Ethemble
Ethemble, once the shining jewel of northern Eregoth, now lies in ruin and darkness. The Curse of Kendel Keep has desecrated the once-proud city and its surrounding countryside. All who venture to it are either slain or return to civilization twisted in both body and mind.
Demographics
Mostly Human (previously)
Goblins, Monsters, Adventurers (all terribly mutated)
Government
Major Feudal Holding (previously)
Defences
Walls of Ethemble (massive centuries-old stone walls)
Kendel Keep (fortress in the heart of the city)
Gates of Ethemble (Imperial Gate, Lion Gate)
Dragon Gate (fortified bridge located downstream from the city)
Infrastructure
Sewers, Canals, Harbor
Many large temples including the Emerald Temple of Pelor
History
Ethemble's history stretches back many centuries, with some of its fortifications predating the Age of Dragons to when the Yuan-ti dominated Eregoth's surface. In the time since then, the city prospered as the greatest city of northern Eregoth, even rivaling the capital for influence and splendor. Ethemble's location made it a heavily defensible trade hub for the region. The heraldry of the city in its heyday was the three moons on a field of blue.
In the midst of the Age of Strife, however, a curse was placed upon Kendel Keep. The nature of the curse remains a mystery to the wider world, and hundreds of adventurers have lost their lives trying to uncover the answers and reclaim the city. All that is properly known about the curse is that it afflicts those who spend too long a time in the area with terrible mutations of both mind and body. Out of the scant few who return alive from the city's environs, next to none dare speak of what brought them so low.
Architecture
The majority of Ethemble is made out of immaculately designed stonework, from the walls to the palaces to many of the houses. It was a mark of the status and opulence of Ethemble that only the poorer districts utilized wood heavily. Indeed, many of the poor were actually housed in crawl spaces beneath the walls in order to keep up appearances on the city streets. The walls rise over 100 feet tall, with towers along the walls topping 200 feet.
Geography
Ethemble is located just south of the mountains of northern Eregoth, the traditional lands of the Valen Maru. South of the city is The Deep, the towering and enchanted forest which spans the north of the entire world, and the road which leads from Ethemble through Mosswood south towards the rest of Eregoth. Many tributary rivers flow past the city walls into a wider river that reaches to the ocean in the west, giving Ethemble a supremely defensible position.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
58th Year of Strife
Type
Large city
Population
Unknown
Location under
Characters in Location
Comments