Öchigdör-Margaash
"Using a mix of natural terrain and extremely-intelligent architectural prowess, the city was like an unbreakable bastion. Cursed undying guards through its trap-filled halls, trained necromancers with enough troops and monsters for a full army, and a mere click of a switch could make the multi-mile radius city nigh unnavicable through its weather-producer. Thank Bardagi that we were finally able to break free..."~ A Grizzled Mercenary
Demographics
The population makeup of Öchigdör-Margaash was somewhat different than the whole of Amidrakh, as the city contained a balanced popluation of various races and Gith (both making up nearly 30% of the living population each), while the other 40% of the city's population were Yuan-ti.
The undead population, on the other hand, was mostly subservient to the living population, acting as laborers and general helpers for the living population. While the city was functioning, each living resident usually had 1 to 2 undead helpers, while businesses such as stores, construction businesses, and manufacturing businesses could have upwards of 50 to 100 undead laborers under their ranks. These subservient undead were ~40% zombies, 30% skeletons, 10% undead beasts, while the remaining 20% were spirits of various sorts (varying from banshees, will o' wisps, ghouls, shadows, wraiths, etc.), each with different roles in society (as outlined in the Amidrakh article)
There was also a large undead population whom preferred mortals to be subservient to them, those being the eccentric vampires in the city's Travail District, whose population in its peak numbered upwards of 10,000 vampires, vampire spawn, and dhampirs.
Government
The former capital city of the Amidrakh was overseen by Khan Amidrakh themselves ever since the city's construction during the reign of Khan Amidrakh IV in the early 900's AE. Since the construction of the city's palace (during the reign of Khan Amidrakh XII), that leadership moved from a makeshift stately building to the massive manor on the city's West side. Manor de Amidrakh also acted as a meeting place for a large cabinet of trusted folks from various walks of life whom made up the Amidrakh Assembly, a grouping of constantly-rotating unofficial spokespeople from around their empire which would act as mouths for their various representative groups (racial groups, financial groups, and occupational groups).
Defences
The city exists under a well-guarded temple built by Khan Amidrakh II & Khan Amidrakh III filled with a host of undead mobs whom would rightfully turn around any sensible intruder. At the behest of the temple sits a hall of contracted Eidolon guards whose eyes are ever watchful over the dank halls, and used to act as a first line of security for the temple before they grew to their massive sizes. After a large staircase sits the city's Entrance Hall, usually guarded by troops of Amidrakh Wight soldiers and other undead elites, the subsequent undead-filled hallways reveal the primary defense mechanism of the temple:
The Öchigdör-Margaash Temple was enchanted by a black magic sorcerer who blessed the shell of the building with the ability to morph and change dependent on the phases of Aekko's moons. Not only did this spell constantly move the temple itself to obscure its true location, but it allowed the halls, and even the traps sprinkled throughout these halls to change dependent on the phase of the moon, with the halls being magically cleaned every night and these traps getting reset and changed each night. This causes entrances to some of the temple's rooms to appear and disappear, with the temple's rooms all only being available for one week each month on nights where both moons are (nearly) new. This powerful magic has made traversal of these halls by explorers extremely deadly, and was a main motivator for the exit of Bambaian researchers after the city's capturing.
Peppered throughout the temple exist a folley of various unassuming grated-vents who vaguely smell of incense and something sour; These vents are a part of a massive system of pipes spanning the entirety of the city known as The Exhaust. These Exhaust Vents are all linked up to a large structure near Manor de Amidrakh in the city proper known as "The Machine". This Machine sits as a 30ft tall, 50ft long black mausoleum-shaped box inscribed around itself with intersecting sigil circles, and was supposedly invented during the Amidrakh Golden Age (in the 1300s) as a defense mechanism to purge the halls and the city of invaders while simultaneously raising a massive amount of the undead. The box magically creates a substance known as "miasma", a flesh-eating gas which devours life and fuels the undead, which it is able to pump quickly throughout access points in the city and throughout the temple as a whole.
