Erenoc (Air-E-Nock)
Erenoc, known across Kermoria as the City of the Dead, is not a ruin in the conventional sense, but a living blasphemy—a city that endures in open defiance of the natural order. Hidden deep beneath the world and shrouded in layers of necromantic corruption, Erenoc is spoken of in the same breath as plague, heresy, and extinction. Its name appears in forbidden texts, in the muttered warnings of witch-hunters, and in the final testimonies of doomed expeditions that ventured too near its sphere of influence. To most surface dwellers, it is less a place than a nightmare given stone walls and streets.
What makes Erenoc truly dreadful is not merely the presence of undead, but the scale and permanence of its power. This is no forgotten crypt or isolated necromancer’s stronghold. Erenoc is a true city—ancient, immense, and still functioning beneath the hand of forces that should have collapsed centuries ago. Black towers, corpse-lit avenues, sepulchral gates, and vast tomb-palaces rise from a landscape steeped in deathly magic, all governed by a cruel and disciplined order that has resisted repeated attempts at destruction. Those who speak of it describe a place where the dead do not rest, where souls are bound into service, and where every stone seems to remember suffering.
At the center of this dark dominion rules a figure known only as the Witch King, a being whose exact nature remains uncertain even among those who have studied Erenoc obsessively. Whether lich, drow sorcerer, deathless tyrant, or something stranger still, he is said to command absolute authority over the city and all who dwell within it—living and dead alike. Around him, Erenoc has become more than a seat of necromantic power. It is a kingdom of death in waiting, a place many believe is not content merely to endure in darkness, but to one day spill forth and remake the world above in its own image.
What makes Erenoc truly dreadful is not merely the presence of undead, but the scale and permanence of its power. This is no forgotten crypt or isolated necromancer’s stronghold. Erenoc is a true city—ancient, immense, and still functioning beneath the hand of forces that should have collapsed centuries ago. Black towers, corpse-lit avenues, sepulchral gates, and vast tomb-palaces rise from a landscape steeped in deathly magic, all governed by a cruel and disciplined order that has resisted repeated attempts at destruction. Those who speak of it describe a place where the dead do not rest, where souls are bound into service, and where every stone seems to remember suffering.
At the center of this dark dominion rules a figure known only as the Witch King, a being whose exact nature remains uncertain even among those who have studied Erenoc obsessively. Whether lich, drow sorcerer, deathless tyrant, or something stranger still, he is said to command absolute authority over the city and all who dwell within it—living and dead alike. Around him, Erenoc has become more than a seat of necromantic power. It is a kingdom of death in waiting, a place many believe is not content merely to endure in darkness, but to one day spill forth and remake the world above in its own image.
Demographics
The true population of Erenoc is impossible to measure by conventional means. While a small number of living residents remain within the city—primarily drow necromancers, scholars, and servants bound to the Witch King’s dominion—they represent only a fraction of the beings that inhabit its streets and halls.
The overwhelming majority of Erenoc’s populace consists of the undead. Skeletal soldiers patrol its avenues, corpse-servants perform menial labor, and more powerful revenants and wraithlike entities act as wardens, overseers, and enforcers of the Witch King’s will. These undead are not mindless hordes but components of a carefully structured hierarchy of death, each bound by powerful necromantic rites that ensure obedience.
Travelers who have glimpsed the city from afar often remark on an unsettling detail: despite its reputation as a necropolis, Erenoc does not appear abandoned. Lights burn within its towers, figures move along its battlements, and processions of the dead pass through its gates in grim silence. To those few who have studied it closely, the conclusion is unavoidable—Erenoc is not a graveyard, but a functioning city whose citizens simply happen to be dead.
The overwhelming majority of Erenoc’s populace consists of the undead. Skeletal soldiers patrol its avenues, corpse-servants perform menial labor, and more powerful revenants and wraithlike entities act as wardens, overseers, and enforcers of the Witch King’s will. These undead are not mindless hordes but components of a carefully structured hierarchy of death, each bound by powerful necromantic rites that ensure obedience.
