Post by Head Moderator on Jan 28, 2012 4:31:18 GMT -5
ABOUT THE KINGDOM
The kingdom of Madder is a coastal kingdom, fishing is their major export, though they also are known for their ales and whiskey. It is a dark, murky, misty place that gets a great bit of rain. Numerous swamps and marshes dot the landscape. It is a kingdom rife with inner conflict, as noble families fight for power and to stay in the good graces of the Serpent-King. Many powerful criminal organizations of the lands also find home in this kingdom.
The kingdom of Madder is divided into numerous parishes that are ruled over by a noble family who obtains the Seat. Fighting often occurs between families in these parishes and there are a few well known rivalries that will more than likely never seen an end. The main parishes include a main city and the villages around it.
"Bury me on my feet, I have spent my entire life on my knees." - Madder Saying
SERPENT GOD NIT GIA ZUDOK
(info here)
ABOUT THE ROYALS & NOBLES
The Serpent-King of Madder is worshipped as the incarnation of the ancient serpent god Nit Gia Zudok, and everyone within Madder is expected to worship him above all others. You may worship the other gods and goddesses you honor, but above all the Serpent-King is the highest. This has brought hatred of Madder to an all time high from the other realms of the land, as most feel that the Six Primal Gods should be worshipped above all.
The current Serpent-King was 18 years old when he became King of Madder, when his father succumbed to a mysterious illness. He had been engaged since a child to Brigitte Lorraine, daughter of a high-ranking noble, so they were quickly married. Brigitte was soon pregnant with her first child, the Crown Prince Louis.
Serpent-King Rohan Cheverny (54)
Queen Brigitte Lorraine Cheverny (52)
Crown Prince Louis Rohan Cheverny (35)
Prince Masson Dumont Cheverny (30)
Princess Dimante Therese Cheverny (28)
Prince Estienne Anton Cheverny (25)
Princess Antoinette Rachelle Cheverny (23)
Vidame - Gaston Ignace
In charge of all secular activities of the royal house.
Lady of Dark Threads - Lady Noe
She acts as spiritual advisor to the Serpent-King and is always of the Shaman profession.
High Priest - Varian
There is ever only one High Priest. He is in charge of the religious activities of the royal house.
High Priestess - Naeva
There is ever only one High Priestess. She aids the High Priest in all duties.
Priests and Priestesses
Head Courtesan
This vishkanya courtesan oversees the training of all the other courtesans.
Courtesans
The courtesans of the Madder Court are all members of the vishkanya race, and serve the royal family and entertain the court.
Madder Celebrations
Yule Tide
During the first week when the lowest winter level of tidal range occurs, called the Yule Tide, Madder holds a day long winter celebration. Gifts are given to each other, and feasts are shared.
Lanternalia
Midwinter, a parade of boats overloaded with lanterns makes it's way down the rivers and bayous of Madder.
Magnolia Blossom Ball
Held in Delving in mid-spring, it is the high society dance of the year. Nobles from all over Madder flood the city, in order for their daughters and nieces and cousins to be 'presented' to society at this ball. Many criminal organizations take time to have meetings during this week-long celebration since so many of their operatives are in town.
Fruit Festivals
Held in summer, this celebrates all the various fruits including the strawberry (held in high regard) all over Madder.
Day of the Dead
What was once a somber celebration of those that have come before in autumn has become a night of terror as the undead stream from the deep swamps and forests and overrun the villages. The Mourners are very busy during this time as it is well known that those that die nearing the Day of the Dead have more of a chance to arise as an undead.
"Weeds never perish." - Madder Saying
IMPORTANT CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES
Green = Natural Places
Purple = Interesting Creature-Made Places, Dungeons
Maroon = Religious Spots
NINESAY PARISH
Seat of Power: House Bordeaux
Current Leader: Comte Jean Bordeaux
The Ninesay Parish is for all intents and purposes it's own little world. Rarely do any of the nobles travel to the lower reaches of Madder, making them nearly immune to the in-fighting and troubles that plague the nobility there. As long as they pay their taxes, which are substantial, they are left alone. Shipping is extremely important and Greenville has a very good relationship with several other lands for shipping.
