The Reivers' Marshes

Location and Geography

The Reivers' Marshes or Marsh is situated south of Wylfholm , the seat of Clan Wylfedd. The Reivers' Marsh is the populated portion of the Morgunt's Marshlands, which stretches for most of Loch Morgunt's southern coast.

The Morgunt Marshes are unpredictable and unhospitable. To this day, there are no settlements within what has been dubbed 'the Green Hell'. The Reivers' part of the Marshlands to the east has a few human settlements but is still an extremely harsh environment. 

The marshes are prone to sudden terrain changes and flooding, which makes their crossing life-threatening and impossible unless you know the secret paths that go through them.

The Mirkwode Bog

Picture: Shawn Williams

The Reivers' Marshes are a mixture of labyrinthine bog marches and flooded, cold swamp forests. Travellers leaving the safety of the loch's coastline, past the village of Wylburgh and the Lochwylside harbour, will need to stick closely to the Burgh Causeway. The Causeway is the main safe route through Lowside skirting the market town of Willknowe.

The largest and most dangerous peat bog is situated around the settlement of  Mirkwode. The Mirkwode Bog is punctuated by jagged low hills, which are also very dangerous in their own way.

The Sink

Picture: John Spooner
Further east, towards the wilder part of the marshes, submerged forests trace unknowable patterns on the landscape. This part of the Marshlands is called the Sink. Only very few communities manage to eke out a living in the cold, drowned forests and glades.

Small villages such as Wylmire remain hidden within the swamps and are hard to reach if you do not know the safe paths through the bogs.

The Reiver Clans

The swamps used to be the clanlands of Lost Clans such as Clan Cranston, whose ancestral lands included the most significant settlement in the Reivers: Mirkwode.

Hollow Moons Note: Sage Wearall has the honorific title of Marshland Chieftain and is a descendant of the Cranston clanbearers. He is now an influential Clanbearer of Clan Wylfedd.

Five hundred years ago, the Reivers were a much-feared alliance of three clans whose ancestors had settled down in the treacherous marchlands: Clan Cranston, Clan Wingswan and Clan Bogfrog. Life was hard in the bogs, and to supplement their income, the clans raided mercilessly the more prosperous surrounding clans, including Clan Wylfedd.

At that time, Clan Wylfedd was gaining in power through the increasing trade on Loch Morgunt. Wylfhom Keep and surrounding harbours were taking advantage of the opening roads to the east and were making a brisk trade with goods from all over Alven, including Hollyholm and the The Eastern Isles.

The then Chieftain of Clan Wylfedd, Markan Heathmor, decided to launch a 'pacification' campaign against the Reiver Clans. Chieftain Markan enlisted the help of Reiver scouts who were able to let the Wylfedd Fyrds through the bogs and swamps straight to the Reivers' heartlands.

Chieftain Markan was also astute in his dealing with the Reivers. In exchange for pledging allegiance to Clan Wylfedd, the Reiver Chieftains would become Clanbearers within their new clan and thus retain influence in their local affairs.

Over the last centuries, the Reivers have become staunch allies of the Wylfedds. Their unparalleled knowledge of the swamplands and its resources has helped maintain Wylfedd's strength in Lowside. The Reiver population has known unprecedented prosperity through their association with the Wolves of Alven.

Ancient Natural Disaster

The geography of the marshlands has remained as mysterious as its origins. Myths and legends surround the Reivers' homeland, and no one genuinely knows how the marshlands were created. With the rise of Groundcience as a discipline, some Circles have led explorations into the Marshlands to uncover their origins. It is generally acknowledged that the swamps resulted from a catastrophic natural disaster two millennia ago.

Coombs Greenswell (Clan Botterfyre) from the Circle of the Lapidians published a treatise a few years ago on what, he thought happened to this part of Lowside.

From his observations, Coombs found out that the ground became flooded very suddenly and stayed so for centuries. He assumed that the same cataclysm that created Loch Morgunt also created the swamps. He believes that Loch Morgunt used to be a much smaller Loch and that water surged in a tidal wave to engulf the surrounding land and create the present coast.

As the water receded over the ensuing millennia, the swamplands and its ecosystem were created. Coombs also observed that the area's water does not continuously seep through the land. Due to the combination of the loch's tides and unknown barriers deep into the earth, the water contours change in unpredictable patterns, making the swamps very dangerous indeed.

Coombs has witnessed whirlpools forming out of nowhere, waters rising by several meters nearly instantly, and dry hillocks suddenly flooding. Happily, he had the help of Reivers' scouts in his exploration and study of the area and made it back safely to Highfort.

Significant Fauna

The marshes' fauna and flora are as strange and dangerous as you can imagine in this wild and untamed environment.

A significant number of species of frogs and toads call the swamps their home, including the famous and notorious, The Boon Frog. Snakes are numerous and, of course, poisonous.

Though the top predator in the forested parts of the swamps is a cold-water alligator, the locals call the Small Kraken, or Krak for short. The Krak is a feared but secretive animal that hunts at night. Kraks are very rare in the Reivers' Marshes these days as they have been hunted to near extinction in these parts of the Swamplands.