Civilizations: From High to low	-	-	-	-
Dragon 31	-	-	-	Dragon

Civilizations:
From High to Low
T. J. Kask

All around you, the jungle closes in: hot, stifling, humid, the air
heavily laden with delicate scents and pungent aromas alike—foreign,
oppressive, foreboding, Overhead, a constrictor the thickness of your
thigh dozes in the meagre sun that penetrates the leafy canopy. All
around you swoop birds exotically colored and fantastically feathered,
piping their raucous calls. The air, so thick it threatens suffocation, is
alive with insects: stinging, buzzing, biting, blinding and maddening.
Deadly animals can only be seen occasionally, often too late to react to.
More common are the more placid types, so at home here in this alien
environment, posing no overt threats. Underfoot, more insects, some
deadlier than any snake. Snakes slither everywhere, festooned from
branches, clustered in the sun, silent, sinister, deadly. Overhead, the
ever-present, never silent monkeys, those gossips of the jungle who see
all and tell all to all who can and will listen.
Unseen are the eyes that follow your every gesture silently shadowing
your every turn, paralleling your every more. The eyes are framed
with fierce brows, and cheeks bedaubed with pigments or disfigured
from tattoos. It is these eyes that hold the most threat and peril,
belonging to that most deadly of all species: man.
Welcome to the jungle.

Welcome to the jungle, indeed. Just when you thought you had
survived the six possible die rolls inherent in the foregoing, you feel a
different stinging bite on your neck. When you reach up to slap it away,
you are horrified to find a small dart protruding from your flesh, and
then the darkness overtakes you...
Of all the perils present in that most perilous of environments, the
jungle, man poses the greatest threat. He cooperates with his fellows
(those he is not hostile to), has vast cunning and knows his home
terrain.
Good DM’s use history for a logical jumping-off point in their
adventuring, as it provides an accessible framework within which you
can create and extrapolate. A general knowledge of anthropology and
cultural history can be a great asset as well, as it gives a logical frame-
work on which to build. Assuming the foregoing, upon what can we
build?
There are three generalized areas into which this article delves:
Asia, Africa and South America. Each of these three areas is possessed
of great divergences in behavior among its inhabitants and vast cultural
differences in the many cultures to be found therein. A recitation of all
of the possibilities would be long and boring. Some preeminent representatives
spring to mind whenever the subject is even briefly pon-

Tolmecs, the Totomecs, the Aztecsz2: from/Africa, the Zulus, the Watusi,
the Ashanti, the Beni; from Asia (and Micronesia), the headhunters
of Borneo, the vanished civilization of Angkor Wat, the cannibals of the
Pacific: a veritable wealth of potential adventures.

Africa
The range of civilization levels in Africa is extreme, and our perceptions
of some of them have been bizarre. On the lowest end of the scale,
we once had the Pygmies, the most maligned culture in all of African
history. Once, Pygmies were thought to be little more than apes of a
highly developed sort; some even saw them as the missing link between
homo sapiens and the apes. These gross misconceptions were
held by the most learned men of their day, and not just the ignorant
masses that had even heard of them at all. Because their culture was so
simple, and they placed so little value in the owning of possessions of
any sort, they were dismissed as sub-human for decades.