"Even a madman is right sometimes." - Madder Saying
FOULSPAWN LAGOON
FOULSPAWN SWAMP
This swamp is quite expansive and it has never been fully explored and mapped. The swamp grows by a hundred feet or so every year, though the reason this happens has not been discovered as of yet. It is also the home of a green hag covey, though their exact residence has yet to be discovered by the adventurers that have attempted to eradicate them from the area. Demons and all manner of monsters such as stirges, hydras, lizardfolk and trolls and even a black dragon or two make this swamp their home; along with all the common swamp flora and fauna such as poisonous snakes and various types of insects.
**Secret: Why does it grow? Because it is fed by a portal to the Elemental Plane of Water.
Big Frog Lake
Big Frog Lake was here before the swamp was formed, originally created by a falling comet's impact. The lake outer edges are quite shallow, forming mudflats during the dry seasons. The center is very deep. The bottom extends to 725 feet at its middle. The area is home to a monstrous frog. There are some lizardfolk tribes that live on floating reed islands in the lake, maintained by adding fresh reeds to the top as the bottom rots. Alligators are rare in Big Frog Lake, those that spill over from the swamp are swallowed by the colossal frog. Called "Phantom Frog" because it's inky black skin makes it invisible at night, it's shrill croak, often heard after dark, have earned it the name "Black Banshee". The extinct toad folk named it "Elzefrugg". Some say Elzefrugg speaks to those it finds amusing. It rarely attacks humanoids.
The Deepswamp
The Deepswamp is in the interior of Foulspawn Swamp, as one gets closer to the Dimmet. Here is where you will begin to find monstrous spiders, wasps, bees and ants. Huge vipers and constrictors slither the area, eating monstrous toads and giant frogs. Gargantuan alligators stalk dire deer. An elasmosaurus dinosaur crushes a path, but gives berth to the massive black dragon residing within. If visitors brave the Deepswamp they will find more intelligent horrors as well; ettercaps, mire giants, stirges and shambling mounds. Hungry scrag trolls might be hunting lizardfolk, or an aquatic ankheg shucks out the body of it's latest kill only to be devoured by the monstrous carrion eaters. It is in the Deepswamp that the Hag Covey lives, as well as the cave of a medusa, and a water naga.
Angel Bayou
This weird location is at once eerie and awe inspiring. Angel Swamp gets its name from the omnipresent white color of all manner of plants and animals. No green can be seen. What causes the white color is unknown, but the locals believe it is a holy place. What is generally not known is that if you eat a part of a white plant or animal, you will turn white as a sheet for 7 days. It is not a loss of pigmentation, you gain the actual white color of skin, hair, nails, everything. Eating this for a full year turns you permanently white.
The Dimmet
At the heart of the dense swamp lies an area of evil that perverts nature into wicked monsters, dire, voracious animals, and twisted and dangerous fauna. A sunken city is said to exist within the Dimmet, perhaps holding the key to the existence of the swamp itself.
Zeitgeist
The Zeitgeist is a green crystal monolith, grown in place by druids long ago. The magic of the monolith is so potent, even the most powerful creatures avoid the spot and go to great lengths to post reminders and warnings along known paths to the structure. The towering tourmaline monolith produces an effect that anyone within 300 feet feels unless they pass a willpower DC35. The monolith forces those it affects to watch a scene of horror from the past as it replays out before them. The negotiation, capture and subsequent genocide of an entire village of farmers and their families down to the last innocent child by the necronians. Key players that were in the original, real scenario are acted out by those in the spell effect, but no damage incurred is real since it is a illusion. The creatures not affected (rare) would see a group of creatures acting out scenarios in a circular empty field surrounding the monolith.
The memories of all the events remains in the minds of the participants when it is over, thus, the Zeitgeist is a living testament to those that died.
