The Swamp Region
Text and images provided by Ascaron, the
Original Post is updated regularly by Carolyn Hacker.
The marshlands were the site of ancient battles, and T-Energy leaks have
been raising the corpses of the thousands of warriors who perished
during these battles. Undead are everywhere, and are the main enemy in
this region for both for the Lizardmen and the player.
The Lizardmen are a philosophical people. They have built their culture
on ancestor worship and the primacy of family and community. They have
an unusual relationship with the undead – they believe these creatures
roam the land because they have never been properly memorialized. One of
the ways they set the souls of the undead to rest is by finding out
their names and building shrines to them, which reintegrates them into
society.
Capital
Hissil'ta is the capital city of the Swamp region, mainly by virtue of
it's central location rather than size or grandeur. None of the
settlements in this region are very large, and they are few and far
between due to the scarcity of dry ground.
The terrain results in an architectural style that is very crude and
archaic. You can't build large or fancy buildings on swampland, so the
dwellings and structures here are generally simple tents or other
makeshift platforms that rest on stilts in the swamps.
Inhabitants
The marshland is the home of the Lizardmen, who are mutations of humans
that became isolated from the rest of the world long ago. They are a
very primitive people, living communally in the few structures that can
be built on the soft marshy ground.
There is also a cult called The Unnamed here, who use the undead to
obtain a sort of immortality for themselves. The undead spawn in areas
where there are T-Energy leaks, and the undead carry a small amount of
that magical energy inside of them. The leaders of the Unnamed have
devised a ritual that allows them to feed off that magic to stay
immortal themselves.
As long as the undead keep spawning, the Unnamed will have enough “food”
to keep them alive. This puts them in natural opposition to the regular
Lizardmen, who are memorializing the undead and therefore removing them
from the “food chain.”
Environment
The terrain here is basically flat. In some places it is open to the sky
and looks like a river of grass. Other locales are wooded, with spindly
trees and moss hanging down from overhead. The wildlife of this region
fits in well with the overall creepy and gloomy atmosphere. Swamp rats,
spiders and other mud and muck loving creatures abound. The one thing
that all areas in the Swamp region have in common is that everywhere,
absolutely everywhere, the ground is wet.
This region is swampy and treacherous. Will o’ the wisps ignite
everywhere as a result of spontaneous combustion of swamp gas. The
Lizardmen also speak of a dangerous mist that rises from the ground and
envelops all whom it touches in a deep sleep.
