The Great Swamp is a vast area of swampland at the mouth of the River Caladuin, longest river in the Overworld. Here, over the final 500-600 miles of its course the river branches into many channels, eventually emerging into the sea at the Ethir Caladuin ("Mouths of Caladuin"). The Swamp is mostly freshwater, but becomes increasingly tidal and so saline over the final 200 miles or so. The coastal fringe is dominated by mangroves, but most of the interior is open marshland, supporting a variety of vegetation (some of it carnivorous), with grass and reed-dominated areas in the South East and along the Northern fringe.
It is inhabited by the Ky'rb-Ok (or Swamp Men - referred to derogatively as "Swampies"). They dwell particularly towards the centre, where lies their capital B'rdba, which is the only settlement in the whole swamp larger than a village. Their homes are tree houses or (in B'rdba and larger villages) houses on stilts. They are expert boatmen, fishers and trappers and masters of camouflage. A few rogue Ky'rb-Ok have taken up banditry, and even prey on their fellows. The Ky'rb-Ok generally co-exist peacefully with the elves, but are hostile to humans, as some Valdreans, especially amongst the nobility, have hunted them for sport for many years. In the Year 2500 the Crown Prince Kostof II of Normeikl found this out to his cost, when his exploratory expedition was ambushed by Swamp Men.
Go to the People page for this territory
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