The Land of Changing Waters

The **Land of the Changing Waters** is a nation of Amphibious Frogmen who spend their youth in the freshwater lakes bordering the Gnoll Empire, and as they mature they migrate South to the Saltwater Ocean bays, Only returning inland to spawn their Eggs. The expansion of the Gnoll Empire has threatened their breeding grounds, and rumors spread of a Great Frog who seeks to raid the cities and villages sitting on the banks of the lake that they call "G'arr Gor'um" or 'The Great Mother'

## Biology

The frogmen of the Changing Waters are a sentient species of humanoid amphibians who live in the bogs between the Seguerial Hordas and the Great Ra’Ga. Their bodies are relatively small, around 1.40m of height at most, and most of that height is based on their long legs, with them having a very small and compressed torso. Their legs are highly muscular, and allow them to jump nearly five times their own size. This, combined with their massive webbed feet, allow them to swim and move around the swamps at great speeds. This is also true when they move in drier lands, though they tend to have a very distinctive walk. Their torso is highly compressed, with their organs taking as little space as possible within them. Their arms are also elongated and thin, ending on hands with stretched fingers, bigger than their palms. At the tip of their fingers, there is a muscular structure in the form of a round digit, and between their fingers, there is webbed skin.

The frogmen have very little neck connecting their heads with their torsos. Their heads are proportionally much bigger than a human’s head, and two thirds of it is taken by their great eyes. The frogmen have massive eyes, bulging out of their head and able to move around nearly 180º both upwards and sideways, giving them a near complete field of vision around them. They have very thin and light eyelids, though, so their eyes can be very sensitive to attacks. Their eyes’ size means that their long-range vision is much, much better than their short-range vision, allowing them extreme accuracy at great distances. They suffer from general near-sightedness, and that is why they usually manipulate objects with their hands keeping as much distance to their heads as possible. Outside of this, their eyesight is excellent at both detecting light and movement. Their mouths are also quite large and wide, which they need to hold their massive tongue. Their tongue usually stays coiled within their mouth, and can be propelled with a force known to break human bones on impact. The size of their tongues is 1.5 times their body size, and it can be used as both a catching mechanism or a defensive mechanism, depending on the circumstances. Their tongues can be shot out at blinding speeds, but they have to be careful doing it, since it can be quite exhausting for them doing it repeatedly. The frogmen also use their tongue as a way to chew their food, since they have no teeth. They prey on birds, fish, small mammals and great insects of the swamps.

The frogmen have a very thin, mucous skin, which allows them to cling to surfaces easily. While this has traditionally been used to climb on top of the trees of the swamp, the frogmen have been found to be able to scale the walls and fortresses of rock, wood and stone of other species, just using their own hands and feet. The downside to this is that it loses its effectiveness if the frogmen in question dries up, so they need constant hydration if they are to be using this skill. Their skin is also used as a way to breathe underwater and to manage their levels of body salt. The frogmen will accumulate patches of salt on their skin, having excreted it the same way humans sweat, and then clean themselves of them. Some believe that the skin of the frogmen is somewhat poisonous, but this phenomenon only happens once the frogman in question has reached quite an advanced age, and even then, the poison is just enough to deter predators.

The frogmen are a sexually dimorphic species, but only slightly. The only major difference males and females show is the major vocal sack the males have, allowing them to make a wide variety of calls. The females also have one, but it’s much smaller and nowhere near capable of the same sounds. The female will lay eggs and the male then will have to fertilize them. The development of the frogmen tadpoles is a highly delicate one, an many of them do not survive until they develop into fully grown frogmen. Disease, predators and general weakness causes the death of many of the tadpoles, which is why the frogmen always search for the safest bits of swamp they can think of. The frogmen will only start giving names to their tadpoles if they have reached a certain stage of development, and can thus somewhat guarantee their survival.

## History

The Frogmen of the Changing Waters have had a rather strange history. While the swamps and bogs they come from are practically unchanged by time, the frogmen have certainly changed a lot. The frogmen of the Changing Waters, also known as the “**Ecrkoecknoi**” as they call themselves, have lived in the swamps and marshes north of the Dark Bog for many millennia, but unlike the Ra to the south, they have become a widely spread species outside of their homeland. The Ecrkoecknoi are, by nature, explorers and lovers of adventure, but at the same time they are somewhat cowardly and avoid combat. This contrasts with their homeland, full of venomous snakes, crushing anacondas, killer alligators and giant insects big enough to break a frogman by itself. This means that any young Ecrkoecknoi, at least once in its life, will want to explore the world outside of its homeland.

