Atlas of Rot

The Atlast of Rot is a book found in the Sylvan Library by Agave while he was looking for information about The Rotting Gate. The book is a helpful guide about the terrain and environment that can be found in the Rotting Gate. It of course also contains several maps of different areas of the Gate with details about each map as well. There are "Fun Fact!" sections spread throughout the atlas with brief excerpts about creatures, spirits and plants that can be found in this realm too.

Introduction - The World

Within this Gate is one of the layers of the Spirit World which are, almost annoyingly, referred to as "Gates" themselves. Passing through a Gate takes you to another layer, and the layer itself is collectively referred to in a similar manner as the external passage that got you there. "The Rotting Gate" is the same label used for both the latticed network of mushrooms that grows into a literal "gate" and the massive stretch of fetid swamp that is accessed by passing through it. On one of my many expeditions into this blighted landscape, I was able to have the skills of a rather distinguished and eccentric Cartographer by the singular name of Herrance. This "Herrance" was able to fly high up into the air and see the entire land while making his maps. The sketches he drew revealed a world that was so full of holes and blemished by hills it seemed like the land itself was rotten meat. He was able to see rolling hills, trees, the swamps that cover the whole land, creatures roaming about and an entire continent void of any trees at all. There was a single city isolated within a lake at the center of a massive island, and the general size of the whole Gate was so immense there may not be an end.

Terrain

Swamps - All the world's a swamp. Gross! It smells really bad, like rancid meat and cheese, with some old moldy fruits and vegetables, and some mildew and something acidic. The horrendous smell in this gate is incredibly distracting, hurts the mind and causes headaches.

With this smell there comes a reason for the smell, there’s something foul everywhere. Poisons, diseases, spores, toxins of all kinds fill the air and cause some debilitating effects for the unprepared.
Every hour there is a chance one could have been inflicted with some illness. Symptoms of preexisting conditions will be exacerbated and new diseases will also surface. I've seen folks come down with Paralysis, Lung Failure, Blindness, general confusion about what's going on, and even Death.

Hills and Cliffs - Throughout the land there are many hills and cliffs dotting the landscape which are still just as drenched in fetid, wretched swamp as anywhere else. The cliffs overhang small, shallow caves which one could hide in, or perhaps what something else could already be hiding in. The hills are sometimes gigantic mushrooms which could release spores into the air. I've lost many a companion to the likes of these spores.

"The hills shuddered beneath us. Most of us had been through this before on previous expeditions, but the new guy wasn't prepared. We tried to warn him before we set out, but his cocky attitude had him going just like any other day. We all stopped as the shuddering began, and he continued and announced his complete lack of fear. The spores burst out in all directions. We were fast to hold our breath and dodge as best we could until the spores settled. He had perished, though, another rotting corpse to add to the stench and slime around us, or perhaps another walking corpse for us to fight again and again."

Mushrooms - Massive and in the distance, they're part of the horizon almost like a city skyline. Some very big ones will also be nearby to show the scale, one might walk past some solid beige or cream-colored mass thinking its a tree or a cliff only to look up and see some absurdly tall and massive mushroom.

Smaller ones also can be found, tree size, bush size, normal mushroom size too. They’re everywhere!
Mycelium also lines the the floor breaking down different plants and animals, almost like being underground, are we being digested too?

Ponds, Rivers and Lakes of Filth -

Noxious Chasms -

Me'kiah'brem'or, The City of Rot

In the Northwest of the recorded portion of The Rotting Gate is a city. This city is located deep within a massive crater and has been flooded with a fetid, wretched, foul-smelling sludge. Some smaller buildings managed to "survive" whatever disaster struck this place, though they are still in complete disrepair and inhabited only by a mindless variety of zombie or even beasts and other abominations. Much larger structures seemed to have had a far better time withstanding the rot as they seem to stand proudly at the center. What secrets they hold are still a mystery to us, and most of our attempts to reach them have ended in disaster.

"The streets and buildings seemed almost intentionally arranged despite also appearing in a completely random and inefficient design. I guess what I mean is...it isn't the way you would expect a city to be if you've been in one most of your life, though something about it seemed incredibly deliberate. The "streets" that we could see through the slime or that rose above it thanks to the hill-filled environment were all just as filled with holes as the rest of this realm, and those holes were of course often filled with muck of some variety. We had prepared for any airborne toxins, fluids, spores and anything else encountered until this point, and we had even gone back after discovering this place to commission a special rebreather in case we needed to go diving through the sludge. The phrase "Oh, I see...so you're just as lost as we are." is not normally something one would consider a frightening sentence. Completely mundane, though when our intern muttered that, well, we became quite concerned. Who the devil was he talking to? We had encountered the sentient Zombies of this land before and were aware of how helpful they could be if in the proper mood, but there was nobody on the same block as us. He took a step forward and the ground swallowed him whole, he just vanished straight into the road without warning. We pressed on for a little bit, hoping to be able to explore at least ONE of the impressive towers, but our curiosity would eventually prove to be quite the strenuous thing. The first building we happened upon had at its base what must have been a bookstore long ago. The books were all badly damaged from what I gathered with a cursory glance, but seated at a table enjoying a cup of coffee was the very intern we had lost earlier that day! He was chatting up some unseen spectre, and his slouched frame provided some vision of his now hole-ridden flesh. He seemed incapable of seeing us, and his conversation was anything but helpful...though perhaps it will eventually be something worth looking in to. If his damaged mind is anything to trust: The secret to this place is in a courtyard somewhere. A tree of black bark, leaves and fruit. A masked individual resides there, and she is apparently one to be avoided at all costs. Though the fruit her tree bares has a pale white color when sliced in to, and the secrets it holds can help one understand everything. It could very well be the key to finally knowing what this place is, why it is, what happened, and then our research can come to an end. Indeed, if we have any Hope of getting out of here with more information, then it'll be attached to that tree.