Solaris

Industry & Trade

Merchants and their families made up a big part of the town's population. The other part of the population mostly consisted of simple workers, such as fishers, guards, and tailors, crafting fabrics from cacti and other desert plants. However, the city was best known for the many spices which were traded there as well as their very own Cactus Wine. 
Because the city has been abandoned the wine is no longer being manufactured and it has become quite a rarity. The winery used to sell the wine for 5gp per bottle. Collectors and wine connoisseurs supposedly are willing to pay multiple times that to get their hands on a bottle of Cactus Wine.

Infrastructure

There are two big water silos set up right next to a distillery and watermill, storing rainwater and desalinated water.

Assets

The city was also responsible for manufacturing so-called dew collectors. They collect water from dew and condensation. Dew collectors consist of a frame holding a mesh netting of finely woven cactus fibers. A bamboo tube was attached to the bottom of the frame to collect the water or to funnel it into a barrel or a similar container. 
The Solarians set up a dozen or so dew collectors all throughout the Sandy Steppe as well as a handful of them near the city itself. Travelers and adventurers are free to help themselves to the water. With the city now abandoned, no one is maintaining the collectors anymore and some of them are in a state of disrepair.

History

Solaris, the forsaken city, used to be a bustling city that doubled as a trade-outpost, because of its proximity to the ocean. It was abandoned roughly two years ago and has since fallen into a state of disrepair, the simple buildings starting to fall apart. Going by the scarce records, it is believed that the City was first established in The Age of Illusions. The locals used to say that the well located in the middle of the city is magical. It was almost a tradition for travelers and merchants to make an offering at the well and make a wish. Sometimes those wishes were granted. Roughly two years ago, however, the well's source of magical power seemingly became corrupted. Wishes were still being granted - but with a twist.
One traveler allegedly wished for his wounded companion's suffering to end, only to wake up the next morning to find his companion dead.
A poor worker wishing for money to enable his child a better life ended up finding a rare artifact, which turned out to be cursed and resulted in him killing his child and then himself before he even got the chance to have it appraised. The artifact was later sold to a traveling sorcerer for hundreds of gold coins. It's unknown what became of the artifact.
This led to the authorities forbidding to make offerings and wishes at the well. This was even enforced by guards watching the well all the time. Yet even this did not stop the misfortunes from befalling the citizens, travelers, and merchants, who had made a wish before that, thus far, had gone unanswered. As a result of this, travelers and merchants started avoiding the city, afraid an old wish they made might come back to haunt them. This ultimately led to the citizens abandoning the city, causing it to become a ghost town.

Tourism

The city was visited by many traveling merchants, adventurers, and scholars wanting to explore the many ruins littering the desert.

Architecture

Most houses in Solaris were built as one-story buildings made from mudbrick, absorbing the heat of the day, keeping the building warm during the night. Some people adorned their houses with colorful clothings. There were awnings providing some much-needed shade from the boiling heat of the afternoon sun. The marketplace was usually dotted with small market stalls, leaving ample space for traveling merchants to set up their carts.

Geography

Solaris, the forsaken city, is located in the Sandy Steppe in southwestern Cadalyn near the ocean.

Natural Resources

When the city was still inhabited, there were cactus and bamboo plantations to supply the raw ingredients for their Cactus Wine, clothes, and dew collectors.

RUINED SETTLEMENT
Frostfall 771

Founding Date

The Age of Illusions
Harvesthaul 05, 565

Alternative Name(s)

The Forsaken City

Type

Town

Inhabitant Demonym

Solarian

Location under

The Sandy Steppe