So I haven't really run anything in this setting, I've just kind of been working on this bit of worldbuilding in my free time. I may develop dungeons and specific towns at a later point, but not for a while I think.
Introduction: The Damp Plains are the southwestern lands controlled by the Bog Person Confederation. The Plains are hillier and slightly higher in altitude than the Bog Lands, resulting in a massive tallgrass prairie free of the annual flooding in Squee to the North. The Damp Plains are contained by the Mud River to the East, the Far River to the West, and the Tortoise Herd Mountains to the South. The soil is similarly low in nutrients like in Squee and there is also very little rainfall, but the water table is still fairly high from the flooding rivers that surround the plains, making them quite damp throughout the year. The bog people of the Damp Plains have always needed similar survival methods as their relatives in Squee, resulting in a relatively similar lifestyle despite the lack of annual floods. The tall grasses of the plains make visibility on the ground difficult for even the tall bog people, and in many ways the plains are even more treacherous and difficult to traverse than the bog lands.
Geographic History: The Damp Plains are on a higher part of the continental crust, diverting its containing rivers to either side. Despite this, thousands of years of floods have forced water through the sandy, salty soil, producing a high water table that the salt-tolerant plants of the plains are adapted to exploit. Very little rain makes it across the continent to the Damp Plains, so this groundwater is all that is available to plants in the area. The tall grasses stabilize the top layer of soil, preventing any serious erosion. Although the plains are free of annual flooding from the rivers that surround it, that does not make building in the plains easy. The loose, damp soil is very deep before hitting bedrock, making traditional foundations difficult to build, and water tends to seep out of bare ground, making stilt houses the most affordable option. Despite the poor soils, a diverse array of antelope, wild horses, wildebeest, and even water buffalo can be found in the area, hunted by packs of land gators and viscous leopards.
The Bog People: A species of tall, bipedal salamanders known as the Bog People. Despite what outsiders might view as a crude society with a low level of technology, the bog people have a complex and thriving culture and government which oversees the homeland of the bog people. This matriarchal society is generally peaceful, but invaders tend to meet their ends more than anything else. Bog people seem content to stay in their ancestral homelands, and they seem to want others to do the same.
The bog people of the Damp Plains tend to view the plains spirits less favorably than their relatives in Squee view the bog spirits. Bog people of the damp plains often do the bare minimum to maintain the ability to make new buildings and fortifications through rituals and worship. The plains spirits, luckily, seem much more relaxed and willing to help out than the bog spirits of Squee, usually having very few customs they want observed. Some bog people living close to plentiful sources of wood, a rarity on the plains and almost unheard of in the bog lands, are even able to build and maintain their communities without the help of spirits and have left their old practices behind. This kind of irreverence for the spirits of the land can be shocking to bog people from the bog lands, and causes much tension at the Queen Mothers’ Council.
While stilt houses are still useful and common, bog people tend to have larger settlements on the plains where food is more plentiful and the spirits are more welcoming. In turn, matriarchs and queen mothers of the plains tend to be more progressive and welcoming to outsiders, which shows in the towns and cities they run. Without flooding, nursery pools do not need to be on hills, although they are still walled and found in the centers of settlements. Adult bog people rarely get the chance to swim and must regularly bathe in mud pits to keep their skin from drying out too much. The high water table of the damp plains is useful for this as it makes mud pits relatively easy to construct anywhere on the plains. They tend to see the bog people of Squee as stuck up and rude.
Rough Timeline
4,000 years ago- bog people from Squee first settle the Damp Plains
2,000 years ago- exiles from an ancient snake person kingdom invade and conquer the bog lands and the damp plains, subjugating the bog people of both regions
1,500 years ago- the bog people develop a relationship with the spirits of the plains and wetlands around them and use the powers of the spirits to drive out the snake people
400 years ago- agents from the First Empire arrive for the first time to establish diplomatic and trade relations between them and the Bog Person Confederacy
Major Factions
Most of the Damp Plains are controlled by the bog people, but there are several other groups that call the plains home. Most of the inhabitants of the plains are actually quite dangerous, even the bog people, to outsiders and the unprepared, so it is often best to be aligned with one of the more powerful groups in the Damp Plains to guarantee some amount of safety.
