"Rejected Idea 1: The Great Enemy"

  The planet has two main continents that are a considerable distance apart, both east and west.  The other continent is smaller, and it's inhabitants, while still descendants of Halvine, have a somewhat darker personality.

  The land being smaller meant more conflict over territory.  The greater number of volcanoes meant more conflict with nature.  They are a rougher, more aggressive people.

  Due to the great distance between the lands, and the limited technology, travel between the continents is rare.  Not much is known of one land in the other, but what little has been expressed by the few "nicer" people who "escaped" the continent has made it undesirable to the general population, so no one is ever chartering any expeditions.

  The other side has long since wanted to expand to the larger continent, but they want to conquer it instead of integrate into their societies.  Fortunately factors have been working against the smaller land.

  They have heard of maljek, but they were never taught it.  Because of this singular fact, they are less evolved in their skills, and without portals, they did not benefit from what Earth has to offer.

  Through history, ships with small armies have been sent, but none have returned, because they were defeated.  At great risk, spies have been sent to gather information on the large continent's advancements.  Some of those spies survive the journey back, but still no advantage has been gained.

  The Jaba Wokai originate on the small continent.  Fairly recently, a warlord managed a stunning rise to power.  Rumor has it that one of the spies brought back a sympathetic and evil portal opener, and that the warlord has been secretly getting help from someone from earth.

  While other kingdoms were still trying the old methods, this warlord secretly began capturing, training, and breeding Jaba Wokai, neither of which is an easy task, even with human help.

  The only effective training that a Jaba Wokai can be given is to instill in them a hatred of anything that looks and smells like a person.  This is achieved very carefully.  Dummies are made into the shape of people.  They use straw that has been slept on by people and then dress them in clothes worn by people.

  Since the only way to use these dummies to taunt the Jaba Wokai is to control them directly, the trainers had to always cover themselves in this thick, sticky, smelly black muck.  This muck repulsed the creatures.  The trainers remained safe from attack, and the creatures did not recognize them as normal people.

  A wild Jaba Wokai could never have its spirit broken, and with even the ones bred in captivity, it was extremely difficult to break them.  The milder mannered ones, the runts, and some of the defective ones were the most likely candidates, but even then, you could not get them obey but by the lash of a whip.  These feared the trainers.

  As an experiment, a few of these Jaba Wokai, and their trainers, were shipped to the large continent to see how well they would perform.  The creatures slaughtered everyone in the small village, but the trainers lost control of them.  The trainers survived to return, of course, but the creatures ran into the forest.

  Satisfied, the warlord proceeded with his plan to build a savage army of hundreds of Jaba Wokai.  Since no portal could be kept open long enough to transport them all, they would have to be transported via a fleet of ships.

  His plan was to simply unleash them upon the continent where they would run rampant, following the scent of any person to kill them.  When enough land was cleared, other ships would bring people to build a fort.  The muck around the perimeter would keep the creatures away, and eventually he would have a castle and army on the large continent where breeding and training would continue.

  That was his plan, anyway, and virtually everyone on the larger continent is blissfully ignorant of any of it.