On the other end of the scale we had the fabled glories of Timbuktu
and the empire of Benin as two radical contradictions to the misconceptions
surrounding “the Dark Continent” (itself a misnomer, even
though it was meant in the sense of unknown and unexplored). The
glories of Timbuktu were at first thought to be no more than fables in
Europe, because everybody knew that Africa had passed its peak as
anything meaningful when the high civilizations of Egypt at last gave
way to Rome and her ilk. And yet, those first explorers to reach
Timbuktu and return spun tales of wonder for all to hear, appropriately
embellished to the benefit of the teller, of course.
The civilization attained in Benin is arguably one of the highest and
finest in Africa’s history. Their methods of warfare were chillingly
European in their butchery and effectiveness, and surprisingly well
disciplined. The society was very well organized from the king on
down, including such functionaries as the official greeter (sort of a royal
doorman) and the merchants licensed to do business with the Europeans.
Much to the lament of the first European traders, the Beni were
well skilled in trade, and exacted exactly what their goods were worth.
The Beni were further structured in their society, including an elite caste
of hunters, admired and respected by all. The elite of the hunters were
legenday elephant hunters. themselves thought to be semi-mythical.
Armed with only a blowgun and poisoned darts, these men stalked and
slew the largest animal of their ecosystem, at great personal hazard.
(Pity the poor adventurer captured by hunters such as these. . .)
Human sacrifice to the local deity was not uncommon, and prisoners,
the condemned, and enemies of the leaders were among the first to
go. Cannibalism was sometimes practiced, either as a ritual or simply to
provide protein.
In game terms, encountered natives can range from savages in very
small to very large numbers to highly civilized and deadly warriors.
Some will be hostile to anyone they encounter, others curious or even
friendly.
Jungle religions range from the simple to the bizarre. In some
instances, civilization level has no bearing upon religion. Animism,
totemism and divination abound, usually centering around some shaman
or oracle, known to us as witch-men or witch doctors, but certainly
not all as evil as Hollywood would have us believe.
Group size can range from a simple family unit to a highly complex
organization transcending the bonds of blood, kinship or tribe. It was
said by the first Europeans to visit there that Benin could muster
100,000 warriors in a single day!

South America
(plus Central America & The Valley of Mexico)
The range of South American civilization levels is scarcely any less
than those found in Africa. There exist to this day tribes in the interior
that subsist barely above a Stone Age level, shrinking the heads of their
enemies, sometimes partaking of their flesh.
The primitive-tribes of the Amazon Basin contrast highly to the
ancient glories of the Incan, Mayan or Tolmec cultures. Just slightly
farther north was the fabled Aztec Empire, as well organized and
efficiently run as any empire without a written language could be. We
know so little of the Tolmecs and Totomecs that it is hard to classify their
culture, but we can be sure that it was on the high end of the scale.
The Inca Empire was one of the largest the world has ever seen, in
miles spanned. It was composed of separate tribes and ethnic groups,
numbering in the dozens, transcending the loyalties owed to family and
tribe. It was held together by the organization of the administration and
the homage paid to The Inca, the supreme ruler.
Religions in South America don’t seem to favor totemism as much
as their African counterparts, although totems held an important place
in many cultures’ kinship and clan ties. There was much veneration of
certain animals, most notably the deadly jaguar. Priests and shamen
seem to have been better educated on the whole, and often served as
tribal historians and record keepers. Their hold over their subjects was
no less iron-fisted for it.
The Jivaro, known for their practice of shrinking heads, are so
surrounded by myth and misinformation that it is hard to distinguish
fact from fancy without serious study. It can be safely stated that they
were fierce and deadly foes.
Almost all of the peoples under this geographic grouping have been
accused of human sacrifice and cannibalism at one time or another. It
could well be that all of them practiced it at one time or another. We
know that the Aztecs fought little pseudo-wars, called Flower Wars (see
TD #25 for further info on the Flower Wars, and rules for same—Ed.),
for the express purpose of capturing enemies at a minimal cost in
blood. The hapless prisoners were normally sacrificed to their sanguine
gods.

1. While the Incas were a high-county tribe in the beginning, their
conquests led them to the edges of the Amazon Basin and beyond.
2. The Aztecs, Mayans, Tolmecs and Totomecs are actually from Central
America and Mexico.

