Decaying Marshlands

The Decaying Marshlands are many things: rotten, constantly expanding, and teeming with life, death, and the various states that exist in between. It is one of the smallest regions in terms of land but one of the richest in terms of population. Nearly the entirety of the marshlands is controlled by the Theocracy of the Wurm, Sanctus Grex, and has been converted to suit the lifestyle of the muscans. However, to the untrained eye of a visitor, the landscape appears to be abandoned and damaged.

The marshlands are split into four rings called halos. Each halo radiates from the capital, Immergo, where the Spawn of the Wurm resides.

Core Halo - Oracle’s Seat

The center point of the halos' glow. It is the location of the sacred tree where the Spawn of the Wurm pupated and is chiefly hidden deep within a mangrove thicket. Anyone seeking to enter Oracle's Seat must be ready to leave a bloody trail, for nature itself will work to offer sacrifices to the Wurm in such a holy place.

Geographically, Oracle's Seat is located near Sweetwood in the southwest corner of the Decaying Marshlands. The landscape is challenging to navigate, whether on foot, in the air, or with a boat. Branches and roots intermingle with each other, and the seemingly endless canopy of the mangroves acts as a darkened sky.

Buildings are few and far in between, usually half sunken in the water, with small chimneys poking out of the gaps left between twisting wood. Smoke and the wet, heavy air mix together and create a thick haze through which it is hard to see, let alone navigate deeper within the mangrove trees.

In the middle of Oracle's Seat lies Immergo, the cathedral where the Spawn of the Wurm lives. The rest of the buildings house the highly-ranked priests who make up the upper echelons of the Theocracy.

Inner Halo - Oracle’s Will

Thick mangroves give way to a mix of forested areas interspersed with clearings. It is an unnatural transition that requires cutting down trees that once held the earth in place. Instead, houses were built haphazardly on top of the remaining root system, though many have since sunk into the swamp.

Middle Halo - Oracle’s Feast

The dense housing district transitions abruptly to a wide open expanse of paddies devoted to agriculture. Oracle's Feast is where most of the food that feeds the many hungry mouths of the Theocracy grows.  

Here, houses are simple, modest, and limited in number. Most of the paddies' workers live in the inner halo instead. However, churches are still present, towering over the fields as a reminder to attend the daily prayers.

Outer Halo - Oracle’s Strength

The thinnest halo, Oracle's Strength, is a living wall that encases the Decaying Marshlands. No permanent structures or churches exist, and the muscan inhabitants in the outer halo live as nomads. Their tents can be built and taken down in a few minutes. They walk along the swamp's edge and follow its expanding limit wherever it grows.

Traveling merchants and devout soldiers make up the population of Oracle's Strength. The merchants maintain the black market that attracts all sorts of insectoids to the Decaying Marshlands, smuggling goods from the Theocracy that are considered contraband in other nations. These merchants are responsible for amassing wealth and favors in the name of the Spawn. Soldiers, meanwhile, are tasked with protecting the Marshlands' outer limit and holding mass for the merchants.

Thanks to the Oracle's Strength, the Decaying Marshlands never have to fear foreigners entering deeper than the outer halo, and thus the swamp is left to fester in peace.