Marsh of Murmurs

Stretching from the northern cliffs of Duskmire Hold into the wild haze south, the Marsh of Murmurs is a sprawling, unnatural bogland that marks the shifting border between the Toaasi Dukedom and the untamed horrors of the Northern Expanse and the southern life filled land.

While it once may have been a simple wetland, the centuries of necromantic runoff, corpse labor, and spellcraft have transformed the region into something else entirely. The very mud seems to breathe. The reeds pulse with need. And every gust of wind carries murmurs and voices that speak in tones not meant for the living.

This place is both frontline and farm, graveyard and garden, a land where the Contract-Bound dead tread waist-deep through the water, their glowing eyes watching for movement in the fog. Despite its haunting nature, the Marsh is critical to the realm’s defense and medicine and food production, and is watched over with grim precision.

Geography & Terrain

Saturated Earth: Thick black peat and stagnant water stretch for miles. Most solid ground is artificial, raised via bone-fused stilts or petrified roots summoned by arcane agriculture.

Hollow Trees: Enormous, pale, dead trees rise like skeletal fingers — many of which have been hollowed out and used as watch-posts, meditation towers, or bone-kilns.

The Siltline: A constantly shifting perimeter where the influence of the Northern Expanse pushes against Toaasi territory. Marked by a faint blue shimmer and patrol markers.

The Sinkshrines: Dozens of half-submerged, crumbling shrines dedicated to forgotten gods, now repurposed as binding altars for securing undead stability or performing contract rituals.

The Murmurs

No feature of the Marsh is more infamous than the voices that drift through it, constant chorus of whispers. The source of these “Murmurs” is widely debated:

Some claim they are echoes of violated contracts, restless spirits leaking into the material world.

Others believe the swamp itself has developed sentience, remembering the dead who once walked it, and now speaks with their mingled voices.

A few among the Order of Last Rites believe the Murmurs are extradimensional in nature, tied to failed resurrection attempts or miscast soulbinds.

Travelers in the marsh must be trained to resist compulsions, as the whispers can lead mortals astray, lure them into deep bogs, or implant thoughts not their own. Even undead may begin to “twitch” if their soul-core is left exposed too long.

Undead Use and Harvesting

The Marsh is heavily populated by low-grade Contract-Bound:

Plague-haulers, carrying waste and rot to necro-absorbent pits.

Fungal shepherds, who direct arcano-fungi harvests used in potions, poisons, and bread substitutes.

Stilt-runners, swift undead scouts with elongated limbs for marsh navigation.

Some undead are planted directly into the soil, used as nutrient conduits for crops like Bloodcorn, Gravemint, and Black-Fungus Barley — staple products for the region.

Living workers are few, mostly necromantic supervisors or swamp-scientists protected by anti-compulsion charms. Even they rarely stay more than a week at a time.

Notable Locations

• The Black Crossroads: A raised convergence of bone-roads where swamp patrols exchange routes. Marked with a twisting obsidian monolith.
• Shrine of the Final Ink: A place where contracts are ritually sealed in gravewax and black sap. Many Toaasi citizens request their burial here.
• The Hushing Pools: Lakes so quiet they cancel all sound. Used in punishment and interrogation.

Dangers & Warnings

Below are a few warnings and dangers to keep in mind while in the area.

• Rogue Constructs: Sometimes a contract fails or is corrupted. The result: wandering husks known as Voiceless, who whisper only to the marsh.
• Northern Spillage: Monsters and twisted beasts from the Expanse cross into the marsh more often than the Hold admits. They are typically subdued, reanimated, and added to the patrols.
• Soul-Swelling: A rare condition where a Contract-Bound begins to regain memory or identity. These anomalies are harvested for study or exorcised in Sinkshrines.
• The Green Choir: A rumored cult of moss-robed figures who listen to the Murmurs instead of resisting them. Some say they understand them. Some say they serve whatever makes them.