's why they are so deeply touched by the different problems of young girls. So, the traveller, seeing the mennade and walking to her, gets into the trap - and he is very lucky if he stays alive.

Ice demon​

Our world is arranged that way: all powers of nature have their incarnations in demons. Demons are dead pieces of substance, brought to life by the half-minded spirits of elements. They are all aggressive to the people (those who are not aggressive usually hide from people). In case with the mountain glaciers, demons are large ice creatures with awful looking pole-axes. They present really big problem for every traveller - even for experienced one. Rumours say that they move to jungle from the northern range of Ripei Mountains. The feature of these creatures is the powerful magic of elements, which they use to freeze their enemies. As far as this magic has big range of effect, they are afraid to use it if one of their allies is near. So, one of the best tactics of fighting with ice demons is the tactic of fast close fight. This tactics came from the South, where travellers use it effectively in clashes with the desert demons - catharhs. That's it: don't use arbalets, magic or other distance methods of fighting if you are surrounded by the ice demons - just run to one of them and start the hand-to-hand fight. You'll have more chances to survive that way. Of course, this is the tactics which can be used by warriors - the magicians have their own ways to protect themselves (for example, the spells which resist the magic of elements).

Cheers again to Dmitry Glaznev, script-writer of Golden Land for another fun filled venture full of critters!