Halu
Halu was a city found in the Bruith region of Murkys. Halu was Bruith’s crowning glory, a sprawling metropolis often referred to as the Jewel of the Golden Routes. Its gilded spires and grand bazaars were visible from miles away, and its opulent architecture showcased the region’s immense wealth. The city was built along the confluence of three major rivers, making it a critical hub for trade caravans, riverboats, and merchant fleets. Halu was also renowned for its Golden Courts, where powerful merchant-princes ruled and conducted diplomacy with foreign nations. The city was not just a center of trade but also a beacon of culture and innovation. It hosted grand festivals, such as The Festival of the Footfall, theater performances, and artisan guilds that produced goods sought after across the known world. The region’s wealth came not only from trade but also from the fertile farmlands surrounding Halu, which produced vast quantities of grain, wine, and spices.
When the undead curse descended upon Murkys, Halu became one of the first cities to fall. The rivers that sustained its lifeblood became polluted with black ichor, spreading disease and death. Panic gripped the city as the curse claimed its citizens, turning them into undead beings. The Golden Court fell into chaos, with its merchant-princes either succumbing to the curse or fleeing into exile. The wealth of Halu, once a source of pride, became its undoing. Desperate refugees flocked to the city seeking safety, only to be consumed by the spreading plague. The markets and storerooms became breeding grounds for pestilence, and the once-thriving bazaars turned into charnel houses. Eventually, the curse claimed the entire city, leaving Halu a haunted ruin where the few survivors, the Murkan Humans, wander aimlessly, clutching at shreds of their former lives.
Halu, now known as the City of the Hollow, is a grim and desolate place. Its once-gilded spires are now tarnished and crumbling, its grand bazaars empty except for the shambling forms of Murkan Humans. The air is thick with an unnatural stillness, broken only by the occasional creak of collapsing structures or the mournful whispers of the cursed inhabitants. The Murkan Humans of Halu have formed small, fragmented communities, attempting to rebuild some semblance of their former lives. They trade in salvaged goods and relics, though the act is more a ritual of memory than a necessity, as most of their needs are minimal in undeath. Some of the more lucid Murkan Humans act as guides or lorekeepers, preserving the history of Halu in the hopes that someone might one day restore the city to its former glory.
Alternative Name(s)
The Jewel of Golden Routes, The City of the Hollow
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