The Slow-Water Swamp

There is a legend, that a queen of Earth and Water lost her only child to the madness of his father, her husband.  Her tears flooded that land, and that even the mighty rocks were softened into mud.  They say she remains there, somewhere in the heart of the swamp, her tears feeding the morass around her.  It is also said that the one who can find her, and still her tears, will change the land of mud to a land of plenty, and they will rule, immortal, with the queen at their side.

Another legend claims that there was a city, a city where all manner of reptiles walked like men.  This forgotten city was crafted with strange magic- water flowed to the top of the buildings, the sun never set on the City of Scales.   Their hearts were as cold as their bodies, and when this cruelty went too far, the gods struck down the city.  The magic of the city went wild, and land for leagues became soggy and inhospitable to sane life.

Both of these, and more, are tales of the Slow-Water Swamp.

Located near the Sibling Seas, the Slow-Water Swamp is so called because several major rivers empty into it, slowing down to a trickle in the vast Swamp.  Everything here is wet.  It rains most evenings, and the air is humid enough to leave a slick film over everything. "Dry land" (muddy hillocks not fully submerged) is rare.  Often, the only way for travelers is to carefully move along the mossy roots of the huge trees, or risk the waters.

Some claim the Swamp is unnatural, owing to the ever-expanding roster of strange, often deadly life encountered here.  Some of the more notable inhabitants include-

Blue Lilly- a kind of giant lilly with razor-shop edges,  the petals are sometimes harvested and alchemically treated into "petal swords".

Tithan Serpents-  Legless, blind salamanders that can be dozens of feet long.  They eat the dead, and call out to passersby  in human voices.  Those that eat the corpses of wizards can gain unspeakable wisdom

Clotfish- Freshwater jellyfish that is harmless in small numbers, but can swarm, and join together into ranvenous blobs that can follow one unto land.

Fangwood tree- these tress grow huge thorns.  If the thorns break off in skin, they become a parasitic seed, with a new tree growing from the corpse of it's victim. They extrude an addictive sap that makes it hard for hosts to remove the seed-thorn.

Slow Men-  Semisentient slothes that live in trees,  They seem slow, until they drop down silently to butcher pecived invasions of their territory.  Some have been seen wearing bones as primative jewellery.

All in all, the Slow-Water Swamp is not a place for people.  And yet, people live, even thrive there..