Swamp Antagonists



The as-yet unnmaed race of people that live in the swamps make up half of the invading army. Though some individuals may at some point at the game decide to side with the protaganists, at the onset they are certainly one of the enemies.

Physical Characteristics:
They are large humanoids; the average height of an adult is 10 feet, although some individuals may reach a height of 14 feet. They are h eavily built and, to an uneducated observer, brutish looking. Their thick, plated skin makes it look as though they are made  of stone or mud. The natural armor provided by the plates and their brute strength give them a distinct defensive advantage. They have v ery long, mobile necks and limbs.

Culture
While they appear rather fierce, they are  l argely a quiet, respectful, intelligent group.

The general outlook is that the individual is only important in what he or she can contribue to the community. It is universally accepted that  people gain as a collective; selfishness is frowned upon unless there is some clear eventual gain for everyone. For example, if an architect wants sole access to a unique communal tool for an experiment, they may be granted sole access if the whole community might benefit from the discovery. If they want sole access to build something for themselves, they must wait their turn.

The hierarchy of society is largely basd on level of experience. Young and inexperienced citizens are therefore incredibly respectful of superiors. It is also common for leaders and elders to give deference to a younger member if they are more experience in a given area. However, a less experienced person will freely give their opinion in the form of questions, raised eyebrows, disappointed looks, and frank appraisals if they have reason to. It is  believed that younger or less senior members should give their thoughts and critiques to experienced members so that through question and error both parties will learn. It is expected of senior  members to teach younger members. That being said, younger members are not dismissed as unimportant--they are viewed as the future of the community and great effort is put toward their growth and education.

They are  good at civil and structural engineering; they learned a lot about structure and form from watching and assisting Oorgarda. While each citizen has their own space and a degree of autonomy over their person, all property is seen as belonging to everyone in the community. Any goods produced are brought before the community and then distributed based on need. Any reusable property being used by an individual is cleaned, repaired, and taken care of by the individual using it with the understanding that it will be passed along to another person someday. The only thing that must be respected in terms of individual property is personal space. An example of how this works is that while the house a person is currently living in may belong to the community, you should still inquire before entering as they have temporarily made it their space and are thus entitled to the peace of mind and privacy that it affords.

Perhaps in purposeful contradiction to their muted, brooding appearance, they dress in brightly colored clothing. Their multi-layered, loose robes are usually made of brightly patterned cloth that is often adorned with beaded fringe and intricate jewelry. They typically wear two layers of clothing during daily work and two or three more during meals and rest hours. While it may seem that in their colorful and unique style of dress promotes competetiveness in ornamentation, all clothing and jewelry is still seen as communally owned. Often, two citizens will be seen trading an outer layer of clothing if they decide that they want to change up their appearance.

They put a high stake on information and knowledge; what one person learns can impact the entire community. They therefore send knowledge emissaries to explore and study everything from natural events to other cultures; these emissaries leave for years at a time and then return to share their newfound knowledge with community experts. If they find something that cannot be produced in the swamp, they may set up a trade route. Traders are considered incredibly important individuals as they are the only ones who treat with people who may not share the idea of communal ownership and must retain a concept of ownership in the name of the cmmunity. Since they are trained to see the lack of empathy for their community that may exist in other cultures, traders are among those who lead the expedition.

Combat
They are by nature cautious; on their own, they are  more likely to wait and watch than front an attack. They typically prefer negotiation to combat. In combination with their skills as civil engineers, this makes them  incredibly powerful in planned defense and infrastructue.

However, their culture of communal ownership and deference to the more experienced have led to most of the non-traders being hugely taken advantage of by the Bird People. As the bird people's culture is built on ambition and self-gain, they saw the willingness of the swamp folks to acknowledge experience and used it to establish themselves as the decision makers in the expedition. They used this power to establish a large portion of the swamp folk as shock troops led by bird officers. They also take advantage of the idea that the individual must bow before the whole to push some of their more radical ideas "for the good of the community". The non-traders of course can see this, but are having a hard time conveying the harmfulness of individual greed and ambition to people for whom these concepts do not exist.

Leviathan
They work with the earthmoving leviathan Oorgarda. They see Oorgarda as part of the community and treat them with the respect afforded a master craftsman.

The people learned a great deal about civil engineering and architecture from Oorgarda; this influence can be seen in the structure of their city.

 Motives: After the recent development of crazed leviathans, the swamp folk are looking for ways to protect themselves from rampages and to free the crazed leviathans from their insanity. They are used to playing the long game; they recognize that if crazed leviathans are left to wander unchecked their madness could spread to others and lead to the destruction of the world's civilizations. They are looking for a permanant way to stop the spread of the madness.

However, from their many generations of interacting with Oorgarda and their smaller earthmoving automatons, the swamp people have long since learned the raw power of leviathans. They want to find and meet more to learn from them and to teach them; they will jump at the opportunity to find a leviathan that they have not yet interacted with. They want to find a way to cure the madness rather than destroy them like some bird factions would like to. Likewise, they are always interested in finding new places and people. They eagerly collect knowledge in the forms of histories, books, stories, and experiences. Unlike their allies the bird people, they neither wish to use leviathans to extend their power over other peoples or destroy other leviathans for the common good. They have a firm belief that all leviathans should be treated as people and with a certain reverance; this division in belief is the cause of enormous tension between the leaders of both parties. However, due to the advanced technological stage of the bird people, the bird people have access to tools and knowledge greatly desired by the commune. This is one of their main reasons for teaming up with them rather than striking out after leviathans on their own. They hope to eventually bring the bird people around to their side or, barring that, stop the bird people from gaining slavelike control over the leviathans and automatons that they find.

City:
Their city is deep in a crater valley in the middle of a swamp. It is built on top of a series of natural hot springs that provide the city with warmth and power. With the help of Oorgarda, they were able to divert much of the natural water sources in the area to create a series of canals and rivers. Though few outsiders would take the dangerous trek through the surrounding swamp without a competant guide, those who have seen it agree that it is a wonder to look upon.

The architecture consists mainly of  large earthen and stone structures, they work with automatons to build intricate public spaces with water features. A key method of transportation in this area is a kind of shallow draft boat; it is possible to reach most areas of the city by using the waterways.