A s i a
and Micronesia
The range of civilizations found in Asia is the most encompassing in
numbers. Today there are still tribes living in the Stone Age, in Borneo
& Java, in stark contrast to the culture attained in Hindu India.
While there is probably more jungle in this classification than either
of the two preceding, we in this part of the world know less about it.
With the exception of India, and some few islands in Micronesia, the
Western world is abysmally ignorant of the marvelous cultures that
once thrived in Asia. The jungles of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Viet
Nam, Burma, Tibet and India saw the births of many high civilizations
of which we know relatively little today. Much of the picture painted by
the British of India was warped by time and myth.
Some of the more notorious sects and cultures got a lot of media
exploitation. The Thugs in India were painted as vicious and bloodthirsty.
The Ghurkas were known for their fierceness in battle and
loyalty. The headhunters of Java and Borneo, as well as the Malay
pirates (following a centuries-old lifestyle) also got their share of notoriety.
None of the previously mentioned cultures ever built anything as
impressive and intriguing as the ruins of Angkor Wat, deep in the
jungles of Cambodia. Of that culture we know next to nothing. If we use
their constructions as a yardstick of civilization, they were as highly
civilized as any culture anywhere in Asia, and their edifices show a
haunting similarity to some of the ruins found in Central America.
Of the religions of Asia, we know a good deal about a couple, and
next to nothing about most of them. Due to the early and pervasive
effects of both the Hindu and Buddhist religions, we know very little
about any of the indigenous religions prior to their introduction in Asia.
The religions of Borneo, Java, and the like were a varied hodgepodge
of pagan beliefs, heavy on the shamanism and totemism.

Weather
When considering jungle adventures, after you consider the dangerous
flora and fauna, and the more dangerous human denizens,
there is still one consideration of paramount importance: Jungles are
hot and humid. When considering any jungle or rain forest, this fact is
inescapable.
The heat, when considered alone, can have grave effects on a band
of fearless adventurers. The extreme heat can quickly lead to exhaustion,
with all of its attendant modifications to combat and melee. Less
territory can be safely explored in a day’s march without risking serious
side effects. That presupposes that the terrain doesn’t hinder you,
which is unlikely. As you overheat, the body perspires in an attempt to
cool off. If you perspire too much, your body salts deplete, and you can
collapse from heat prostration and/or exhaustion. Barring that, you
could still be susceptible to hallucinations and delirium. Severe dehydration
can cause death.
The humidity intensifies the effects of the heat. Anyone who lives in
the Midwestern U.S. can attest to that. It is much more uncomfortable
at 80° with 65% humidity than it is at 95° with 10% humidity. In the
tropical rain forest jungles, the humidity never falls below 85 or 90
percent. This high moisture rots and mildews cloth and leather, unless
they are assiduously treated to prevent it All metals will oxidize; armor
will rust and swords and daggers will lose their edges. The humidity
affects people by lowering resistance as a result of overworking the
sweat glands, thereby causing wounds to heal at a greatly retarded rate,
if at all.
One further effect of this humidity is ground haze. At best, in high
temperature and high humidity conditions, vision is reduced to half
normal, thereby increasing the chances for surprise. As with any fog,
sound is distorted as well.

Fantastic Civilizations
H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs achieved literary
fame by writing novels dealing with the jungle. Haggard, in particular,
specialized in fantastic civilizations isolated from time and man’s interference,
located in deep jungles, usually in a hidden valley, or on top of
a jungle-girt mountain. I can only recommend that you peruse their
works for inspiration in establishing your jungle adventures.
As this is D&D/AD&D, anything goes as far as justification, but
some logical explanation is not out of order. The willing suspension of
disbelief is easier when it involves swallowing less rationale. The landlocked
valley is a favorite device, as is the isolated mountain. Numerous
cliches abound, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be fun.
J. Eric Holmes wrote an excellent supplement to SOURCE OF
THE NILE dealing with fantasy civilizations that goes into much detail,
and is very useful in setting up jungle adventures. (See TD #24, April
’79, LOST CIVILATIONS, and watch for a reprint of it in TRIBUTARY
2, the SOTN supplemental magazine, to be released soon. —Ed.)
One prevailing aspect of all the jungle fantasy novels has been the
phenomenal wealth of these lost civilizations. Supposedly, all they had
to do was amass wealth for its own sake, and hoard it away. Tales of
idols made of precious metals and/or encrusted with precious stones
are common, and more than enough to surpass the greed quotient of
nearly any adventurer. As with any adventure, the treasure should be
equal to the difficulty experienced in obtaining it. Since the jungle is by
its nature a severe test, huge fortunes can be justified.

