The Vasteripresh is a vast area of scrubland between Cunabulum and Luxiterra, a dry and hostile land ill suited to agriculture and civilisation. Separating the continents, to the Lightwards of the Vasteripresh, is the Cusp Rift Valley, a great tear in Cursum, the shade and depth of which has allowed Lake Alakwa, Lake Apakwa and Lake Distain to form. Between these lakes is a rare area of fertile land, which gave rise to Jibar.
Jibar was settled by Wood Elves at least four centuries before the founding of Magnapur, growing into a large settlement and city by around 200 BM. The Jibari people were always insular, especially avoiding from the nomadic Vasteripresh and Luxiterra tribes, and their own Language and culture diverged significantly from others nearby. The Jibari worshipped Sarhai, the Water Bearer, who gave them three lakes of water in the desolate land. At the apex of the city's hierarchy were the Water Watchers, the most dedicated servants of Sarhai, whose rituals allowed the water of the surrounding lakes to give life to the people of Jibar. There is some suggestion that this religion was influenced in development by the Hand in the Water of Genida, with lizardfolk explorers instilling in the early elven settlers a worship of fresh water as provided by a god.
In 507 YM the Magnapuri Empire came to Jibar. For at least a century, the harsh terrain around Jibar had dissuaded the Empire from invading the area, not to mention that Jibar was significantly more settled and populous than most areas of Magnapuri invasion. Nevertheless, Magnus the Vast had set his mind on the conquest of Roundwards Cunabulum and sent his armies to Jibar. The famed general, Lullaby, was tasked with its capture. Though his initial forays were thwarted, he eventually snuck men into the city from boats on Lake Distain during the Rainend festival (a holy period for Sarhai). These men opened the gate on the final bell of the festival, allowing the Magnapuri to enter the city and butcher any possible resistance. To this day, the last day of Rainend is known as Bloodrain, and is a day for sheltering indoors and venerating ancestors for the Sarhaic.
The Empire changed things in the city. Slavery, though not unheard of beforehand, became commonplace and the first of the slave races entered Jibar. Sarhai became one of the many Gods of the Slaves, as opposed to a supreme deity. A great aqueduct was built from Lake Distain to the heart of the city, feeding many bathhouses and wells. A Raja was proclaimed in command of the city. Yet still some things did not change. Jibar was too distant from Magnapur and too entrenched in its own culture to fully succumb to High Elven ways. The Water Watchers were permitted to stay in governance of the city, but were required to prove their supernatural abilities and submit to the Magnus, eventually becoming known instead as the Waterweavers in the vein of the Flesh and Mind Weavers. Many in Jibar still venerated Sarhai above the other Gods of the Slaves or Gods of the Masters, and resisted imperial influence, with Jibar being known as a hotbed of slave dissent in the buildup to the Burning of the Book of Names in 1011YM.
It did not take much for the slaves of Jibar to revolt. Spurred by Antiss Whitewater, a half human Waterweaver, the city rose up against their masters shortly after the assassination of Mensrea, with slaves chanting "Water's way! Water's way!", even those who had no Jibari ancestry to speak of. Much of the Waterweaver priesthood joined the uprising, renouncing the Magnapuri Raja, a rather weaselly man named Bannock Burntbrand (though would be later known as "Bannock Twiceburnt" following his humiliating defeats) who had placed strict regulations upon them. The crown offered no support, as stretched as it was by revolts in Magnapur and the disaster in Pundrapur, so the city swiftly fell. Whitewater had died in the fighting, and the most renowned rebel Waterweaver, Reed Stemswift, quickly implemented a government run by the Waterweaver clergy, to the delight of the violent reactionaries of the city.
To this day, Jibar is ruled by the Waterweavers, a religious sect that has maintained the strict magical requirement for entry. Though aligned with Bookburner cause against the Magnapuri Empire, Jibar and the lands surrounding it (termed Apjibar in the Jibari language) have often quarrelled with the religion of fire, fighting several of the nascent Bookburner states that would come to be ruled by the Beastlord of Vaster, as well as providing troops for other states against the Palaan League in their expansion to the Roundwards of their namesake sea. The Waterweavers look wearily at the Beastlord of Vaster, as well as the Vintlesh Majanacy, both of whom may have eyes on the fertile lands of Apjibar. To avoid standing alone, Apjibar has reached out to the mixed Elfborn and lizardfolk states of Vastur, Kuchni, and especially Genevast, in the hopes of some form of alliance or mutual defensive pact. Though unsuccessful for a number of years, Vaster aggression has encouraged these other states to look more promisingly on allies, with the hope of defeating the Beastlord.