Felmor’s Nest
Description
Felmor’s Nest is not just a city - it’s a natural, dried-out lake basin several miles wide, with various very different locations in it. One of them is the city of the same name, currently ruled by the golden dragon Samaya. The entire place wouldn't exist without the divine dragon proxy Felmor, who led refugees from a neighboring kingdom to Delvaroth to save them. These “immigrants” are by far not only humanoid: Dragons, beasts and monsters followed the powerful divine servant, banding together to survive. Some of them still live in the city, but many have made their home in other areas in or surrounding the basin. From the spider-dominated Village of Webs to hidden dragon lairs, a variety of communities, sanctuaries and hideouts can be found here. They all live together more or less peacefully. Even dangerous predators would never attack a fellow child of Felmor, searching for prey only outside the community. This, and the fact that Felmor himself protected the place in the first months of Ashandri, made Felmor's Nest one of the few locations in Delvaroth that was never subdued by Va’Laeth.Residents
At first glance, Felmor's Nest appears as a peaceful and lively, if somewhat weird, community. Humans, elves and other humanoid races live alongside monsters and beasts. Those who would be predator and prey elsewhere, are friendly neighbours here. Looking closer, this superficial peace comes at a price. The society of both the city and the entire area of Felmor's Nest has a clear hierarchy: The strong are at the top, and the weak serve. But this hierarchy isn’t official, it evolved from the very first days when monsters travelled alongside children, with nothing but survival in mind. The weaker beings quickly learned to read the signs of danger when dealing with the stronger ones. From body language to understanding feeding cycles (and avoiding to be at the wrong place at the wrong time), the peace of Felmor's Nest is kept as much by its weaker inhabitants as by its stronger ones. When the more powerful beings among the refugees protected everyone else against Zathruax’ dragon armies, and later the forces of Va’Laeth, these bonds grew ever stronger. Those who need protection seek connection and relationships with those who can protect them. And those who can offer such protection enjoy the dependency of the weaker beings. It’s not unusual that a local Human commoner leads visitors to a monster’s cave to serve them as food, ignoring their own feelings and morals to appease the creature. But also among the humanoid population, abusive relationships are a common thing. But all these things are open secrets that nobody speaks about. To outsiders who only stay here for a short while, and who don’t look too close, Felmor's Nest appears as proof that all creatures can live together peacefully: A miracle of hope and a symbol of a successful society in the new world. And that’s just how most locals want to keep it.Important characters
Samaya, an adult female golden dragon, currently rules over Felmor's Nest. She’s fully aware of the problems in this strange society, but she is convinced that forceful change would just lead to an outbreak of violence. Therefore, Samaya tries to improve the situation long-term, with only subtle changes in local laws, and giving positive impulses to strengthen and encourage those that can’t yet fight for themselves. Brazenclaw is the nickname of an ancient red dragon, and Samaya’s greatest opponent. She not only uses political pressure against the golden dragon (and she’s good at it), but actively sabotages her efforts. Of course, she knows to cover her tracks, and so far, Samaya appears relatively helpless against the chromatic dragon. Only few people know Brazenclaw’s real name, Zadracia. The story behind her brass-covered claws is also a big mystery, and the red dragon likes to keep it that way. An open secret is that Brazenclaw can polymorph into a humanoid shape, and has at least three fake identities in the city: Jazruek the Halfling bard, Samina the Elven wizard, and Haryuon, the Dragonborn warrior. Most people believe she has dozens more that just haven’t been uncovered yet. Vaciroph is a male lamia running a prosperous slave trade - or, as he calls his business, the Emporium of Worker Procurement. Rumours are that he was a slave himself in the past, and saw the new beginning in Ashandri as a chance to finally put himself on the top of the food chain (or at least, pretty high up). The slaves, who are all forced to sign that they came here to find work, are not only his source of income, but also serve him as food. Those who refuse to sign his “contract” regularly end up on his plate, and rumours are he makes the others watch to break their will. Khar Nadrath calls himself an “awakened ghoul”. Physically, he is a ghoul, plain and simple. But opposite to many of these monsters, he is a civilized and intelligent person. Few people know his secret, but Khar is actually an Unbound Spirit who once was a human. During the last attack of dragons serving Zathruax, he lost his entire family - short before the refugees arrived in Delvaroth. He killed himself on the first night of the new world. This turned him into an Unbound Spirit, and somehow, he managed to possess a ghoul who simply wandered the area in search for food. Khar longs to leave this world behind, but while he is still forced to stay, he hopes to make it