This one device was able to defeat entire armies over the course of mere minutes, with the only fault of the machine being its long startup time, which was the reason for the entire downfall of the city upon its invasion by Bambai. Despite being examined for hundreds of hours by the Bambaian Regime, even the greatest Ezlekhian geomancers could not operate the machine under any circumstances, due to its "very particular activation circumstances" according to Amidrakh captives. After all the spent time on research as well as the futile interrogation of former Amidrakh officials, the Machine sits abandoned in the depths of the city proper, with rumors of it spinning back up at the behest of the war.
Districts
Entrance Hall: A portion of the temple of Öchigdör-Margaash which one enters directly at the base of its large entrance staircase, the entrance hall once stood as a hub of trading and social activities for guests to the city before taking them through The Temple Halls and down to the city itself. At both ends of the room sit some of the oldest creatures to call this place home, those being pairs of threatening Eidolon guards who diligently wait to stop adventurers who dare to pass their watchful eyes with contraband. Since the city's abandonment, the entrance hall has been lifeles, with old collapsed marketplace stands and trash from adventurers gathering thick sheets of dust, though there are rumors that on specific nights of the year, some can still hear the sounds of bustling trade carry on beneath the surface.
The Temple Halls: Splitting off from the Entrance Hall are a set of three hallways which lead to other parts of the temple, branching into the Art Gallery, the Dining Hall, and the Symposium. The hallways leading up to these important rooms each have small side rooms which acted as rest areas for adventurers or even social areas for them to interact in, however beneath these halls sat a wide variety of traps which could be disarmed by only the city officials themselves. These traps ranged from standard spike and poison traps, to some of the city's Exhaust Vents, making them a dangerous trek in-case any foes dared to march through them.
The Downstrand: After the Temple Halls and the rooms which bookend them sits a giant, naturally-occurring vertical shaft called "The Downstrand". This portion was named after a feature which was used to traverse it in the first place, that being a large engraved stone platform which is lifted and lowered by hundreds of conjoined white undead bodies. The Downstrand lowers its guests from the Temple Halls down to an entrance to the City Proper, while alongside the perimeter of the shaft of The Downstrand are a few important rooms, including the Traveller's Tomb and the Puppeteer's Workshop.
Travail District: One of the newer districts of Öchigdör-Margaash (built just before the Amidrakh Gold Age), the Travail District was built by vampire denizens of the city to allows themselves more spaces for houses and to be much further than their mortal neighbors. The Travail District sits on the cavern's cieling and consists of hundreds of Victorian-spire-like houses which jut out almost like ginormous stalagtites, as well as regal manors for recreation. This district contains a small variety of residents which are able to traverse the upside-down city, such as Vampires, their underlings and slaves, Driders, as well as Dhampirs. This district was thought to have been purged during the Bambaian assault on the city, with its vampiric citizens being burnt to death by the sun and/or holy magicks, however reports from explorers of the abandoned city have sworn they can see its red-eyed residents peering from ornate windowsills.
The Chimney District: A quarter-mile-thick portion which lies between the outer edge of the city proper and the walls of the cavern it sits in. The district was home to the moderately-wealthy of the city as well as some of its bourgeoisie, as the bumpy and sloped cavern edges of this area made it undesirable to live in, but left plenty of space for citizens of all kinds to build extravagent houses. The district is named for the fact that each of its buildings hosts a large bulky chimney which acts as an Exhaust Vent for "The Machine", with the vents in this district being vitally important to prevent the city from getting bombarded at a range. Just outside the perimeter of the cave are spattered halls of cleared-out gemstone and rare-metal mineshafts, which some say they can still hear the sounds of pickaxes breaking into.
City Proper: At the base of the large cave opening discovered by Khan Amidrakh IV, nearly half a mile in diameter lies the city itself, Öchigdör-Margaash. The city boasts hundreds of now-destroyed statues to important members of Noirdremj's Hunt such as the higher-ups in the Devslekhi sect, as well as important Amidrakh historical figures like famous entrepeneurs who kicked off its Golden Age, previous Khans, and even vampires. The City Proper was the center for Amidrakh trade and its technological/magical research, many of its large sturdy stone structures housed citizens from all walks of life, and the city even had its fair share of pleasantries such as shops, bars, schools, playgrounds, etc., all of which now lie in disrepair and some in rubble.