Travelers who have glimpsed the city from afar often remark on an unsettling detail: despite its reputation as a necropolis, Erenoc does not appear abandoned. Lights burn within its towers, figures move along its battlements, and processions of the dead pass through its gates in grim silence. To those few who have studied it closely, the conclusion is unavoidable—Erenoc is not a graveyard, but a functioning city whose citizens simply happen to be dead.
Defences
Very little reliable information exists regarding the true defenses of Erenoc. The few accounts that have reached the surface world come from scattered expedition journals, intercepted correspondence, or the testimony of individuals who glimpsed the city from afar before fleeing. What is clear from these fragments is that Erenoc is far more than a fortified settlement—it is a city protected by layers of both physical fortification and pervasive necromantic sorcery.
The outer reaches surrounding Erenoc are said to be steeped in lingering death-magic that warps both the environment and the senses. Travelers report unnatural cold, the sensation of unseen presences moving through the dark, and the distant sounds of marching where no living army exists. Those who press farther often encounter roaming formations of undead sentinels—skeletal soldiers, grave-bound knights, and incorporeal spirits that patrol the approaches to the city with tireless vigilance. Some reports suggest these guardians are not merely stationed defenses, but part of a vast, ever-moving network of patrols that ensures no intruder reaches the city unnoticed.
The walls of Erenoc themselves are described as towering black stone ramparts lined with necromantic sigils and braziers burning with corpse-light. Whether these markings serve as wards, summoning circles, or conduits for darker magics remains unknown. Attempts by outside forces to breach the city have historically ended in disaster, with attacking forces reportedly overwhelmed not only by defenders upon the walls but by waves of the dead rising from the very ground around the city.
Beyond these fragmentary observations, the true nature of Erenoc’s defensive works remains speculation. Many scholars believe that what can be seen from the outside represents only the most visible layer of its protection. If the Witch King truly commands the full power attributed to him, it is widely assumed that the greatest defenses of Erenoc are not its walls or its undead legions—but the ancient necromantic forces that saturate the city itself, turning the entire settlement into a weapon against those who would seek its destruction.
The outer reaches surrounding Erenoc are said to be steeped in lingering death-magic that warps both the environment and the senses. Travelers report unnatural cold, the sensation of unseen presences moving through the dark, and the distant sounds of marching where no living army exists. Those who press farther often encounter roaming formations of undead sentinels—skeletal soldiers, grave-bound knights, and incorporeal spirits that patrol the approaches to the city with tireless vigilance. Some reports suggest these guardians are not merely stationed defenses, but part of a vast, ever-moving network of patrols that ensures no intruder reaches the city unnoticed.
The walls of Erenoc themselves are described as towering black stone ramparts lined with necromantic sigils and braziers burning with corpse-light. Whether these markings serve as wards, summoning circles, or conduits for darker magics remains unknown. Attempts by outside forces to breach the city have historically ended in disaster, with attacking forces reportedly overwhelmed not only by defenders upon the walls but by waves of the dead rising from the very ground around the city.
Beyond these fragmentary observations, the true nature of Erenoc’s defensive works remains speculation. Many scholars believe that what can be seen from the outside represents only the most visible layer of its protection. If the Witch King truly commands the full power attributed to him, it is widely assumed that the greatest defenses of Erenoc are not its walls or its undead legions—but the ancient necromantic forces that saturate the city itself, turning the entire settlement into a weapon against those who would seek its destruction.
History
Erenoc was founded in approximately 1366 BD, during a period when the drow of the deep realms were expanding their influence through the cavern networks beneath the world. Built at the intersection of several vast subterranean passages, the city quickly grew into an important stronghold controlling travel, trade, and arcane resources in the surrounding regions. Its earliest architecture was dominated by immense stepped ziggurats and ritual towers constructed atop a rare convergence of ley lines that coursed through the bedrock below the city—an arcane feature that would later define Erenoc’s dark destiny.
