“Weeping Ahrachuah stands fast against the Warbringer and his lackeys! My Thunder Mother continues to deliver us from the mad servants of the Crimson Sun!” – Taca-Mae, Thunderclap Rain shaman

The Basin of Ahrachuah dominates the southern end of the Forest Ridge. A graded and plateaued wetland with numerous water courses streaming off to the west, the Basin is a cloud-shrouded swamp whose highest elevations (around 12,000 feet) sit just at the timberline. This is where the Thunder Mother chose to make her home with her followers. Once a caldera and home to an elder magma drake called Tephra and his assorted cadre of Magma clerics, Ahrachuah extinguished the caldera’s magma plume after a fierce battle, driving it deep within Athas with the drake close behind.

The High Swamp is the highest point with vegetation in the Basin. This is a cloud-bound moisture accumulator, and it is extremely cool but humid here. The water is at least 3 feet deep all across the High Swamp, though it reaches a depth of 30 feet in places. There are permanent gates to the planes of elemental Air, Rain, and Water here, all created by Ahrachuah’s hand. The High Swamp is eerily silent compared to the nearby Tears or Low Bog.

Between the High Swamp and the Low Bog stretch a number of river valleys that the locals refer to as the “Tears of Ahrachuah”. Rough, muddy, and dense with overgrowth and water streaming through their jagged rocky outcroppings. The Children of Ahrachuah say that it would take more than a thousand lifetimes to see every waterfall in these canyons.

The forest floors of these valleys are dense with activity at all hours of the day and night, and all manner of life can be found here: capybara, kirre, prard (creatures similar to klar), ring-tailed lemurs, sloths, and sun squirrels, even exotic types of finned beasts found in the waters that travel upstream by jumping up the waterfalls. The constant flow of water is always eroding root systems and carrying sediment downstream, building new flow channels and delivering nutrients to the Low Bog.

The Low Bog is where all of the debris in the Basin accumulates, deposited by the constant runoff pouring down from the High Swamp and Tears of Ahrachuah. This is the lowest point within the Basin; the water here is acrid and still, shrouded in vapors belched up from the mire below. Where the rest of the Basin is filled with the solid roots and strong vertical trunks of trees, the Low Bog sees only the loose detritus and uprooted trees that wash down into this pool of fermentation. There is no canopy or understory here, only an ever changing watercourse washing through piles of fermenting and rotting biomass up to 30 feet high. The stench here is not for the faint of heart; the Crashing Flows claim that tunnels open up here that drink down the bog water and consume dead trees whole, but few enough others dare to travel the Low Bog to confirm their audacious claims. The central portion of the Low Bog is a literal hotbed of activity, with the water temperatures rising the closer to the center one travels. The waters grow hot enough to be painful, but never hot enough to boil unless a ‘micro-eruption’ occurs below, with a small amount of lava venting from the magma chamber below only to be quickly drowned by the waters, adding noxious fumes to the steam and vapors of the Low Bog. The histories tell tales of Sacred Children being driven mad by the vapors of the Low Bog.

Regional Heresies:

• The Boiling Earth: Tephra, the elder magma drake that Ahrachuah chased away millennia ago, still dwells deep beneath the Basin in caves that extend to the very roots of the Ringing Mountains. Revered by the tribes of hej-kin that live deep below the Basin, Tephra is said to corrupt all those brave or foolish enough to explore the caves.
• The Crimson Sun: Now a full-fledged Greater Sun Paraelemental (complete with Psionic Enchantments), Eyra has never been far from Ahrachuah’s side, even if she can no longer perceive him. Isolated pockets of Sun-worshipping halflings live near the Basin and revere Eyra, secretly constructing their settlements to face southeast and let them greet the sun’s rays each morning.

There are 8 halfling tribes dwelling in the High Swamp with Ahrachuah. Numbering nearly 13,000, the tribes war amongst themselves for resources within the Basin, as their territories have long been dictated by Ahrachuah herself. The Thunder Mother serves the rarest element of Athas and believes her people should be just as rarified; she accepts no weakness among them and encourages their tribal warfare to winnow out those who’d weaken the defenses of the High Swamp. All of the tribes are named for sounds associated with rainfall or flooding.

Shamanic Castes:

The shamanic tribes are named for sounds that emanate from the storming sky. They are the only ones to have daily rapport with Ahrachuah.

