Olmarsh
Olmarsh stretches along miles of rocky shorelines and flooded salt marshes and encompasses numerous islands that dot the waters off the coast. Life is simple and buoyed by the county of dish that the sea provides, allowing the people of the province to live beyond a meager experience limited by the scarce resources of the land.
However, there is a threat constantly lurking in the watery depths that have even led the semi-aquatic races like the deepborns flee to the surface.
Provincial Folklore
Light of the Drowned
Olmarsh is an unceasing threat of eldritch, gibbering storms that whip out of nowhere, swallow ships whole, and turn any survivors to incoherent babbling. The only defense against these storms and other cosmic intrusions are the numerous lighthouses that dot the coastline and isles of the province, each shining with an eerie, ghostly light. Crews need the skill to navigate between these beacons and stay in the radius of their enchanted light to be shielded from the strange phenomena. These lamps, however, are fueled by the souls of those lost at sea.
Each lonely lighthouse is manned and operated by a single keeper who also serves as a warden of the souls, keeping the flame lit while being battered by the incessant wails of the drowned. These positions are considered a great honor and a noble sacrifice. Every tender of the light is doomed to have their own mind shattered whilst providing safe passage for the minds of others.
The Hungering Ones
The most calamitous threat to ships and coastal settlements that are colossal sea monsters that dwell in the abyssal depths of the black oceans. Both feared, yet also worshiped as deities. They are offered food, treasure, and sacrifice to sate their appetite in the faint hope that a vessel or town is spared from their legendary wrath. A fortune can be made by slaying one of these behemoths and harvesting its corpse for a valuable psychedelic substance called Tide Ash. It can be found within the heart of each beast no matter what form. Mythical shells are more desirable as blowing one binds the will of a Hungering One.
Noteworthy Folk
Captain Ephraim Wake
A deepborn sailor and one of the first lighthouse keepers to ever man the light of the drowned. Lasted longer than any keeper has before or since, but eventually succumbed to the delusions of the enchantment in the lamp. When he heard a siren call, he swam to meet it and was devoured by a Hungering One. No one knows how, but the next night, he returned to shore as a spirit who bore the secrets of the deep and the sight beyond the stars. Though mostly lucid, he is occasionally overcome with raving of superstitions, curses, and dangers on the horizon. All of which are filled with truth and heeded by the people. The eldritch, perhaps cosmic, knowledge has allowed the people of the province to weather the numerous dangers both natural and supernatural.
Sister Fathom
Her sorrow mirrors the sadness of Druskenvald's people. When they cry, she sheds briny, inky tears that spill into the sea. When she wants to surface to land, she's crushed by the great surge of tears that submerge her once more. Her witchcraft conjures impossibly acidic ooze that can eat away a galleon in mere moments. She seeks to steal the Light of the Drowned into her lure so that she may command all the sea monsters to flood the land in a tidal wave of her tears so that land-dwellers could suffer as she does
Location Location Location
Ibssmouth
The fog-bound coastal capital of Olmarsh and the biggest port city in Druskenvald. Sailors, traders, fishermen, and hunters come from all other provinces to make port before seeking the supernatural bounty of the strange tides off the coast. Eldritch and occult relics are often collected from the countless sunken ruins found in the marshes of the province and are traded behind closed doors. Rundown chapels can be found honoring the various Hungering Ones and are often full of worshipers, driven by both adoration and dread. The Seven Sisters tavern is known for its seafood stew and raucous clientele of salty dogs, cut throats, and bad eggs.
Darktide Manor
Far south of Ibbsmouth, there's a stretch of treacherous, windswept cliffs that's known as a cursed site called Seabird's Fall. Here, a legendary mariner once brought down an albatross- a foolish act that invited doom upon himself, his crew, and his entire family line. Darktide Manor is a towering, gloomy mansion that defies architectural logic. A combination of protective spells, lingering curses, marsh dangers, and sudden gales makes it perilous to reach.
This is the headquarters of the Nautilus Order. This secret society fosters the study of the strange, occult, and forbidden, seeking both magical and scientific pursuits. It also serves as a museum filled with curiosities from across Druskenvald and beyond, and a small university where only the most committed can succeed and survive. Initiation into the Nautilus Order involves venturing to a nearby black reef on a night that it rises above the surface of the sea and sacrificing something or someone precious to prove that your old life is over.