This trend started when the Khenomeric Empire reached the lands of the Ecrkoecknoi. Around the 700 BBE, the first explorers of the Khenomeric Empire reached the Lands of the Changing Waters, and made first contact with the frogmen. In general their interactions was hostile at first, but it quickly mellowed out, with the khenomeri introducing a great deal of technical and magical knowledge to the Ecrkoecknoi. It also helped that the area had very little interesting resources, and the few areas that did (like some aether deposits at the bottom of some swamps) wouldn’t be discovered until much later. The frogmen were eager to learn from the strange humans of the empire, taking customs such as clothing, writing and construction from them. This would help the Ecrkoecknoi keep some of their spawning points safer from predators and disease, building safe dams protecting the cleaner lakes, and the khenomeri even taught them magic to purify the waters. This made the frogmen natural allies of the Khenomeric Empire, and many frogmen were seen around the empire as explorers, wizards or treasure hunters. In particular, the frogmen were adept coastal sailors, protecting the local khenomeric fleets from pirate raids. Their ability to jump many times their size, as well as their capacity to stick to any surface made them great boarders, getting the jump on the raiders before they could react. This gave the frogmen an excellent reputation in coastal cities, which saw many communities of frogmen popping up all along the southern coast of the Khenomeric Empire. Many would return at some point in their lives to spawn and form a family, since the lack of proper lakes along the coast of the Khenomeric Empire made their reproduction difficult.

The Khenomeric Decay marked a point of inflexion for the Ecrkoecknoi. The growing problems within the empire and their inability to keep a lot of their territory together meant that their holdings in the Land of Changing Waters weakened as well. While the frogmen and the Khenomeric Empire were not on bad terms, the frogmen started moving away from the coast of the Khenomeric Empire and towards other nations, seeking further adventure. The Ecrkoecknoi even reached the lands of Azan, due to the azanese holdings in the Aruanda Region. This has made the frogmen spread out throughout both the southeast and the southwest of the world, with some communities of frogmen even reaching the Isle of Wizards and the coast of Scimitarian. The Land of Changing Waters itself, however, became somewhat languished, seeing as so many of the youths were abandoning their homeland to never return. The swamps never became truly depopulated, since Ecrkoecknoi families usually have such abundant spawn. The lessening of the khenomeric influence marked a return to the old tribal ways, but this did not stop the exit of the youths to the outside, now through the coast at the west of the swamps. This area would grow many bustling ports, inhabited by young frogmen in search of adventure and many human and other races who had drifted to the area: fishermen, treasure hunters, mercenaries, adventurers, explorers, wizards for hire… The strait connecting the Inner Sea of the Frog with the Sea of Fog and the U’ritass Inner Sea was also quite easily defensible, something that would become more and more important as the piracy in the region increased.

The coastal cities became an opposing culture to the traditional tribal culture of the swamps. The Ecrkoecknoi elders and the more traditional families derided the cities as a hammer to the ancient culture of the frogmen, which would dilute and disappear over time with so many influences of the outside world. But even they had to admit that, after the Khenomeric Empire had lost influence on the Changing Waters, the coastal cities were necessary to protect the swamps, and also grant the region many resources they naturally didn’t have. Many ship captains would stop in the cities to hire young frogmen in search of adventure, and this would turn the cities into centers of business and trade. Which would turn the frogmen cities into an invaluable asset once the dangers from the east arrived.

The fall of the Khenomeric Empire and the rise of the Gnoll Empire was something that the Ecrkoecknoi were predicting for a long time now. Many frogmen communities living in the coast had heard the stories of the once feral gnoll suddenly razing everything in their path. The thousands of refugees trying to find a way to leave the empire and embark somewhere far from the monsters had been seen by the Ecrkoecknoi, and the news arrived to the frogmen elders years before the rest of the world began seeing the gnoll as a serious threat. The very same year the Day of the End happened, the Council of Elders reunited to decide what to do about the impending invasion. Gnoll forcers were starting to enter the swamps at the border, forcing many desperate humans to migrate deep within the swamps, going towards the coastal cities of the Ecrkoecknoi. The numbers gathering at the border were great, and even if they were not as numerous as those moving towards the swamps of the Ra, they were still more than enough to exterminate the entirety of the population of the Changing Waters. And there was no time to ask for the spread out communities of frogmen to return to their home and fight. Thus, the elders decided to move the entirety of the Ecrkoecknoi within the Changing Waters and seek refuge somewhere else in the world.

