Evaline, City of Mists
The third - or was it fourth? - city founded by the Ortegan mystics involved seeking the answer to a mystery which confounds all living people. What is it which awaits us after death, truly? The priests and their kind believe they have all the answers, but the mystics wisely decided to discover whether there was any truth in it. Of course, some would say there was an irony in a city built around a question concerning death wound up dying with few who remembered it... and those who would are fools who don't understand.The city of Evaline was founded during the height of Ortega's influence in Western Erisdaire, and as such the construction was swiftly finished and many sought safety within its walls. Situated near a river which ran through forests to the north and wetlands to the south, it was decidedly easier to acquire resources for its development than Ravali or Kirsha. This meant the mystics could more quickly turn their focus on the mystery they were intent on, leaving those citizens not assisting in those efforts were able to live on their own terms. So it was the city and the mystics became quite easily separated from each other, despite occupying the same location. There was only one edict the mystics were compelled to utilize their authority to enforce: "those who die must be buried underneath the city". Inquiries about the matter were never answered, and interest in an answer waned as development of Evaline as the heart of eastern Ortega continued.
After Ortega fell, the city was found abandoned by locals who had not been present. Unwilling to let a perfectly defensible city go to waste, they simply moved in with the intent of tearing down buildings to develop the city as they chose. Such it was the reclaimed city became one of the stronger small nations post-collapse, allowing it some stability through the turbulence before the Rhyliss Empire rose to power. This process also meant the existence of Evaline was forgotten in favor of the newer city and its residents, even considering the catacombs under the city nobody really wants to address.
History
WARNING: This section is heavy with spoilers. Do not read if you are playing in my campaigns and wish to remain innocent!
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After the successful creation of Ravali and Kirsha, Evaline was chosen to be the third new city of the Ortegan empire. It took many long debates over where to place it, until a location was chosen near the furthest reaches of the Empire in the east. Once the location had been scouted by pioneers, it was discovered there were ample natural resources to work with and relatively few problems to work around. The mystics thus had their center of operations built and soon left all matters of city development to others who were more knowledgeable in the area. The original pioneers thus selected one of their number to act as a singular leader and guide matters. Whatever the mystics were investigating was not something which seemed to impact the operation of the city - unlike the previous two cities - and there was only one edict the mystics handed down. "You must bury all who die from Evaline inside the city's boundaries." Since the ground was relatively easy to work away from the river, the city's development mostly stayed away from the water's edges.
The mystics' pursuit was, in fact, something they did not wish to talk about with the uninitiated as it might be unpopular with the citizens. What they were looking into was a question raised by one of the philosophers in the capital: "How can we know what happens when we die?" The gods were known to have set aside an afterlife for the faithful, according to all sacred texts. Yet attempts to contact those who had died often met with silence, unless it was explicitly one of the "restless dead" who still had matters which required resolution in the land of the living. According to texts copied from elves and dwarves, the gods had some manner of barrier between the living and the dead which was impossible to reach past without their permission. Thus the mystics of Evaline had made it their project to determine the nature of the barrier, and whether it was truly impossible to reach through it.
The theoretical side of these efforts took some generations to sort out, as experimentation was proving to return only negative results - or "no response", which was often more baffling. The precaution of having the bodies of the deceased citizens close at hand, as well as information on the nature and time of their deaths, allowed a great deal of control over the starting points for such theoretical work. An accidental event involving a spell bartered from some elves caused a breakthrough, as the spell created a dead being which was animated by some unknown energy and yet retained the memories and personality of the one who died. Once this energy was investigated and the text of the spell subjected to a breakdown and investigation, the event wound up being able to be replicated - and varied upon with carefully controlled methods. Thus it was the first Ortegans discovered the nature of the state called "undeath" by the elves, and similarly caused a significant diplomatic rift between Ortega and the elves which still had significant clout in Erisdaire.
