Mold Marsh

The Mold Marsh is a once commercial zone, now characterized by the several strains of mutated medical fungus that overran it millennia ago. The people of the Marsh have learned to protect themselves from the narcotic spores that fill the air and murky water by wearing watertight suits and masks, allowing them to harvest only the purest and most beneficial (or destructive) strains. The Marsh is self-sufficient when it comes to food and water - they purify the murk as necessary, and farm the bloated, drugged slabgrubs that wander the swamps.

The marshers are reliant on trade to acquire most technologies, as the mold long ago ate away any native machinery. They export a variety of medical and luxury drugs, war toxins, and the tender, sweet flesh of the slabgrubs. The marsh is very defensible - few would invade such a toxic realm, and the marshers are well-accustomed to guerilla warfare.

## Noble Houses

### House Djevak

The Djevaki of Mold Marsh have a sinister reputation – part of this rises from their murky fief and its narcotic foliage, and part of it comes from their deep, almost inborn knowledge of espionage. Their spies are rumored to have infiltrated every Noble House, and their keep is said to house an entire library of blackmail, which is faithfully updated every single day. They have proved useful to their fellow nobles in the past, but everyone fears their velvet fist. Will that fear be enough to clear their way to power?

### House Hassan

Most outside the Marsh associate the word Hassan with delicious, tender meat. The Hassans produce an immense amount of flesh from their slabgrub farms, and much of it is exported to the other Houses. Inside the Marsh, they are more known for being remarkably pureblooded. There is no trace of mutation in them or their subjects. They rule their modest fief from the castle of Utor’s Tower, and are longtime bannermen of House Djevak. Recently rose up in rebellion against House Djevak, claiming the lives of both Lord Wayen Hassan and Lord Levan Djevak in the first skirmish. Currently ruled by Lord Arte Hassan II.

### House Grenling

A large expanse of spore farms forms Grenling’s fief, dominated by a towering slaughterhouse. They have no castle, but instead deal with invaders through guerilla warfare. Their people can vanish into the swamp in an instant, and then their Lurkers murder any foe who strays from safety. The Grenlings serve House Djevak, but aren’t known for their reverence towards authority. Currently ruled by the imperishably persistent Lord Manston Grenling.

### House Cedwen

The rulers of the lands by the Mottled Sea, the Cedwens have long maintained a corps of elite knights, as well as a crude navy of light craft that skim the sea’s murky waters. Their swift boats let them quickly reinforce other castles in the Marsh with supplies, and they also help them harvest the sea’s bounty of mold and eels. The Cedwens pride themselves on their long history as Djevak bannermen, and are fiercely loyal. Currently ruled by Lady Tessa Cedwen.

### House Neo-Temar

The Temars were a vassal family to House Djevak for several centuries. Around three hundred years ago, they were annihilated by barbarians, and their Lowlands home of Castle Redan was razed to the ground. Sixty years ago, Liber Djevak reconquered that land, and installed a lesser nobleman as governor. He and his descendants took on the name Neo-Temar, as spiritual successors to the extinct vassals' mandate. Unlike the original Temars, the Neo-Temars are not an Old Bloodline, and thus not Electors of the Realm, instead bearing the official title of "Fiat Lord," as they exist and rule at the pleasure of House Djevak. Currently ruled by Fiat Lord Astir Neo-Temar. (Presumably. He has recently disappeared.)