At first glance, this decision might seem callous and cowardly, but it needs to be said that, after many centuries of frogmen migrating from their home in search of adventure, the remaining Ecrkoecknoi were not ready to fight an all-out war with an enemy such as the gnoll. Most of the population consisted of either elders or mothers taking care of their tadpoles, with very few young men and women of fighting age. The young were all in the coastal cities, and even then, their help was not enough to keep the tide. Thus, the Council of Elders ordered a mass exodus to the cities, but not without doing something beforehand. Using their magical knowledge, the Elders began building a great statue of a frog, made out of wood, mud, vine and aether, to turn it into an animated automata that could fight the gnoll in their stead. This great frog, called “G'arr Gor'um” was going to be the Ecrkoecknoi’s trump card against the gnoll, allowing the frogmen enough time to move towards the cities and evacuate everyone. In the end, however, the project was never finished. While the hurried nature of the project meant that the elders did not have enough time to construct a more perfected version of this mechanical abomination, the massive resistance of the Ra to the south meant that most of the forces dedicated to the Changing Waters went towards the Ra. And thus, the Changing Waters were barely touched by the gnoll. The forces left in the area were bogged down by the fauna and the growing number of guerrilla volunteers, attacking quick and hiding back into the swamps.

After the war, the Ecrkoecknoi were left to repopulate their own lands. A series of purges were done in the area to clean the swamps and lakes from the maggot gnolls, to make sure they can be used once again. Many of the frogmen who left established themselves in small colonies to the south, along the Strait of the Dead Emperor. The remnants of the G’arr Gor’um were left in the biggest lake in the area, which eventually sunk into the bottom and covered by mud. However, the magic used to its creation, while incomplete, it’s not gone, and many say they can hear strange croaking noises that no Ecrkoecknoi has been ever hearD doing…

## Society and culture

Ecrkoecknoi society has evolved quite a lot throughout its history, though many of its traditions still stand. Originally, the frogmen were hunter-gatherers, migrating all throughout the swamps in search of adequate prey. Unlike the Ra, who eventually found a form of agriculture in the shape of oyster farming, the Ecrkoecknoi did not really have an adequate species to domesticate. Thus, they never really became sedentary, instead moving all around in familiar groups in search of food, with the only real stable settlements being found in the spawning areas, where they hatch their tadpoles. This partly explains the need of the young frogmen to exit their swamps and explore the outside world, moving from place to place in search of adventure. However, once they reach a certain age, many Ecrkoecknoi decide to go back to their homeland, to spend the rest of their days guiding their people and teaching them all they’ve learned. The elder Ecrkoecknoi are fond of storytelling, explaining their travels to the younger tadpoles once they are old enough to understand them.

The technical ruling body of the Ecrkoecknoi is the Council of Elders, a group of some of the oldest and most influential elder frogmen around. This council is mostly composed of frogmen who have lived all of their lives within the swamps, and thus have an extensive knowledge of their homeland and Ecrkoecknoi traditions. However, they also accept many frogmen who spent all of their lives adventuring, since they realize the world is a big place and their skills and experiences can be useful for the survival of their species. Their authority comes from the respect of the frogmen towards their elders, and the different travelling groups of Ecrkoecknoi are free to disobey them, though this rarely happens. They reunite every year near one of the spawning areas, since they are some of the closest places the Ecrkoecknoi used to have as established settlements. That is, until the coastal cities arrived.

The coastal cities of the Ecrkoecknoi appeared around 300 years before the start of the gnoll invasion of the Land of the Changing Waters. They were built by travelling frogmen, mostly retired sailors who had lived in the Khenomeric Empire’s ports all their lives. Feeling nostalgic about their sailing lives, they decided to somewhat recreate it by building human-style cities in the Inner Sea of the Frog. The area already had some seasonal fishing towns, but nothing as big or as complex as the new cities. Initially only a single city was built, Ribbigon, but over time another three cities were built: Crickit, Fickrit and Roggit. Over time, these cities grew in size and population, attracting many young frogmen seeking a sailor life, and many human ships seeking to recruit young frogmen for their crew. These cities also grew due to their location in the Inner Sea of the Frog, which can be protected easily from piracy by just blocking the Strait of the Crocodile’s Mouth, something greatly appreciated by shipbuilders and fishermen. This became much more important once piracy in the area grew after the formation of the Blind Bastard’s Domain and the gnolls sea raids. Human mercenaries and Ecrkoecknoi volunteers built two towers at each side of the strait, used to warn the inner fleets about possible danger, which allows a quick response. The strait is also full of frogmen guards, able to attack the pirate ships from below the waters, sabotaging them and sinking them before they can be a threat. This has caused the waters around the strait to be filled with wrecks, and treasure hunting parties are frequent once a ship is swallowed by the sea over there. After the attempted exodus of the Ecrkoecknoi, the cities have become the biggest authority in the swamps, something even the Council of Elders has had to accept. After all, they were the ones who asked the cities for help when the gnoll threatened to invade.

