Moorlands

The Moorlands

Construction and Location
The Moorlands is a desolate swampy land spanning many miles in all directions. Bordered by the Blackleaf, the Elven Lands, and Darguun, the Moorlands has been the site for many a conflict. Though none of its neighboring nations vie to claim any of its dangerous and inhospitable territory, its unpoliced waterways provide convenient travel if one can survive the trip. Most waterways used are found along the edges of the Moorlands, allowing relatively safe travel in uncontested territory.

Old ruins of kingdoms have been made into havens for those that choose to dwell there. These havens exists at the edges of the Moorlands, the lands further in being too dangerous to live in.

While marshes and swamp make of the majority of the land, spans of solid ground (called hammocks) do exist. These hammocks, some quite small, others nearly a mile long, dot the otherwise watery landscape. They tend to be fairly barren save for tall grasses and the occasional protrusion of stone, but they are at least solid. Hammocks are, in fact the highest point of land in the Moorlands, though they only reach several meters at most above the water line; no mountains, and only very small hills exists within the large that encompasses the Moorlands.

Economy/Trade
The Moorlands have no central government, an no common currency. Those that live there either forage and survive as a collective, or barter goods and services with other they meet. To those that visit, information on the land is necessary for survival, and the locals will gladly help in return for medical supplies, magic, and foreign food.

The Moonset hag coven and the Covens of the Root will occasionally trade with those they encounter, offering their concoctions for whatever they desire at the time, often interesting baubles or unique pets they can show off to the other hags of the region.

The Moorlands have no exports, with nearly all that their inhabitants provide being used to survive the swamp, or, like many visitors to this land, never making their way out.

Districts and Population
The main denizens of the Moorlands are trolls. Though they lack any centralized government, or even smaller forms of organization such as clans or villages, the virulence of the troll population has allowed them to take over nearly all of the Moorlands. Voracious appetites drive them to spread out in constant search of food while their divine regeneration keeps them alive indefinitely even when food is scarce. They are hunted by the more experienced locals for food and leather (troll meat and troll hide are both remarkably tough, though the former is nearly as inedible as the latter). In turn, the trolls hunt the less experienced locals, and those that travel too deep into the Moorlands.

The great swamp has no clear markers of territory, as distinct landmarks and territory are hard to define, and even harder to claim. They land is mostly understood to fall into three basic categories: the waterways, the ruins, and the inner swamp. Which the first two encompass broader areas their names would suggest, they are mostly defined by their central titular feature. The inner swamp is defined as the are where "there are too many trolls too handle"

The Waterways
The waterways have a somewhat misleading title. Most of the Moorlands is wetland, so the waterways aren't specific paths or canals on which people travel. Instead, the waterways encompass the outer areas of the swamp where neither the trees nor the troll population are too dense for travel. Small communities are raised villages dot the land, offering trade to those who pass through. These villages are full of uncommon races and unwanted people, but they are mostly friendly to outsiders. They have nothing worth taking and don't use currency in their economies, instead trading on a barter system. Because the neighboring nations can always procure better food, better raw materials, and even better slaves in other regions, the settlements in the Moorlands are never under threat. The folk here life simple, and often fairly short, lives.

The Ruins
The ruins are perhaps the greatest reason for outsiders to visit the Moorlands. These remnants of a bygone human kingdom can be found throughout the Moorlands eastern and southern regions, while the tattered remains of smaller elven settlements can be found in the west. These ruins are full of riches of mystery, drawing in historians and treasure-hunters alike. However, after centuries of looting, the outer ruins are all but stripped, with crumbling masonry and broken ceramics the only remaining evidence that there were once people living there. Everything else has stolen, rotted away, overgrown, or has since sunk into the swamp. The ruins further in remain more intact, with the center of the swamp rumored to contain the great keep of the Kingdom of Simon. However, though the records confirm its existence, no one has been able to travel that far into the Moorlands to see what has become of the land.

The Inner Swamp
When you can no longer travel by boat because the trolls keep trying to eat it, you're said to have entered the inner swamp. Often the trees become so dense by this point that boats become useless anyways, constantly getting locked in by fallen trees or small hammocks too small to rest on, but too large to easily drag a boat across. Trolls wander the area, eating everything but each other. Though not truly aquatic, the Moorlands trolls have adapted to hold their breath for several hours, allowing them to stalk their prey until the terrain traps it and makes it easy to catch. Areas where the swamp gives way to shallower marshland act as small repreives, allowing travellers to at least see the trolls coming. Several black dragons are known to dwell in the area, their magic undoubtedly helping keep the region as it is. The wildlife in this part of the swamp flourishes, despite the every-hungering trolls and dragons, and many species uniquely adapted to the swamp and marshes can be found thriving here.

During heavy rains, the trolls sometimes spill out into the surrounding lands. The only thing keeping the trolls from truly expanding beyond the swamp is their fear of fire, and the powerful nations around them. While the swamp waters protect them, they would crumble before the sheer numbers of Darguun, the might of the Blackleaf tribes, and are cunning and magic of the elves.

Holidays/Celebration
Celebrations vary in the swamp. Some denizens, such as the trolls, lack the culture and intelligence to even comprehend the meaning of "festival", while the hags perform varying amounts of rituals every month. Many humanoid settlements have local celebrations, though only the Annual Reclamation Expedition stands out as a proper holiday.