For several centuries following its founding, Erenoc functioned as a powerful but otherwise typical drow metropolis. Noble houses, arcane cabals, and priestly orders vied for dominance while the city’s scholars pursued magical research within the towering ziggurats that rose above its districts. These structures, originally built as centers of magical study and ritual observance, formed the heart of the city’s identity. Even in these early centuries, Erenoc was known among the deep realms as a place where ambitious spellcasters could pursue knowledge that other cities might consider dangerous.
The transformation of Erenoc began with the rise of Nithru Urdi, a drow arcanist born in 1643 BD, whose mastery of the arcane had already earned him renown long before the city itself was established. Once a celebrated prodigy of the arcane academies of Drus'ya, Urdi became the target of a deadly assassination attempt amid the rivalries of drow scholarship. Gravely wounded but alive, he vanished from the circles of his former peers and disappeared into the deeper reaches of the subterranean world.
In the centuries that followed, Urdi’s influence gradually emerged within Erenoc. Drawn by the powerful ley lines beneath the city—or perhaps having discovered them long before its founding—he began reshaping the city’s arcane traditions to serve darker purposes. Through forbidden rituals and pacts with otherworldly powers, he extended his existence beyond natural life, eventually returning to Erenoc not as a scholar, but as a ruler.
Under Urdi’s dominion, the great ziggurats of Erenoc were transformed from institutions of study into engines of necromantic power. Souls were bound within their chambers, armies of the dead were raised from crypts beneath the city, and the living population steadily dwindled as the Witch King consolidated control. Over time, the city ceased to resemble the drow metropolis it had once been. To outsiders—and eventually even to those few who still lived within its walls—it became known simply as Erenoc, the City of the Dead.
Today the Witch King continues to rule from the black towers of the city he reshaped centuries ago, sustained by the terrible energies that flow through its ziggurats. What was once a center of arcane ambition has become something far darker: a necromantic dominion whose influence seeps steadily outward through the deep places of the world.
For several centuries following its founding, Erenoc functioned as a powerful but otherwise typical drow metropolis. Noble houses, arcane cabals, and priestly orders vied for dominance while the city’s scholars pursued magical research within the towering ziggurats that rose above its districts. These structures, originally built as centers of magical study and ritual observance, formed the heart of the city’s identity. Even in these early centuries, Erenoc was known among the deep realms as a place where ambitious spellcasters could pursue knowledge that other cities might consider dangerous.
The transformation of Erenoc began with the rise of Nithru Urdi, a drow arcanist born in 1643 BD, whose mastery of the arcane had already earned him renown long before the city itself was established. Once a celebrated prodigy of the arcane academies of Drus'ya, Urdi became the target of a deadly assassination attempt amid the rivalries of drow scholarship. Gravely wounded but alive, he vanished from the circles of his former peers and disappeared into the deeper reaches of the subterranean world.
In the centuries that followed, Urdi’s influence gradually emerged within Erenoc. Drawn by the powerful ley lines beneath the city—or perhaps having discovered them long before its founding—he began reshaping the city’s arcane traditions to serve darker purposes. Through forbidden rituals and pacts with otherworldly powers, he extended his existence beyond natural life, eventually returning to Erenoc not as a scholar, but as a ruler.
Under Urdi’s dominion, the great ziggurats of Erenoc were transformed from institutions of study into engines of necromantic power. Souls were bound within their chambers, armies of the dead were raised from crypts beneath the city, and the living population steadily dwindled as the Witch King consolidated control. Over time, the city ceased to resemble the drow metropolis it had once been. To outsiders—and eventually even to those few who still lived within its walls—it became known simply as Erenoc, the City of the Dead.
Today the Witch King continues to rule from the black towers of the city he reshaped centuries ago, sustained by the terrible energies that flow through its ziggurats. What was once a center of arcane ambition has become something far darker: a necromantic dominion whose influence seeps steadily outward through the deep places of the world.
Perverse energies cause much of Erenoc to be shrouded in a sickly-greenish glow.
Founding Date
1366BD
Alternative Name(s)
City of the Dead
Type
Underground / Vault
Population
Unknown; however, it is believed that the souls of anyone who is judged wanting by Urriem'Tier reside here, potentially numbering millions.
Location under
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Characters in Location
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