Topiary Garden
There is an area of the Dimmet that evil does not touch, a bizarre topiary garden of fanciful animal shapes. Normal animals seem attracted to the place. At the center of this grove is a massive oak tree that is home to a group of dryads- Alfieres, Chiladis, Flaxen, Halise, Loroposa, Margansa, and Ouwree. It is they that cut the topiary, and there is also a treant that lives in the grove that helps protect the area. Some whisper the topiaries are former trespassers changed into topiaries resembling their old bodies. This may have started as the dryads sometimes animate the topiaries for their own enjoyment.
"Turn your face to the sun, and the shadows fall behind you." - Madder Saying
KITTAI
Kittai is famous for a unique event that happens at every full moon. Thousand of Moths swarm the village streets. Nobody knows where they come from, or why they appear only when the moon is full. Some say, that Kittai is blessed, others say that it’s an entirely natural event.The moths lay their eggs in the nearby swamp and that they only hatch and reproduce every new month. The speculations are many, but the fact is that Kittai has become a popular place to be at full moon. A shrine has been made in honor of this "miracle", and pilgrims come from around the lands to see it.
The Hare's Hair [common]
Inn and tavern of Kittai.
The Swamp Shaman's Circle
In the area around Kittai, none of the locals have any pets, such as dogs or cats. Horses are also all but unknown and the locals distrust any animals that are not specifically livestock that are brought into the area. Domesticated animals have a cumulative chance of turning on their owner/master and trying to kill them. There is a half-ogre shaman named Earl who has cursed the area so that the hounds and hawks, horses and animal servants of humans will turn and bite the hand that feeds them. The shaman did this because his spouse was pulled down and killed by the local lord's hunting dogs. The shaman is very powerful, but feels his vengeance has been wrought on the humans and no longer pursues the avenue of revenge. If pressed, the shaman can animate human and ogre zombies and skeletons to defend himself as well as rousing spirits of the swamp. The locals are terrified of the shaman.
"Rain does not fall on one roof alone." - Madder Saying
MUDHOLE
NINESAY
Ninesay is a dark, gloomy, misty little hamlet near the Foulspawn Swamp. It's occupants fish and hunt the swamp on a daily basis. It is the people of Ninesay that first noticed that it is slowly creeping and growing bigger each year.
Swamp Mama's Inn (Good)
Owned by a halfling former barmaid called Mama Mae, she inherited it from her husband when he died. The inn is two stories high and is made completely of cypress wood. There are eight rooms to let in the inn.
Elph's Scroll & Ink
Elph, a half-orc craftsman, owns this shop that produces reed paper, alligatorskin vellum, and ink. The reed paper is like papyrus. He also makes brushes from the reeds. Elph mixes colored inks using local flowers and exotic inks.
Hedwiz Charms
This cypress shack is owned by the halfling, Merleaux Hedwiz, and she sells some juju magic items, potions and protective scrolls (from reptiles, insects and disease). Visitors are treated to outrageous prices.
Kensington Cartographer
The arrogant Kensington runs this map shop in Ninesay, just off the main market area. The cartography here is highly precise so even outsiders seek these maps. Kensington uses his family wealth to hire scouts for the Deepswamp in an attempt to map every nook and cranny.
Ogarsh's Pelts and Skins
Ogarsh is in-law to the famous trapper, Red Jabberjaws. Her pelts and skins are expertly stripped from raccoons, black bears (expensive), squirrels (cheap), deer, and giant toads. Upon request she can craft any animal into finely stitched clothing, provided enough hide is available.
Simoneaux Mill
Lady Simoneaux produces sugar from the sugarcane grown around Bedvyr, and flour from rice grown in nearby fields. Molasses and brown sugar are also made here. The bakery downstairs is known for it's sweetbreads, scones, and delicious tarts baked by Lady Simoneaux.
DARKLEA SWAMP
Darklea Swamp is far more peaceful, and more densely inhabited than the Foulspawn. It is only as dangerous as ignorance would allow, in a swamp of this sort. Alligators and black bears hunt amidst the oaks hung with moss, tupelo, bald cypress and hackberry trees eating white tailed deer, raccoons, opossum, skunks, frogs, crabs, fish and other common animals of various sizes. The alligators very rarely attack people. The people of the swamp harvest swamp moss, crawfish, shrimp, crab and oysters while avoiding cottonmouth and copperhead snakes, biting flies, black widow spiders, wasps and angry bees. Mosquitoes are eaten by dragonflies and butterflies flit from flower to flower. Avoiding the dangers of the Darklea merely requires knowledge of the environment. Visits to the Darklea by outsiders should not be undertaken without at least a Guide.
