The Sodden Lands
  1. Locations

The Sodden Lands

Nation
Mwangi Expanse in Garund

History

World Weep Opening History

The Sodden Lands used to be known as two separate nations, that of Lirgen and Yamasa, who had a rich history as ancient as their brethren's nations across Garund. However, in 4606 AR, the death of Aroden coincided with the birth of a perpetually rampaging hurricane known as the Eye of Abendego. 17 years later, in 4621 AR, the Mad Alchemist Mathesis killed most of the world's greatest heroes and villains, and soon destroyed a vast majority of the cities and other settlements of the world. In the months and years that followed. In the thousand years that marked the Age of Collapse, the doom of the nations Lirgen and Yamasa was often falsely attributed to the crazed alchemist Mathesis to most of the outside world. But for the residents of the Sodden Land, they know that not all ruination came at the hands of the Alchemist.

Age of Collapse History — Era of the Tempest

In the thousand years between the First and Second Heroes' March, the Sodden Lands have been under dual pressure of the variable destruction of the permanent hurricane right off the coast, and whatever alchemical experiments Mathesis did end up sending in the communities that had adapted to the tempest. However, the Eye of Abendego did serve as a natural shield for the populations that did weather all these trials and tribulations. Opportunistic raiders such as the surviving Free Captain pirates of the Shackles would prefer much safer routes than the choppy seas of the Sodden Lands. Humanoid settlements have come and gone over the centuries, particularly the surviving Lirgeni and Yamasan humans, Boggards, Tripkees, Daemon Nephilim, Iruxis, and various scattered populations of Bog Witches, Marsh Giants, Hydra, and Bunyips.

Age of Renewal History

When the Second Hero's March defeated Mathesis and ascended the World Weep up into the sky, the Eye of Abendego still roared in its eternal tempest. Talented navigators of the storm became key players in the growing trading economy of the world, and those who risked venturing down the western coast of Garund would reap riches and other benefits that served as a powerful allure to the brave or foolhardy sailors of the world. In addition to the existing towns and communities, dock towns attract all sorts of pirates, privateers of various nations, and all the other individuals that make up the sea-faring scene. Further inland, thriving populations of Boggards dominated the swamp, marsh, and other biomes. Growing into a massively increasing empire, these Boggards have their eyes set on nearly every direction for further expansion, creating multitudes of brewing conflicts with not only the people of the Sodden Lands, but all neighboring countries as well.

Government 

The various town-states of the Sodden Lands vary from independent mayordoms and chiefdoms of the people who survived the Sodden Lands in the previous millennium, with some examples of small-scale plutocracies, where merchant representatives run pop-up towns as small waypoints for the various crews that run the coastline trade and pillaging routes.

Points of Interest

  • Ropespire is the largest settlement in the Sodden Lands in the new age. This settlement is built over what was once Lirgen and then Hyrantam, the floating town being a network of floating rafts connected and anchored by rope and pulley to vast towers held together more by arcane magics than actually stonework. This town has passed leadership hands multiple times as pirates and merchants come and go. The townspeople are more connected by interpersonal bonds than any would-be politician or gang, and often oust leaders they don't particularly care for as they go about their sea-faring lifestyle. 
  • The Gullet is what remains of the ancient city Kokutang. On the cliffs overlooking a massive swirling sinkhole, various small hamlets reside. Several sea-cave systems that spread from a massive sinkhole where the entrance to the city used to be, these subterranean systems form a rich ecosystem with plants and sealife that those brave divers can easily feed their villages with. Many would-be adventurers attempt to brave deeper into the cave systems than the divers dare go, rumors of treasure untouched flitting their way to the various pirate and merchant bands of the Sodden Lands, few ever come back, and most that do are empty-handed. 
  • The mountain-top city of Jula has become a bastion of crime in the new world, offering sanctuary to those at odds with the laws and governments of the new nations of Garund. It has flourished due to the heavy hand of the Church of Norgorber, which has ascended from its previous cult status to a near-state religion of the region. The town does some simple farming and industry, but the main export is talented thieves, spies, and assassins that various organizations across the continent do their under-the-table dealings with. This has made the city evolve into a vice and pleasure center, despite the turbulent conditions of its weather and the difficulty in reaching. 
  • The Sodden Lands is the majority of the landmass and the namesake of the nation. These places are great stretches of wilderness, marshes, swamps, rainforest, and other water-saturated biomes. These places often contain small scattered settlements of ancestries adjusted to the high amount of storms and water, such as the Boggards, Tripkees, Daemon Nephilim, Iruxis, and various scattered populations of Bog Witches, Marsh Giants, Hydra, and Bunyips.