Weapons
To understand more fully the weapons found in typical jungle
cultures, one must consider the arena in which they are used.
The blowgun, or blowpipe, is perhaps the most celebrated jungle
weapon. It is useful in the jungle only, for one reason—wind, or the
lack thereof, actually. There is no appreciable breeze to be felt in a rain
forest, so the tiny, lightweight darts are usable. With any breeze at all,
their accuracy suffers, severely at longer range. Because the darts were
so diminutive, poison was generally added to them, to maximize the
hunter’s chances of success. The types of poisons are many and varied,
with effects ranging from mild nausea to horrible and painful death.
Mild doses, those used to hunt birds, might have no effect on a human
beyond mild nausea or temporary dizziness. Some of the poisons were
nearly instantaneously fatal.
A couple of the staff members of TD have played with blowguns in
the past and can testify to the accuracy that can be attained with only
minimal practice; a lifetime of practice could easily produce marksmen
capable of hitting the tiniest target/opening at 40 feet or more with
lethal regularity. The actual damage done by the dart is generally
minimal, although the possibility of striking a vein, nerve, throat or eye
could modify that.
Most weapons found in the jungle can be classified in D&D terms
quite easily, simply by their construction. Spears are spears, no matter
where they are forged. The assegai of the Zulu (not really a jungle tribe,
but well known) would be considered a short sword, while their knobkerrie
would be classed a cudgel.
Some of the multi-bladed throwing knives of Africa are lethal-looking,
but it must be remembered that they were used against enemies
who generally had no better protection than a flimsy shield. They
would be extra effective against a man who was unarmored, or wearing
soft leather, but no more effective than any other thrown weapon
against a man in armor.
The bows found in the jungle are the products of their special
environment They are generally fairly long, and weak. When you
seldom get a clearing more than ten or twenty yards wide, you don’t
need a bow any more powerful than that The arrows were generally
longer than the average European model; they didn’t have to go as far,
they didn’t have as much kinetic energy, therefore their mass had to
provide the shock. If the arrow protruded from the other side of the
target, so much the better as it made it harder to escape through the
tangled undergrowth. Many jungle tribes poisoned their arrows as well.
Because metal was scarce in many of these cultures, the tips were
crude, but the poison compensated.
Don’t let the preponderance of poisons ruin your adventures;
AD&D cautions against the widespread use of poison as a weapon.
Arming your jungle denizens with poisons that are lethal will greatly
unbalance the game structure. It would be better, in terms of the game,
to eschew the use of fatal poisons, relying instead on poisons that
render the victim unconscious or temporarily paralyzed.
 

A Vacation Spot?
Certainly Not!
Jake Jaquet

If one had to pick the least livable place on earth, the jungle would
have to fall among the top three—the Arctic/Antarctic is certainly
inhospitable from an environmental standpoint, and there is some
weight to the argument that certain inner urban areas do not exactly
promote long life, but that’s beside the point. The jungle promotes
bacteria, insects, and disease. The frequent heavy rains wash fertility
from the soil. Poisonous plants, snakes, and wild animals thrive in
jungle climates. All in all, not exactly the spot for a vacation but what
a spot for an adventure!
Traditional accounts of the jungle, from Bomba the Jungle Boy to
Jungle Jim to Tarzan, have always depicted the jungle as a place of
peril—but there has always been justification for jungle adventures.
We’ll leave aside the philanthropic wanderings of Livingstone and
Schweitzer and look at jungles from a more typical D&D viewpoint:
greed.
Since the jungle is such an inhospitable place, much of what is
discovered there remains there. Whole civilizations have been born,
grown, and died in the jungle, with never a single contact with the
“outside” world. It remains only for you, the adventurer, to penetrate
the wilds of South America, Asia, or Africa to find untold wealth-and
untold danger. But first, the DM must set the stage....

