Editing Shattered Sun (section)

===The Rotting Swamp===
To the East of the Cities lies a large swath of land coated by eternal darkness. This in of itself is not unusual, at any one time more than half of this world lies in grey twilight or blackest night. It is however what hides within this blanket of shadow that makes it both unique and terrifying. Deep within the shade, lies a massive swamp where a great forest and a small City, with no remembered name, used to rest.

====''The City's Former Life''====
The City, at what may charitably be called its prime, was home to near seven thousand and was well known along the Eastern coast as a major source of timber, charcoal and other by-products of wood. Despite its status as a major producer, the City was also extremely poor due to its main exports being cheap raw materials and its rapidly expanding populace consuming its resources. This sad state of affairs was further reflected from both its high unemployment rates and massive amounts of acid rain and smog, generated by the charcoal 'factories' and the constant drizzle of rain that seemed to permeate the air half the year.

As a result of the corrosive precipitation and general lack of sturdier materials, the vast majority of the City’s residential buildings were constructed from the native timber of its industry. The buildings of the City, rather than reach towards the heavens above with majestic spires and towers, clung to the ground as if the Citizens were afraid it would run away, featuring deep basements designed to maximize space while minimizing cost.

====''An Unusual Rebirth''====
With the Phoenix's Awakening, this area was to be one of the few in the world unfortunate enough to not be gifted with any Shardstream or stray beacon of Light at all. As its occupants fled, the nocturnal denizens of the forests advanced in the never-ending night, and the town soon fell into severe disrepair.

Gradually the wooden buildings came to be covered with thick clumps of moss and fungus, the only things which could thrive in such a hostile environment, and rotted to the ground. The sturdier stone factories and official buildings became the refuge of wildlife scavenging the city for its dwindling food sources. The forest, or rather, certain types of fungus, also continued to grow with massive speed, and within two decades the entire area was covered by a thick layer of nutrient hungry fungus that turned everything of organic nature into slush beneath it. The fungi also decayed the rest of the City into ruins with the aid of the still acidic and regular supply of rain water. The larger animals of the forest died out sometime after, providing yet more food for the insatiable plant life.

Over the intervening centuries between the Awakening and the present day, the fungus and decay, combined with the massive amounts of organic matter provided by dead animal and plant life, have been converted into a deep sea of muddy swampland. It stretches almost five miles wide by the best estimates, atop the carcasses of its dead parents. The only life to be found now are massive, sprawling fungi that reach dozens of feet into the air and thrice around, and small insects that feed off of nutrient-rich liquids (including the blood of animals and, by some accounts, the wayward adventurer), algae, and small amphibians.

====''A Cradle of Life and Death''====
There is nothing alive in the City besides its now-established ecosystem of fungi and insects. Other creatures may survive there for only a paltry week before the spores in the air begin to take effect. The kinder ones merely causes intense hallucinations while the more common (and deadlier) ones cause tenacious mushrooms to take root in the victim's lungs, and from there devour it from the inside out.

The insects seem to swarm constantly in the dank coldness, biting and stinging anyone who draws near to their domain, causing infections and disease unknown to even the best physicians of the Cities. The insects are only held at bay by Light, be it from a Shard or even a fire, something so alien to them it overcomes even their hunger and drives them off in their hordes. The ground is uneven and contains otherwise invisible, gaping sink-holes that can swallow horses whole, with muck and slime so thick that men have broken bones being dragged out by their friends. 

If not for the steel machines still within intact factories and the chance of a large sum of gold held throughout the City's bank, as well as the promise of knowledge from before the Awakening, no-one would dare to enter the swamp and face the wrath of its ever expanding, tainted grasp. But, there still exist a few who dare to go where others have died before in search of glory, riches, knowledge, perhaps even more...

And the Rotting Swamp will gladly welcome their corpses.