Some background:
Since the upper half of the continent has very harsh climate and even harsher wildlife, most Arabeleans live in subterranean tunnel-cities. The original tunnels were dug out by syllks, an apex predator with a semi-hivemind structure of conscience. Syllks tolerate Arabeleans as long as they don't try to invade the tunnels they frequent or their hunting grounds. This wasn't much of a problem throughout history, as it was quite obvious visually which tunnels are animal-made and which are artificial and designed for Ghalla.
However, in the modern age with the rapid expansion of Ghalla populations there are some hiccups along the way. Namely, idiotic tourists from the southern half of the continent tend to ignore the graphic warning posters that decorate the civilian-use tunnels, which gets them mauled, or more often than not, killed. The southern half of Eraden doesn't have as aggressive or large animal species, so the awareness of the genuine dangers posed by syllks and other Arabelean wildlife still isn't as prominent as it should be. Arabelean authorities have stopped trying to prevent the deaths by closing off the so-called "black tape" tunnels, as it inhibits the movement of syllks and other animals and causes more problems that it solves. Arabeleans are happy to let a couple tourists get eaten from time to time if it means appeasing their syllk allies.
Fun fact: the "tourist" on the left is my best friend's ghallasona! Tentativelly named Geed (Ghalla+weed), she is a silly in-world self insert that I used here so that I don't have to design a dummy character just for this illustration. The guy is a dummy non-character character, but he was adopted by a person in one of the art servers I frequent :)
warning poster, featuring a syllk in darkness holding a bloody leg of a Ghalla(dragonoid). The text of the poster says 'You are not above nature, keep your limbs to yourself'
/mild blood
Open the ALT of the first image for some lore :D
In short: Cerulean tourists in Arabelean tunnel-cities don't take the warning posters seriously enough...somebody could get really hurt
#art #eraden #worldbuilding