Hello everybody Jordan here the ph is silent.
We ever so briefly talked about Chult way back in episode 2, but let’s dive in further.
What’s the deal with Chult?
To talk about Chult we need to talk about the primordial Ubtao.
Now I’ve read online to pronounce Ubtao “Oob-TAY-oh” but on a recent Dragon Talk
Podcast they pronounced it uB-TAO.
I’m going to stick with Oob-TAY-oh mainly because that’s what I’m used to. So please forgive me if I'm wrong.
In Forgotten Realms history, specifically during the Dawn War, the gods and primordials
were fighting for dominance over Abeir-Toril and during this fight a primordial named “Dendar
the Night Serpent” devoured the sun creating an ice-age.
Ubtao, who was also a primordial, aka Ubtao the Deceiver, ended up betraying his kin.
He helped the gods imprison the primordials for a reward.
As promised he was given the land Chult and the gods agreed to stay away from it allowing
Ubtao to rule as he sees fit.
The only other stipulation is that Ubtao watch over Dendar the Night Serpent who is currently
imprisoned on Chult, behind a set of doors at the base of the Peaks of Flame.
There Dendar sleeps and devours nightmares of mortals and deities alike.
Ubtao is to guard this prison until Dendar escapes and devours the sun again destroying
the world.
Really Dendar is the Forgotten Realms version of Nidhogg, it’s Ragnarok, the end times.
But he’s safely tucked away beneath Chult for the time being.
Because the gods agreed to stay away from Chult it developed very differently from the
rest of Faerun.
It doesn’t reflect medieval fantasy and instead is a lost land of dinosaurs and jungle tribes.
The Tabaxi are a human tribe that live in the Jungles of Chult.
Now Tabaxi are also a playable race of cat-people found in Volo’s Guide to Monsters.
Apparently this confusion occurred when a foreign traveler to Chult saw a Tabaxi Tribesmen
wearing a panther skin and was told by a guide that this was a Tabaxi.
The Traveler misunderstood and assumed that cat-men were called Tabaxi, so now we have
one word that means two sets of people.
The Cat-man race of Tabaxi do exist in Chult, but for this video I’m referring to the
tribe of humans.
The Tabaxi believe the world is a maze, through which you must pass in order to reach your
eternal reward.
The symbol of Ubtao is also maze, reflecting the great maze all must travel to reach him
in the afterlife.
It is believed that Ubtao created the jungle as a test for his people.
When a worshiper of Ubtao dies, he is called before his maker and told to draw the maze
that represented his or her life.
If he is successful in doing this they are invited into Ubtao’s home.
If they fails they come back to the world as a ghost or ghoul.
It’s imperative in Tabaxi life to know your own maze, and children are taught to understand
and navigate their maze as they grow older.
All worshipers of Ubtao practice drawing their maze constantly, ensuring they are familiar
with it and ready for the afterlife.
Chult is a varied land, but known for being very hot and humid; pretty much everywhere.
The jungle covers much of the country creating a shaded canopy that aids in travel with protection
from the sun.
A thin carpet of fallen leaves, pale vines, and hearty fungus covers the ground.
This jungle is bordered on the west and south by low mountains, hills, and lakes.
The plant growth of the jungle is famously dangerous.
Several species of carnivorous plants exist in Chult and can grow to an unusual size given
the right conditions.
Chult is also home to many of the largest “normal” animals in the Realms.
Unusual large versions of elephants, rhinos, and hippos are common.
Large wild cats such as leopards hunt herds of antelope, buffalo, zebras etc.
The hot climate is ideal for snakes, lizards, crocodiles and giant forms of frogs, insects,
and spiders.
On top of this Chult is famously home to dinosaurs.
These warm blooded creatures are more intelligent that other animals on Chult.
The Dino-Predators are expert hunters, and foragers have learned to defend themselves well
The people of Chult respect dinosaurs and believe they are a connected part of Ubtao
and Chult itself.
The Tabaxi have a special place for the beasts in their mythology and some Goblin tribes
worship specific species of Dinosaur believing it is their god’s avatar.
This however doesn’t stop both from hunting dinosaurs for food and a source of hides.
Ubtao was very involved in the formation and development of Chult.
In the early years he physically walked the land and tribes that made their home in Chult
were met by Ubtao.
In -2637 DR Ubtao founded the city of Mezro.
Mezro is the largest city in Chult and is a holy city to the Tabaxi.
At the center of Mezro is a temple created by Ubtao himself.
It’s a nine-story, golden-domed temple.
Ubtao’s goal was to be a part of the city and help the people of Chult learn to navigate
the maze of life.
Eventually though the people would come and beg to Ubtao for help with insignificant problems.
Finally there came a day when Ubtao said “If the people wish to cry and complain rather
than listen to my wisdom, then so be it.
I will leave them to wander the maze of life without my guidance.”
So he left, returned to his home in the sky and refused to speak with his people, while
they were mortal anyway.
He did leave 7 individuals as his chosen to govern Mezro.
They are known as the Barae and were gifted with special powers.
They are mighty Paladins of Ubtao, but much stronger than regular mortals.
They live several thousands of years longer than they should, only dying in battle.
When one falls another potential goes through a special maze and, if found worthy, ascends
to Barae.
They live to protect the city of Mezro, and if it were destroyed the barae would crumble
to dust.
There can be only 7 barae at any given time, and the position is held by both men and women.
Of the originals Ubtao first created only one remains, but he’s an outcast living
outside of Mezro.
His name is Nsi and he’s proved to be the mightiest of the original barae.
He has the power to muster the dead and at will he can raise corpses to form a large
army.
There was a civil war between tribes in Chult that started in -438 DR.
The Tabaxi vs the Eshowe.
They fought for nearly 300 years and at the peak of battle the Eshowe released a Shadow
Giant to attack Mezro.
This giant was known as Eshowdow, and was a part of Ubtao’s essence that Shar absorbed
and corrupted.
The Eshowdo nearly destroyed Mezro but ended up turning on the Eshowe tribe and nearly
wiped them out.
Afterwards Nsi decided to end the Eshowe threat and with his zombie army slaughtered every
last one of them.
This was the cause Nsi’s exile, the other barae banished him for his terrible crimes.
However Nsi has never abandoned his twisted devotion to Mezro or Ubtao.
Still living in the jungle, building an army of the undead, and waiting to serve his beloved city.
Chult is full of diverse races, and some exist only in Chult.
The Tabaxi cat people we mentioned, but also Lizardfolk, Yuan-ti, Goblins (known as the
Batiri), and Dwarves.
There are two sets of Dwarves, the subterranean dwarves are albinos and suffer penalties in
the sunlight.
Because of this they stay mostly underground.
However they make some of the best weapons in Chult, very expensive as they are made
with Diamonds.
But each weapon has a +2 damage bonus and never needs to be sharped.
There are also wild dwarves found in hunting bands of 20-200, they fight with blowguns
and frequently set up elaborate traps.
They mainly wish to be left alone, to hunt in peace, rarely fighting with more intelligent
creatures.
And that’s Chult in a nutshell, the land lost in time.
I sort of fell in love with Chult after making this video.
I’m a sucker for Indiana Jones lost temples and it really made me think of stories like that.
Think of the sweet random tables you could make as your party explores the jungles of
Chult.
Basically after researching this I want to play Jungle safari D&D.
Or set up some kind of one shot that is basically the movie Predator.
Some kind of cloaked creature verses 5 PCs lost in a jungle.
I want to play that game.
Anyway thanks for watching everyone, give a like if you enjoyed this video.
Every bit helps out the channel and I’ll see you all next Wed.