Swamps

Formation 

 Swamps are formed in soft, low lying ground near to a source of ample water. That source may be the ocean, a lake, a river, or even an aquifer. They tend to be small and compact. Swamps are of each extreme in the time that they exist: a swamp with a good water source and little disturbance can exist longer than a mountain range. Swamps are earthquake resistant, and only the greatest of tremors will cause a serious disturbance. Yet when a swamp dries up, it is rapidly swallowed up by the surrounding landscape. You might consider creating separate maps for separate times, to distinguish the fluxuating of landscapes. dead swamps are the ideal setting for an ethereal encounter, or just a spooky place to venture through. A live swamp's vegetation would most likely be the remnants of a forest of some native tree, with about three feet of stagnant, still water covering about five feet of slippery, thick mud. This mud would arise in clumps to form islands, which would be carpeted by a form of grass or moss, populated by withered shrubs or reeds. Any swamp can have seperate vegetation, and none of the above mentioned is mandatory. 

Placing 

 Swamps are the ideal landscape for 'filling in' areas around river deltas, old lakebeds, etc. Just remember that the swamp, if a live one, must be close to some form of water. If you choose to create a dead swamp, you can place it anywhere that of old had a water source. Swamps placed in a river delta will be broken into separate sections by strong currents, and will be more likely to have quicksand than any other. Quicksand is caused by the irregular flow of water beneath the surface of the swamp, and the channels of a broken river provide plenty of these. Remember that cities cannot be built within a swamp, lest they burn down, fall over, and then sink into the swamp. (You Pythonites should understand that!) 

How to draw swamps 

 Swamps are comprised of symbols roughly equalling \|/. (I will create the graphic necessary to show true swamp formation shortly) These symbols are placed relatively close together, to create the effect of a saturated area. Any other form of swamp symbols are absolutely fine, but may not be understood correctly if they are too obscure. Just use good judgement, or if worse comes to worse, a key, and things should be fine. 

 Some swamp names 

Swamps have a very distinct naming mechanism. Consider these names: Wetwang, The Dead Marshes, Darnlan, and Nyissa. (© their respective authors) Do you notice anything similar between them? If you don't, you should be strung up here and now. These names (excluding Darnlan) bear a favoritism towards the dark, the dead, and the sly. These names provoke a sense of black, cold water, and dead, sun bleached branches. But there is an exception. Darnlan evokes an image of a serene landscape, cool and thriving with life. Swamps, it seems, do not always have to bring up an image of despair.