"Marshlandia"
Marshlandia is a name given to the region in jest making fun of the marshlanders lack of a true nation or government, but the locals have adopted the mocking name as a badge of honor.
Marshlanders are pretty informal, deciding most things by consensus and often deferring to their elders or the most charismatic individuals.
Most Marshlanders live in house boats, or they have huts in some of the dryer places. Castles and advanced fortifications are not possible here. That’s part of the reason the Marshlanders have no real aristocracy or peasant class. Each village is basically autonomous and self-governing, usually but not always governed by their eldest member or a small council of elders.
When the marshlanders have to act collectively for matters that affect the whole nation, each village will choose a representative for the Council of Elders (though many members of the council are fairly young, if only because the actual elders don’t want to travel a hundred miles to the meeting area and back). The Council of Elders discusses and votes on policy. They also select the Master of War, normally a young man of celebrated valor, who is in charge of coordinating defense of the realm for all villages.
Demography and Population
92% humans, 2% half-elves , 6% other.
Religion
Korus, Zarthus, Mera, and Maylar are commonly worshiped in Marshlandia, but no deity is neglected entirely. There aren’t a lot of swamp priests and most Marshland religious observances are pretty informal.
One regional oddity is that the most influential priesthood in Marshlandia is the Cult of the Compact. There are more druidic priests and theurgists of the Cult of the Compact in Marshland than any two priesthoods of the Nine.
Foreign Relations
Of all the humans in the Confederacy, the Marshlanders are most the pro-goblin . Goblin tribes keep villages in the swamps and the humans and the goblins make it a point not to hassle each other. There are enough other nasty things in the swamp that the humans and goblins don’t want to make their lives more complicated by attacking each other. Occasionally the two groups even engage in limited trade or warn each other of mutual threats.
Stereotypes
Zakarel, part-time hunter, part time fisherman, part-time military scout tells you what he thinks of the "furreners." Marginallanders: Dry land creates dry folk. Musselanders: Good folk that help celebrate with you in good times and will'n to stand with you in bad times. Mooringslanders: The city folk have fancy ships, fancy threads and fancy vittles but they need to get out in the real world a bit more. Magiclanders: Mages have their place, but they should serve the common folk, not dominate them. Meralanders: The Paladins keep their folk well fed, healthy and safe…like cattle in a pen. Meralanders: Why did the Confederacy think it was a good idea to ally ourselves with slavers? They’ll turncoat and join the dark elves soon enough, mark my words. I hear they have more half-elves than the rest of the Confederacy too… Mereshnari: I respect 'em even if I don’t want want to mix with ‘em. Midlanders: Decent enough folk, I suppose. Riverlanders: Their nobles are arrogant asses, but the common folk are okay. They are working to get by just like anyone else. Half-Elves: No one chooses their parents, this is true. But it is also true that blood runs thicker than water and half-elves bear the taint of the elves' foulness. Goblins: They are just trying to survive and take care of their families just like us. If you show them a little kindness, they will make good allies. Kahdisteria: Our allies have proud armies and proud banners. We are not proud. We hide our strength and the dark elves never see us coming… dabeshi: Dangerous to the folks living dryer lands, but the swamps spawns their own breed of monsters. Monsters the rest of the Confederacy can't e'en imagine. Yeti: Just because something doesn’t look human, doesn’t mean they cannot be our friends. Still, I ain’t going to be the one making the journey up north.
Type
Geopolitical, Tribe
Demonym
marshlanders
Government System
Tribalism
Power Structure
Autonomous area
Economic System
Barter system
Currency
barter system
Parent Organization
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