Ahrachuah Tun’kra (510 members): A sacred caste of shamanic Rain warriors, they are the strongest and ‘most sacred’ of all the followers of Ahrachuah…as well as the most fanatic. Only they may walk the High Swamp freely and they are wholly unrestricted in their travels within the Basin. The Thunderclaps speak law for the tribes in all things, and only those seeking to prove that they are worthy of becoming Thunderclaps themselves would dare to ignore a decree from a Thunderclap shaman. They are considered the voice of Ahrachuah. Their name translates literally as “Thunderclaps of Ahrachuah”.

Ahrachuah Gah’whol (765 members): The Harbingers of the Crying Clouds. Members of the Gale Wind tribe are the swiftest of the sacred children of Ahrachuah. They command the winds on her behalf and roam the canopy tops of the Basin jungles, watching over the other tribes on the behalf of Ahrachuah. They are considered the eyes of Ahrachuah. Using the tree canopy and winds, the Gale Winds also moderate the crimson sun’s access to the Basin floor.

Warrior Castes:

These castes are named for sounds that raindrops make when landing on different surfaces. They are the chosen of Ahrachuah and may harvest from the Basin’s bounty as they choose, but they must risk their lives in defense of the Basin. Their weapons are made of bone or wood. Wood is the medium Ahrachuah gifts to her sacred children for all crafts, as it grows from the seeds that she feeds with her tears. Bone is a medium claimed from a warrior’s meal, and only halflings from the warrior castes may eat flesh.

Ahrachuah Pipipipipipi (1,657 members): The Pip tribe lives in the upper canopy of the Basin jungle. They strike from on high with whistling javelins or arrows shot from short bows. The name of their tribe translates literally to “Ahrachuah’s Tears upon the Leaf”

Ahrachuah Ta’po’ath (1,402 members): The Splat tribe lives on the ground and in the lower canopy of the Basin’s jungles. They attack their foes with brute force, wielding wooden clubs and shields. Fashioning their own weapons is a matter of pride for members of this tribe, and is a point of contention with the Groaningmound community. “Ahrachuah’s Tears upon Athas”

Ahrachuah Ta’po’tei (1,274 members): The Ploop tribe lives along the rivers of the Basin’s floor, and serve as the most elite warriors in the Basin. They are exceedingly stealthy, and strike from surprise with bone short swords. “Ahrachuah’s Gathered Tears” or “Ahrachuah’s Tears upon Tears”

Worker Castes:

The Basin’s worker-caste tribes are named for the sounds that raindrops make when aggregated into a flow.

“Babbling Brooks of Ahrachuah” Tribe (1,747 members): The Babbling Brooks are deep-diving collectors of fish eggs, precious crystals, and stones. It is a well known (but tacitly accepted) secret that the tribe circumvents the restriction on eating flesh by consuming fish eggs, arguing that fish eggs are no more a fish than a seed is a tree.

“Raging Torrents of Ahrachuaht” Tribe (2,039 members): The Raging Torrents are gatherers of fruits and vegetables, and tree climbers who tend a largely self-sufficient agricultural ecosystem in the boughs of the jungle’s great trees.

“Groan of Ahrachuah’s Flood Debris” Tribe (3,350 members): This tribe is made up of woodworkers of all sorts, scavengers who pick over the basin floor and cut peat for use by the higher-caste tribes.

Despite the strict tribal hierarchy established by Ahrachuah, there is some social mobility. Any halfling can join a worker-caste tribe and freely enjoy the bounty of the Basin, though they are required to do the labor to claim said bounty. Warriors band together within their own tribes to raid worker communities for resources. Members of Worker tribes can join a Warrior tribe, but they must defeat a member of the Warrior tribe in ritual combat and then consume the warrior’s heart to do so. Defending warriors are allowed to subdue their challenger and take them as a slave.

Settlements:

Peatmound (elevation 12,637 ft; population 1352): The shamanic camp of the High Swamp. All of the structures here are made of peat, and the community sits alongside a spring-fed lake. Peatmound is the smallest community in the Basin, being home to slightly more than 10% of the total population of the Basin (the Thunderclap and Gale Wind tribes in their entirety plus some Groan servants). However, this is the most revered place of the Basin. There are ceremonial buildings here that see regular use in cyclical ceremonies (during Holy Days), when as much as 25% of the Basin’s total population might be present. Peatmound is considered sacred ground, and only Thunderclaps are permitted to engage in violence here. Ahrachuah herself is in constant residence here when not attending to business on the elemental planes, and only a fool would think of acting out of line here.