Guilds and Factions
The Amidrakh Assembly: A body of government established during the reign of Khan Amidrakh XVII, the Amidrakh Assembly was a group of nearly 200 citizens who met on the regular (1 to 3 times per week) at the Manor de Amidrakh to provide guidance to the members of the Amidrakh Empire on how to best represent their people. These citizens were chosen to represent a specific group of people, with groups including racial groups, types of workers, social & fiscal classes, and more. Often these members were unofficially elected by their populations, as their positions are temporary and did not provide them any additional powers other than audience with the Khan and the Amidrakh Empire. Commonly the Amidrakh Assembly was full of the same faces, though those members were swapped out between a few representatives every couple of months due to different members' strengths in guidance and the constantly changing socio-political issues which they were faced with.
The Solikh Court: A somewhat-powerful cabal of vampires who live in the Travail District above the city. These vampires cover a wide variety of humanoid species, and their ranks include powerful casters, summoners, a Raskshasa, and even one of the Khans previously. The Solikh Court are known for being quite dubious vampires, frequently found hunting the jungles of the Korgodogh Shirengen for mortal blood, killing one another at their bi-monthly balls, and even kidnapping humanoids to work as their servants. The Solikh Court is manned by a Count or Countess who are voted on at every ball, giving that winner full-control over the property, as well as an important seat in the Amidrakh Assembly. Though they prefer to live far from the City Proper, and would like to keep it that way, members of the Court enjoy holding power in the Amirakh Assembly, with some doing anything to win the title themselves.
History
The supposed history of the city spells that Khan Amidrakh I established a small encampment which he called Margaash near the end of his rule as the first Amidrakh Khan in the late 700s AE after winning the land in disputes during the First Ezlekhian Civil War. After this encampment of around 1,000 people began to grow in size, with its residents building sturdy dark wooden houses, the dangers of the jungle began to show themselves in the form of downpours and the bloodthirsty crag cats and other predators which would pick off residents. The next regal successor, Khan Amidrakh II then built a massive temple of black and white stones to the goddess Noirdremj to defend their people using the powers of the goddess herself.
He built a small cavity through the center of the temple heading down into the earth itself, which his successor, Khan Amidrakh III would eventually explore further and use to expand the temple itself. After spending much of his life expanding the temple into a large cave hideout for trading, merry-making, and for the sick, Khan Amidrakh dug into existing cave systems and harvested plenty of metals and stone for the people of the jungle village to use for more fortified shelters.
Upon taking his predecessor's throne, Khan Amidrakh IV would begin a massive undertaking in research towards furthering necromancy magic as compared to these predecesssors, creating massive progress on expanding the temple thanks to thousands of extra arms of the deceased helping them. This unearthed a massive channel which led hundreds of feet underground to the massive chasm which his city would later stand in, aiming to conquer the cave for himself and the legacy of his people.
Khan Amidrakh IV's cabinet's magical research extended to a few particularly useful hand-crafted spells which would help his drive towards creating the city in the cave's bottom, including an enchantment which would hide the temple and its rooms dependent on the phases of the moon, and even the creation of a massive amalgamous undead creature made of hundreds of humanoids (later known as "The Downstrand") which would act as a large elevator to the pit's bottom. Once reaching the bottom of the pit, the cave system was cleared of the monstrous inhabitants and the village in the jungle was moved underground with its enslaved now-undead monsters helping with the city's reconstruction.
After half-a-thousand years of building the city and digging mines throughout its caves, in the 1300s, Khan Amidrakh XII began a reconstruction effort to the temple and the entrance hall leading to the city thanks to an era which the Amidrakh called their "Golden Age". This gave the city, its halls, and the most prestigious buildings in the city their signature blended Eastern and Victorian architectural style, while also giving the old city a fresh coat of paint during some of its most prosporous years.
