Zaratal, or the Verdant Maw, is a wild, invasive jungle torn into Arcadia in June 2025 - lush, sweltering, and teeming with life both beautiful and deadly. Vines creep like fingers, the air hangs heavy with heat and spores, and distant roars from large unseen beasts echo through the canopy. The jungle feels aware, ancient, and angry.

Throughout the summer, adventurers have pushed further into this strange jungle — taming Mawborn (and racing them), exploring ancient temples (and looting them), and discovering more about the history behind this cursed place.

Meanwhile, the jungle spreads, unstoppable. The Verdant Heart pulses darkly in the centre of the Verdant Maw, and it will take willing Mawborn, brave adventurers, and a lot of luck to break through to the centre of the jungle and cleanse the corruption once and for all.

Ah, smashing day, adventurers! Ny'juul Goodberry here, elven explorer extraordinaire! The fine folks at the University have tasked me with regaling you with what we know about this mysterious Verdant Maw, this man-eating jungle, this carnivorous chaparral, THIS RAINFOREST OF RUINATION- Uuh... haha... Well yes, you can see I am rather fond of the dastardly place, and here you may find what we know!"

Smashing! The Zaratali - what a fascinating bunch of scaly chaps! These regal lizardfolk fancied themselves the mighty guardians of the jungle, and blimey, did they build some cracking temples! Big stepped stone towers covered in gold mosaics of flowers and old-timey tales - quite the posh décor! From the ruins, we've learned that they used to revere the jungle, and perform grisly sacrifices to it like it was some sort of god! Hah!
But here’s the kicker - as these Zaratali got more ambitious, the sacrifices got bigger and bigger, and wilder and WILDER! I must imagine they knocked a seed or two loose in the big peace lily, because not only did the jungle begin to prosper, it grew out of bloody control, swallowing their temples and leaving only bones and tangled vines! Nature’s way of saying, “Back off, mate! Yeees.”
Then there's all the stuff about these Mawborn creatures, eh!? Apparently these chaps created the terrifying beasties to fight back against the jungles growth! Doesn't look like it turned out so well for them! They also did a very good job of scattering the only relic capable of controlling their bitey pets!
Smashing to see you all again, brave souls! Now, the Zaratali had a big problem - those massive, unruly beasts called Mawborn. These weren’t your average reptiles; they were created to be the jungles jailers, but they were harder to control than a swarm of abyssal chickens! To keep these mighty beasts in line, the Zaratali crafted the Fanghelm - a magical helmet made from the skull of one of these fearsome creatures. This wasn’t just any helmet, mind you; it gave the wearer the power to command the Mawborn themselves! Brilliant, right?
But, as often happens, greed mucked things up. The rulers started hoarding the Fanghelm’s teeth - each a potent piece of the artifact. These teeth got scattered across the jungle, guarded jealously by various clerics and nobles, each looking out for number one. This nasty infighting tore the Zaratali apart, and without full control of the Fanghelm, the Mawborn went wild, the jungle went rogue, and the whole empire crumbled.
Some good news, the Fanghelm itself has been found - hooray!
Bad news is, it’s missing most of its teeth.
Right now, not all the teeth have been accounted for. The folks in Keystone are scrambling to track down the rest, hoping to restore the Fanghelm’s full power and finally tame the Mawborn en masse, putting a lid on the jungle’s dangerous growth. So, if you’re heading into the Verdant Maw, remember: those teeth are worth their weight in gold - or maybe scales! And finding them might just be the key to saving the whole blasted jungle!
Our current fangelm tooth total stands at 36/60!
Ah, now here’s where things get positively heartwarming - in a towering, scaly, potentially-destructive sort of way!
The Mawborn, you see, were created by the Zaratali to deal with the jungle’s more... assertive plant life. The herbivores were the first wave - great big longnecks designed to munch through nasty vines and clear paths like living bulldozers. Then came the carnivores, the result of Zaratali infighting - battlefield experiments, bred to hunt and dominate.
But here’s the lovely bit: not all is lost! Some clever clogs in Keystone and beyond have been working on cleansing the Mawborn - not killing, no no! Cleansing, as in soothing the poor beasts, scrubbing away the unnatural aggression, and turning them back into gentle giants. And let me tell you, it works!
Take Stompy, for example - a longneck Mawborn and an absolute darling! I once watched him politely step over an entire spice caravan without so much as a sneeze! And then there’s Toots - yes, a Tyrant - cleansed and calm as a kitten... well, a kitten the size of a house. Bit musical, too, hence the name!
The worst of the bunch? The Jungle Tyrant — a hulking, primeval beast that makes most dragons look like house pets supposedly. The Mawborn were meant to save the land, but now they’re part of the problem — stomping about while the jungle just keeps spreading like butter on hot toast! And if our research is to be believed, not even the Fanghelm will help tame that 3 headed bully!
There are various temples in the region that house relics, occasionally a Fanghelm tooth also!
One such temple housed a plant that killed an Adventurer of Keystone sadly (RIP Kevin). Worryingly, the plant that swallowed them was a Bodytaker plant... we might not have seen the last of that one!
Adventurers found a Pool in the south of the Maw that seemed to be referred to as the Southern Crying Eye of Zaratal, on account of the waterfall present there. They learned the flow of water there had some relation to the past or a slowing of time. The name of the place would suggest a second eye, potentially to the unexplored North? If the Southern pool relates to the slowing of time and the past, perhaps that means the Northern pool relates to speeding up time and the future?
This sentient jungle seems to be all one big interconnected horror show! We believe this hivemind biome to have a central intelligence, something referred to as The Verdant Heart. We believe it is located in the exact centre of the Verdant Maw, which funnily enough will be the place that'll prove most difficult to reach. A rushing river, thick brush, a jungle wall of vines always on guard. It'd take an army of Mawborn to break through to there! Wait a second...
Ah, MawCo. - the shining example of what happens when you let the worst people with the most money poke around in a jungle they don’t understand.
Formed by Elune Mask and Jiff Bozos, a pair of billionaire Halflings, MawCo. is all about wringing coin from the Verdant Maw - strip-mining, potion-farming, Mawborn trapping... absolute madness! They claim it's all in the name of “progress”, but really, it’s just profit dressed in a pretty bow.
They’ve got no respect for the jungle’s balance, no patience for its danger, and no plan when things inevitably go belly-up. They are currently planning something with the plantlife of the Maw rather than their initial target, the Mawborn. They're the type of chap who is so ruddy well off, they can afford dozens of simulacrums and clones to do the dirty work for them and avoid ever getting punished!