Ecrkoecknoi worship the **Great Mother Toad**, the goddess who created the swamps of the world and protects the frogmen all around the world. According to their myths, the Great Mother Toad swallowed the world but couldn’t eat it, so she puke it out. The resulting oceans and swamps are just the remnants of her saliva giving life to the world. Her tadpoles are the stars of the sky, squirming until they become fully grown. The many communities of Ecrkoecknoi outside of the Changing Waters usually adapt quite well to the society they live within, adopting their customs and language. However, they keep their religion creating small shrines to the Great Mother Toad, while at the same time worshiping the many local deities of the regions they live in.

## Foreign Relations

Despite how much of an isolated location the Lands of Changing Waters, the Ecrkoecknoi have established pretty solid relations with many foreign powers. The frogmen’s status as sailors, explorers and adventurers has seen the species spread out throughout the south of Giantstep, reaching as far as the azanese coast, at the other side of the world. This means that the numerous Ecrkoecknoi communities spread throughout the world can have an unusually weight in the lands they are established. This is especially true for nations that have a lot of stock in sea trade, as the Ecrkoecknoi are cheap and willing manpower for sea travels (especially those that do not stray away too much from the coast, as the frogmen need access to drinking water to clean themselves of excess salt). As such, many southern countries have plenty of representatives in the coastal cities of the frogmen, to find enough frogmen for their fleets, and to access the Inner Sea of the Frog if piratical forces were on the hunt. Oddly enough, while the Kingdom of Drunigzar frequents the frogmen cities for resupply and protection, they rarely hire Ecrkoecknoi. This is because the drunig ships in the area tend to spend much more time in open sea than the fleets of the other nations (the drunig galleons being one the biggest ships in the southeastern seas), which the frogmen tend to avoid. As such, if a drunig captain hires an Ecrkoecknoi, their contract usually only lasts until the ship leaves the nations bordering the Sea of Fog or the U’ritass Inner Sea.

The relation between the Ecrkoecknoi with their closer neighbors are usually cordial. The Ra and the frogmen have many things in common, being both semiaquatic species from the swamps of the south, but other than that, they are wildly different. The Ra are isolationists, and are rarely seen outside of the Great Ra’Ga. In contrast, the Ecrkoecknoi are quick to explore and move around the world, as much as possible and to as many places as their biology allows them to. The Ecrkoecknoi are also much quicker to accept change, forming the coastal cities before the Ra began the construction of theirs. Cities that were only possible only due to the external intervention from the thuleans, who managed to bring many innovations from the outside. While the frogmen also needed to see the outside world to bring many advances to their lands, they were the ones with the initiative to put those innovations to the test. To this day, the cities of Ribbigon, Crickit, Fickrit and Roggit are much bigger and highly populated than any of the Ra’Ga cities. Trade relations between the two are frequent, since the frogmen are frequently seen around the coast of the Great Ra’Ga. Trade through the swamps is less common, since that involves going through the Dark Bog. While navigable, it’s full of dangers and diseases, and both species will avoid travelling through there if they can do so.

The relation between the Ecrkoecknoi and the ratmen from the Seguerial Hordas is more complicated. The ratmen are, at once, a rigid caste of near eusocial groups where obedience is the law, and a divided mass where infighting is the norm. This makes the ratmen worry more about each other than about their neighbors. The underground way of life is also very unappealing to the Ecrkoecknoi, who simply aren’t made for such lifestyle. As such, the only contact these two groups have is through sea trade. The Tiyali Brum River flows into the Inner Sea of the Frog, and that means that the ratmen whose tunnels are connected to the river will eventually get in contact with frogmen ships. The ratmen have great alchemical offerings, attracting a lot of trade to their area, though the number of ratmen who chose a coastal life is very limited.

The Ecrkoecknoi are in deep fear of the Gnoll. They know they cannot match the dark empire of the east, since they easily ripped apart their old, much more powerful ally, the Khenomeric Empire. Since the Great Exodus, they have not recovered their previous numbers, and even back then they chose to flee instead of fighting the gnoll. As such, they have taken many precautions just in case the gnoll decide to invade once again. They have managed to make a deal with many nearby nations for protection: in the event of a gnoll invasion, the Great Exodus will be realized. Gnoll raids are frequent in the east, usually with the intention of raiding for food or slaves.