In the years following the 2nd Ezlekhian Civil War, tensions stirred between Bambai and the now-weakened Amidrakh over border disputes and the refusal for demilitarization from the Amidrakh. This resulted in the invasion of Öchigdör-Margaash and its subsequent seizing by the Bambaian Regime due to a surprise attack. In the attack, the throne was seized, with Khan Amidrakh XVII being brutally murdered in front of all of his people, and the massive deportation of the city's residents to the surrounding Ezlekhian territories following its exodus. All of the undead residents of the city were then burnt to crisps using holy magics from Gol-Duulga's Bügendmend Hospital, with very few stones left unturned.
Since those events back in 1650 into 1651, the city has been left abandoned save for a few Bambaian Regime researchers and straggling adventurers looking for treasures left behind.
Points of interest
City Cache: This globular structure accessible only by Amidrakh businessmen and bourgeoisie sits beneath the temple's Entrance Hall and acts as the bank and center for accounting and investing for the Amidrakh Empire. The City Cache's safes, which housed money, important documents, and other protectable property were locked by an identification system which would only open its safes dependent on the shape of one's soul, making it one of the most unique and secure locations all across Ezlekh.
Solikh Manor: The largest manor in the city's Travail District, the Solikh Manor was a large recreational location for much of the vampire and vampire-adjacent populations of Öchigdör-Margaash and the Amidrakh Empire as a whole, but rumors spell that the activity in the manor came back shortly after their district was purged by the Bambaian Regime. The gothically-designed Solikh Manor boasts an over a dozen known rooms as well as a few secret rooms, with the manor being state-of-the-art for its time including fully-functional temperature control units, a now-ransacked magical library full of necromantic knowledge, and a large ballroom which vampires to this date have been spotted in. The manor also features a poolhouse within its wrought iron gates, and the manor itself contains both an upstairs and basement floors, meaning there is no shortage of space for these fancy vampires to laze and bask around in.
Art Gallery: Leading from the Entrance Hall of the temple, the most commonly accessible secret room of the temple (as its available for three weeks a month) is the Art Gallery. Before the invasion and seizure of goodes by the Bambaian Regime, the art gallery housed hundreds of years of ancient Amidrakh relics as well as hundreds of pieces of art from its residents, from sculptures to avante-garde paintings, to even expertly-painted portraits of notable Amidrakh figures. The art gallery while operational also functioned as an informational museum for necromancy magic and occult practices, seemingly walking visitors through Amidrakh history, its burial practices, some of its more... unique undead creations, and even demonstrating how the undead are created. Now all that's left in this room are unactivated traps and casework holding mummies which were unable to be removed/dealt with by the Bambaian Regime.
The Amidrakh Royal Dining Hall: After the temple's entrance, one of the paths only available when the entire temple is open during the double New Moon is the Royal Dining Hall. Though now-empty, the Dining Hall would hold a week-long feast each month during the New Moons (since the Amidrakh Golden Age) to celebrate that month's prosperities. these feasts fed different groups of Amidrakh citizens every hour, meaning the undead wait staff would be constantly pumping out dishes from its kitchen just behind the Dining Hall. It was said that chefs from all of the world of Aekko would be brought-in to treat both the commonfolk and bourgiosie to a truly unique dining experience.
Banshi and Bones Symposium: Another room branching from the temple's entrance hall, the Symposium is a recreational room which was available 2 weeks of every month during the full and new moons respecitvely. The Symposium was a large beveled room and poolhouse which held parties for thousands of Amidrakh citizens at a time, these parties being open to whomever wished to attend, allowing even visitors and the poor to dine and enjoy themselves next to the rich. The Symposium also contains a large array of stone tables in its center (supposedly from the original Amidrakh encampment) on which ritual burials and sacrifices would be performed, an important aspect of every Amidrakh party.
The Symposium was originally constructed by Khan Amidrakh XII's Empire as a sign of good faith between the wildly different castes which populated their city, and the bad blood spilt by their empire for the prior half-millenia. It allowed for a place for all to put their predispositions of others aside and for all to truly act as equals, while also enjoying in many acts of merry-making all the while being serenaded by the sounds of an undead band.