GREENVILLE
A large seaport town situated on the outskirts of the Darklea Swamp.
ROGBIN WATERS
A small town within the Darklea Swamp.
STONANS MIRE
Small town within the Darklea Swamp.
BLULISP
A large settlement of peaceful lizardfolk.
"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent beneath it." - Madder Saying
SOUTH HILLS PARISH
Seat of Power: House Girard
Current Leader: Comte Algernon Girard
South Hills Parish encompasses Southend and Westlea Marsh and all the surrounding salt marshes and villages in the area.
SOUTHEND
(Secret) Temple of Dark Deceit
The clerics of the evil god Dan'Zeran, a very small cabal of worshippers, gather at this secret temple to worship the god of pain and torture. Followers are known as the "Children of the Dark". Sacrifices are sometimes tortured for as long as a year before being killed. They are led by an utterly demented man known as Dallon. Dallon's greatest wish is to bring Dan'Zeran back into this world, and he has raised his eldest son to be Dan'Zeran's vessel. His youngest son (they were twins) is being groomed to be a sacrifice, and has been tortured since birth. They are both in their mid-teens now. The eldest son has been the source of the youngest's torture since they were six years old. Some say that the youngest enjoys the torture by now, and has plans on getting rid of his brother so he can be the vessel.
WESTLEA
A seaport town built on and around the salt marsh. The land is rather unforgiving and one might even wonder why the settlers chose this place, but the fishing and crabbing tell that story well enough. The town itself is built upon piers and stilts and rope and wood bridges link one section to another. The marsh and coastline coexists with the city quite nicely in this regard. It is a mecca for merchants and a stronghold for the Runik criminal organization.
Stilts Inn
This three story inn is built atop the pier, and just a glance at the establishment might leave one wondering how it does not fall over. But it has existed for many a decade and never fallen yet. The bottom floor is a rather rowdy tavern area, with several different level of rooms to let on the second floor. The innkeeper's family lives on the third floor.
VACHERIE
The citizens of Vacherie have a symbiotic relationship with their giant spiders. Above the tall streets is a loose canopy of web amongst which dark shadows can be seen scuttling; the occasional hairy leg descends into visibility to tweak the strands, the occasional mandible to apply more glue. The spiders prevent the vicious fangflies from infesting the city (one only has to look at the diseased, bitten peasants who live in the outlying villages to see what fangflies can do) and the people provide the spiders with extra nutrition in the form of convicts. The words which strike fear into a condemned heart: "Take him to the webs".
LILYPAD
Town in South Hills Parish.
WESTLEA MARSH
A fallen necronian civilization that predated the elves rests in this ugly marsh. Its only remnants are ornate buildings made of glass as strong as steel. Those who have seen these structures seldom live long, however, for the swamp is thick with pestilence and plague. The ruins hold gold, and strange creatures, which draw adventurers despite the dangers.
Rot Bog
This is one of those places that even the swampfolk do not ever visit on purpose. It is a native ossuary destroyed by an influx of water so many centuries ago. The covering mud melted away and became a bog, leaving over thirty swamp mummies intact. Some of these corpses are jutting at odd angles, half out of the ground, upside down, or buried up to their heads - a weird sight to most. A group of bayou halflings attempted to rebury the ancient dead, but the dead put a halt to it. Unfortunately, the native mummies, once kings of power, had cursed the bog. Any creature coming into physical contact with the bog is inflicted with mummy rot (DC17 Endurance). All five halflings contracted the disease, three died horribly before they could get cured. The survivors called the area rot bog in their retelling of stories and it stuck.
