Fallaya Basin

Fallaya Basin
Culture Level	Early Medieval
Ecology	Full
Climate & Terrain	Warm Forests and Swamps
Year Formed	xxx
Population	human (97%), grung (2.5%), elf (0.45%), half elf (0.05%)
Races (%)	xxx
Languages	xxx
Religions	xxx
Government	independent settlements
Ruler(s)	none
Darklord(s)	the Swamp Shambler
Nationality
Analog	Loiusiana / Vietnam
Related Categories
Locations in Fallaya Basin
Transportation in Fallaya Basin
Inhabitants of Fallaya Basin
Former Inhabitants of Fallaya Basin
Flora of Fallaya Basin
Fauna of Fallaya Basin
Native Monsters of Fallaya Basin

Part of The Hub Cluster.

Introduction

In narrative conflict there is man versus man, man versus himself, and man versus nature. Few domains embody the last like Fallaya Basin, where the very land is the enemy.

Biology

The Fallaya Basin is home to a vast array of wildlife including hippopotamuses, swamp hippos, great hippos, skimmers, alligators, swamp manatees, curiously large wading birds, and herbivorous and carnivorous turtles large enough to support buildings on the back of their shells.

Vegetation is less remarkable though a number of carnivorous and fruit bearing plants are present in the deep swamp.

Geography

Rivers from the north cut through the land, merging before reaching the sea. There are a number of small lakes and large ponds throughout the land. While a number of larger lakes and ponds as well as the main river channels are fairly stable, the deeper swamp is a languid, ever changing place.

This part of the swamp is best described as a large body of standing water containing a large number of moving islands and shifting accumulations of mud and muck. The drifting islands often begin as trapped gases formed by decay at the bottom of the water lift rafts of silt and half decayed plant and animal matter to the water’s surface. Though initially small, those islands that survive at the water’s surface for very long begin to accumulate extra organic matter and can swiftly become large and dense enough to support people walking upon them. Those islands that survive long enough may even eventually begin to host vegetation with significant root systems that may eventually anchor them in place. These drifting islands mean that localized areas of the swamp may form channels of moving water of close off previously open bodies of water from one day to the next.

Population Distrubtion

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One curious feature of the Fallaya Basin is the number of people living on shanty boats throughout the domain. These shanty boats are inhabited by nomadic individuals or families engaged in fishherding, hunting and trapping, or other methods of living of the water. The settled people universally refer to the boat dwellers as fishherders. Though there are rumors of half-elves and elves living on shanty boats, few people can claim to have seen any non-humans engaged in this lifestyle. These humans are often rumored to have Vistani ancestry, but while their language does feature a few Vistani words any Vistani ancestry seems to have come from a forgotten time.

In the deep swamp there exists a small tribe of elves as well as more numerous grung.

Towns

• Fallaya
• Flood Town

Authority

Darklord

• the Swamp Shambler

Temporal Ruler

There is no ruler of the Basin as a whole, though some within the Basin have carved out territories that they control:

• A secret society within Fallaya of druids that seek to find the key to controlling the Swamp Shambler.
• Beauregard DuBlon, a were-crocodile thug that prowls the waterways and roads
• Djorji Herne, a darkling alchemist cursed to transform into a heron during the day and is a man every evening until sunrise. He searches for a cure for his affliction, believing the Shambler can lead him to the natural ingredients needed to make him fully human again.
• "Mayor" Redd rules the criminal haven of Flood Town unopposed.
• The Golden Hand is a "finder's shop" based in Fallaya run by a curious retired gnome pirate, Johnny Beetlefoot, who claims that they can and will find anything, if the fee is right.
• Amongst the many inbred clans throughout Fallaya Basin are those claiming that the reason for their unnaturally familial ways is to preserve a pure, sacred, royal bloodline, thousands of years old. Several different families claim to be maintaining the same bloodline, making them heirs to the kingdom, but whether or not this kingdom ever even existed, nobody knows. There are, however, a trio of gentlemen who have been spotted searching the Fallaya Basin swamps on horseback, trying to find the inheritors of this royal bloodline. Their leader, Stefan le Prince, wishes to marry his daughter Claudia to the truest male heir, so that he might rule through their child. If female member of the true royal clan is found, Stefan plans to marry her himself.

Language & Culture

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Those Fallayans who live on shanty boats claim to be descended from people who moved to the area from Chelleuax. Indeed their language does seem to be mostly the same as that of Chelleaux with added words from the Vistani language as well as words of uncertain origin. These people value the freedom afforded them by their boats and look down on townsmen as people to scared of danger to embrace life.

Those Fallayans who live in settlements speak a different language.

Adventure Hooks

• The Swamp Shambler searches for a woman in a vague understanding of marriage. Periodically women are abducted from the roads and waterways, and sometimes from the streets of Fallaya itself, to be lost within the swamps forever, or even worse, to become the Shambler's bride. Young women are warned to never sing as they pass between Fallaya and other towns for fear the Shambler will hear.

• Rumor has it there is a music box, lost somewhere within the moors of the Basic, that can control the Swamp Shambler itself.

• A collector from the Core of fine art has heard rumor of many lost pieces of art in Flood Town and is willing to pay heavily for these objects to be transported back, if they do exist.

• "Mayor" Redd is growing restless with his town of criminals, and has his sights set on Fallaya. He wants to sink it as well, and is looking to find a way to anger the Swamp Shambler enough to do it for him.

• The deep swamp is home to a number of carnivorous plants, some which use poisons to kill their prey. Shady individuals might pay highly for samples of these poisons.

• Occasionally, a lucky fishherder will discover small amphibian figures made of silver or gold. These have fed rumors of a previous fallen grung civilization. The fishherders have begun congregating around the settlements. Some from the deep swamp speak of the grung acting with more purpose than usual, and a few even claim to have seen a ziggurat rising above the treees.

Inspiration

The land evokes both southern gothic stories and exaggerated stereotypes (read: archetypes) of the deep south, including Deliverance. Swamp Monsters, including the Swamp Thing and Man Thing comics and the Honey Island Swamp monster.