Climate and Ecology
Souragne is dominated by the Masion d’Sablet Swamp, which lies in the western area of the Domain with the Murky Sea to the north and three small villages located in the east. Port d’Elhour is a small fishing village located on the Murky Sea is in the northeast. Marais d’Tarascon is a town of farmers, traders, and crafters located on the southeast border of the swamp. Thibaut is small farming village located in the southeastern corner of the Domain.
Souragne is an insufferably hot and humid land infested with insects, dangerous wildlife, and the undead. Souragniens get a brief relief from the humidity during the summer months, when it rains non-stop. Villagers rarely venture far into the swamp, sticking to the borders where they fish, trap, and gather food. The swamp is full of deadly and dangerous plants, animals, and monsters. Only a fool would venture into them unprepared.
Lac Noir, a large lake in the middle of the island domain, is covered in a thick green algae with a blackish wildberry that grows out of the algae known as the lac noir berry, giving the lake its name. The berry is almost black in color and very bitter. At the center of the lake is the Maiden’s Island and home to the Maiden of the Swamp, a powerful and benevolent Loa spirit of protection.
Culture
Souragniens are mostly humans and live simple lives. Most of the nobility own large farmsteads and commoners practice various crafts, such as blacksmithing, fishing, trapping, baking, and tailoring. Travelers through the Mist are rare in Souragne, so most locals are suspicious of outsiders, though are seldom outright rude to them.
All Souragniens speak both Common and Souragnien and many know the “Language of the Loas”, which is known as Sylvan in other
lands. They dress is loose fitting breeches or skirts and soft colors shirts, all designed to keep the ever presence humidity at bay. They tend to favor spicy foods and will eat almost anything they can gather, hunt, trap, or fish from the edges of the Masion d’Sablet. Many Souragniens keep a small garden in their yards as well as domesticated animals, the most common being chickens, but some have goats and pigs as well. For drink, wine is quite rare as the grapes needed to make it do not grow well within the Domain and the most commonly served drink is rum made from sugar cane.
Religion
Ezra: Our Lady of the Mists
Souragniens are known to worship Our Lady of the Mists, also known as Ezra. She is a deity that is commonly worshiped throughout the Realms of Ravenloft. Ezra is portrayed as a woman of grand stature with a slim frame, long black hair and pale skin. She is often show wearing long, white robes and carrying a longsword in one hand and an alabaster kite shield with the blue belladonna upon it in the other. Her role is one of protection and healing.
Her story varies among the Realms of Ravenloft, but it is a commonly held belief that she was once a mortal woman who sacrificed herself to the Mists in order to protect her people from the evil in the world. It is said that she broke her shield into five pieces and they are spread out into the lands of the Mists. Ezra’s holy symbol is that of a silver longsword superimposed upon an alabaster kite shield and adorned with a spring of belladonna.
Loa
The people of Souragne worship the Loas and many leave them offerings in exchange for various favors, like a rainy day or a rival
becoming ill just long enough for them to get one up on them. The greater the request, the greater the required offering and more often than not, the Loas will attempt to get more out of the deal than what they put into it.
The Loa the people worship are real spirits that dwell in the swamp. The Heroes encountered three of these Loas as they traversed through the swamps of Souragne, Bouki and Longears (two dog-sized rabbits with sharp teeth) and Bushtail (a large fox with a passion for stories and music).
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