Abundanthollow (elevation 11,051 ft; population 1878): Located just outside the High Swamp, Abundanthollow is precariously placed amid an area of jagged canyons, but there is abundant vegetation in the area (edible greens, mushrooms, and root vegetables), as well as the game that such abundance brings. This community is claimed by the Pip tribe and largely worked by the Raging Torrents.

Watermeat (elevation 10,821 ft; population 1966): This is the northernmost community in the Basin. Although it shares a similar proximity to rivers and elevation as Abundanthollow, Watermeat’s rivers have a far softer grade to their descents. This community is claimed by the Splat Tribe and largely worked by Babbling Brooks. Prards compete with the locals for the plentiful water beasts here, so the Splat tribe has been clearing land lately, allegedly to make it easier to defend against the prards. But their thinning of the trees to make it easier to see approaching creatures obviously also helps to keep raiders at bay. Groaningmound (home of the Pips) and Watermeat have been actively in conflict for some time now, and Watermeat had been losing until they began thinning the surrounding jungle.

Saltgrass (elevation 10,227 ft; population 1720): The southernmost community of the Basin, Saltgrass sits on the south side of the Basin’s ridge, and adjacent to a small boggy area that is fed by runoff from a cave system that drains directly from the High Swamp. There is no fresh running water in the community; the water here is all saltwater, the salt leached into the water as it flows through the cave system. Instead, the residents drink collected rainwater and dive the salt waters for crystals found along the river bottom here. As a result of magics that Ahrachuah has woven, the flora here isn’t negatively impacted by the high salinity of the water in this area. This community is claimed by the Ploop tribe and largely worked by Babbling Brooks.

Groaningmound (8,417 ft; population 2745): The community of Groaningmound, the biggest and most populated settlement of the Basin, sits at the bottom of a river valley where debris accumulates after washing downstream. The village’s name comes from the sound of the constant floodwash accumulating in this area. Ahrachuah saw fit to fell these trees and deliver them to the halflings of Groaningmound, and according to the natives here, there are no other legitimate sources of wood in the Basin - they hold that any who would harvest wood of their own choosing should be excommunicated and fed to the loyal. The halflings here regularly clear the ‘divinely chosen’ wood to work into various tools and weapons. This community is claimed by the Pip tribe and worked by Groans.

Fruitcaves (elevation 8,411 ft; population 1579): Located directly downriver from Abundanthollow, the area around Fruitcaves is rife with dry cenotes from which grow Aiadaabis, a type of tree indigenous to the Basin. Aiadaabi trees are the preferred roosts of a small aarakocra population (~1300) that Ahrachuah allows to live in the Basin (she kills any aarakocra who try to roost in the High Swamp or anywhere else in the Basin). The aarakocra keep to themselves and generally don’t interact with the halflings. They do have an impact on the local halflings, however, since their droppings bring fruit seeds from all over the Forest Ridge to the Basin. Thanks to the aarakocra, the halflings harvest all manner of exotic and otherwise foreign fruits from the forest here. The halflings are thankful for the bounty that Ahrachuah gives them through the aarakocra, and they do not interfere with the birdfolk except to give offerings of fruits when harvesting. This community is claimed by the Splat tribe and worked by Groans and Torrents.

Steamwood (elevation 8,386 ft; population 1504): The westernmost community of the Basin, Steamwood sits on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the river. The village gets its name from the fumaroles that are common in the surrounding jungle. Visibility here is not as low as it is in the High Swamp, but it is lower here than anywhere else in the Basin. This community is claimed by the Ploop tribe and largely worked by Groans, though there are also small numbers of Babbling Brooks and Raging Torrents. The gases released by the nearby fumaroles are generally just bad-smelling and serve to obscure vision, but there are times where the gases can have a pronounced effect on the mental and physical capabilities of those breathing them, ranging from mental fuzziness to (rarely) choking death. The river waters here are noticeably warmer than elsewhere, heated by the geologic activity that drives the fumaroles.