Nale
Tucked away in the most remote reaches of Crosela, far from the concerns of ordinary mortals, lies the forsaken town of Nale. Unlike other settlements, its laws do not concern taxation, trade, or governance of the living—its rulers deal primarily with death. A cabal of powerful necromancers runs the town, their primary duty not to protect but to contain the horrors that lurk within its borders. The land itself is cursed, a malignant force ensuring that anyone who dwells here for too long will rise again after death, consumed by an insatiable hunger for flesh.
Despite its grim nature, Nale is not entirely abandoned by civilization. The living still reside within its borders, knowing that upon their demise, they will be repurposed as civil servants—zombified but orderly, continuing their roles in undeath just as they did in life. There are no gravediggers in Nale, for the dead do not rest. Those who live here do so in uneasy acceptance, coexisting with their eventual fate.
Only the neighboring town of Shaford keeps a wary eye on Nale, patrolling its outermost borders to ensure that its darkness does not spread beyond the containment of the necromancers.
Government
The laws of Nale are few but absolute:
- The dead must be properly bound. Any attempt to free or interfere with the necromantic control is punishable by immediate conversion.
- The living may leave, but the dead remain. Attempting to remove an undead from Nale’s borders is strictly forbidden.
- Those who stay too long belong to Nale. It is understood that prolonged residence means acceptance of one's fate.
While most fear Nale, its presence serves a vital purpose—without its necromancers, the curse would spread unchecked, turning the Winter Continent into a true land of the dead.
Industry & Trade
Trade is nearly nonexistent in Nale. Few merchants willingly travel here, and those who do are either desperate, reckless, or dealing in the forbidden arts. The town is largely self-sufficient, its economy built on the unending labor of the dead. Agriculture exists, but barely—the cursed soil is not kind, and only necromantically-altered crops grow here, sustained by magic rather than nature. Craftsmanship continues beyond the grave, with undead blacksmiths, masons, and weavers working tirelessly under the supervision of their former apprentices. Most trade is underground, involving dark artifacts, necromantic tomes, or alchemical components sought by warlocks, assassins, and rogue scholars. Outsiders rarely stay long. Those who linger too long in Nale risk becoming part of its workforce—involuntarily.
Infrastructure
Buildings are old and sagging, barely maintained beyond magical reinforcements. Few bother with repairs when their undead hands will continue working regardless. Walls and barriers are magically sealed, preventing the undead from wandering beyond the town’s boundaries. Most homes are half-inhabited, with one side belonging to the living and the other to their deceased relatives.
History
Long before the rise of the necromancers, Nale was a once-thriving village, unaware of the slow corruption seeping into its soil. Legends say the curse took root after a forbidden ritual was performed upon the land, though the exact details have been lost to time. The first sign of affliction was the return of the dead, not as benevolent spirits or lingering echoes but as ravenous husks, spreading sickness and death wherever they walked. The town’s population was nearly wiped out within a generation, and soon after, its presence was erased from maps.
It was not until the arrival of the necromancers that the curse was subdued—not lifted, but managed. Through dark rites and ancient magics, they prevented the restless dead from turning into mindless, flesh-hungry horrors. Under their control, the undead were restructured into workers, guards, and servants, ensuring that Nale remained functional rather than collapsing into ruin. Though their presence is feared and distrusted by outsiders, it is only their power that keeps the cursed land from becoming a breeding ground for the undead apocalypse.
Points of interest
A crumbling temple at the town’s edge, said to contain a doorway into true undeath, where those who pass through do not return as servants, but as something far worse.
Climate
Nale is eternally shrouded in fog, a thick, ghostly mist that clings to its narrow streets and crooked buildings. The land is cold and damp with the air carrying the ever-present stench of decay masked only by incense. The soil is dark and corrupted, unable to sustain normal crops, though it is strangely fertile for fungi, twisted trees, and necrotic plants.The outskirts are abandoned, save for the twisted remnants of those who were not properly bound by necromantic magic, wandering the ruined outskirts in search of flesh.
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