Geography
The actual physical conditions of any jungle can be determined by
a quick consultation with a good set of reference works. By the way, an
atlas will be of great value. Contrary to popular belief, most jungles are
not flat plains covered with vines and bushes. Hills, cliffs, plateaus, and
mountains all play an important part in a jungle scenario. Remember all
those “lost valley’ movies on the late-late show? What causes a valley?
If you, as DM, are just teleporting a group of adventurers to a particular
location, this factor may not be so important. But if your expedition is
setting out overland from a coastal town, they’d better be prepared for
some rough going. Plan accordingly.
While we’re on the subject of geography, don’t forget that you
don’t just step out of the desert and into the jungle. Most jungles of the
type we’ll be discussing (tropical rain forest jungles) are surrounded by
a sort of buffer zone called the veldt. This area is a grassy plain with a
scattering of trees and bushes. As one moves closer to the jungle
proper, the trees and bushes become more profuse, until an arbitray
point is reached where veldt becomes jungle. And danger is no less in
the veldt, either. Most herd-type animals live in the veldt—wildebeests,
gazelles, giraffes, or what have you. Consequently, the large predators,
lions for instance, live in or near the edge of the veldt. The tall grasses
provide excellent cover for those predators using it as a stalking ground.
Any method for play of outdoor adventures can be used in such
exploration, but a highly recommended set of rules would be Source of
the Nile. Some minor changes would be necessary if the adventure is to
take place somewhere other than Africa, but the mechanics work well
regardless of the location. Using Source of the Nile can also eliminate
the need for creating an overall terrain map, as the game is designed to
create the terrain as the terra incognito is explored. A chart for random
encounters with flora and fauna should be made to correspond to the
type of terrain indicated, and the rules for encountering natives can be
used as is.

Flora
While it is not within the scope of this article to detail every plant that
exists in the jungle, there are a few aspects of jungle plant life that
should be mentioned. First, especially in the inner tropical rain forest,
plant growth is extremely rapid. A trail blazed through such growth will
disappear within a few days. Also, such growth is very thick and
tangled. Movement rates through overgrowth must be slowed accordingly.
Another aspect of jungle flora is poison. Many of the jungle plants
and their fruits, berries, and roots are poisonous if eaten, and can cause
serious sickness, paralyzation, or even death. With the restrictions
placed on poison within D&D and AD&D, the DM may wish to
eliminate some or all of the natural poisons found in the jungle. This

may detract from the realism of the jungle scenario, but fit better within
the framework of the game.
We’ve all seen Tarzan swinging through the jungle on vines and
creepers, and it is quite possible for such plants to be used as such, but
they’re not ropes. Vines are more like very flexible tree limbs-like a
grape vine. Tough, bendable, but not something you can coil. Also,
vines strong enough to support any weight at all are very heavy
themselves. While a character may be able to toss a rope over a tree
branch 30 feet above him, he won’t be able to do it with a vine. It’s just
not flexible enough and it’s too heavy. The same goes for tying knots.
Certain tough grasses can be braided and plaited into short thong-type
substitutes for, say, tying a captive’s hands, but the point should be
taken that the jungle does not provide instant substitutes for all manners
of rope and strings.
Certain other jungle plants can be used in a variety of ways as
substitutes for leather, paper, even iron, but such use is generally the
result of specialized training and insructions and should not be allowed
to the average character, unless special training is arranged. The DM
must be the final arbiter.
Fauna
Again, it is not within the scope of this article to list every animal that
inhabits every jungle. A reference book will give you all the specific
examples you want, and then some. What is important to remember is
that, while some jungle animals have counterparts outside the jungle or
veldt (gazelles and bushbucks, for examples, are very much like European
or American deer), many others have evolved only in the jungle
and are specialized for existence within it Therefore, encounters with
“new” animals, a rhino or a tapir, for example, will be entirely foreign
to most adventurers, and it will be trial and error until they learn how to
deal with them.
Characteristics for most jungle animals will have to be supplied by
the DM, but there are several jungle or jungle-derivative creatures listed
in the AD&D Monster Manual. Several of these have been reprinted
within this article to give a starting point for typical jungle fauna.
A little research into various jungle fauna can also turn up some
creatures that do not instantly pop to mind when one thinks about a
jungle. Sure, there’ll be wildebeests, cheetahs, and crocodiles, but
what about the borrachudos (vicious biting jungle flies that spread
disease), or the vampire bats that can be found in most jungles? Jungle
fauna seems to have no end to its dangerous surprises.
Other natural nasties
In addition to the flora and fauna of the jungle, several other natural
pitfalls are sure to be encountered by jungle adventurers. Disease runs
rampant in the jungle, and the DM with-an eye toward realism will
draw up an attrition chart to use as an exploring party succumbs to
dysentery and malaria. Quicksand and other types of bogs can also trap
the unwary. Another danger, not quite so natural, are camouflaged
animal traps set by native tribes. Pits, snares, deadfalls, etc. could be
found on or near game trails. Such game trails would appear an easy
break from hacking one’s way through the undergrowth, and if the
adventurers fail to remain alert. . .
Jungles of the fantastic
Having determined the natural geography, flora, and fauna of the
jungle, let’s consider the jungle in a fantasy vein. The natural dangers of
the jungle could be slight, compared to a jungle under the influence, in
whole or in part, of say, a high-level magic-user. Let’s consider the
effect of a 25th-level magic-user setting up housekeeping in the inner
jungle.
Let’s assume that somewhere in the interior of the jungle is a
relatively large stone hill or cliffside. Our magic-user works several
months with a stone shape spell to create a modest (modest, that is, for
a high-level magic-user) abode. Perhaps he could gate in a demon to
help with the finishing touches. Various guards and wards will keep
things secure while he unpacks, but then he turns his attention to the
jungle outside his door. A little diligent work with a move earth spell can

