Stonemist Swamps

The **Stonemist Swamps** occupy the better part of a peninsula in North Eastern Edynor. The Brulgar mountain range separates it from its Eastern neighbors, the Three Duchies**,** most prominently **Val Kahden**. An fjord ill-suited for navigation (except for the longboats of the **Dyrrheimr** clans) separates it from the rest of the mainland, mainly the **Agem Valley** and the forests home to the largest halfling population in Edynor.

### Geographical Features

Isolated hills and low mountains dot the peninsula. Some of the peaks are sleeping or low activity volcanoes. Other than that, the land is flat, with numerous rivulets and streams snake their way toward the coast. Several lakes have formed, many of them fed by a vast system of warm water springs. Most of the region is covered in swamps and occasionally marshes, lending the area its name.

There is volcanic activity in the Brulgar Mountains to the East (most prominently Mount Ahima and Mount Lehuma). Around Mount Honuma in the center of the peninsula, mud volcanoes have formed. Violent volcanic eruptions are generally not considered an active threat to the region nowadays. The last catastrophic eruptions date back to the age of the Collosi wars, with the main lake in the region, Saimania, forming in the process.

Climate is mostly cool temperate, rendered milder in the center of the peninsula by the vast network of warm water springs. In the Northwestern tip of the region, conditions are significantly harsher. Marshes and tundra type vegetation is predominant here.

The area lacks resources of significance, making it an unattractive target for both conquerors and settlers. What the swamps can offer is obtainable through trade in coastal settlements, most prominently in the fens known as The Reach and Fogshore.

### Population

The Stonemist Swamps have been spared conquest and occupation, but not the devastation of the Collosi wars. The native harpies have been all but wiped out, with only one small and isolated tribe surving in the North-West, and the lizardfolk have suffered heavy losses and post-war atrocities at the hands of their human and elven neighbors. Natives of the swamps rarely venture into the outside world and stories about the dangers that lurk in the swamps - some real, some imagined - keeps most adventurers at bay. Most outsiders who venture into the labyrinthine swamps do so in an attempt to flee their fate or lose their tracks. Those who come seeking to pry the secrets of the Swamps usually meet an untimely end - due to the treacherous soil, the many traps laid out by the natives, or the dangerous wildlife species.

The most numerous population is that of the native swamp trolls and lizardfolk, but other races live here. Humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, halflings or gnomes are present to varying degree in its settlements. Anyone seeking refuge is usually welcome in the border and coastal settlements, as long as they do not disrupt the relatively peaceful and simple lives of the communities here and abide by their laws and customs (for instance, along the coast, foreigners are required to spend the night with an arrow's shot from the shore). Those who wish to settle more inland are subject to closer scrutiny and must swear the **Oath of the Swamp**.

The swamp's inhabitants live scattered throughout the region. Some are solitary dwellers or share ann isolated family home; most gather in small villages of a few dozen houses. Larger settlements are rare annd mainly found along the coast in the fens of Fogshore and The Reach. Swamp trolls prefer to live in caves, and often villages have sprung up around their abodes - quite often on stilts. Many villages are on the banks of rivers, around the lakes or warm water pools or on the dryer ground of hills.

### Social and Political Organization

There is no centrally organized government as such. The area is loosely divided in fifteen regions called **Fens**. The denizens of a fen defer to an elder bearing the title of **Fadhak**. Fadhaks are spiritual leaders, teachers, and guides, sometimes called upon to act as judges and settle disputes. The Law of the Swamp is passed on in oral tradition and taught to younglings of all species along with survival skills. The highest crimes, which entitle anyone witnessing them to slay the offender on the spot, are actively endangering the swamps (such as leading foreign soldiers or riger poachers along the secret trails or otherwise lending them aid agaist the swamps) and hunting or harming the native riger species. Personal disputes or acts of violence are settled with reparations or trial by combat with family members, should the wish to avenge a death, under the supervision of a village elder, or in particularly grave cases, the fen Fadhak. If situations escalate, able bodied denizens step in to contain the threat.

Once a year, during the summer equinox, the Fadhaks meet in the **Equinox Council**. The Council is hosted by the village with the oldest sitting member. They discuss the state of affairs in their various fens, and any news from the outside world deemed worthy of debate, especially if it has a potential impact on the Swamps.

Many of the Fadhaks are swamp trolls, but it is not a hard and fast rule and most races are represeted. The eldest of Fadhaks is the swamp troll Taa'vi from the village of **Amaranth** in The Roots. Usually, a Fadhak who cannot perform their duty will step down and recommend a successor - though ultimately the denizens of the fen might decide for another suitable candidate. If no pressing business calls for emergency councils, the candidate(s) perform their duties as if chosen. They travel to the next Equinox Council to be officially recognized as speakers for their fen, and are then required to formally take the **Oath of Equinox**. If two thirds of the council veto a Fadhak, they will not allowed be sworn in.

