The Still Valley

The area known as the Still Valley, lays West of the Desert of Skulls, in Central Arcadia. It is a huge bowl shaped forested area, likely to be the site of an ancient meteor impact or an extinguished or dormant caldera. Bound to the west by the Black Pinnacle mountains, to the north by the Barren Top volcano and to the east by the Rorath Heights.

The Valley was once one of the most fertile lands in Arcadia, a verdant valley of rolling hills and placid streams, where the natives led idyllic lives, raising settlments and hamlets. The land is strewed with ruins of begone days and strange looking stones, that jut from the ground as if they have fallen from the sky.

That is all in the past now. Nowadays, the Still Valley is a massive swamp, the dark heart of Arcadia, where few dare to travel. Rain and seasonal floodings, as well as melting glacial water, streaming down from the Black Pinnacle system caused water levels to saturate the area over the course of a few centuries.

This land of swamps, bogs and mangroves is criss-crossed with treacherous paths leading to the haunts of its terrible denizens. One step out of place spells a certain and lingering death. But the land also holds out the lure of treasure and ancient secrets.

The natives of the Still Valley are known as the Umnac. They are the ones that stayed behind since the land started to turn, etching a meagre and brutal existance from the floded land. They live in small groups and villages divided as Broods, small family like clans spread across the swamp and bogs.

They are dangerous and untrustworthy and do not tolerate ousiders to their lands. Blood feuds among the Broods are common over the smallest of slights and due to the lack of natural resources. Each Brood is represented by an animal like totem that is their most precious possession.

The Umnac worship a living God. One that roams and stalks the land and has done so for many ages. The Broods believe he has been here, even since before their arrival. He is the apex predator of the land and tales of his cravings and hunger haunt everyone here. He is know as Uctilo'rhu. Devourer in the Mist. He who comes in the Dark. God of the Still Valley.

The Broods believe that he can take the form of a panther, monitor lizard, Heron or a black bear and that any who meet him are fated to die at his hands in terrible fashion.