They are called the Swampbrood—a name given in fear, and one they never chose to change. They remember what they were: a distant southern outpost of the Midland Empire—cut off when the Great Death reshaped the world. No aid came. No roads remained. The empire vanished from them long before they vanished from it. What followed was not decay. It was transformation. Their home is known simply as the Boglands—an immense stretch of swamps, marshes, mangroves, and choking jungles where the air itself feels alive and hostile. Rot is constant. Water is never still. Life feeds on life in endless cycles of decay and rebirth. To outsiders, it is uninhabitable. To the Swampbrood, it is perfect.
Transformation and Adaptation
Where Foresters and Oakpeople adapted in harmony, the Swampbrood were overwritten. Their bodies changed under relentless pressure: skin turned green to olive, blending with rot and growth; flesh warped—twisted, uneven, often grotesque; fungal colonies sometimes grow directly from their bodies; features became gaunt, ghoul-like, unsettling. They are, by far, the most physically disturbing race in Leonoria. And they know it. Which is why, when they leave the Boglands, they often hide themselves—wrapped, masked, obscured. Not out of shame. Out of practicality. Fear makes people act unpredictably. The same forces that twisted them also perfected them. They possess near total immunity to disease, extreme resistance to poison and toxins, and the ability to consume almost anything—rotted, infested, toxic. There is a saying: "A Swampbrood can eat it all." It means two things: they never waste, and nothing poisons them.
Combat and Magic
They are not frontline warriors. They are hunters. Fast, lean, and efficient—physically comparable to Midlanders, but fitter, hardened by survival. Their preferred tools reflect this: blowpipes coated in potent toxins, slings and javelins for silent, ranged strikes, and always a personal dagger. That dagger matters. It is crafted from Edem, the apex predator of the Boglands. To wield one is proof of adulthood—earned only by surviving the hunt. Their magic mirrors their land. They excel in blight magic—decay, rot, corruption—soul-affecting shadow arts, and minor affinities with life, earth, and beast communion. Their shamans do not command nature. They negotiate with it. Or become part of it.
Society and Isolation
The Swampbrood do not form kingdoms. They form clans—small, tight-knit family groups of five to twenty members, bound together under a Shamandom, each led by an Elder Shaman. There are over twenty such Shamandoms across the Boglands. Each is powerful. Each is self-contained. And none truly trust the others. If united, the Swampbrood would be one of the most formidable powers in Leonoria. But they are not. Infighting, distrust, and deeply ingrained independence prevent lasting unity. Alliances form—and collapse—quickly. The same applies to outsiders. They can cooperate. Briefly. But rarely without tension, and almost never without consequence. No empire has ever claimed the Boglands—not because they didn't try, but because it is functionally impossible. Terrain that swallows armies, diseases that kill within days, wildlife that hunts relentlessly, and the Swampbrood themselves make invasion impossible. You do not invade the Boglands. You disappear in them.
The Swampbrood are often aligned toward neutral-evil, not out of ideology, but experience. They were abandoned. Feared. Hunted when rediscovered. So they adapted—socially, as much as physically. They distrust. They strike first. They hate back.
Playing a Swampbrood
- Strengths: Disease and poison immunity, stealth and ambush tactics, blight magic, adaptability to swamps
- Weaknesses: Physically frail, disturbing appearance limits social integration, split clans prevent unity
- Key Traits: You are resistant to poison, disease, and corruption. You excel in stealth, toxins, and ambush tactics. Your magic is decay-driven and spiritually dangerous. You are physically unsettling—and often conceal it. You struggle with trust, and others struggle to trust you.
- Class Affinities: Saboteur Scholar Lifewhisperer Voidweaver Malefactor Blightweaver Soulreaper Rotforged