Welcome to Chult

     Chult is untamed tropical wilderness: dense jungles and snaky rivers ringed by mountains, volcanoes, and sheer escarpments. Walls of mountains to the west, south, and east shield the interior from the sea and from the view of sailors. The rivers are so sluggish that it can be difficult determining which direction is upstream and which is down. The rivers pick up speed only where they thunder down through steep-sided gorges.
     The safest entry points into this overgrown realm are on the north and east. The coast from the Bay of Chult to Refuge Bay offers beaches on which to embark into the uncharted jungle. Along the entire coast, the Bay of Chult is the only spot where travelers can find welcoming civilization. The rest of the peninsula is a breeding ground for bloodsucking, disease-bearing insects, monstrous reptiles, carnivorous birds and beasts of every variety, and murderous undead. The farther one moves from the coast, the more humid, hot, and inhospitable the land becomes. Chult is home to an immense variety of plants, beasts, monsters, and intelligent beings.
     Undead creatures have nearly pushed human civilization off the peninsula, except for a few isolated outposts where Chultans and their allies take refuge behind walls. Characters passing through undead territories can expect to encounter them. Most guides know these territories well. Where undead are concerned, traveling by river is safer than traveling by land, both because undead are poor swimmers at best and because it’s easier to pour on speed in canoes and escape across the water than to flee through tangled jungle.