Southlands

The Southlands are lands on the southern continent that correspond to real world Central Africa and Southern Africa. The Southlands are geographically east of the Great Ocean, west of the Sea of Dread, and south of the Badlands and Marshes of Madness. The World's Edge Mountains run down the centre of this region and their southern end is here. In the north-east, the Southlands are separated from the Dark Lands by the Sour Sea and Straits of Nagash.

The Southlands should not be confused with The Southlands - as this same term is also used to describe all lands south of the Border Princes and the Old World, and west of the Eastern Lands (Dark Lands, Cathay etc). When used in this way, Southlands refers to the Southlands themselves (the subject of this article), the Land of the Dead, Araby, the Badlands and the Marshes of Madness.

Overview
The terrain of the Southlands, with the exception of the very southern tip, is dominated by dense tropical jungle and swamplands. It can be assumed that the Southlands are similar to Lustria, though Games Workshop has released little official information of the Southlands, and so the area remains largely a mystery, both to followers of Warhammer and to the inhabitants of the Warhammer World itself. In particular, the jungles of Lustria are described as being extra dense and dark, which may indicate that the Southlands are less dangerous than Lustria. Though much of Warhammer's background is written from the point of view of the people of the Old World, and so they may just be exaggerating Lustria's inhospitability.

The most interesting area of the Southlands for the nations of the Old World is the various colonies and trading posts of the "New Coast" - a valuable source of rubber and other exotic materials for traders sailing by ship from Tilea, Araby, Marienburg, Erengrad and even Norsca. These traders have established semi-permanent settlements on the New Coast and trade with isolated native human tribes, and to a lesser extent Greenskins.

There has been much less exploration of the Southlands by both the High Elves and the human nations of the Old World compared to Lustria, and it is known that far less ships return with treasure from the Southlands than Lustria, though this may be due either to the much smaller amount of treasure hunting and expeditions to the Southlands, or due to the fact that unlike Lustria, the Southlands are not full of Lizardmen temple-cities rich in gold. Regardless, Lizardmen are still the main power in the Southlands, with a single surviving temple-city. It is worthy of note that many more Skinks than usual are spawned in the Southlands, and they have overtaken the much less common Saurus as the main servants and warriors of the Slaan. Similarly, the beasts of Lustria such as Carnosaurs and Stegadons which are sometimes seen in Lizardmen armies from Lustria, are either absent from Southlands armies, or replaced by a creature native to that land.

Though the Lizardmen are the most "civilised" power in the Southlands, Greenskins are much more common, Goblins and Savage Orcs swarm through the jungles fighting each other and the Lizardmen.

Years ago, when the Skaven of Clan Pestilens ravaged Lustria, they were driven out by Sotek, The Old One. After this, Clan Pestilens migrated to the Southlands, but again were defeated by Sotek, who sent swarms of jungle lizards and snakes to besiege the Skaven invaders.