Over generations which followed, the mystics of Evaline were always cautious when creating these 'undead' so to limit their numbers and to keep careful records of what types were created through variations of the original text. However, most interestingly was the type of energy which was inherent in all applications of the spell. Once it was determined there was a singular type of energy similar to elemental energies, the mystics then turned their attention to applying a previous "practical application" to this new energy: conjuring and invoking a source of it into the world. Thus they constructed a stone bowl large enough to suit their purposes and set about the conjuration - creating the "Well of Mists". Precious few outside of the mystics of Evaline were aware of it, yet the creation subtly changed the city and the area so as to leave a difference to how things felt without leaving a clear indication of exactly how things had changed. The change caused any elves within Evaline to leave it and only settle outside its boundaries, only doing business on those grounds instead of entering the city for any reason. Animals also tended to act unsettled, and citizens' pets were prone to brief bouts of frenzied panic before settling back down.
At the fall of Ortega, the city was found abandoned by a small band of dwarves delivering freshly cut stone for construction. There were no living things within the city itself, while their belongings seemed to be left where they would have been. Thoroughly unsettled by the discovery, the dwarves simply left and spread word the city was "lost". In the generations following, other humans seeking shelter found the city in only moderate disrepair and claimed it as their own. With the outer walls only in need of mild maintenance, it was decided to enjoy good fortune and not question matters. Thus the small nation was formed which would become known as 'Saungia' with the city known as "Sanguine, The City of Hawks".
The mystics' pursuit was, in fact, something they did not wish to talk about with the uninitiated as it might be unpopular with the citizens. What they were looking into was a question raised by one of the philosophers in the capital: "How can we know what happens when we die?" The gods were known to have set aside an afterlife for the faithful, according to all sacred texts. Yet attempts to contact those who had died often met with silence, unless it was explicitly one of the "restless dead" who still had matters which required resolution in the land of the living. According to texts copied from elves and dwarves, the gods had some manner of barrier between the living and the dead which was impossible to reach past without their permission. Thus the mystics of Evaline had made it their project to determine the nature of the barrier, and whether it was truly impossible to reach through it.
The theoretical side of these efforts took some generations to sort out, as experimentation was proving to return only negative results - or "no response", which was often more baffling. The precaution of having the bodies of the deceased citizens close at hand, as well as information on the nature and time of their deaths, allowed a great deal of control over the starting points for such theoretical work. An accidental event involving a spell bartered from some elves caused a breakthrough, as the spell created a dead being which was animated by some unknown energy and yet retained the memories and personality of the one who died. Once this energy was investigated and the text of the spell subjected to a breakdown and investigation, the event wound up being able to be replicated - and varied upon with carefully controlled methods. Thus it was the first Ortegans discovered the nature of the state called "undeath" by the elves, and similarly caused a significant diplomatic rift between Ortega and the elves which still had significant clout in Erisdaire.
Over generations which followed, the mystics of Evaline were always cautious when creating these 'undead' so to limit their numbers and to keep careful records of what types were created through variations of the original text. However, most interestingly was the type of energy which was inherent in all applications of the spell. Once it was determined there was a singular type of energy similar to elemental energies, the mystics then turned their attention to applying a previous "practical application" to this new energy: conjuring and invoking a source of it into the world. Thus they constructed a stone bowl large enough to suit their purposes and set about the conjuration - creating the "Well of Mists". Precious few outside of the mystics of Evaline were aware of it, yet the creation subtly changed the city and the area so as to leave a difference to how things felt without leaving a clear indication of exactly how things had changed. The change caused any elves within Evaline to leave it and only settle outside its boundaries, only doing business on those grounds instead of entering the city for any reason. Animals also tended to act unsettled, and citizens' pets were prone to brief bouts of frenzied panic before settling back down.
At the fall of Ortega, the city was found abandoned by a small band of dwarves delivering freshly cut stone for construction. There were no living things within the city itself, while their belongings seemed to be left where they would have been. Thoroughly unsettled by the discovery, the dwarves simply left and spread word the city was "lost". In the generations following, other humans seeking shelter found the city in only moderate disrepair and claimed it as their own. With the outer walls only in need of mild maintenance, it was decided to enjoy good fortune and not question matters. Thus the small nation was formed which would become known as 'Saungia' with the city known as "Sanguine, The City of Hawks".
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