#### The Fens

The Stonemist Swamps are divided in fifteen regions named Fens. Their loose borders follow rivers, lakes or hill ranges, or trace imaginary lines between them in areas with less distinguishable terrain features.

##### Brulshade

**Fadhak Village**: Caltharanth

**Fen Fadhak**: Resssak, lizardfolk

**Other denizens**: Trissse (lizardfolk), Amara (human, Hameka), Ro'omu (swamp troll), Aëlla (human, daughter of Amara), Rasssoq (lizardfolk, son of Trissse), Dahl (human, Val Kahden), Yurrik (dwarf)

One of the two Outer Fens, together with Scorchlands. It also covers and reports on the no man's land stretching to the Brulgar Mountains, as its scouts keep an eye on the comings on goings there, ever wary of their Eastern neighbor.

##### Fogshore

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Luu'ri, swamp troll

**Other denizens**: n.a.

The westernmost fen gets its name from the perpetual fog rolling in from the ocean. It is one of the two Fens where coastal settlements act as trading posts with the outside world. Visitors are allowed on land, but they must spend the night within an arrow's shot of the shoreline, ensuring that their foray into the swamps proper is cut short. Should they venture inland, the scouts' eyes will be on them at all times. Trading goods include healing herbs and potions (and occasionally poisons), ropes, simple jewelry of carved bones, and seal furs.

Fogshore is also the only mainland area where harpies are known to live, a small tribe around the mountain known as The Roost. The species is nearly extinct. All other surviving harpies roost on Vardvorkai, 'the sentinel', the island West of the Stonemist Swamps.

##### The Hearth

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Doo'va, swamp troll

**Other denizens**: n.a.

The Hearth, along with Swampheart and Roots lies at the core of a once great civilization, which was destroyed during the wars that raged four centuries ago. The volcanic erruptions in the wake of a Collossi death which led to the forming of Lake Saimania also damaged what was still standing of the former cities. Most of the ruins can be found in these three regions.

##### The Obsidian Fen

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Korrvath, dwarf

**Other denizens**: n.a.

The Obsidian Fen is the only one to traditionally have a dwarf as Fen Fadhak. A small clan lives in the mountains of the Elenil Spur. The only volcano occasionally rumbling here is Mount Lasima, but the area is rich in obsidian, and the dwarves have specialized in crafting items from it.

##### Odoben Fen

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Rogan O'Hamill, human

**Other denizens**: n.a.

A Fen on the Northern coast of Stonemist. Most of its lizardfolk population is concentrated in the South, while the Northern shores have predominantly human seal hunters as inhabitants.

##### Otari Fen

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Shina Bonespear, human

**Other denizens**: n.a.

Otari is the odd one out among the Fens. It covers the Northwestern tip of the peninsula, also kown as the Windhowl Plains. Cold winds from the ocean whip the marshy area. It has the poorest soil of all the regions. Seal hunters, whalers, and fisherfolk have some villages tucked into less exposed nooks and crannies along the shore and carve out their lives far from the concerns of the world.

##### The Pillars

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Kee'mi, swamp troll

**Other denizens**: n.a.

The Pillars derive their name from the Wrathbringer's Pillars, a formation of basalt pillars on its shore. 'Wrathbringers' is the name the swamp trolls gave to the Collossi. The pillars formed around the same time as the Galthadyr crater, a side effect of the Collosi battle and the death of one of them.

##### The Reach

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Maa'ru, swamp troll

**Other denizens**: n.a.

The Reach is one of the two Fens where coastal settlements act as trading posts with the outside world, and arguably the more welcoming of the two. As with Fogshore, visitors are allowed ashore, but they must spend the night within an arrow's shot of the shoreline, ensuring that their foray into the swamps proper is cut short. Should they venture inland, the scouts' eyes will be on them at all times. Trading goods include healing herbs and potions (and occasionally poisons), ropes, simple jewelry of carved bones, and conda skins.

##### Roots

**Fadhak Village**: Amaranth

**Fen Fadhak**: Taa'vi, swamp troll

**Other denizens**: n.a.

The Roots, along with Swampheart and the Hearth, lies at the core of a once great civilization, which was destroyed during the wars that raged four centuries ago. The volcanic erruptions in the wake of a Collossi death which led to the forming of Lake Saimania also damaged what was still standing of the former cities. Similarly to the other two fens, ruins dot the area. However its most striking feature is the series of hills and mounds known as The Bones. Many of them are indeed natural geological formations, but many more are petrified rigers or swamp trolls.