Ceremonies and Festivals of the Hags
Most covens are ambivalent to the passage of time, and thus have no consistent celebrations or practices. The Moonset coven, however, has several ceremonies based on the phases of the moon. They believe the moon grants them their power, heightening their magic when full and draining it when new. When a full moon occurs, they take this opportunity to raid settlements of humanoids, stealing the young or frail. If elves are targeted, fights with the Covens of the Root sometimes break out. The kidnapped victims are held until the moon is new, when they are sacrificed in the name of restoring the moons glory. As the covens see the half moon as a balancing of their power with the world around them, they become uncharacteristically peaceful during these nights. They will not attack unless provoked, and will even barter and trade with the other inhabitants of the swamp, eager to share their strange herbal medicines and magical charms with any who pass by.

The Annual Reclamation Expedition
Despite centuries having passed, the central ruins in the Moorlands remain untouched. Around 1300 St, Thayan scholars began investing in expeditions to the ruins. These expeditions proved fatal and costly. In response, they began to hire treasure hunters, mercenaries, and adventurers to travel into the ruins. The scholars organize a yearly expedition wherein numerous groups are their hires travel to the ruins at the same time. The day changes slightly each year, and is dependent on phase of the moon, the movement of nearby elves and orcs, the troll recruitment efforts of the Darguuni army, and several other factors. Thay hosts pre- and post-expedition celebrations, while the locals trade their supplies and their knowledge of the swamp to the new arrivals.

While some Thayan hires perish during the expedition, the preparations Thay makes each year have kept mortality rates below 30%. Many hires do not come back with anything to show, however, as many of the easily accessible ruins have already been stripped, while the more obstructed and dangerous ones tend to be avoided by all but the bravest or most foolhardy of treasure seekers.

Culture
The old culture of the Moorlands has been lost. Though pieces of the old civilizations are sometimes recovered, nothing of their ways remains among those who live there now.

History of the Nation
Centuries ago in the Age of Dragons, the Moorlands were home to a grand human kingdom. They are was more true to their name back then, being mostly uncultivated hills full of dry grasses and shrubs. Though ripe with wetland, many villages would divert the water in order to create for land land for agriculture, and to protect their livestock from diseases borne of the insects of the region. Trolls, however, were a constant problem for the kingdom, and prohibited expansion. Fire and magic were used to keep them at bay, but the trolls were unpredictable and unrelenting; the occasional village was lost.

In 8225 Dr, things took a turn for the worse. Upon returning from war with Darguun (then just a collection of smaller goblinoid tribes), an ancient king named Simon found that his family had been eaten by trolls in his absence. He ordered that every troll that could be found be cut into a thousand pieces and cast into the mire. The people knew of the trolls regeneration, but did not know the extent of its power. Later, as night fell, so did the kingdom.

The present day Moorlands is now a fetid kingdom filled with ruined castles and packs of feral trolls. Some virulent and resilient wildlife manges to persist through the trolls’ insatiable hunger, but no inhabitants of the Kingdom of Simon remain. Many treasures lay buried in the swamps, and many more in the bellies of the trolls who live there.

Violent Neighbours
Two of the Moorlands neighbours often involve themselves with the great swamp. Darguun actively conscripts the more intelligent trolls as mercenaries, and has built a wall to prevent the feral trolls from expanding into their lands, and to put pressure on the elves. A common form of Darguuni execution involves tossing the unfortunate victim over the “Wall of Hunger” with a single torch. Meanwhile in the west, the elves see the trolls as abominations and actively fight against them, even going so far as to push into swamp to eliminate entire clutches of trolls.

Hag Covens
While trolls are not particularly intelligent creatures, they do understand danger, and they do feel fear. Green hags are the only humanoid creatures that can dwell deep in the inner swamp. These fey can easily avoid the dangerous creatures of the swamp with their magic, and all but the most desperate or feral of trolls hesitate to eat these blights upon the natural world.

The Four Covens of the Moorlands
Technically, there are many more than four covens of hags in the great swamp. Only four, however, are prominent enough to mentionrwe beyond the strange magics and occasional child-snatching performed by all covens.

Gilded Drosera
A coven that lives near the center of the swamp. Its members are rarely seen, and their numbers unknown, though easily identifiable by the elaborate painted bodies and colourful attire. Their magic is much more powerful than the other covens, though subtle. Those unfortunate to encounter a hag from the Gilded Drosera coven find that she will flee from a direct fight. For days she will then follow her victims from the shadows of the swamp, causing confusion and misdirection, plaguing their dreams with nightmares, and mentally and physically exhausting them. Those without the fortitude to endure become lost, wandering the swamp until they collapse from broken body and mind, or fall victim to the local wildlife.

Moonset Coven
A nomadic coven that worships the moon, basing all their rituals around it. They travel primarily in the southern and western regions of the Moorlands. Though aggressive and violent, the moon can be used to track their movements, giving potential victims time to prepare for the nights where humanoid sacrifice are to involved in their lunar rituals. The Moonset coven is noticeably more aggressive towards other covens.

Covens of the Root
These hags are a collective of covens of middling size dwelling throughout the western region of the Moorlands. They believe that, as fey, they should keep their bloodlines pure. They steal the children only of the elves living too close to the swamp, and are often hunted in turn by the elves. Covens of the Root are the least aggressive to other humanoids that they encounter, and will gladly make deals and pacts with any non-fey passerby.

The Night Hag Covens
These night hags live in the north by the scar. Comprised of over thirty covens of varying size, the night hag covens all exist with the same purpose: they mock the divine and perform blasphemous rituals from the safety of the scar and swamp near it, safe from both outsiders and the gods. Though they do not work together, or even under a collective title, they peacefully share the with only other night hags, keeping a close eye on what they determine to be their piece of the swamp and scar. They are incredibly hostile to any who wander too close to their home, and are known to torture any who carry religious symbols upon them.