set up some natural defenses, and create some nice ambush points.
Now, we’ll say our magic-user has used a wish to obtain special
dispensation to use a permanency spell a few times when it would not
normally be allowed. Got a nice mature panther handy? Zap! Charm
monster. Now make it permanent Let’s throw in animal growth and
make that permanent, also. Nice watchdog, isn’t it?
Let’s cast a find familiar. What can we find? A spider monkey?
Excellent! Intelligent, nimble, at home in the jungle, and we’ll instruct it
to work with the panther mentioned above. Quite a team of scouts.
As you can see, the jungle offers some unique possibilities to the
magic-user. Think what you can do with some of the others—charm
plants, for example, could be quite interesting. And, should a party of
adventurers happen to stumble across our magic-user’s area of the
jungle, the results could be quite interesting, also.
Let’s carry our line of thinking a little further. What will happen
when a tribe of natives encounter our magic-user? They pose little
threat to him, and could be quite helpful for everyday chores—gathering
materials, keeping unwanted visitors away, etc.-so he decides to
reveal himself to them. A few simple but flashy spells to demonstrate his
powers (and let’s not forget his image, accompanied by a twice life-size
black panther), and voila! Instant jungle godhood. He helps the tribe,
maybe controls the weather a bit for them, gives them a few simple
enchanted items, and in turn, they respond to his every request as a
directive on high. Naturally, such a tribe would flourish, quite possibly
assimilating or destroying other tribes in the area. An entire city could
rise around the site of the magic-user, including an impressive temple(
s) for and to their god, the magic-user. Sound a little like the
Mayans or the Inca? King of makes you wonder. . .
This line of thought can be carried even further if desired. We’ll
assume many years have passed and the magic-user has attained even
higher levels. Could he be interested in experimenting with the flora
and fauna in the surrounding jungle? What would the results be? And,
consider the final experiment that got out of control, killing the magicuser
and the entire tribe. What a scenario-an entire jungle city, now
overgrown and in partial ruin. Rumors ony hint at the great powers and
greater treasure that exist deep in the inner jungle within this fabled city.
The tales say no one lives there anymore. . .but no thing. . .?

A final word
As you can see, the possibilities for jungle adventures are many and
varied. A word, though, of caution, to the DM. Just as it is sometimes
very tempting to create some fantastic new creature or race, remember
that if a campaign is too deadly, your players will soon lose interest or
find another DM. While it would be intriguing to set up a race of native
warriors who wear plate armor and ride armor-plated rhinos, if the
players aren’t ready to face such a challenge, don’t do it There are
plenty of natural dangers to improvise upon, without getting too fantastic.
(Although I do recall a line of rhino-rider miniatures put out by Tom
Loback of General Artworks, and it would be quite a scene to. . .)