Hydra

Geography
The mountains catch most of the rainclouds and drop the water into the basin at the bottom. It is a wetland filled with some of the most bizarre plant and animal life available. The terrain is mucky and difficult, most plants and fruit are poisonous (or medicinally beneficial in the right doses), and the wildlife is more monsters than animals in a lot of cases. The villages are small and scattered with no common law between them, buildings made of wood or thatch, closer to the mountains gets actual masonry.

The capital has aspirations of a real city, boasting of a market, library and a small school, even some boarded roadways. Most villages have walled perimeters made of sharpened, wooden poles. Windows are unheard of in Hydra. The risk of some terror of the swamp crashing through the glass at night is too real and frightening for anyone to dare invite upon themselves. Instead, Hydra buildings have lookout bays barred with thick, sturdy wooden slats that can be covered with equally thick and heavy wood shutters. Richer homes or homes with the luck to have brighter residents have entire sections of wall made of planks that can swing open similar to blinds with the use of a lever.

Culture
The people themselves are stubborn, survivalist in nature and highly superstitious. Though not particularly religious, many observe the general rites and taboos of the gods not so much out of any reverence but general mistrust of the caprices of higher beings. Those who ARE devout tend to display a certain spirit or animistic based bent. Literacy is a luxury. Some have it, some don’t.

Economy
Barter. Hydra sees no use to coin besides its shine. The more practical the offering the better. Foreign foods are very often prized, as are services.

Architecture
Most structures are built high, shored on the great trees or stilted to avoid the floods of the rainy seasons and wood is the material of choice. The few masonry buildings in the drier areas are a testament to both stubbornness, Cepheus and Pavo ingenuity, and sturdy design. In particular, the library of the capital has lost six floors to the swamp, and just keeps building UP on top of what hasn’t been reclaimed by the ground. (Though most will say it is 13 these days.)

Technology level
The people of Hydra have an eye for practical mechanical design and indulge in it out of necessity and some natural inventiveness and drive to improve what they have. Their advancements tend to center around defense, structure or practical convenience.

Government
No centralized government, areas tend to peacefully rely on the wisest or eldest of their particular area. The library’s city is where any meetings are held/country-wide messages are sent out from whenever there’s a need for that sort of thing. Meetings of village heads are held in the bottom floor of the library.

Elemental/Magic affinities
Water, earth, spiritual. Necromancy and mental magics are considered taboo due to the prevalent legends of undead in the country.

Native Creatures

 * Currwis - Resembling nothing more than a snake-scaled cat, it is as at home in the murky waters hunting snakes and cray as it is in the trees hunting tet and small birds. Not as intelligent as the enza of the mountains, they are canny. (They can interbreed with the enza but litters tend to be flightless, sickly and sterile.) Wary and skittish in nature, they are very aware they are on the lower rungs of the food chain. They don’t so much as allow themselves to be domesticated as will graciously accept temporary lodgings and food as is offered. Many Hydra fondly liken Vulp to them.
 * Hissing grakk - Quite a bit like a komodo dragon, they are heavy lizards a little larger than common pederpes. They have a vicious bite and roll with their victim to rend flesh or drown them. Surprisingly, they are herbivores favoring tubers and thicker vegetation and are generally solitary though common in the semi dry areas.
 * Tet- Small rodents with a row of spikes down their spine a tuft of fur at the end of their tail, they are omnivorous, a common pest and the spikes on their back are barbed and snap off easily making stomping on them a generally unwise decision. They are considered disease carriers and not eaten as a practice.
 * Badgercrocs - Solitary and rare in the wild, they tend to keep towards the mountainous areas and are found swimming through the muck or holed up in mountain caves. Hydra don’t so much as domesticate them as distract them with food in order to get the wool to be spun into a very heavy, suprisingly pleasantly textured cloth.
 * Marwok - A billed, webbed-footed boar with a flat, whip-like tail. The bird-like bill is exceedingly sharp and in water, they can swim at incredible speeds, tending to ram/gore their attackers or prey. They are omnivorous and can be eaten though the meat has a naturally sour tang, making them a somewhat acquired taste. Badgercrocs sure do love them though.
 * Cray - Large swampwater crustaceans, they have a hard, spiny shell, pincers, and a poisonous stinger on the tails. They are bottom feeders that eat carrion and decaying plants. They are typically trapped in wicker cages and are a favored food in the Hydra areas for their white, sweet meat. They CAN be caught by hand, but why would you want to?
 * Tree snakes - Tasty! Constrictors and solitary, they grow up to 12 feet in length.
 * Galla - (Beauty Pet) This strange two legged creature looks adorable at first sight. With it’s long ears, catlike expressions and hopping mode of travel, it stands out if its red coloration didn’t already mark it so plainly. It is a trap, as its jaws unhinge and can stretch enormously. They eat EVERYTHING and ANYTHING, their trails are often a trail of consumption. They have no natural predators, FAST, SMART and STRONG, add it with their non selective diet... they are the top of the food chain in the swamp.
 * Terapedes - Though a deadly threat in most areas, in Hydra, there is such a plentiful mass of food, that most terapede nests are harmless unless specifically disturbed. The insects merely act as decomposers of carrion.
 * Squidrats

Affiliated Characters

 * Fang
 * G/Izbucnire
 * Roshan
 * Spar
 * Suraga
 * Vade
 * Wind
 * Wolf