Indatha

Indatha is one of the triomes on the plane of Ikoria. It is primarily black-aligned, with green and white as secondary colors

Description
Indatha is a stretch of swampy pools within low hills and mysterious lowlands, lit by eerie, luminous creatures. The helica trees, uniquely shaped, and the chilly frondlands are said to draw in travelers, which in turn feed the region's fearsome nightmares. Indatha is a land of sparse cover and clear sightlines, meaning most predators rely on stealth to ambush their prey.

It is said that some of Indatha's lowlands were formed by a long trail of enormous footprints, leading from the forests of Zagoth in the south to Indatha's northwestern coast. The sage Rielle believes they were made by Indath, the largest monster that ever walked the plane, before it vanished into the sea long ago. The helica trees in Indatha split into multiple trunks as they grow from the root, often wrapping around each other into double helix patterns, with broad tufts of foliage in the canopy. Some of the trees envelop crystals or other objects as they mature, creating bent and misshapen forms that seem to attract some nocturnal creatures. Sometimes, crystals nestle in the roots of helica trees as if nurtured by their embrace. Indatha supports several varieties of nightcats, batbirds, insects, and other creatures whose bodies produce a phosphorescent glow. Even the gloomiest valleys of Indatha are often lit by eerie, bioluminescent animals.

Dominant clade
Nightmares are the inspiration for humanity's darkest and most primal fears, or are perhaps the corporeal manifestation of those fears. They hunt at night through the shadowy hills, forests, and lowlands of Indatha, with their many eyes gleaming in the dark. They seem to take genuine pleasure from stalking prey. Some survivors of nightmare attacks swear the monsters actually feed on fear itself.

While the nightmare clade of monsters are quite varied in shape and size, they are easy to identify thanks to some strikingly horrifying anatomical features. Nightmares often have a more-than-usual number of appendages, be they spindly arms or slinking tails. They almost always have extra sets of eyes, occasionally positioned in places other than their heads (though Vivien Reid once saw one with no eyes at all).

Interacting with nightmares is difficult, since even the cutest of their clade can prove deadly beyond expectation. Bonders who manage to forge a connection with a nightmare are among the bravest.

Indatha's apex monster is Nethroi.

Locations

 * Skysail, a "city" in the sky made of dozens of balloon-driven airships
 * Orn, a destroyed walled sanctuary where the ancestors of Skysail people lived
 * The frondlands, swampy lair of Nethroi.