The Trees of Tears is the jungle south of Andahlheim. Like the Ven, the Trees is not a single nation, but rather a collection of tribes possessing similar cultures.

Major Cities:
T1 : Ajel
T2 : Ocref
T3 : Qas
T4 : Sognimocem

Economy:
The communities of the Trees are largely self sufficient, surviving primarily as hunter-gatherers with enough agriculture and trade to permit them to maintain permanent communities. Raiding their neighbors serves primarily to maintain their battle prowess, provide wealth and honor for tribal leaders, and to prove the worth of tribal leaders.

Government/Politics:
The people of the Trees have no formal relations with any government outside of the Trees. Within the Trees most communities are ruled by a single male, typically the best warrior or the community shaman, though some communities are ruled by a council of elders. The communities of the Trees are currently divided amongst three warlords, though this number fluctuates as various warriors prove more or less successful in capturing and defending land.
    While the communities of the Trees are not a patriarchy, their strong emphasis on warrior skills has lead to women being reduced to second class citizens. Additionally, the numerous raids the warriors engage in has lead to a slave culture among the various communities.

Religion:
The peoples of the Trees recognize no formal gods, but rather worship the various spirits that fill the jungle they live in. The jungle itself is the center of their worship. According to legend, as the Mage War drew to its close, a group of powerful mages gathered in the south of Andahlheim and they wept for all the harm the War had brought. Such was their power and their grief that the land itself wept with them, stripping them of their magic that they might not harm the land again. In return the land embraced them, that none would be able to use magic against them. Egaedi of Sognimocem claimed that this was a myth, and that if the people did not regain their lost magic they would be overcome by their enemies. Most people consider his death at the hands of an Andahlheim army (a retaliation for his frequent raids to acquire magically endowed slaves) to be proof of the story's veracity. Shamanistic magic is not considered true magic as it is seen as a pact between the shaman and the land.

Population:
The human population of the Trees refer to themselves and the Crying Leaves. The total human population is approximately 7,000. The western portion of the Trees is also home to a large tabaxi (jaguar-man) population of approximately 2,000. Small communities of elves, gnolls, and ogres are also scattered throughout the Trees, though the elves tend to remain near Sognimocem, the gnolls near Ocref, and the ogres near Ajel.

Culture:
The Crying Leaves are similar to most other hunter-gatherer groups with the exception of the lesser status allotted to women and the practice of slavery. However, the communities are strongly influenced by whatever warlord controls them.
    The communities controlled by Peseni of Ajel have domesticated the giant bees that thrive in the Trees. They build their communities among the branches of the trees, often inhabiting abandoned (or vacated) hives. This provides the people with food, shelter, and strong defense as the bees view attacks upon the communities as attacks upon their own hives.
The communities controlled by Hanmehy of Ocref have strong ties to the tabaxi. This provides Hanmehy with the most powerful shaman in the Trees, as well as Senelliob, human-tabaxi half-breeds that Hanmehy trains into elite fighting units.
    The communities controlled by Ys of Sognimocem cover the least amount of land, but have quite possibly the most frightening trend. The rulers of Sognimocem have long practiced the domestications of cockatrices, using them not only as guards, but as shock troops to disrupt and demoralize their foes. In living memory no one has ever been considered for rulership of Sognimocem without having proved his ability to raise and control cockatrices, and many young men have lost their lives in the pursuit of those skills.
    The tabaxi have a series of communities, concentrated primarily in the lands controlled by Hanmehy of Ocref. The tabaxi lack the Leaves' gender disparity, as well as the practice of slavery and the Leaves' strong emphasis on battle prowess. In fact, Vo of Qas, the nominal leader of the tabaxi, holds his position more from a desire to make the Leaves happy than because he possesses any true authority among the tabaxi. The tabaxi do not keep or raise Senelliob, considering the sterile offspring to be abominations. However, it's generally viewed that protesting any of the Leaves' practices would create more problems than it would solve. The tabaxi have only managed to maintain their independence through their greater magical skills and unity.

Other Notes:

Notable Citizens:
Hanmehy of Ocref The ruler of Ocref as well as eight smaller communities, Hanmehy controls half the human population of the Trees. In addition, his ties with the tabaxi and the might of his shamans would seem to give him an unassailable position with regards to the other warlords. However, the mountainous terrain controlled by the other warlords, as well as the fact that he'd have to pass through Ajel lands to get to Sognimocem prevents Hanmehy from fulfilling his rightful destiny and becoming the ruler of all of the Leaves. As a result Hanmehy has turned to espionage, infiltrating spies into every community in the Trees, as well as trying to establish relations with neighboring communities, Kristlestahn in particular.
Peseni of Ajel The ruler of Ajel controls four smaller communities. As a young warrior Peseni left the Trees to see how the world had changed since the end of the Mage War. After a very brief visit to the Isle of the Chained he returned, determined to continue his peoples' isolation. During his travels he engaged in druidic studies, giving him a range of abilities that no shaman can match. While these abilities were originally challenged as magic, a council of all the shaman's under Ajel's control studied Peseni and his abilities for a full moon before declaring to the ruling warlord that Peseni's abilities were in fact in harmony with the land. Two years later Peseni successfully deposed the warlord, after driving off an incursion from Ocref.
Vo of Qas possesses no political authority among his people besides that he derives as being perceived by the Leaves as the tabaxi warlord. He was chosen for the position by virtue of being the greatest bard in Qas, and thus having the best chance of understanding and communicating with the Leaves. Vo is extraordinarily careful to keep the Leaves ignorant of both his magical talents and his position as an entertainer. Fortunately he's discovered that the Leaves' emissaries are usually easily distracted. The few who have come close to discovering his secrets have invariably been killed in duels of G'slevid (a term Vo fabricated that the Leaves interpret to mean honor, but in fact informs fellow tabaxi that an individual must be eliminated for the good of the community) or died when their tabaxi companions became too passionate.
Ys of Sognimocem arose as the victor of the power struggle ignited by Egaedi's death. As a shaman, Ys used his position to discredit several possible successors on the grounds that they supported Egaedi's heretical plans to breed magic back into the Leaves. Ys knows that as a shaman his position as warlord is precarious - he reinforces his status by travelling everywhere with two female cockatrices while disdaining the protective clothing commonly employed by cockatrice handlers.