Dianyan Bog
Inhabitants: swamp dryads, swamp pixies, harpies, earth mounds, water leapers
The Dianyan Bog is a large section of land located in the Great Marshes. The ground of the Bog is permanently covered in a deep, thick layer of mud. The depth of the mud varies, ranging from areas that are only 1 ft deep to areas that are so deep they could easily swallow up a 70 foot naga.
There is abundant plant life in the Dianyan Bog; the muddy soil is highly concentrated with both nutrients and magic. The magic that is found naturally in Felarya's soil is highly concentrated in the mud of the Dianyan Bog, to the point where many people claim that a cast made with a mixture of the mud can cure a broken bone in five hours or less. There are also rumors about a certain area in the Bog that contains mud with super-concentrated magic that is able to heal any wound within seconds. Nobody has ever been able to find this area, though, so it may just be a rumor.
Obtaining mud from the Bog, though, is not an easy task. Setting aside the normal dangers of the area (carnivorous plants, swamp dryads, swamp pixies, etc), the mud itself poses a threat to anyone foolish enough to step in it. Dianyan Bog mud will suck down anything that steps in it with a speed that makes quicksand look slow. A full grown human can easily be sucked down in less than ten minutes.
The Dianyan Bog gets a surprising amount of travelers considering the danger it presents. This is because the Bog connects the southern parts of Felarya with the northern parts, and is the only way to travel between the two since the alternatives require travel through either the Dridder Forest or the Fairy Kingdom.
Travel through the Dianyan Bog usually requires a guide. There are pathways of shallow areas that those with experience can readily identify. Attempts have been made to set markers along safe paths, but after several incidents where Swamp Pixies would move the markers and then eat the people who got stuck, the idea was abandoned.
The Dianyan Bog is notable as being the home of the giant naga Arelle, who uses a special gliding technique to navigate through the trees above the ground. She will often help lost travelers she stumbles across by carrying them to safety. Just don't look into her eyes.
Swamp Pixies
Close relatives of fairies (though the fairies will deny that to their dying breaths), swamp pixies are basically a cruder, less refined version of fairies. They have very little in the way of manners, and, whereas fairies usually play (semi) harmless tricks, swamp pixies can be downright nasty with their tricks. They do not share the growing and shrinking abilities of normal fairies, per se. Rather, swamp pixies have the ability to turn themselves into a kind of animate mud. While in this form they are slow and unable to fly, but they are able to grow their very mass to large proportions. They engulf their prey inside their mud bodies, then reform with the prey inside their bellies.
Subject: New Great Marshes Subzone: Dianyan Bog 
Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:52 pm
