For most of the year except high summer this is frozen over, or at least ice floats in the channels. The area that directly feeds into the Anhui, however, stays warm all year around, thanks to underground heat.

Legends say that a terrible monster was slain here by the East Sun (before he became the Celestial Emperor). There was a mighty battle where mountains were crushed and the land was trampled down, but eventually the Sun God struck the monster down with his burning spear, with a blow so forceful that the creature was driven deep into the ground and pinned there.

Its blood gushed up, but the fire of the heavenly spear embedded within it purified the blood to water, and thus the Outer Anhui was born. The monster is still trapped beneath the earth, and the heavenly spear still burns (hence the warmth).

The wetlands are otherwise a drab and desolate place, with chill winds blowing down from the continental interior. The sole human inhabitants are a morose lot, considered backwards and inbred by the folk of Tibra's Landing and Beltavia Keep (about the only people who know of the existence of their existence).

The swamp people live in reed huts built on rafts that slowly drift in the sluggish current. Some rafts are made from woven rushes, others are made from gigantic water lily leaves. The people live on a diet of fish, frogs and swamp plants. Some show signs of physical degeneration and appear a bit frog-like themselves, with bulging eyes and webbed toes and fingers.