Organizations Within

  • The Church of Norgorber is the dominant political entity of Jula and serves as a considerable faction and syndicate that has its fingers in nearly all aspects of the growing vice city. The four aspects of Norgorber all house various sub-organizations that run a majority of the day-to-day operations; those being the Blackfingers, Skinsaw Cult, Graymasters, and Reapers of Reputation. These factions are ruled by a dominant militant sect called the Knights of Abendego, who manage the four aspects and the government of the town with an iron fist.  
  • The Merchant-Princes are a group of militant merchants and priveteers that run the trading networks and dock unions of the various port-towns of the Soddenlands. They control the flow of goods and pirates up and down the western coast of Garund, and maintain sizable continental pressure in being the stopgap between the Shackles and the rest of the nations. There is a rumor of growing collusion and possibly a union with the Hurricane Queen and other free captains of the Shackles, and nations that don't agree to the Merchant-Princes' terms have faced unusual amounts of coastal pirate attacks. 
  • The Maw-Born is a growing religious cult that worships the Eye of Abendego as a sentient god-like figure. Although the leader and majority of these worshippers are Nephilim, the cult has been gaining traction with the various populations of the Sodden Lands, expedited by settlements of Iruxis merging these tenets with their own cultures of beliefs. The main tenets of the cult involve growing the Eye of Abendego and creating sub-storms across the coasts of Garund. These exploits have made the cult into a multinational threat. 

Major Conflicts

  • The Mortality Skirmishes are the number of times the various church and cult groups of the Sodden Lands have spilled over into Rahadoum and instigated conflicts with the militant Pure Legion. The Church of Norgorber is especially interested in siphoning the resources and industry that the Irontownships of Rahadoum are famous for, launching Rahadoum into a world power. 
  • The Lover's War was a string of conflicts between the Merchant Princes and the Free Captains of the Hurricane Queen of the Shackles. These conflicts were a series of naval battles between the factions that eventually ended with the folk-tale wedding at sea between the Hurricane Queen and the lead Merchant Prince. No one but the most high-ranking members of both factions knows the truth of the matter, but the heated conflict suddenly ended with both factions having negotiated strangely strong terms of alliance with each other. 
  • The Croak Wars are several conflicts that the Boggards and more monstrous factions of the Sodden Lands have had in their expansion across the swamps, marshes, and rainforests of the Sodden Lands. They have regularly attacked nearly every other faction in the rise of their fledgling empire, and have secured massive victories against the Tripkee, Iruxi, and Daemon Nephilim settlements. In the decade of the Second Harbor of Hearts' founding, they began expanding even towards the human settlements of the Soddenlands, and began a time of ever-expanding defensive pacts and alliances, unifying the Soddenlands together at a unpresedented scale in recent years. 

Events in the Age of Renewal

  • The Night of the Maw is a battle that occurred five decades prior, where an impossibly large whale-like creature made landfall from the direction of the Eye of Abendego. It was eventually repealed back into the ocean by the Knights of Abendego and some scattered adventurer bands visiting the city for vice. This event created a worsening erosion of an already eroding coastline and inspired the future leader of the Maw-Born to begin writing the first scriptures of belief towards the Eye.
  • The Free-Merchant compromise is the outcome of the Lover's War, which was a series of laws and agreements that negotiated how the Free Captains of the Shakles could navigate the Soddenlands, and the Merchant Princes of the Sodden Lands could utilize the services of the Free Captains. These tenets have created a fluid age of navigation routes that have propped up the Sodden Lands into a land of economic opportunity that many will try to make their fortunes despite the ever-present storms. 
  • The Boggard Pacts are a series of defensive alliances and fluid open border treaties that several settlements of the Sodden Lands have signed to ensure a rapid response to the ever-expanding Boggard Empire that threatens to engulf the entire nation. Although no formal assimilations have occurred, these pacts have opened the door of city involvement and policy changes to several of the smaller settlements and set the future of a more connected central government for the nation. 

Other notable changes from the past Golarion

The general population and characteristics of inhabitants mirror the past Golarion. There is a fresh mercantile spirit impelling the new generations to brave the hurricane routes more so than their ancestors from thousands of years past, which has driven some individual towns into the hands of devil worship, Leviathan cults, and other ways of trying to deal with the trials and tribulations of life in the Sodden Lands.