The Listing Tower
A spire of crumbling stone tilts precariously off the northern edge of Corbel’s fortress island. This ancient lighthouse was converted into a prison near the end of the Age of Hyperion. It earned its sobriquet during the contemporary era after a series of quakes caused the historic landmark to lean ever-so-dangerously toward the Gulf of Echoes. To stand— or to be chained, for that matter—within the Listing Tower is very unnerving. Through one barred window, a prisoner might gaze upon the sky, and through another, the endless churn of waves and passing gulls. Even prisoners who come from seafaring trades comment on the disruption of balance that one never grows accustomed to, no matter how long one’s stay. Many agree it is better to die than to be shackled within this wilting purgatory.
The Listing Tower served as a radiant beacon for ships on approach to the new capital in bygone eras, a symbol of Corbel’s reemergence from the long millennia of darkness suffered after the collapse in antiquity of its previous incarnation as the empire of Corbellus. At the order of Dominu Agamemnon the First, a hole was carved from the island’s bedrock, one so deep that the foundation of a mighty tower could be placed within it. Secretly, however, the tower’s construction coincided with the clandestine relocation of a pagan temple—one that sat atop the only hill of significance at the island’s center. Masons moved the holy structure, piece by piece, through a hidden staircase installed at the lowest level of the newly erected tower. The stairs descended into the hollow caverns beneath the island. There, amongst the damp caves, rests the fabled Temple of Anemoi, a monument to Corbel’s long-forgotten past. It is said that the Five Domini still use the old sanctuary as a place to meet, far from spying diplomats and scheming courtiers.
During the years that followed the tower’s construction, considerable excavation continued. A tunnel was dug toward the old capital across the Gulf of Echoes. The purpose was to provide a means of subtle transit to the mainland, but disaster soon struck. Not long after construction began, the tunnel suffered a massive collapse. Bodies of laborers surfaced by the hundreds, bobbing among the trading vessels. The scarce few who survived whispered of chambers filled with iridescent pearls... and of unseen things skittering in the darkness.
A Nest of Tears
The tear is a large, cliff-dwelling bird that hunts in a pack, native to the Gulf of Echoes and called “the wolf of the sky” by fearful sailors. A full-grown tear can dive into the sea and emerge with a baby dolphin or manta ray in its clutches. Mariners atop the crow’s nests of mighty ships know to keep a sharp eye on the sky when approaching Corbel, for more than one has been pulled from their perch by the lacerating talons of the tear. Tales of their frightening strength and taste for human flesh have traveled far and wide, but none fear these predators more than the prisoners of the Listing Tower. The upper levels of the tower have become a favored roost for the birds—a place to feed their young on prey that fights back just enough. At the prison’s zenith, many of the cells face the full brunt of the elements, where walls and flooring have crumbled into the Azule. Here, unruly prisoners are chained and left to die, meals for the tear chicks small enough to slip through prison bars.