The Puppeteer's Workshop: A research facility accessible from "The Downstrand", this was a workplace for dedicated Amidrakh necromancers to work on experimental undead creations. Inside the room lied a vast amount of equipment and chemicals whose goal it was to help create the perfect undead servants and monsters, outfitting beasts with armor, weapons, and even arcsthetics for them to best serve their purposes both as military/personal weapons and as laborers. The Puppeteer's Workshop was also the city's center for enchanting, with some saying that behind its stone walls lies a vast array of Ezlekhian weapons for the re-risen Amidrakh army to call to arms
Attempts were made by Bambaian soldiers to raid this location and gain its valuable research and supposed wealth of resources, however a fearsome group of monstrous undead still stand guard inside the Workshop. No information about these undead beasts is known, however, as none who entered their domain survived.
Traveller's Tomb: Another area accessible from "The Downstrand", the Traveller's Tomb acted as a large and inexpensive hostel for visitors to the city. The Traveller's Tomb offered few accommodations to its visitors, just hosting a few beds per group and a lockbox with enough space to store a few bags worth of items. The hostel being one of the only places for visitors to stay within miles of the city at any time led to people not complaining about the lack of features.
The Machine: A large 50ft x 50ft x 30ft mausoleum-shaped structure located outside the front gates of Manor de Amidrakh on the City Proper's North sector. This machine is black as obsidian, with various bands of runes studded with crystals circling around its perimeter, and is the source of "The Exhaust" for the city and its temple, providing the undead with life and vigor since its construction during the reign of Khan Amidrakh XIII. With pipes located throughout the entirety of the city and temple greater, this machine is the primary defense mechanism against living invaders, rending the flesh and draining the souls of all who are unfortunate enough to get caught in the miasma. No creature other than those who have built it plus the past Amidrakh royalty have ever been able to operate this machine or discover how it functions for reasons unknown, though its technology has been related to that of the city's Cache by Bambaian researchers.
Manor de Amidrakh: A large mansion built during the reign of Khan Amidrakh XII as a response to the Golden Age of the Amidrakh, Manor de Amidrakh is a massive French-styled chateau boasting at least double the rooms of the Travail District's Solikh Manor. This mansion needed the room, however, as it constantly held more than just the Amidrakh royal family, with frequent guests of the Amidrakh Assembly staying within the building's dozens of guest rooms for days to upwards of weeks at a time. The manor has every ammenity you can think a royal manor might have, with a park on its side yard, multiple sports courts and a pool surrounding it, a multi-layered security system guarding its insides, and plenty of rooms to help its guests with their important work and to help them relax.
The Manor de Amidrakh was built as a legacy to the reign of the Amidrakh, and remains as such even to this date, as even after the Bambaian Regime plundered plenty of its supplies and treasures and destroyed many of the manor's features, they had all returned completely unscathed the next month. It is believed that this manor is under a similar, but even more powerful spell than the temple itself, meaning the bricks and other surfaces of this manor were blessed by powerful protections by the Gods themselves, though in reality, it was likely the doing of powerful Amidrakh dark sorcerers once again.
Architecture
The city prides itself on its unique architectural style, with that style having changed over time thanks to the changing hands in leadership. During the construction of its first major settlement structures during the reign of Khan Amidrakh V, those at Öchigdör-Margaash developed a unique style reminiscent of Islamic architecture, however instead featuring uncanny humanoid characteristics to ther buildings. Buildings would feature barred windows in places which mimicked the positioning of facial features such as eyes, a nose, or a mouth, the supports of these structures would seemingly try to mimic the shape of human bones and body parts, with golden-ratio'd domes topping buildings, the introduction of arm and intestine-shaped columns, or the use of ribcage vaulted-arch supports or arm and leg bone-shaped trusses. Khan Amidrakh V was stated as saying, "I believe that because the gods designed all land creatures to survive this way, surely they must be sturdy designs", though he would later elaborate that there was also a religious reason behind these designs, saying that they would "protect the spirits trapped there and turn others towards the afterlife".
Khan Amidrakh X would eventually turn the previously established style of architecture on its head, instead prioritizing the sharp and gaunty designs of Gothic architecture which she believed made them look strong against their neighbors. Khan Amidrakh X left the old round and human-like buildings be, instead opting to make structures as oblique and angular as possible, with frequent unnecesarily tall spires and flourishes being added to even the most simple of buildings. These buildings would then be adorned with acute archways, sturdy but boxy sides (in-place of columns), stained glass windows, ands extremely-detailed roofs and archways.