PEOPLE OF INTEREST

Field Log: Kaela Thorne
Smashing lady, that one! Seven foot of muscle, tusks, and unshakable optimism. Orc blood, jungle heart. And would put her own life on the line to defend even just one Mawborns life. Has set up a Nature reserve where Keystone citizens can come to experience the joys of the Maw in a safe a secure manner, free of charge. Currently battling those Halfling billionaires, trying to stop them buying the Maw entirely and ripping out it's soul for profit.
Kaela’s a conservationist to the core - loves the Mawborn like family, and won’t let a single vine strangle her jungle without a fight. Blunt as a club, bright as a torch, and braver than a bullfrog in a shark tank.
If Kaela’s leading your expedition, you’re in excellent, albeit slightly sweaty, hands!
Blimey! Tormak’s a towering Earth Genasi, with skin like smooth marble - so still and statuesque in the park, you’d swear they were carved from stone. Their robes, woven from bark and vines, and a staff entwined with root, they were dressed for the Maw before we had even discovered it!
Their gentle eyes miss nothing. Calm, sharp, and grimly wise, they speak just enough to make you listen. Tormak sees the jungle’s corruption as a perversion of nature. They believe outsiders can help heal it, but only if they respect the wilds as others did not previously. Wise words from a quiet giant carved in stone, that one!
They're the one to speak to for problems relating to your window plants coming alive!
Oh dear, here we have two of the most slippery, money-grubbing tycoons in Keystone—Elune Mask and Jiff Bozos. Billionaire Halfling owners of half the companies around, and now the brains (or lack thereof) behind MawCo., the outfit hell-bent on milking the jungle dry.
No morals to speak of—just gold pieces in their eyes. They poke at dangerous things like kids with sharp sticks, leaving a trail of trouble in their wake. Honestly, if it wasn’t for them, the jungle might have a fighting chance!
Universally loathed and rarely seen without a scandal trailing behind, these two are the reason why everyone’s on edge. Keep your wits about you if you cross their path—because they only care about one thing: more wealth, no matter the cost.
Now this one’s a jungle mystery! Kess was just a 13-year-old druidic cub when they wandered out of Keystone exploring the new world Arcadia - that was three months ago. But now? They’ve finally been found, looking 30 years older, wild-eyed, vine-wrapped, and half-feral!
Dirt-caked, wiry, and always sniffing the wind like it’s whispering secrets, Kess moves like a jungle cat and talks like the plants are answering back.
No one knows what twisted time trick did this to them, but some say it’s tied to that strange anomaly down near the Southern Crying Eye pool, or perhaps to it's counterpart to the North. All I know is: Kess sees things others do not!