Morsa Khai

Summary: Sul'at League

Magic: Elemental Binding, Evocation, Transmutation

Titans: The Five Luminaries

Capital: Morsa Khai, the Seat of Shackles

Location: The Valley of Shadows & Hydra Basin

Exports: Magebred Creatures, Elemental Weaponry

Capital: Morsa Khai

The grand citadel of Morsa Khai dominates the western Valley of Shadows. The Seat of Shackles is named for two things - the elemental binding performed by skilled Sul’at thaumaturges there, and the unholy god-prince bound beneath it. The city is the epicenter for the ruin that took the Valley of Shadows; when the dragons attacked, their destruction unleashed hundreds of elementals bound to the city’s infrastructure, creating a chain reaction that laid waste to the region. Entire districts were melted into slag, torn asunder by storm winds, or swallowed by the earth.

Many magebred warbeasts in use against the rebelling elves were also freed from containment, and still lurk to this day in the broken legacy of their creators. If this wasn’t dangerous enough, the influence of the Overlord Kharna Rayva seeps into the land, provoking a driving hunger in the creatures that call the valley home. Some of the Overlord’s fiends have escaped their bonds over time, and stalk the Valley in search of mortals to tempt - or burn. The Seat of Shackles contains some of the most powerful arcana in all of Xen’drik, along with certain death for any would-be treasure hunters.

Unbound Power

Morsa Khai itself is built into the foot of the western Fangs of Argarak, with the upper city rising up the rocky slopes. The lower city sprawls over fertile ashen plains, surrounded by a semicircular shield-wall of bloodglass and ur-cobalt over 160 feet high. In places, this wall has been obliterated - a silent reminder of a former war. Beyond the walls, the autumnal jungles of the League grow from the ash, the Fernian trees subsisting on raw heat and volcanic flame. The buildings of the city are themselves stark and brutalist, built for purpose over aesthetics.

Their dark volcanic stone blends with transmuted materials such as bloodglass and firebronze, creating a patchwork look. This is further complemented by the damage wrought by the Shattering, with some buildings missing, melted or scorched into abstract shapes. Other sections of the city have been damaged by planar incursions - the result of destroyed machinery Yet, the most striking feature of Morsa Khai are the elementals that remain bound to it. The entire capital is built from elemental infrastructure, from the individual buildings to the entire system of arching canals and aqueducts.

These waterways were once controlled by a central machine powered by a bound leviathan, which altered the direction of flow across the city as needed. Many bridges over these canals are formed from bloodglass containing fire elementals, allowing them to retract and reform in response to passing ships by melting themselves into shape. Entire blocks of buildings contain shared sections of bloodglass flooring, allowing fire elementals to heat food and water for different giants as needed. Formerly, the entire city was also cloaked in a dome of wind and weather, created by a device known as a Tempest’s Grip. Now broken, the city is covered in a layer of ash that forms drifts in the streets. These are just the standard parts of Sul’at engineering.

The Sul’at League

Dominated central Xen’drik, rivaling the Cul’sir Empire in power. The meritocratic fire giants formed a society around advanced magical research, which they leveraged for political neutrality. The League consisted of five major allied cities, each focusing on a specific area of study, and led by a Luminary of immense power. Uniquely, the League drew lightly from every plane for its magic - a calculated move meant to avoid competition with any other nation.

They used this diversity for powerful transmutation spells and magebreeding projects, transforming living beings with varied planar magic. This ranged from monsters and pack beasts to sentient people - including themselves, and eventually, the drow. Their study of the different beings in each plane also gave rise to elemental binding. Creatures of use were trapped within Khyber dragonshards, then used as power sources. This simple concept gave rise to feats of immense magic.

Elder tempests powered airships created in phoenix forges, while fiends were turned into dire weapons. These devices were sold to both the Cul’sir and the Group of Eleven, with a simple reminder. Any nation that used them against the League would witness the real weaponry. Perhaps the greatest they produced was the one that sealed their fate. The Moonbreaker was commissioned from Sul’at forges, and the dragons spared them no mercy as a result. This clinical and emotionless approach was the result of the burning power beneath their feet.

The Overlord Kharna Rayva lies bound deep within the Valley of Shadows, and the Sul’at responded by denying it the hungry emotions it fed on. The early history of the League was a stark reason why. The first fire giant - Prince Adaxus - was the one who united five city-states to form the League. His power came from a pact with the Overlord, turning him into a passionate and charismatic tiefling who warred on equal terms with the Emperor Cul’sir to the north. As the hunger of Adaxus grew, he fell more and more to Kharna Rayva’s influence, until he was at risk of becoming a full avatar for the archfiend.

Before the worst could occur, a group of six heroes defeated and bound the titan at the heart of the city of Morsa Khai. In time, they became the Five Luminaries and the Pasha of Grand Ju’qata, but the Hellfire Prince still rages against his bonds - and the time of his release may be nigh. Legacy of the League The modern impact of the Sul’at League spans continents. The gnomes of Zilargo first encountered elemental binding in Xen’drik, which they replicated with their own secret techniques. Meanwhile, House Cannith has made great use of Sul’at schemas to advance their own works, with Cannith South funding deeper expeditions.

In Xen’drik itself, the most obvious legacy remains the drow. Giant thaumaturges created the drow via planar experimentation on elves - an attempt to create stealthy assassins to direct against their rebelling kin. Now, they are divided between those who would build on and change the League’s work, and those who despise the giants for their sins. Many factions vie for control over the League’s remains; the fiery Súlatar drow seek to remake the legacy of the League into something better, while the giants of the Battalion of Basalt Towers wish to bring back the League’s power and dominion over others. Around them, mutated monsters roam the wilds, while countless cultures retain control over the ruins.