DRAGON SWAMP
These swamps are avoided at all costs by all but the most foolhardy locals. They talk about dragons dwelling in the depths of the swamp, large enough to take a horse in a single bite. There are also rumors of deranged marshfolk also living in the swamps, serving the dragons. The truth is more simple, there are dire crocodiles living in the swamps, easily two to three times the size of conventional crocs. The crocodiles are territorial, and have no issue with eating humans, horses, orcs, or anything that comes into their area. Only the hardy marshfolk have learned to live around them.
Dragon Swamp holds a similar ancient civilization as Westlea. Old stories say that the two city-states quarreled and unleashed foul magic upon each other, both on the advice of an old woman who may have been an agent or manifestation of an evil deity.
Serpent Island
This is a small, holy island covered by thousands of golden lancehead vipers, the most poisonous snake in the world. They are an orange color. This island is sacred to the Serpent-King religion.
SHAMBLING HILLS
MORTE
Morte is nestled in the midst of the Shambling Hills, and it is built on layers of crypts and tombs that are far more opulent and majestic than the city that covers them. There is trouble: something is torturing the dead of the city, and driving them to madness and rage. Now, 500 years of honored ancestors are trickling into the city above, seeking blood and pain and death.
MIDDLING PARISH
Seat of Power: House Michel
Current Leader: Comte Bellamy Michel
HIGHFOG HOLLOW
Highfog Hollow is a moderately sized town in central Madder. It sees as much if not more rain than the coast, creating very dark and overgrown forests around the town. This community is home to many noble families, who live in several of the manors on the southeast end of town. Visitors are warned to respect anyone dressed in finery, since the families are powerful and unafraid of proving this to anyone.
Eventide Wood
This large, tangled and overgrown forest is so thick it is nearly impassable. It is the haunt of stirges, predatory trees, giant spiders, owlbears, intelligent fungi, and enormous snakes among other creepy critters. It is widely visited for the many kinds of rare plants that grow there prized by herbalists, spellcasters and alchemists. A few ruined and overgrown villages exist in the interior of the forest, long abandoned to the unusual overgrowth of the wood.
Tupelo Bridge
This is an unusual bridge of ancient origin, spanning across in an arch 60 feet high and nearly 200 feet long.
The Oozing Brook
The upper reaches of the Oozing Brook wind down from the Bristleback Mountains towards the Foulspawn Swamp and Foulspawn Lagoon. Above Tupelo Bridge, the river's water is potable, but many intelligent creatures avoid it anyway for fear of consuming "Foulspawn Water." The Oozing Brook is slow and turbid, making its way along a wide and marshy bottomland and leaving small swamps and oxbow lakes in its passing. Black caimans (crocodiles) and swimming vipers are the most common predators along the river, but many monsters haunt its banks as well.
SHORP
More a lumber camp than a town, cypress and oak trees are felled and sent throughout Madder from here.
GRIG POLDER
Town.
DELVING PARISH
Seat of Power: Royal House Cheverny
Current Leader: Bishop-King Rohan Durant Cheverny
Delving Parish is the seat of rule for the entire kingdom.
DELVING
Delving is a dark and seedy coastal metropolis of gothic architecture peppered with gargoyles and other interesting embellishments. It is the capital of Madder. It has a temperate rainy climate.
At random times during the year, the entire city throws a massive party that usually gets out of hand, and parts of the city have even burned down during these celebrations. It rains nearly all the time in Delving, and when it is not raining the streets are foggy and dark.
The city is broken up into six wards; Castle Ward, Black Pearl Ward, Blanc Ward, Saloppe Ward, Low Ward, High Ward.
Saloppe Ward: Poorest.
The center of the Cult around the Serpent-King is focused in Delving.
Delving Opera House
This building has ivy clinging to the walls, and has been renovated numerous times over the decades. Stairs spiral up either side between marble pillars, where heavy wooden doors remind that this place of higher performance was once a temple. Within, rafters criss-cross in beautiful cedar, while the stone walls were laden with marble and bronze statues of great heroes, and now, theatrically portrayed stars as well. Continual flames light great chandeliers with colors changing with the preferred necessity, and where there was once an altar platform a stage now sits. Boxes fill an entire row behind and slightly above a mezzanine balcony, and wraparound stairs ascend the corners of the house to aid performers, servants, and patrons alike. The bottom floor had seats crammed tight where pews once rested, lines of violet carpeting spreading out like the spokes of a wheel, space filled with seats. A rose glass skylight dome cast an easily altered glow upon the stage, and the roof-top had recessed, level areas which allowed an overlooking view of Delving with doves and musicians as company.
