Farsea Marshes

The Farsea Marshes was a wetland located in interior Faerûn west of Cormyr. It is home to the friendly and colorful Marsh Drovers who lived in floating villages built on wood stilts or platforms.

Geography
The Farsea Marshes was a rich, green expanse full of bogs, shallow ponds, stands of swamp-growing trees, and occasional islands and causeways of solid earth. It was located south of the Anauroch desert, west of the Stonelands, north of the Storm Horns mountain range, and east of Sunset Mountains. To the north lay the Goblin Marshes, home to various hominoid groups that occasionaly strike south, raiding Marsh Drover settlements or the Storm Horn trade routes. This wetland eventually joined with the Marsh of Tun some time after the Era of Upheaval to form the Farsea Swamp.

Climate
In the spring the region floods, often submerging the few dry islands, swamping Drover villages, toppling ancient trees, and completely changing the course of the River Tun. Summer grows hot, as hordes of insect fill the air, animals mature to adulthood, and the river and ponds grow smaller and shallower. Often, large sections of the marsh are rendered dry and as hard as stone by late summer. Fall brings more rains, and frenetic activity as both humans and animals prepare for winter.

Temperatures drop below freezing for weeks at a time in the winter. Ice covers ponds, and the river flows sluggishly. Snow is a rarity at lower elevations, although the portions of the marsh that border on the Storm Horns are sometimes buried under up to a foot of snow, and fierce storms sometimes howl down from the mountains.

Geographical Features
The Tun River originated in the Farsea Marshes, flowing south and carving a broad valley between the peaks of the Storm Horns and the Far Hills. The Tun valley is damp and inhospitable, its soil far too soft and marshy for much farming, and regularly flooded by the Tun.

Eagle Peak
A fortified trade-city inhabited by tough mountain-dwellers, it is the only settlement of any size near the marshes, and its inhabitants rarely venture down into the valley. The Tun's flood plain is left to humanoids and the few humans hardy or foolish enough to live there. The latter are mostly peat cutters and farmers who till the occasional small plots of dry land. Trading caravans out of Cormyr pass through the foothills of the Storm Horns, but most of the region is relatively inaccessible.

Ancient Ruins
An ancient kingdom is said to have flourished here centuries ago in the form of ruined buildings, roads, or even treasures. Several extensive ruins exist in the swamp, and often yield valuable treasures. An unfortunate side effect of the ancient kingdom's presence is the occasional appearance (or eruption) of undead creatures from deep beneath the marsh. Most of these are mindless skeletons or zombies, but some are self-willed and very dangerous.