##### Saima Fen

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Rymbrethial, elven

**Other denizens**: n.a.

Saima takes its name from the Saimania lake. It is the only Fen with an elven Fadhak. Several Elven families settled the area after fleeing the fall of Rymallon, the former Elven city in what is now the Duchy of Glindhaven. They were mostly craftsfolk and traders rather than soldiers, looking to escape the destruction. They and their descendants tried to preserve their lifestyle and traditions in the hills west of Lake Saimania.

##### Scorchlands

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Kosssaq, lizardfolk

**Other denizens**: Kaliana (human, daughter of a petty king from a region South of Vengron)

One of the two Outer Fens, together with Brulshade, the Scorchlands lie in the Southeastern part of the peninsula. Only the Western half of the Fen is actually swampland, but the scouts here are responsible for keeping tabs on the area at the foot of the moutains, between Mount Lehuma in the North and Mount Ahima in the South, as well as the area around the Blackwater River. Travellers who wish to avoid curious eyes in the Duchies often travel the route, and all manner of folks seek entry to the swamp from that side.

##### Seven Isles

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Loorinell Forvit Clearmind, gnome

**Other denizens**: n.a.

The fenn of Seven Isles has a gnome Fadha, the first time this has happened in the history of the Swamps. A researcher of history and lost technology, Loorinell Forvit Clearmind hails from the city of Nevsa Thad. She settled on the main island in Lake Saimania, in hopes of investigating its sunken ruins. She enlisted the help of locals, but ended up spending more time and energy helping them solve minor problems and settling squabbles than focusing on her research. She slipped into the role of a Fen Fadhak without intent, as frailty burdened to old Fadhak and he could not handle the task and the travel to the Equinox Council anymore.

##### The Springs

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Langvar, orc

**Other denizens**: n.a.

The Springs Fen takes its name from the abundant hot water springs in its Northern region. They are a common sight throughout the Swamp, but there are unusually many here, feeding into Lake Mehania, a warm water lake year round.

Langvar, the orc Fadhak of the fen settled in the region almost two decades ago, turning out to be an asset to his community. When the old Fadhak Rii'ga spoke for him, the people welcomed the suggestion, and so he was presented to the Equinox Coucil as successor. This triggered the longest debate about a candidate in anyone's living memory, as there were misgivings about his Vengron origins. Some Fadhaks (rightfully) suspect him to be a Vengron agent to the area. The other members of the council, including Rii'ga, argued the Council had nothing to hide from anyone, and as long as Langvar stayed true to the Oath of the Swamp and the Oath of the Equinox, his leadership abilities entitled him to the position.

##### Swampheart

**Fadhak Village**: n.a.

**Fen Fadhak**: Hissseth, lizardfolk

**Other denizens**: n.a.

Swampheart, along with Roots and the Hearth, lies at the core of a once great civilization, which was destroyed during the wars that raged four centuries ago. The volcanic erruptions in the wake of a Collossi death which led to the forming of Lake Saimania also damaged what was still standing of the former cities. Ruins dot the area, which of all the fens most closely resembles a swamp - vast stretches of flat land covered by shallow water pools or treacherous mud, hard to navigate vegetation, narrow safe passages, ancient trees hanging heavy with moss, ferns, and lots and lots of insects. It acts as a good deterrent to those seeking to enter the Stonemist Swamps from the East. Most of the population here is comprised of lizardfolk.

##### **Wynqa Fen**

**Fadhak Village**: Ternanth

**Fen Fadhak**: Nee'la, swamp troll

**Other denizens**: Tosssk (lizardfolk, brother of Shisssu), Shisssu (lizardfolk, sister of Tosssk)

One of the Southern coastal fens, it benefits of the warm waters of Lake Mehannia and Lake Lukania in the North. It is named for the wynqa flower, a climbing pale blue flower native to the swamps.

### Materials and Contributions

The Stonemist Swamps is a region of Edynor developed by @arashisenshi on instagram

Val Kahden and Glyndhaven are developed by @arrowstonemaps on instagram. The Hameka are a human population in Val Kahden, Rymallon was an Elven city in Glyndhaven.

The Petty Kings region is an idea of @wyrmwoodmaps of instagram, who also developed the nation of Vengron.

Agem Valley is a region of Edynor developed by @coffeecartographyco on instagram.

The raiding clans of Dyrrheimr are developed by @mandomc\_designs on instagram.

The desert gnomes and the city of Nevsa Thad in Taern Tirnos are developed by @karin\_hoijer on instagram.