The box itself was a semicircular balcony with spidersilk curtains facing the stage so that there was one-way viewing of the performance while maintaining interior privacy, and thick, velvet curtains of violet tied off to form a wall near as thick as a tent, with light chimes brushed by servants who would request entry without a word from the privileged guests within the establishment. The seats were plush, couches and dais', with smoked glass serving tables and dancing lights spreading within for ambient effect.
Seablue Inne [Noble]
A local inne and restaurant where the wealthier of Madder congregate.
The Rotten Bastard [Fair]
Local inn and tavern, resembles a jail more than a watering hole, but very popular!
Old Sul Sundries
Anything and everything you need! From sewing thread, to hard tack, saddles and herbs, tin cups to glue.
Potions and Notions
Potions and curatives, herbal remedies, magical supplies.
Imports Shop
Wines, meads, gems, pearls, and other offerings from around the known world!
The Compass Rose
Nautical Maps and Supplies
Fancy's Fresh Foods
Fancy Farflinger, a halfling, has a great many contacts with the merchants, and her shop carries just about anything one can get fresh or nearly fresh by land or sea. Including tropical fruits, though they are very expensive.
Seafarer's Union Travel Agency
Book your trip on a ship.
REDWALD
A known haven for pirates who can't dock in the larger towns.
Thievery and intrigue are the daily bread of this mercantile city, primarily between the two major noble families residing in Redwald These two families are unified only in their desire to control the Duskwatch and dominate the city's trade and manufacturing. Small battles in the streets between bravos of various factions are common.
Redwald is mostly populated by humans and half-elves, but there are minorities of all races here. The vampires and demons find Redwald extremely attractive with it's dark streets and alleys, drunks and prostitutes, and taverns at every corner. Crime is rampant in Redwald, and no aristocrat of any other kingdom would venture the streets at night (and some even in the day!) without hiring some protection.
Bloody Horn Tavern
Strangers beware. You walk into the Bloody Horn without a good reason to be there, and you may not walk out. It had a much nicer name at one point, "The Unicorn Horn", but as most called it the "bloody" Horn due to constant bloodshed, the name stuck over the years. It's wooden floors are a dark red in color stained by the blood that was, and is shed. The Bloody Horn is said to be haunted.
Denzhu's Tattoos and Piercings
A very scary place, but it's where you go for tattoos and those ultra-sexy piercings every sailor loves to have! Denzhu is a...well we aren't really sure what Denzhu is hidden beneath all those tattoos and piercings.
Redwald Whiskey Distillery
The Redwald Whiskey distillery is well known throughout the lands. Many are heard to claim in the taverns and bars, "If it's not from Redwald, it ain't Whiskey". Joseph Aldbog, an elderly man now, inherited the distillery from his father.Redwald Whiskey: Their namesake, which is basically the standard whiskey in the land. It is a blended whiskey of grains and malt. It is a much cheaper version of Aldbog, as Aldbog is part of the blend used to make it.
Aldbog One-Cask: This more expensive single-barrel whiskey is also made at Redwald, and is a favorite of the nobility. It is usually just called "Aldbog" and it is three times more expensive than a glass or bottle of Redwald. Each bottle is filled from an individual cask and the cask and bottle numbers are indicated on the label.
The Basalt Tower
A half finished tower sitting in the middle of the city, the Basalt Tower is the final gesture of the tyrannical overlord before he was defeated. The tower is a focal point for negative energy, both in terms of geomancy, and in the general ill will of the people. Attempts to dismantle the tower have met with grisly ends, with people involved killed in accidents with falling stones, and the men behind the plans showing up dead, in their own beds. While everyone else is whispering ghosts and curses, the Tower is now home to a ruthless band of assassins and thieves who use its mystique to hide themselves. The guildmaster of the thieves is slowly rising in prominence and he is planning on making the demolition of the tower and its replacement (with a proper thieves den) as his keystone claim to power over the entire city.
