Ogavix
"Not sure which is worse, having too much or too little gold. You're gonna see things you can't live without but cost an arm and a leg. A hag might take those anyway. And if you do have enough gold to spare your limbs, the oligarchs and barons will want a word with you."
- washed up old merchant, drinking in a tavern
Demography and Population
Shrugs shoulders
No one really knows. The swamp makes a true census monstrously expensive so one has never been done. Towns within Ogavix are well known because of the economic benefit they provide their oligarchs but outside of the city walls, any number of creatures may roam the mire. Towns are largely humanoid, hosting humans, lizardfolk, dwarves, goliath, and halflings in equal parts. Elves, half-elves, and gnomes are not well represented. Sapient monster species are frequently seen in the markets, contributing to the thriving trading each town is hell-bent to promote. Kobolds are well known for their traps, bullywugs provide poisons, hags will grant your heart's desire and tell you the future if you're willing to pay the price, but none of these species typically stay overnight within the city walls. Less amenable species of monster have been seen in the swamps. Rumors of hulking beasts sprouting horns and bone from their bodies have coalesced into a name, the Eanit. With the amount of rumors that circulate about these shadowy creatures, they likely do exist.
Territories
Ogavix proper lies in the swamps between the Teeth of Causathon. Within these political lines however, the influence of the oligarchs has ranged wildly in the country's history. Even the number of oligarchs have changed in the tumultuous history of The War of Silence, making the demarcation of where one trade prince's power ends and another begins difficult. Currently, Ted Mugwort rules Greymoss and his influence is generally believed to extend to Lilywater. His stranglehold on the legislature is undisputed. Gargoyle Pointe,, though not currently a recognized member of Ogavix since Dasso Tathash defected to Efox recently, maintains influence over the southern potion of the country, including Soggybottom and Rapid Font. Agis Perrieth maintains her hold on the northwest portion of Ogavix; her influence extends south to Brookwild and Frost Steppes.
Military
Each oligarch maintains their portion of the Ogavix, outfitting and training their militia however they see fit. Currently there are only three oligarchs who protect the nation. These militia are typically pork barrel projects legislatures siphon money into for their benefactors. Threats from without are unlikely given the economic strength of the nation and patrolling the swamps is a futile endeavor. The little purpose these militia do provide are guarding the town walls from the few monsters who get too close.
Foreign Relations
The oligarchs, having retired their militia ages ago since men in swamps do little more than feed the mosquitoes, instead focused on economically routing their opponents. The byproduct of this vicious trade war has been a flourishing open market economy that has drawn the trade of nearly all nations on Yodren. The markets in Lilywater, Sodden, Gargoyle Pointe, Rapid Font, and most other towns and villages within Ogavix are well known for having an unfettered, unregulated, and extremely democratized trade system. Anything and everything can be found in Ogavix, no matter the illegality of the item in more scrupulous countries.
Neighboring countries have seen their own empires swell as trade became more lucrative and offered more exotic items. Eventually, neighbors, especially Efox and Ashax, have become dependent on this trade. Their countries are now built on materials imported by Ogavix and have thus become dependent. Ogavix now enjoys a unilateral, undisputed, unspoken non-aggression pact with any country on Yodren. Those foolish enough to attempt to take anything from the oligarch by force need only remember The War of the Chanceless to dissuade them from attempting such an errand.
Geography has benefited the oligarchs as well, depending on your point of view. Infrastructure is impossible to assemble in the swamps of Ogavix, but the rivers that run throughout the country are the easiest means to reach the southern end of Yodren. To the west, Itand and its shambling gatekeepers they call cities, are unreliable, making the Champion Bindweed an insurmountable obstacle. On the east, the ocean treants of Trodus harbor little love for the short lived mortal races. Those that have braved the passage have paid with their lives. Despite the dangers and difficulty, the rivers within Ogavix are still the easiest way to cross the southern portion of Yodren.
Agriculture & Industry
Despite its reputation for putrid swamps and murky mudholes, the edges of Ogavix are agrarian. The small rim of arable land helps feed the nation.
Ogavix has become the nexus for trade throughout the region and specializes in this industry. The free-market economy has become a power unto itself. Anything in the world can be found in a shoppe or cart in Lilywater. However, the more circumspect objects and curios a person may want can require a journey to a smaller town, where the few scruples Ogavixian business owners might still have are abdicated.
This is not to say that Ogavix has no intrinsic raw or consumer goods itself. Magic seems to be alive in the air of Ogavix and the landscape has been imbued with some of that wonder. Fey's End Swamp has long been a pilgrimage for wizards seeking to expand their arcane knowledge, warlocks to pacify their patrons, or priests and paladins to banish some godsforsaken evil. This has provided an abundance of discarded and valuable armor and weapons that corpses no longer need. There are a host of magical plants and animals that are only available within Fey's End Swamp such as Cursed Phoenix Feathers, Sand Cane Corn, and Damask Touch-me-not. See the Fey's End Swamp for a complete list of the ingredients many lose their lives for. Potions, poisons, trinkets and baubles are easily found in Ogavix.
