The Land of the Sundweil
Marsh
of Sundweil, The
The
Marsh of Sundweil is a great, treacherous expanse of swamp and jungle that
separates the elven kingdom of Aevinle from the ocean. It begins south of the Bay of Portholme, and
swings westward around the low, green hills that mark the southern edge of the
human territory, and are the fading remnants of the Spearwall Mountains. South of the Spearwall, the Marsh broadens,
covering 150 to 200 miles east-west.
Near
the ocean, the Marsh resembles a great prairie, with nigh-endless expanses of
saltgrass reaching to the water's edge.
Yet the "prairie" is laced with narrow waterways and mudholes,
most often concealed underneath a mat of dead grass and leaves, traps for the
unwary traveler. The truly unfortunate
may fall into a trollhole or marshcap lair, or disturb one of the many fenwyrms
that make their home in that region of the swamp.
Inland,
the trees thicken and crowd together in a humid, fetid jungle of serpents and
insects. The Oanqua lizard-men make
their homes in here, in primitive villages of mud, sticks, and leaves,
concealed by the dark swamp. Only the
most daredevil and fearless willingly enter here, to trade with the Oanqua and
the other reclusive inhabitants - or to suffer a less happy fate.
In
the east, the jungle thins once more, giving way to the great morass that marks
the meeting place of the Marsh of Sundweil and the River Running, which has its
origins far the north and east, and stretches southwards, through the Running
Vale of the Spearwalls, through Aevinle, and so to the Marsh. The Elven-folk guard the eastern edge of the
morass of the Running, and sometimes glide over its shallow, stagnant waters in
slim, poled rafts. Other times, the
Eihanti pass south of the Running Vale and into the morass, bound on business
of their own. Ancient stories speak of a
lost city, long gone under the dark waters, that was the birthplace of the
river-folk, but the Eihanti as always keep their own counsel.
Running
Vale
A
gash through the Spearwall, scar in the mountains, the Running Vale pierces the
Spearwall mountains from north to south, allowing the River Running passage
from the Human lands to the Elven kingdom of Aevinle, and thence to the Marsh
of Sundweil. It is a narrow, treacherous
notch, overhung by great slabs of crumbling rock that continually shower the
river below. For the first stretch,
there is no footpath, not even the narrowest ledge -- any access to the lands
below is by boat, which the Eihanti control -- for the Running Vale also houses
their refuge and retreat, the only solid land the Eihanti can call their own.
After
the treacherous passage of the northern notch, the River Running empties into a
broad, quiet lake, one nestled between the sheer slope of the Spearwall with
all the security of a fortified castle.
Boats and barges of all sizes ply the lake, on business and pleasure, as
the Eihanti go about their ways. Several
villages nestle on the lake shores, and in the narrow canyons that twist into
the mountains. Stone towers, manned by
experienced Eihanti warriors, guard either side of the northern entrance to the
lake, and similar towers ward the south, where the River Running flows
southwards, out of the mountains. The
notch here is not so narrow or treacherous as in the north, and a single,
twisted track allows foot traffic to Aevinle.
Overhead, the skies are guarded by a single Eihanti family known as
cloud dancers who claim not the waterways, but the skies as their province, and
have maintained for numerous centuries a herd of asperii, or cloud horses.
The
Eihanti do not allow casual passage though the Running Vale. Only Eihanti or their guests can gain
admittance here, and a guest who spurns the riverfolk or disregards their ways
will swiftly find himself alone in the Vale, or abandoned in the surrounding
mountains. Any who find their own way
into the Vale, or into the Eihanti land are subject to a geas never to reveal the Vale, or any means into it.
Vensisgate
Plains
In
the east, where the Shieldwalls fade away, the Vensisgate Plains begin,
spreading westward to the Farfolk Hills, south to the Spearwalls, and northward
emptying into the great expanse of grass and sky that is the domain of the
Vensi tribes.
The
Vensisgate Plains are nearly 300 miles east-west, and almost 700 north-south. They form the entire eastern border of the
Republic lands, and circle westward in the south to edge the cities of the
Joriatic League. The abundant streams
and rivers of the Plains empty into the River Running, and thence southward
through the Running Vale.
