An extensive area of very treacherous wetlands which stretch between the banks of the Nesser and Duntide rivers.
The Nesser River would be the preferred means of travel between the Nyr Dyv and Sea of Gearnat if not for the Gnatmarsh, nominally claimed by Nyrond. It is still well traveled except in the summer when insect swarms are horrific. Desperate swamp-folk pole about on flat-bottomed boats, fishing and trapping. The leader of a witch coven in the swamp, the so-called Weird of Gnatmarsh, has not been seen since being defeated by the archmage Warnes Starcoat some years ago.
The living conditions in the Gnatmarsh are desperate and dangerous. Local folk set off in their small, often untrustworthy punts with sharpened wooden spears, snares, nets, and a few real weapons. Many fall prey to the lizard men, troglodytes, and alligators of the marsh, and to human bandits desperate enough to dwell within the disease-ridden miasmas of this grim place. Often, sales of their produce take place by night outside of town of Callistor, in secluded barns and farms, so as to avoid taxes and confiscations by the 200 militia. These swamp dwellers deal only on a strict barter basis.
The local soldiers are supposed to patrol the northern margins of the marsh, but they hardly venture there now. As a result, monsters emerge from the swamp without folk being warned or the militia dealing with them. An otyugh recently claimed a dozen men before it was slain, and other creatures feast on human flesh these days. There are repeated rumors of a green dragon lairing here, and the lizard men of the deeper marsh are very cunning, using traps, snares and spears anointed with poison made from a purplegrey fungus.
Wild rumors of many kinds, such as bronze-skinned troglodytes possessed of exceptional strength, two-headed marsh trolls, sunken lich’s tombs, and swamp water elementals (controlled by a magical stone) that choke and poison victims, circulate about the marsh. Perhaps some of these rumors could lead to adventures.
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