a better place. He only eats as much flesh as absolutely necessary, and only from deceased people that he paid while they were still alive. He owns a potion shop in Felmor's Nest, but only sells to people he considers trustworthy. He tries his best to help the people in his neighborhood while researching a way to allow Unbound Spirits to leave Ashandri for their well-deserved afterlife. Iyanura is an elven cleric of Valeos - specifically, his chaotic good aspect. She has built the first temple in the city of Felmor's Nest, and actively supports any elven or fairy beings that seek protection from abuse and violence. Officially, she has the permit to do what she does, but many powerful people aren’t happy about it. Fortunately, she and the other clerics in the temple are very capable of defending themselves and their protégés. Brandol is a human warlock that is a strong ally of Iyanura. Where the cleric focusses on elves and fairies, Brandol seeks to end the constant mistreatment of weaker people in Felmor’s Nest. Interestingly, his own patron doesn’t seem to agree with what he does, and he’s regularly doing atonement missions that usually turn out to be pretty grim and dark. Because of this, some people believe the whole helping people thing is just a ruse, and Brandol is actually one of the worst people in the city. He himself claims he made his pact with a dark entity because he didn’t have another option, and now just tries to make the best out of a miserable situation.Important sites
The Dragon Palace
Right in the middle of the city of Felmor's Nest, there's a massive building in the shape of a dragon head. Overtowering most other structures, the Dragon Palace is the official seat of the city government. Inside there's a great hall with the seat of the ruler, surrounded by several dozen rooms spread over four floors, for administrative staff. In the middle of the hall, there's also a white pearl let into the ground. It’s the size of an ancient dragon’s eye, and fittingly called Felmor's Eye. It was the last gift of the dragon proxy to the mortals before he disappeared into the night sky. This magic pearl is semi-intelligent, and feels what the city needs for balance. On the first of Emerald every year, it shows the name and face of the next ruler of the city, the one person or creature to give the city what it needs to not let one way of thinking become too strong. So far, all rulers have been of good alignment, which tells a lot about the state of the city. The residents of the city of Felmor's Nest so far accepted the chosen ruler. Those in the surrounding area do consider the new sovereign as an authority figure, but generally decide on a case-by-case basis if they follow the chosen person’s requests.The Watchtower
A white tower with a green roof, the Watchtower was one the first prominent buildings of Felmor's Nest. It was Felmor himself who told the mortals to build it, and it was crucial in the defense against the Laethian armies during the first invasion. The tower reaches about 1.500 feet into the sky, and has a diameter of 200 feet. It is equipped with a variety of weapons, from ballistae to magic gems that can shoot lightnings, targeting aims more than a thousand yards away. There are rumours about secret passages and hidden rooms in the tower, but at least officially, nobody has found anything like that yet. According to the stories, someone is making experiments on the residents of the city here - especially the more monstrous ones. The Dragonforce militia keeps investigating the topic, but so far have found no clue that anything about these tales is real.Brazenclaw’s Hall of Feasts
If you want the best drinks and food in town, along with the best entertainment, this is the place to be. The red dragon Brazenclaw owns and runs this place. Officially, it belongs to Jazruek the bard, but the tavern hall’s name doesn't make it a secret who the Halfling really is. From dancers to drugs, gambling and the occasional fight night, you can find whatever gives you the right kicks in Brazenclaw's Hall. Of course, if you have a moral or aesthetical problem watching an intelligent giant spider eat something that looks suspiciously like human meat, you might prefer a different establishment. If asked, the waiters will tell you that it is, of course, ape meat, and the Hall staff would never break the city’s laws. It’s unclear what Brazenclaw does with all the money she makes here. People gossip about how large the dragon’s hoard must be, but there are rumours that the ancient creature needs the coins for some long-term project. Anyone who tried to find out more quickly died from some tragical accident.Temple of Valeos
The first temple of the city is dedicated to the god of the elves, Valeos. The white and golden cathedral is a place of worship to Valeos’ good side, although there are rumours about a secret basement devoted to the deities darker side. Iyanura, the elven cleric who founded the temple, claims this is nothing but gossip. She wants to improve life for all elves and fairies in the city, getting them closer to nature and their inner light. She is supported by twenty other clerics, as well as by about fourty aides. These workers are mostly refugees, people of her faith that were being mistreated and now seek safety in the temple.Temple of Eluveron
