The Rivermen of the Mogamesh River

Inspiration as per the Citadel Discord:

YouTube video link in the comments section below

Appearance:

The Rivermen of the Mogamesh are humans and demihumans who take up the path of the River Ranger. Most commonly they are found all but living on small one-man kayaks or canoes plying up and down the meandering and all but endless tributaries, deltas, and swamps of the Mogamesh. They are best known as subsistence fishermen and technically little more than this. What is commonly held is that they are almost always male, and always into their advanced years. There are no young Rivermen, and a Riverwoman is as rare as goose teeth.

Technically speaking, the Rivermen are hermits and ascetics, shrugging off civilized life and its comforts and trappings to live on the river. To this end, they wear clothing they make, and their equipment is much the same. Most folk who live along rivers either have no idea about the Rivermen, as the two never cross paths, or they are seen with a degree of superstition. They are the hermits and monks of the river, not caring for gold or wars, intrigue or the foibles of cities and nations.

Purpose:

The Rivermen have retreated from society for a variety of reasons, but what most have in common is that they either came from 'river stock', peoples who live on or very near the water, or grew to it through their careers. Many were adventurers, heroes, explorers, trappers, fishermen, and the like. For a variety of purposes, they found themselves drawn into the role of the ranger. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

In the series River Monsters, featuring Jeremy Wade as the man's man extreme angler, a lone fisherman challenges the rivers of the world to yield its monstrous fish. Wade encounters piranha, arapaima, giant rays, a variety of crocodiles and alligators, and other more exotic and dangerous fish. This is certainly grounds enough for a hero, but tossed into the milieu of Dungeons and Dragons swords and sorcery fantasy, the fish and dangers of the river can grow exponentially.

River creatures from Forgotten Realms wiki:

https://forgottenrealms.fandom...

Give then absolute lack of serious river monsters, I ended up penning this.

30 River Monsters

Usage:

The Rivermen and rare Riverwomen are singular characters, they live alone aside from their hunting birds. For them, the river is what is left of their life. Most should have traumatic pasts, PTSD, and other issues that keep them from reintegrating into society. No longer capable of being a normal person in society, they go to the river wilds, and live there. To this end they can still provide a meager service, protecting people who live on or near the water from the creatures that live beneath it's surface.

The Riverman is not a kill it and grill it sort of fighter. Most of the time, the people that contract their work want insert fish/river monsters killed so that everyone can go back to their normal lives. The riverman has the job of finding out what is going on, why the creatures of the river and the fisherfolk are in conflict. This can be as simple as driving off a rogue Squirmhead, finding out a local wise woman is feeding the crocodiles to encourage them, to as complex as finding out a pod of sentient magic-using river dolphins is charming the village elders into doing their bidding.

Alternately, the rivermen are repositories of knowledge both in terms of skills and of historical information. Give Yoda a skiff, and he's a riverman.

Why Mogamesh?

It's a silly fantasy name. The rivermen can come from any large river system. The Amazon, the Mekong, the Mississippi, the Nile. Big river, solo man on a small boat, a past laden with tragedy, can deal with fish and fish monsters. Mogamesh is just a placeholder for whatever river you want to use.