Grosden Swamp

After Aerenal collided with mainland Argones in a cataclysmic event known as the Great Collide, Grosden Swamp had little contact with the Verdant Realm (aside from being the location of a handful of side-quests) until a few hundred years ago, when a House Ningle expedition made two discoveries:  the region contained valuable Dragonshard deposits, and a number of clans had manifested the Dragonmark of Finding.  This led to the foundation of House Tharashk, as these clans joined together to master the economic potential of their Dragonmark and leverage their mineral wealth.

Grosden Swamp isn't a nation. No one voice speaks for the clans and tribes, and most of the tribes have no interest in dealing with outsiders.  House Tharashk is the largest faction in the region, and their city of Zarash'ak on the eastern coast is the center for commerce.

House Tharashk is the main point of contact between Grosden Swamp and the rest of Argones.  House Tharashk aside, the region remains a collection of tribes and cultists following their ancient traditions in the shadows of the swamps.

The untamed marshlands of Grosden Swamp are filled with mysteries.  Relics of the Daelkyr rest undisturbed in the depths of the swamps, along with foul monsters and Druid shrines.

The Swamp is the birthplace of the druidic tradition of the Gatekeepers.  Long ago, this sect defeated the vile Daelkyr; today, its last champions continue to protect the land from aberrations and other extraplanar threats.

Even in defeat, the Daelkyr sowed seeds of madness in Grosden Swamp.  Followers of the Cults of the Dragon Below remain scattered across the region.  Some of these cults work with Mind Flayer "allies" and other aberrations.  Others have no evil intent but are driven by dangerous delusions.

Not all residents of Grosden Swamp who carry the mark of House Tharashk choose to ally with the house itself.  Some half-orcs with the Mark of Finding are children of the Swamp with a strong ties to the house; however, others may be scions of a small tribe of hunters, proud of their independence and suspicious of the houses.  Their ties to the Swamp may be distant because they were born to a family that left years ago.

Most of the inhabitants of Grosden Swamp have a mystical view of the world, beliefs shaped by the traditions of the Gatekeepers and the madness of the daelkyr.  They typically feel that the people of the Kingdoms beholden to the Treaty of Thronehold are blinded by their civilized ways.  They have heard the truth in the voices of croaking frogs and seen it in the shadows shifting on the water.  Whether they're loyal to the Gatekeepers, the Sovereign Host, or the Cults of the Dragon Below, superstitions inform their paths.

The people of Grosden Swamp are split into two distinct cultures.  The clans blend the traditions of Human and Orc, building towns and working with steel.  The ways of civilization aren't that strange to those raised in one of the clans; they've seen the city of Zarash'ak and worked with House Tharashk.  By contrast, the Swamp tribes maintain traditions that predate humanity.  As nomadic hunter-gatherers, they don't work metals; they make their tools from stone, hide, wood, and bone.  Characters from these tribes might be the first of their people to leave the swamps.  They leave their people and begin the struggle of adapting to a post-Last War Lonn.

The clans of Grosden Swamp primarily live in small towns and villages, their huts raised above the swamps on stilts.  Grosden Swamp contains many manifest zones tied to Xoriat and Kythri, The Planes of Madness and Chaos.  Time moves strangely in places in the deep swamps, which twists mundane beasts and plants into strange shapes.  Daelkyr ruins linger in these areas, remnants of the ancient war against the Goblins and Orcs that once dominated the land.

Grosden Swamp isn't a nation, and the region wasn't recognized by the Treaty of Thronehold.  Most of its inhabitants have little interest in the outside world.  Tribes in Grosden Swamp don't know the names or number of the nations beyond the swamps, let alone that they were at war; however, as House Tharashk gains power and influence in the world beyond the Swamp, it has increased its presence in its homeland.  The house has expanded Zarash'ak dramatically over the last decade and is working on transforming other Towns into Cities.  This has caused tension with a number of tribes; House Tharashk's mining operations and its urban expansion always run the risk of disrupting Gatekeeper seals and unleashing ancient evils bound beneath the swamp once again.