Eluveron is the dragon deity of time and prophecies. As his divine proxy Felmor, the Dragon of Prophecies, was the one that saved the inhabitants of Felmor's Nest from certain death, the Temple of Eluveron is not merely a place of worship. Most locals pay their respect to the deity on a regular basis, often bringing offerings that are said to be stored in a secret hoard somewhere in the building. The temple itself is simply a black sphere, half above the ground, half below it. It’s the inside that’s making it pretty special. When someone enters, it can be a variety of completely different places. Sometimes, it’s a hollow sphere. Other times, visitors end up in a maze of onyx hallways. Some people even reported finding themselves in an open landscape, at some place that clearly wasn’t Felmor's Nest, maybe not even Ashandri. More than a hundred different places have been seen, the same place rarely coming up twice on the same day. The only constant is that there's an onyx door behind you, and an altar with the symbol of Eluveron thirty yards in front of it. There are no clerics in this place, but sometimes people hear distant whispers. Noone really knows what’s going on, especially since everybody involved in building the temple lost all memories about it right after it was finished.Village of Webs
A mile outside of the city lies the Village of Webs. A dozen cavern entrances lead to the homes of sentient spiders, but there's webs outside everywhere, too. The Arac Wardens rest in their webs here, the spider settlement’s own city guard. Originally, there were about twenty giant spiders living here, but they reproduced quickly. By now, more than five hundred of them populate the caverns. And that doesn't even include the smaller arachnoids, a few of which are also sentient. What sounds like a nightmare to many is actually a town very similar to many humanoid ones. The intelligent spiders here are as varied in their world views and morals as are the denizens of the city of Felmor's Nest. It still should be said that to many of them, humanoid flesh is a delicacy. While the village has no shops or other buildings, some of the arachnoids living here do offer their services and products. You can buy special venoms here, enchanted silk armour and many other things the spiders produce. And there's Sheekezrik, the giant blue spider that is said to have been touched by Eluveron. He’s rambling about his visions of the future all day, but nobody can make sense of it. Only occasionally, a vision turned out to predict the near future - but people only realized it in hindsight.The Vents
Looking a bit like hollowed out corals, the Vents are literally that: Thermal vents that emit heat from the ground. As unusual as they look, there’d be not much more about it - if they didn't lead to a complex network of underground tunnels. Many of the beasts and monsters that came with Felmor and that prefer the underground darkness have made their homes here. They are as much a part of the community as the spiders in the Village of Webs, and some regularly visit the city. But that's not all: Shadowblood Elves have been seen in these tunnels several times, and there have been some attacks on the beings living here. Exploration parties tried to find out where they came from, but none of them ever returned.The Slammer
As everywhere on Ashandri, Felmor's Nest has seen its number of deaths during the first days. This means there are lost souls here, too. But at most places, people have kind of learned to live with them. Here, it was the dragon Brazenclaw that came up with a different solution. Using powerful magic items in her possession, Brazenclaw created the Slammer - an extradimensional pocket that can be accessed through a crate in the ground near the center of the basin. The dragon’s arcane items drew the souls into the crate, and imprisoned them there. Only a handful of Unbound Spirits escaped this fate. Hundreds of these souls are now stuck in the infinite darkness of the Slammer, and many of them are getting angrier every day. Being thrown in here is one of the worst punishments for criminals in Felmor's Nest, comparable to a death sentence - some say, it's worse. Occasionally, people get out after a while, but the longer they are in there, the smaller are their chances of survival. Those who die here are stuck as lost souls in the Slammer themselves (though they don't turn into Unbound Spirits, rather becoming "regular" ghosts). And those who do get out are often broken forever.Services
Felmor's Nest has pretty much everything you can buy in most big cities. But here, there's a lot more on the list. Sentient beasts and monsters produce unique items you find nowhere else, and some of them offer their services, too. For example, a few of the younger dragons in town are available as temporary mounts, if for a hefty price. Also, if you want to learn more about any kind of creature that lives here, there's a sage who knows about it. Just promise you won’t use the knowledge against a resident of Felmor's Nest.Local rumours and news
- Samaya is currently establishing a new organization, the Cycle Breakers. The members are mostly sages and philosophers, but also a few clerics. Their task is to study problematic patterns within the society of Felmor's Nest, and find ways to break the repeating cycles of these patterns. After the first one of them died in a mysterious accident, a couple other members decided to leave the city for good, taking care of themselves rather than improving their old home.
