Pukisho

Also called the ‘Layered Jungle’, Pukisho is the great, mountainous region northwest of Jinshu Kong and southeast of the Breakclifffs. It steep slopes are covered in thick jungle vegetation; huge trees with serpentine roots of great girth, thick vines hanging from a multi-layered canopy, all among the sounds of the jungle birds and monkeys overhead. The jungle is also home to a wide array of dinosaurs and other beasts, such as troodons, velociraptors, hypsolophodons, kentrosaurs, styracosaurs, and even allosaurs. The many rivers that feed through the great jungle make it a welcome home for fishing predators like baryonyx and suchomimus, and within the dense foliage of Pukisho is the only place in all of Zimildran that adventurers will run into the largest known carnivore, the spinosaurus.

Pukisho has a strong presence in traditional Kotokai beliefs, specifically around those relating to the Shen. It is said that the three Shen of trickery, malice and mischief dwell within Pukisho’s great jungle. The mystical Xinshi, troodon Shen who guides worthy spirits of the dead to the afterlife, wanders the darker passes of the mountainside. Pingheng and Gonglu, the panther and tiger Shen respectively, are also rumored to stalk its deepest recesses, preserving the balance of nature with primal strength and cunning.

Even to those who are unbelieving of the traditional Shen teachings (being primarily loyal imperial soldiers and citizens), Pukisho seems to hold a mysterious aura. Few roads go through it, and those that do take the long way around, staying near the borders of the jungle and far from its heart. For the heart of Pukisho has more stories and rumors than any other part of the jungle, save for maybe the Ruins of the Gonglu Temple. In the very center of the jungle, between two rocky ridgelines, there is rumored to be a hidden valley with a great pool of sparkling water. Some say the hidden valley is home to a forgotten Shen, one who was exiled by the other five Major Shen before the time of Man. The exile remains in this valley, and its desire for revenge is exorcised through its poisoning of the waters of the many streams that filter down from the mountains, towards the shoreline. Adventurers who make their way along the Verdant Coast keep their distance from the streams and rivers that are devoid of fish, no matter how clear the water may be. There are reports of people getting sick from drinking of those rivers, suffering for days or weeks until they are removed from Pukisho altogether.