During the reign of Kahn Amidrakh XII and beyond, this architectural style was honed and modified, incorporating both the old and new styles into one. This style is primarily what is used in modern structures around Öchigdör-Margaash, featuring somewhat-humanoid designs while boasting large angularly-vaulted arched cielings across wide-open spaces, as well as intricately-carved columns and siding featuring depictions of old Amidrakh legends and important historical figures. The buildings commonly focus on radial symmetry, with many buildings being topped with both domes and large spires. Additionally, at this time, many of the buildings began springing up with metallic colors and flourishes due to the large influxes in metal production during the territory's Golden Age. This led to these mostly stone structures being topped with copper or gold-rimmed roofs, bronze or steel-clad gables and hips, and sometimes their columns and archways would even alternate metals with their stone features consecutively as reinforcement. This beloved fusion style would then be spread from Öchigdör-Margaash to the whole of the Amidrakh Empire, becoming a staple for the Amidrakh ever since.
Geography
The city itself sits in a giant ribbed-pit whose cave cieling arches hundreds of feet overhead, leaving for a large open-yet stagnant cave for the whole sprawling city. On the pit's downward-inclined ribbed edge sits the Chimney District, a semi-wealthy district of large houses named thusly by their miasma-billowing chimneys (which thankfully leave the houses themselves unaffected). The city of Öchigdör-Margaash is bordered on is Northern side by cave tunnels leading into The Hollow, with these tunnels being somewhat explored due to being in a seemingly calmer portion of this otherwise tumultuous underground zone.
The rest of the temple is carved out from pre-existing tunnels which weave for miles underneath the ground in elegant halls, with these cave halls still showcasing their natural natural elements in places such as ore deposits and other rock formations including stalagmites/stalagtites. Unfortunately for adventurers who think they can get rich quick with exposed gems laying where they be, these deposits are commonly either hexed or guarded by malicious spirits due to them being valuable Amidrakh historical landmarks.
Climate
Thanks to the city itself sitting hundreds of feet below the ground in a massive cave system linked to The Hollow, the city stays quite cool despite its biome in the jungle. Days peak in the low-to-mid 70's in degrees while the lowest temperatures have reached nearly 40 degrees fahrenheit. Typically, the city air is very dry and stagnant, with the only time the air being noticeably lively being when The Machine is kicked on, causing massive miasma wind-storms above and throughout the city while the calmer miasma flows anywhere else where the vents remain open.
Natural Resources
The Öchigdör-Margaash ruins rest in the Korgodogh Shinrengen, a sprawling jungle filled with dangerous magical beasts and location-revealing thermochromic plantlife. The jungle itself has a vast amount of resources which were harvested by early Amidrakh encampments and pre-historic ancestors before them, with fruits, poisonous flowers/plants, spongey thermochromic mosses, and sturdy dark woods supplying them with shelter, food, defenses, and everything else they needed. After the establishment of the city itself, Amidrakh became much less reliant on these basic resources and relied much more heavily on the cave systems tunneling their ways underneath Korgodogh Shirengen.
Due to existing in the bottom of a cave system on the edge of The Hollow, the caves around Öchigdör-Margaash used to be rich with valuable gems, strong metals, and fantasma crystals. These resources were the backbone of the early Amidrakh economy, allowing them to accelerate themselves towards technological advancements and being fabulously wealthy for the early years of the society and into its Golden Age. The upper levels of the caves contain various closed mineshafts whose less-valuable but more-plentiful metals were used to trade with their Ezlekhian neighbors after peace was resolved in the 1100s.
Legends from the earliest days of the city say that one of Grand Khan Dai' Ehk's rumored treasures sits buried underneath the city itself. This will likely remain a rumor, however, as many of those who have tried searching through the piles of dirt and stone have unearthed only miasma which has spelled their doom.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
1651
Founding Date
915
Type
Capital
Population
At its prime, approx. 500,000 living and 1,000,000 undead
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Characters in Location
Related Reports (Primary)
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