Swamps
Swamps are low-laying tracts of ground characterized by the accumulation of water and plant-life (usually trees or grasses). Fictional swamps are often depicted as inhospitable places, full of mud, gnarled roots, and dangerous creatures. There may be ruins or abandoned structures from long ago now slowing sinking into the mire, empty (or thought to be empty) huts, and fishing shacks full of interesting characters. Quicksand, mud pits, and other dangers lurk here, but secret routes may allow for safe passage. Fictional swamps may be home to witches, will-o-the-wisps, toad-people, gators, leeches, cultists, and hicks.
| Synonyms: wetlands, mires, bogs, moors, fens, quagmires, marshes, swamplands |
| Example Mythonyms: Fell Murkmire, the Misty Marsh, Long Fen, Eastern State Marshlands |
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Designing Fictional Swamps
Swamps can be extremely hard, and even dangerous, places to travel through. Extensive swampland is often desolate, with few settlements in the area. Major roads may opt to go around rather than through the region unless safe routes have been mapped or extensive roadworks have been built. Swamps may mark the borders between countries as they can act as a major natural deterrent for invading armies.
Archetypes
Overview
While often just referred to as ‘swamps’ in fictional sources, marshes, mires, swamps, bogs, and bayous are all different types of wetlands. Knowing their unique characteristics can provide worldbuilders options to choose from and help better tailor their world. While official definitions vary and there are regional differences in what wetlands are colloquially referred to as, the following will provide a good overview of the overarching types of wetlands often used in fictional settings.
Swamp: an area of standing water with a large amount of tree cover. Like a forest that has been flooded. Fictional swamps are often used as evil or haunted sites
Marsh: a area of wetlands with few trees and dominated by grasses. Marshes have shallow and slow-moving water and may line the sides of rivers.
Bog: an area similar to a marsh, but often contains floating islands of peat or dead plant material. Bogs rely on rainfall as their source of water.
Mire: a type of swamp, marsh, or bog that also contains a great deal of mud.
Bayou: a type of swamp that exists on the edges of slow-moving rivers. These are often found in anabranches or braided channels where the water does not move as fast as the main river branch and becomes stagnant. Channels of slow moving water meanders through the dense forest.
Common Sublocations
Fictional swamps often have rivers that run through them as well as lakes and ponds. Small hills or areas of high ground may be like islands in the muddy marshes. Tall reeds may grow in the area and there may be quicksand and leech infested waters. The dense roots of giant trees may cover the earth and weave their way between vines, moss, and old logs. Swamps frequently contain fishing towns or fishing shacks full of characters that eke out a life amid the water and trees.
Themes & Symbolism
Swamps, and particularly mires, often symbolize becoming stuck in a journey and unable to move forward. They may serve as a type of limbo, full of lost souls incapable of escape.
