Souragne

Sweltering with heat, sorrow, and the scent of slow decay, Souragne is a Domain of Dread where the veil between life and death is thin, fraying, and often crossed. Here, the swamps breathe. The dead whisper. And the people pray—not for salvation, but for the strength to endure.

Souragne is a place of mire-choked waterways, rotting plantations, and mournful hymns carried on mosquito-thick winds. The land teems with life and unlife—alligators in the bayous, will-o’-wisps in the mangroves, and corpses that knock from beneath their stone vaults. Beauty and horror dance inextricably, as blooming orchids climb crypt walls and funeral barges drift past rusting churches.

At the dark heart of Souragne is Anton Misroi, a charming aristocrat in life and a sorrow-drenched revenant in undeath. Once a cruel plantation lord obsessed with order, lineage, and status, Misroi now reigns as a necromantic monarch from his spectral manor deep within the swamps.

• He appears refined, graceful, even melancholic—a noble of death rather than a monster.
• Misroi claims to be the caretaker of the dead, offering them purpose and dignity—but in truth, he controls them, using them to enforce his will.
• His influence spreads with every funeral, every drowned body, every soul that cannot rest.

The dead rise not out of anger, but because Misroi will not let them sleep.

Souragne is a vast swampland broken only by elevated roads, moss-hung groves, and decaying communities that cling to dry land like scabs.

• Port d’Elhour: Souragne’s principal harbor and largest settlement, where sagging mansions overlook canals brimming with waterlogged coffins. Trade persists here, but superstition guides every aspect of life.
• Marais d’Tarascon: A village of funerary stone, where crypts outnumber homes, and where ancient family secrets rot beneath iron vaults. The people here speak in whispers, and no one ventures out after dark.
• The Misroi Estate: Hidden in the heart of the swamps, this spectral plantation house is said to fade in and out of reality, always watching, always listening.
• The Bayous: Winding, primeval waterways patrolled by alligators, ghost lights, and funeral processions with no living attendants.

Souragnians cling to traditions that blend mourning, music, and spiritual warding:

• Funeral rites are elaborate, not to honor the dead, but to keep them from returning.
• Songs and spirituals fill the air at dusk, not for joy, but to drown out the whispers of the dead.
• Priests and herbalists known as marcheurs act as guardians between the living and the unliving.

The people of Souragne fear silence, for in silence, they hear the names of those who should be gone.

Domain Themes & Tone

• Gothic Decay: Grand mansions rot in the swamp; faded finery clings to walking corpses.
• Undead as Heritage: Ghosts aren’t strangers—they are ancestors, neighbors, and former oppressors.
• False Comforts: Anton Misroi is polite, caring, and protective—until someone defies him or attempts to break the cycle.

Anton Misroi mourns the world he once ruled, not out of guilt, but out of possessiveness. He cannot let go of his people, his power, or the land he shaped with cruelty masked as elegance. His curse is control—to be worshiped and obeyed by those too afraid to resist, and to be surrounded by those who no longer live.

He does not see himself as a tyrant, but as a steward of proper order, a keeper of legacy. Even as his domain drowns in grief, Misroi wears a smile like a funeral mask.

Domain Traits

• The Dead Rise Frequently: Improper funerals, unresolved grief, or Misroi’s direct will cause the dead to stir from crypts or the swamp.
• Swamp Logic: Paths change, boats vanish, fogs lead travelers back to where they began—unless they follow ritual or rhyme.
• Haunting Melodies: Ghosts communicate through lullabies, broken hymns, and the playing of unseen instruments.