- A few visitors of the Temple of Eluveron found themselves on a world-chain recently. They had an eerie feeling and the strong impulse to turn around and leave - which they did. People are discussing whether this was just a weird, but meaningless effect of the temple, or the deity actually wanted to show people something with it.
- Brazenclaw wants to organize a new exploration party into the Vents. She considers the Shadowblood Elves as the greatest danger to her schemes, and if possible, wants to eradicate the threat entirely. She's willing to pay good money to anyone willing to join the mission.
- Not long ago, two wizards had an arcane battle next to the entrance of the Slammer. The spells accidentally opened the magical prison for a short time, and several spirits escaped. Since this incident, a couple of strange things happened in the city - lost items, dangerous accidents, and so on. The local militia, the Dragonforce, is investigating these cases, but they're officially looking for some specialists to support them.
- A caravan delivering goods for Brazenclaw's Hall of Feasts has seen a gargantuan dragon on their way to the city. They claim it was Felmor. While most people don’t take them seriously, Samaya has shown an unusual interest in the story.
Demographics
Population distribution:
- Humans: 20%
- Elves: 15%
- Halflings: 10%
- Gnomes: 10%
- Half-Elves: 5%
- Dwarves: 5%
- Other humanoid races: 15%
- Sentient Beasts: 10%
- Sentient Monsters: 10%
History
When people talk about dragons, it’s mostly burning villages or heroes that kill the giant beasts. Good dragons tend to either keep their distance or walk among humanoids in disguise. There are exceptions, of course. But after the god Zathruax single-handedly destroyed the world, many survivors on Ashandri view dragons as little more than dangerous killing machines.
In Felmor's Nest, things are very, very different. The entire city wouldn't exist were it not for the compassion of a unique dragon: Felmor, divine proxy of Eluveron, dragon god of time. When the apocalypse came, the Dragon of Prophecies left the divine realms to save and protect as many mortals as he could. He had seen in his visions that Delvaroth would be saved. So the gargantuan entity appeared in Varizis, one of the kingdoms bordering Veilbreaker’s home land, and led thousands - humanoids, dragons and others - to the edge of that land.
The journey was full of perils, encounters with Zathruax’ dragon armies and others, but finally, they arrived in a safe area. Here, the dragon created a new home for the refugees - or what his draconic mind considered a home. Felmor built a massive dragon nest, spanning miles, and treated the rescued mortals like his own treasured offspring.
Under his protection, a new community grew. People started building a city within the nest, just next to dragon lairs and the homes of other creatures that joined Felmor. His children, or scions, as they soon called themselves, had one rule that everyone agreed to: Don’t harm others in the community. Even carnivorous monsters that hunted humanoids would only do so outside of Felmor’s Nest.
When the armies of Va'Laeth marched into Delvaroth, they encountered a force in Felmor's Nest they didn't expect. The prophetic dragon knew exactly where and how the invaders would strike, and he and his “children” wiped out legions of ravager elves. The Laethian forces soon avoided the area around Felmor's Nest, making it one of the few places in Delvaroth that they never managed to conquer.
After the invasion, Felmor announced that it was time for the mortals to shape their own fate. The very same day, he disappeared, and no one has seen him since. The occasional stories of people that claim to have seen him either turned out to be a different dragon, or the storyteller was drunk or otherwise drugged.
The second invasion of Va'Laeth left Felmor's Nest mostly untouched: Aside from a few scouts (most of which never returned to their legions), the intruders steered clear of the area this time.
Founding Date
1st Void of Year 1
Type
Large city
Population
35.000
Inhabitant Demonym
Felmor's Children, Scions of Felmor, Scions
Location under
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