Sitting in a strategic place just west of the Dagenstone Gap, the walled settlement of Blisterkeep has stood for millennia as an enduring bastion against the threats of many different ages. Once a proud and gleaming fortress city of
Ballast, it now sits ruined with patchwork carpentry plugging eroded gashes in the walls of its houses, and overgrown plant life choking out the light of day in its narrow, twisting alleyways. While Blisterkeep still hosts a Standard to The Everpresent Shield, the nature of its populace and rulership make for a strange juxstposition indeed.
The Wraith Council
The Med'aekagmar, which is Primordial for "Old Rulers," run the city. A council of five incoporeal wraith-like beings, these eternal councilers have retained their sanity even past their seperation from life. They are said to recieve visions from a mysterious source, and they use these visions to defend their city, keep their living populace fed, and ensure the continued work of those that die through a resurrection process called The Service.
The Service
For many that live in Blisterkeep, death is not the end. Through a carefully-guarded process, willing citizens of the city are transformed into younger, perfectly-preserved, ageless versions of themselves. While magic would detect them as such, they are not truly undead in the strictest sense of the word, as they still have their souls. What scholars have been able to discern (despite the objections of the Med'aekagmar), is that the soul exists in a state half-in and half-out of the body of those that have entered into The Service. They can no longer produce children, nor can they ever go further than twenty miles outside of the city, but for their loved ones and those they care for, it is a sacrifice many are willing to make. When they are ready to leave, they take what is called the Last Walk, marching to just outside the twenty miles and falling dead, instantly.
The City Proper
Blisterkeep maintains itself as a fortress city first and foremost. It houses a Centuri Security garrison of nearly four-hundred at its lowest and three times that if the need arises. It hosts a few inns for weary travelers, the best-known being Gehelya's Rest, named after
Gehelya, the god of death, luck, and redemption. It hosts the only legal gambling hall in the city. An ancient
Vorocit library is located here, open only to the god's followers, which may be the oldest building in the city. A market square selling the basics for life and a few smithies to support the Security forces round out the sparse services in this city, with the rest of the structures being storehouses and residences.
