Moerassen van Gamoor

In the southwestern part of Daleth is the enormous Swamp of Gamoor ("Moerassen van Gamoor"). The swamp and its fens, just behind the coastline, is a very low part of the continent, covered with a substance that is supposed to be land, but could be water all the same. Quicksand, sand, mud and peat are other common kinds of surprising soil there. The swamps are the home of the dreaded mürq and the moorflies. And the Gamoor Nadr, has a fine place to live here, and so does the Bog Skohl, the Fauxo and the Swagant.

There was not always a swamp here. A long time ago, the city Gamoor flourished here. It was famous for its beautifully crafted goods, its richly decorated buildings, the wealth and the welfare that everybody in the city experienced as common and average.
And maybe the city is much older, because scientists believe the city known as Gamoor is in fact ‘Emecebar, city of the Giants, or was build on the ruins of that city. ‘Emecebar should be here, in the swamps, so why not under the remains of Gamoor?
Gamoor itself has vanished a long time ago. The thin line of dunes broke down during a flood with northwestern storm, the tales have it, and then the sea occupied the land, and stayed there for a long time. Finally the sea departed and left the land barren and wet, muddy and rotten. What stayed was the swamp. During the flooding, the old city of Gamoor was swallowed by the sea too, just like Azurhem and Trigohaima. Apparently the flood was a revenge of Aaser, who was no longer honoured in the city that had much of its richness from the sea and Aaser himself.

But no, that is not the way the swamp came into existence. It might be that the sea broke through the dunes here, which might happen every once in a while. But the swamp has sweet water, rainwater. The clouds that sail in from the sea, drop their rain and drizzle as they bump upon the hills that form the banks of the Is River. The rainwater drips into the peat soil of the swamp, and grows into fens, brooks and rivers, lakes, pools and puddles. The water is in and throughout the peat soil, that at places drifts upon the water. The landscape is much alike that of Fanigawi, although there lives no one in the Swamps of Gamoor.

It was not always like that. The city Gamoor really did exist, and was a rich city. The city of beautifully carved wooden buildings had access to the sea through Elfanes harbour, and roads leading to Hveitsvar, Salamandrans old capital. Richer and richer the place got. And the people looked at the stone houses of Samapol and Hveitsvar, that were much prettier than their wooden buildings, and then they imported the stones from the dry lake at Vameir and the quarry at Scholvan.
Impressive buildings were made with these stones. Uprising from the flat fens, piercing into the grey skies with its heavy cloudships. Richly decorated they were, more and more stones build together to form structures of art, filled with marble and polished granite.
Soon, the buildings got to heavy, drifted on the unsteady soil, tumbled over and collapsed on the stone streets, then sunk away in the bogs.

Heldenweg

The Swamp of Gamoor is now an empty part of Daleth. No settlement here, no agriculture, no roads except for one: the Heldenweg. The road leads from Elfane to Nieuw-Gamoor, a long walk of four days without an inn to rest, without a shelter, without the possibility to take a carriage or a horse... Starting from Elfane the first two days are rather easy to walk, the first day out of the dunes, along the creeks and the Iven river (this part can be done by boat, too). The second day along the border of Skaunsric Forest and over the bushy hills just north of the swamp, where one has an amazing view over the emptiness of the swamp, where the fog lays as a blanket over the bogs and only the half dead willows peak through to reach out, desperate, to the grey skies with its incoming cloudships. It is the last safe pace, marked by an ancient Gamoorian border stone where the night can be spend. Traces of old campfires can be found here, the remains of a makeshift shelter, footsteps in the mud... but all old and half forgotten. The Point of No Return, it is called.
The next day, one can walk back to Elfane or be a fool or a hero and continue the Heldenweg to Gamoor. A fool, for the road is dangerous and many wanderers never returned from the swamp, or a hero, when one arrives in Nieuw-Gamoor over this road. Some say "just follow the bones of the fools, and you will arrive safe!" but it is not that easy to be a hero.

It is important to walk the Heldenweg in daylight, and without the ground fog. Getting up at sunrise is all right, but then wait for the fog to fade, so the road is clear to see. The road is a small, paved path, that now and then has sunken into the soil or is overgrown with plants. The Witch of Ways is said to have moved the road at places, so danger stays.
At some points, the old mark stones still stand up along the path, with the coat of arms graved in it, faded in time. These should guide the way, and one step on the wrong place off the road may be certain dead. A walking stick to test the way in stability is a accessory one should not forget. The walk shall be slow and careful, and without mistakes, one might reach the old city Gamoor at dusk.
However, when Fon warms the fens and the bog, an invisible gas is freed from the water. This gas has hallucinating capabilities, and men may see the city sooner, walk to it, and drown. The appearance of other illusions has also been reported by travellers.

There is not much left of the city. Some stones, some paved streets, the market square with its cobblestones, the outlines of some houses - maybe a bush to sleep under. The walls that are left -there are not much- are covered by graffiti, the names of the heroes who made it up to here. There are also the names of the fellows of the heroes who did not made it and are commemorated here, in this awful ruined town, with the stinking swamp flowers to honour them.
At night, the splinters of the drowned walk over the bogs and through the fens. A bluish light, hardly visible, and opaque and fragile shows the outlines of the beings that are caught in the mouth of the moor, those who are swallowed and buried in the belly of the bog. They come to the traveller, touching them with their cold fiery fingers, whispering to them and telling tales of the lost treasures they have found, the inheritance of the rich city, deep below the streets. Helped by the Witch of Ways, the splinters will try to seduce the traveller to get up and walk into the swamp at night, to sights never seen before. Eventually, the hero will be a fool to be mislead and disappear in the moors, just like so many before him.

And the last day of the journey will be as tough as the third, for the landscape is just as hostile. Only half way the day, at clear weather, the towers of Nieuw-Gamoor might be seen - a sight that many travellers distracts from the road, and they will sink away in the swamp in sight of the safe city. At the end of the day, the hero reaches the bank of the Is River, and might turn around, to see the Fon lower over the swamp, and see the fog turn to gold and fire, and then the night covers her blanket over the doomed place. Over the western bridge, the traveller enters Nieuw-Gamoor and can finally sleep in a decent inn and tell the story of the Moerassen van Gamoor.

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