The Bog Person Confederation- Led by the Queen Mothers’ Council, they maintain a positive relationship with the plains spirits to be able to maintain their peaceful way of life in the Damp Plains. The bog people of the plains tend to be pregressive thinking but not very mindful of their relationship with the plains spirits. Bog people maintain many towns and even a few cities of stilt buildings that keep the floors of buildings from rotting or turning to mud. The Queen Mothers’ Council meets in a secret location in the middle of Squee, forcing queen mothers of the Plains to travel long distances. The council’s policies also tend to favor bog people in Squee over the plains, which bothers most plains residents. While they are generally welcoming to outsiders, they generally look down on anyone who needs their help traversing the Damp Plains, which is most people who aren’t bog people.
Bog Person Secessionists- Some of the families in the far west of the Damp Plains have taken such issue with the dominance of the bog-living bog people that hey have stopped sending representatives to the Queen Mothers’ Council and have stopped following certain practices that are only useful to the bog people in Squee. While they still pay taxes and allow free travel between their lands and the rest of the confederation, it feels like only a matter of time before they try to break off completely. These are the families who rely on their relationship with spirits the least and see little reason to follow rules made by bog people on the other side of the confederation.
Bog Person Towns- Bog person stilt towns and cities tend to have a lot of influence over the immediate area. The surrounding lands are where the bog people of a given town hunt and gather for food and supplies. Towns are all built around one or more walled and guarded nursery pools. These pools are also where the matriarchs and queen mother have their homes. Buildings are usually made from magically grown plants, built with the help of the plains spirits. Gaining the favor of these plains spirits to be able to build settlements in the first place requires the inhabitants of each town to observe certain customs and take part in regular rituals, the details of which vary greatly between settlements. Some areas have much more hospitable spirits than others so some towns merely have to hold an annual festival and abstain from certain foods, while others have hundreds of arbitrary taboos and weekly acts of ceremonial worship. Every town is controlled by a single family of bog people, with many families controlling several towns with several matriarchs serving under a single queen mother for the entire family. These groups of settlements populated by a single family form de facto provinces within the Bog Person Confederation.
First Empire Diplomats- The First Empire Diplomatic Corps exists to maintain positive relationships with the territories that border and trade with the First Empire. They set up and maintain embassies whenever possible, and they ensure a direct line of communication between the leaders of other territories and the First Emperor. While the empire is not currently focused on expanding its borders, it still values the work of the diplomatic corps because a good relationship with its neighbors will make future conquests that much easier. Any attempt to conquer the Damp Plains is centuries away, however, and it is unclear if the diplomats of today are even aware of this long-term plan.
First Empire Merchants- Merchants from the First Empire are civilians with a license from the First Emperor to leave the empire and travel abroad to sell the excess of the empire and bring back exotic goods for the people of the First Empire to buy. Some merchants are more reputable than others, but they all must meet a certain standard of trustworthiness to maintain their merchant's licenses. They are mostly concerned with making money and retiring with a small fortune as soon as possible, so merchants try not to spend too much time in a single place. Merchants tend to know many local rumors and can be great resources for those looking for unorthodox money-making opportunities.
Snake Cultists- In the many years since the snake people were ousted from Squee, a strange religion has arisen surrounding the secretive oppressors. These cultists believe that the ancient snake people who conquered Squee and the Damp Plains left mainstream snake person society to venerate an ancestral snake spirit. The cultists also believe in and worship this ancestral snake spirit, as they believe that the spirit is destined to one day swallow the world, consuming all who did not help it and sparing its loyal worshippers. The bog people and humans who join this cult eschew their former culture and join the other cultists who live and worship in ancient snake person ruins. These ruins, built by the ancient snake people who conquered Squee, are seen as holy sites built by the founders of the cultists' religion. Cultists see these ancient people as demigods, gifted with power for their decision to leave home and establish their own lands in the name of their new god. It is worth noting that modern snake people have records from the time of the conquest of Squee which indicate the snake people who took over Squee and the Damp Plains were exiled for attempted revolution in the name of a false god and had no exceptional influence or power before their exile.
