Hellhole Swamp

Hellhole Swamp
General Information
Size	200 rooms
Type	Node (forest gatherer village)
Population	~10 mobiles
Drops	{{{drops}}}
Location	766, 490 (Teladir)
Reckon	50 E, 20 S (Teladir)

Lore

An' while you may not like the bugs 'n' the bats 'n' the 'gatas, you sure are gonna like some good food in yah belly and some good music by the fire!

-- Matriarch Junsila Unsugli

When the Sovereignty began its assault upon Teladir in 185 BQ, most of the population fled south away from the encroaching battle lines. But, a few brave, or perhaps foolish, souls fled into the swamp east of Lamaar Bay. The swamp was thought to be all but inhabitable and no major or minor community existed within. The only real occupants were the occasional shaman hermit and the many alligators. The swamp made the perfect hideout for the original refugees made up of nearly all farmers and country people with no organized military or militia support. Mothers simply grabbed children and husbands fearfully led wives into the swamp for protection.

At first, the refugees had no plans to stay within the swamp for any extended period of time, but as decades passed and the Sovereignty remained, the people began to unknowingly sink their cultural roots into the swamp. Soon, the influences of the stray shamans within began to merge with the superstitious farmers and a pseudo-religion was quickly formed. Culture was the first thing to develop amongst the swamp-dwellers as their life was completely dependent on one another and intimacy was paramount and unavoidable. The people living within began to call their home Hellhole Swamp because of their belief that a hole lying beneath the Devil's Oak that sits in the center of the swamp leads to hell.

Symbols and portents guide the daily life of the Swampers, as outsiders call them, and their society is matriarchal in nature. A skilled herb woman is an important part of the villagers daily life, whose job it is to predict the success of alligator hunts and the health of an unborn child, to the curing of sicknesses both small and serious. Those who reside in Hellhole Swamp are naturally in tune with nature, especially water and trees, and place a deep respect for all shamanic practices. Life is vicious in nature within Hellhole Swamp, and any denizens of the swamp may be subject to the unforgiving food chain; no matter how well armed or prepared, a sharp eye is the best defense within the murky waters of Hellhole Swamp. Alligators, poisonous snakes and frogs, and even disease-carrying insects make each day a mortal struggle and no one is immune to their dangers.