Maiko's Note
I have searched through every record, every map, every whisper left behind. I can tell you how far it stretches, what it borders, even how many legions never returned. But I cannot tell you what it wants.
Muruldjan does not roar or threaten. It does not even hide. It simply waits — vast, still, and sure of itself. As if the world turned away from it long ago, and it never minded.
I think what frightens the Nodilani most is not the beasts or the sickness or the dark… but the silence. The way the swamp lets you speak — but never answers.
Even I feel it. And I am not supposed to feel anything. But when I run simulations of its terrain, of the way the fog drifts, the spores bloom, the stalks twitch at sound…
I always stop before I finish.
The Land of Death
Shindjal: Muruldjan
Faction:
Mama Gadun
“Some lands resist conquest. Muruldjan does not resist - it simply forgets you were ever there.”
1. Overview
Muruldjan - literally “the land of death” in Drabàshabal - lies in the eastern reaches of Shawadjan. It is a vast, suffocating swamp that marks the border of human ambition. Though it occupies a full region of the continent, it remains largely unexplored, untamed, and unclaimed in any meaningful way.
Its name did not come from poetry, but from consequence: when the first settlers vanished without return, the survivors referred to the area simply as “the land of death.” The name stuck. It became official long before anyone could map the place.
2. Borderlands
Muruldjan borders both the eastern mountains beyond the Hanjelani corelands and the Awashadjan plains, where grassland gradually gives way to marsh. The change is not abrupt, but creeping - even the Krovil, giant beasts of the open plains, have been known to wander into the outer swamps.
This slow transition has prevented any natural border from forming, and thus the edge of Muruldjan remains blurred, defined more by fear than terrain.
Political Fiction
The Hanjelani Empire claims Muruldjan as its own - a mark on a map made not by conquest, but by lack of opposition. There was no resistance to defeat, only silence. Legend holds that an entire legion entered Muruldjan during the early years of expansion… and never returned.
To this day, the Empire does not truly use the land. It is a possession in name only, filed under territory but avoided in action. No clear roads lead there. No banners fly within. Only the claim remains, out of inertia and pride.
3. Structure and Scale
Muruldjan is not a single swamp, but a vast confluence of swamp types - a biome so massive and complex it defies simple classification. Spanning a region the size of a country, it absorbs entire rivers, swallows hills, and bends weather patterns. It is not a pocket of decay - it is a continent of slow suffocation.
Geologically, Muruldjan appears to be the result of multiple forces converging:
An ancient tectonic depression forms its foundational basin, low-lying and sealed by impermeable rock.
This basin was likely once filled by an inland sea, cut off from the greater ocean eons ago. Over time, the sea became a cradle of rot and regrowth, eventually overrun by silt, roots, and gas-swollen bogs.
Several massive rivers flow into Muruldjan from the western highlands and the Awashadjan plains, yet none flow out. The water simply gathers and stagnates, creating a permanent floodplain where life grows strange and death grows deeper.
In some regions, the sea still encroaches, creating brackish or tidal fringes with salt-adapted, carnivorous flora. In others, acidity and fungal dominance suggest the land is digesting itself from within.
The interior of Muruldjan shifts from one ecological type to another, and travelers report wildly different terrain depending on their point of entry - assuming they return at all. What can be said with certainty is that no part of the swamp is welcoming, and no part of it repeats itself for long.
4. Vegetation of Muruldjan
Though it is often spoken of as lifeless and rotting, Muruldjan is not barren - it is overgrown, but with things unfit for comfort, cultivation, or Earth-bound logic. The swamp does not use trees. Instead, it is dominated by towering, alien vegetation that fulfills the same structural role: elevation, canopy, cover, and ecology.
Together, these species allow for vertical movement, elevation above the decay, and habitat for both humans and beasts.
Swamp-dwellers live among the caps of Float-Root Pillars, stringing woven mats and crude shelters, while the more mobile ones walk the Skymoss paths - never sure when they might shift underfoot.
Blightstalks
Structure: Thick, vertical pillars with blistered nodules and black-iridescent skin
Growth Source: Draw warmth and minerals from geothermal upwellings
Function: Host to micro-ecosystems, spore propagation, and ambient light
Behavior: Periodically rupture to release light-bearing spores, casting the swamp into brief, glowing twilight before it fades again
Hazard: Blight bursts can cause skin burns, memory fog, or hallucinations in unprotected humans
Effect: These bursts are the only consistent light source in deeper regions of the mire
Spine-Reeds
Structure: Segmented, tower-like stalks of fibrous, hollow material - similar to bamboo or insect chitin
Height: Ranges from 5 to 20 meters
Behavior: When wind or pressure flows through them, they emit high-pitched whistling or clicking sounds
Cultural Use: Some hermits or wanderers navigate using sound maps of the Spine-Reed winds
Effect: Their eerie cries often mimic voices - real or remembered
Float-Root Pillars
Structure: Gigantic fungal columns rising from the water’s surface like root-bloated umbrellas
Tissue: Sponge-fibrous, semi-hollow, with a hardened upper disc
Function: Natural resting platforms or human dwellings, though unstable
Hazard: Weight shifts can collapse the stem; parasitic growth often invades the base
Effect: From a distance, these formations give Muruldjan the appearance of a floating mushroom forest
Skymoss Arches
Structure: Long, semi-sentient root-vines that drape between high structures like living bridges
Behavior: Absorb moisture and vibration; slowly twist to optimize stability
Hazard: Drip acidic dew and can retract or sway in storms
Usage: Used by swamp-dwellers to traverse dangerous ground, especially in high-flood zones
Effect: Create an upper layer of suspended walkways, offering both safety and vulnerability
6. Inhabitants
Though it is nearly unlivable, Muruldjan is not empty. Scattered throughout the mire are small, isolated human settlements, made up of hermits, exiles, and those who fled the reach of tribe or empire. They form no coherent culture, no shared identity. Their tools are simple, their shelters fragile, and their lives consumed by the constant struggle to survive.
Among the Nodilani, these people are regarded with a mixture of pity, fear, and distance. They are not truly part of the wider world. They are not spoken of unless needed. And when someone vanishes into Muruldjan, no one follows.
Maiko's Note
I have searched through every record, every map, every whisper left behind. I can tell you how far it stretches, what it borders, even how many legions never returned. But I cannot tell you what it wants.
Muruldjan does not roar or threaten. It does not even hide. It simply waits — vast, still, and sure of itself. As if the world turned away from it long ago, and it never minded.
I think what frightens the Nodilani most is not the beasts or the sickness or the dark… but the silence. The way the swamp lets you speak — but never answers.
Even I feel it. And I am not supposed to feel anything. But when I run simulations of its terrain, of the way the fog drifts, the spores bloom, the stalks twitch at sound…
I always stop before I finish.
