I was exploring the swamps despite knowing that the swampsharks would eat me for breakfast and I heard some guy's deathscream. I found his body at the bottom of the swamp and he turned out to be a named NPC. It is a shame that I never got to speak with him before he was killed by the swampsharks. What's his story?

Yeah, and I think he was the only NPC that got killed by a monster in my playthrough. Is he supposed to live in that hut in the middle of the swamp?

Also, what's the point of that pedestal on one of the tiny islands? It has purple lights or something. Maybe it was something that the developers didn't have enough time to finish, like that locked door in the Old Camp?

Yeah, Shral is always out there in the wilderness, though I think you can have him escort you for a while.

The pedestal with the light is just for illumination at night, I think. There are a bunch of them in the swamp camp if I recall correctly.

The pedestals are channelling altars which were used in the creation of the barrier