Detlom

A town of perpetual darkness, which even magical torches struggle to illuminate.

Written by Lokrow

The town of Detlom lies on the precarious border between the Worldwound and Ustalav, in the county of Vieland.
In a region filled with eons old monuments of glory past, erased of meaning by time and strife, Detlom sits atop the crumbled ruins of a larger and older town whose name has now gone forgotten and whose streets now ferry the refuse of the town above them. Detlom's effective regent is the vampire Nokomis Moor, who managed to wrestle power over the town from the county's ruling class who is unwilling to prioritise restoring Detlom before the county's own capital.
However, Moor remains recluse and unseen with her power and presence only felt through her enforcer, who can often be seen roaming the streets and delivering swift justice onto potential opponents. Despite this evident influence of the vampire on the town, she hasn't rehabilitated the old town's border defenses, letting the corruption from the Worldwound poison the land further. Her agenda remains unknown, if she has any.
Detlom is a town where necromancy is currency, the smell of carrion emanates through the sewers and from body dumps on the outskirts of town. The body dumps have reached so high now that they have come to replace the town's defenses; a barrier of rot and disease-ridden carrion feeders to some, a treasure of body parts and food for many of the town's inhabitants.

Demographics

The nature of Detlom makes it impossible to hold a steady census. With many of its inhabitants having stakes in remaining unknown to the authorities of Vieland or to Moor herself. It is however evident that the town is inhabited by a majority of undead and necromancers.
Despite its seemingly overt inhospitability, Detlom is a strategic location for many forces of evil which operate in the underbelly of normal society. Many aim to exploit the cursed magic that leaks from the worldwound but one can find all sorts of unwanted company in Detlom, from Priests of Zon-Kuthon to Red Mantis Assassins, including agents of the Whispering Way. The resulting chaos and strife becomes quickly evident given the frequency of public executions.
Likewise, perhaps because of its unique position on the border of the utter chaos and destruction of the demons of the Worldwound, it is a strategic location for forces of good to try and repair the whole in the border.
This leads to a massive diversity in the people inhabiting or visiting Detlom and an even greater diversity of agendas aiming for control of the town.

Infrastructure

Most of Detlom is either in or approaching ruins. The body dumps outside of town and the sewer system using the ruins of the streets of an even older town are the only thing resembling reliable infrastructure.
The streets are infamous for regularly opening up, swallowing pedestrians and vehicles alike into the bowels of the town's sewers. These sewers form an intricate network, following the old streets of the city whose ruins Detlom was built upon. They do not map cleanly to the streets above the surface and as such are hardly an efficient way to travel through the town.

Type

Town

Population

Unknown

Inhabitant Demonym

Dettish