Moscamuerta Swamp

Located in the Costa Nera region of Milagon, Moscamuerta was once a lush green forest. The downfall of Yaana Tal’Nelde and the Leith’Missien civilisation led to the slow decline of their protective magics and allowed the putridity of the Shrine of Juiblex to gradually seep into the land around it, leeching westward towards the ocean.

At its westernmost points, the swamp is an extensive delta of shallow tidal mudflats, teeming with dangerous lightning eels. To the east lies an expansive boggy marshland that is haunted by the souls of those lost or drowned in its treacherous sinking pools, whilst carnivorous manticores patrol the skies searching for prey or carrion. This open landscape eventually gives way to a dark and brackish mangrove of twisting roots and branches that is said to be the home of a witch.

The swamp takes its name from the deadly biting flies that swarm and propagate in the muggy air above the murky waters. Their bite carries a form of wasting disease that causes the infected to gradually weaken until they die of sheer exhaustion. Most creatures that inhabit within the swamp have developed an immunity to this disease, though some still act as carriers, such as the mosquito like stirges. This harsh and untamed wilderness combined with the absence of most humanoids has created breeds of monstrous flora and fauna that are far hardier than their counterparts found elsewhere in Ara. Some trolls, for example, with their high susceptibility to mutation, seem to have absorbed the general toxicity of the swamp and have become infested with poisonous boils, whilst others are merely more savage and difficult to kill.

The scarce civilizations that make this place their home stick to fishing villages on the western coast or stay outside the boundaries of the swamp altogether. In the swamp live a coven of green hags, the Solano Sisters.