ROSE-CROIX
WILD GLADES
TREWTH
ROCKERY PARISH
Seat of Power: House Lorraine
Current Leader: Comte Elie Lorraine
Rockery Parish is the smallest parish in Madder.
ROCKERY
Rockery is a normal village with one disturbing feature, it appears to have no children. When asked, villagers simply shrug and walk away. The deal is that all children are sent to a nearby monastery at the age of two, here they stay with the monks and study until the age of fifteen. It is forbidden to speak of your children during this time. it is also not allowed to see your children. This is called "The Trial", both the children and the parents are suppose to learn from this trying time. This strange custom has led to many misunderstandings by good-intentioned visitors.
Rockery Monastery
Hibernaculum
Pictographs on a cliff face near Rockery refer to an ancient empire of insects that predates even the elves. In the caves there are ancient paintings that resemble the hibernaculum. The hibernaculum is an ancient and massive overwinter hive constructed by extinct races of sentient insect beings. Sticky resin oozes from the walls of this distinct natural rock formation. It's perimeter is guarded by various spirit guardians, representing at least nine unfamiliar insect races depicted in runes and petroglyphs as the caddisian, chigoan, ipodura, mataens, squeamian, syrphis, wramites and xicalatian races. The sheet number of these active creatures suggests something is controlling them, which has led some radical sages to speculate that an insectoid lich may rest at the center of the hibernaculum, watching over forgotten lore, wealth and magic.
CRAGGS
Craggs is a smaller, yet no less important seaport city within the realm of Madder. It is a much brighter and safer seaport town than those further down the coast, probably due to it's proximity to Bryony and the weather is more along the lines of mediterranean.
Salt Merchant Inn
The Salt Merchant is a major gathering point for the area.
Craggs Lighthouse
There is a cluster of rocks and barren islets near Craggs, upon the largest is the Craggs Lighthouse. It is an ancient tower reminiscent of the Sea Towers. It is 40 feet high, and has a spiralling stairwell along the wall giving access to three levels. At the top of the lighthouse an enchanted flame shines, visible for miles around. It guides ships away from the rocks and islets nearby.
"Either fish, or cut bait." - Madder Saying
PINKPOOLS
Pinkpools is a seaside city built across a series of some fifty small islands along the coast. The surrounding marshland is occupied by hundreds of salterns, wide shallow pools used to extract salt from seawater. The pools are fed water through a series of canals linked to the sea, and are then closed to allow the water to slowly evaporate leaving only valuable salt. The salt is then harvested. The city gets its name from the particular variety of algae that thrives in the salterns. This algae, one of the only living species able to survive in the warm saline waters of the pools, is of a bright pink hue, and it is so prevalent in the salterns that, seen from a distance, each of the pools seems to be coloured pink.
Most of the salt is sold in the Pinkpools Harbor, which consists of several long piers jutting out of a large stone quay into the sea. Pirates are an issue off the coast. Salt is very valuable. Much of the city itself is built on wooden platforms elevated above the canals between the small islands. The city streets, which line both sides of every canal, are paved with wooden planks. The planks are stained with salt from the boots of residents, most of whom work in the salterns.
SALT FLATS
The salt flats hold the interesting pink flamingos, quite a sight to behold flocks of them.
MANGROVE SALTMARSH
This area falls and rises with the tide, the ocean flows back to the sea leaving the mangrove forest and it's roots visible, and then at high tide floods again.
YNES ISLAND
Great numbers of wild beasts roam the island of Ynes. The place was once the private hunting preserve of the Lords of Madder and Zyon who brought strange and deadly monsters, from tigers to manticores and chimeras to live on the island for hunting purposes. The island of Ynes looks like a castle but is actually a steep-sided extinct volcano, its outer flanks rocky ramparts, and its heart a massive verdant meadow.