Trade & Transport
The rivers that run through Ogavix are the only passable trade routes that can be used to transport goods and materials across the nation. Large ferries have been created, fashioned after the imported models of those from Bushos who face a similar issue of safety when travelling the watery highways. Unlike Bushos, the oligarchs have been able to maintain a guarantee of safe passage for goods and people using the rivers, hiring mercenaries to monitor the shorelines for monsters that would imperil any trade. Other methods of transport have been attempted. The broken remains of roads have long sunken into the swamp. Gondolas like those found in Itand were quickly abandoned as they became lunchboxes for the monsters of the forests.
The sheer amount and diversity of materials available through meticulous import makes a list of goods a daunting task. It is safe to say that you can find anything in at least one of the cities. However, cities have begun to specialize in which goods they provide, offering more and better quality of that import. Soggybottom has blossomed into a world renowned culinary institute, offering delicacies that can't be found anywhere else in the world. It is recommended to try a local variation of a hambuger, curiously made of a rare crab. Gargoyle Pointe has become the epicenter of the slave trade, offering any form of human service one could need from concubines to the average indentured servant. Rapid Font has all manner of magical items, ranging from entertaining baubles to large siege engines. Hags are often allowed with the city limits as well to ply their trade of divination and deal making. It is not recommended to bring children to the area. Frost Steppes is by far the smallest market in the region, tucked out of the way of any other trade avenue. It has become the bedroom community for the oligarchs and legislators, with sprawling mansions and plantations carving neat rings into the sides of the mountains. Frostberry wine is created in this region since the region has the perfect balance of crisp winter air the year-round. Lilywater is the main port of the river trade and has thus specialized in shipwrights and mercenaries. Any specialty of mercenary can be found here, from assassins to goons to extra-planar entities who find no qualms with killing the indolent mortal targets. Brookwild is the main hub for raw industrial materials: iron, silver, gold, Stormsteel, Voidform, Livewood, et cetera and all forms of beasts of burden. Greymoss tends to provide elite tutelage, shaping able minds into sharp weapons as students become world leaders, advisors to emperors, or wartime consiglieres. Finally, Sodden can provide access to any god or deity, as long as the price is right. Raising a new god to power takes legions of cultists; starting at Sodden would be a good place to begin the veneration.
Peace at any Price
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Capital
Government System
Oligarchy
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
The official currency of the realm are the D&D staples (gold, silver, copper, etc.). But the oligarchs based out of Sodden, Greymoss, and Gargoyle Pointe use the completely free and open market economic system as their battleground since land battles have been historically futile in the swamps of Ogavix. Each oligarch has provided currency stamped with their own seals which are worth slightly more than a standard coin of the same material. A coin stamped with Dasso Tathash's ship insignia is worth more in Rapid Font and Soggybottom where the oligarch's influence is likely to have shop owners prefer his coin over the others, for example.
Legislative Body
There exists a legislative body. It has people who wear coats with shiny buttons, walk with canes when they step out of expensive carriages, and don't smell like the rot that pervades the plebeians of the swamp. It's a very convincing show. But behind those monocles and petticoats is a greed as savage as any mercenary's. These legislators, people who have enough coin to claim they speak for a particular region of Ogavix (whether that region exists or not is a taboo subject to broach within the legislature), are little more than hired quills. Loyalties can shift as quickly as coin changes hands but when those quills have been hired, oligarchs can expect favorable ordinances to spring from Saurhorn Island.
The legislature is impotent outside the small area surrounding Lilywater; likely why it hasn't been overthrown yet. Ordinances or decrees that attempt to improve infrastructure, education, welfare, healthcare, or national defense are ineffective. The swamps that spread throughout the kingdom prevent any large scale improvements. The swamps slow build speed down to a crawl until the cost of such initiatives become prohibitive. Anymore, legislation that attempts to improve the country, infrastructure in particular, are shouted down as obvious attempts to stuff state money back in the pocket of the oligarch the infrastructure was proposed to run through. Ordinances that are passed don't typically make any meaningful impact on the region outside of Lilywater. Thus, the legislature is largely ignored by the common townsfolk of Ogavix.
The legislature is propped up by the oligarchs as means of diplomatic negotiation between the houses in the lively economic assaults they lead upon each other. Ordinances are often used as means to settle arguments between the heads of houses. Because maintaining the peace is vital to a prosperous economy, oligarchs ensure that all economic, defense, and diplomatic ordinances from Saurhorn Island are strictly adhered to. This dogmatic following merchants and business owners are forced to maintain has become a double edged sword. If ordinances favoring one house over another gain enough traction and become law, merchants in Ogavix must follow it to the benefit of that one house.
Judicial Body
Oligarchs are the law in Ogavix. Whatever judicial system they deem fit is what presides over their sphere of influence. Typically a few local barons are appointed the law and dispense judgement so that oligarchs may count their coin.
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