Demeris, The Undead Capital
Demeris; Jewel of the Coast
The Cephan capital of Demeris was the only significant city the squid-like folk had to their name. They put nearly all of their effort and population into creating what they believed was the perfect city. A self-sustaining oasis in the midst of what was - at the time - wild and untamed swamplands and harsh ocean coasts. The expansive metropolis sprawled out over a vast section of coastline in Northwestern Duwallen, and eventually even out over the ocean itself. It was the beating heart of scientific and philosophical advancement for its age, boasting many of the world's brightest minds at the time.
But it was not to last...
The Doom of the Ceph
It was a grim, fog-filled morning when the Caligomortis rolled in. The Death Fog, sent by a Nameless demigod as a show of power and intent, was swept in by the sea breeze and pulled into the city's famous plumbing systems, rapidly piping it into every business, street, and home it was connected to. Within minutes, half of the population had choked to death, and only an hour later, not a living soul remained inside the city limits. A scant few had managed to escape the cloud's clutches, though even fewer of those were entirely untouched by it. It was only by the slimmest of margins that the entire species was not wiped out then and there. With the interference of a number of concerned deities and the kindly assistance of the Bufogren to the north, the Ceph were eventually able to recover, but their grand capital was lost forever.
Demeris today stands as a testament to what once was. Through the layers of moss and algae, from a safe distance beyond the grasp of the presence within, glimpses of the city's past glory can still be seen. Water still courses through most of its pipes, feeding natural waterfalls that pour a gentle mist across its open streets and form a myriad of rainbows in the sky. Were it not for the unearthly fog that still clings to most of the streets and other hard surfaces of the city, it might still be beautiful.
The Living City
When an entire civilization drops dead in an instant, it tends to have an effect on the world. In the case of Demeris, the powerful death magic fused with those unfortunate souls who were not successfully collected in the wake of the disaster, and together they formed a new being. The anguish and pain and hate coalesced into a sort of monstrous, twisted soul, bent only on sharing the pain and death it experienced a hundred times over with anyone it could find. It's a powerful spirit, on par with some minor deities, but confined to its place in the mortal realm. Over time, it has learned to wield magic with which it can alter its form in various minor ways in order to make navigating its streets as difficult and deadly for potential prey as possible.
Demeris' high walls stop most from entering the cursed place, and the legends and general sense of unease surrounding it ward off most of the others, but tales of knowledge and treasures untold still find their way to less scrupulous ears from time to time. What's more, stories are often told that wandering travelers in search of shelter may sometimes find gaps in the vines grown across the hold where the city's grand doors once were, just large enough to sneak through and thick enough to block out the wind. Gentle drips of water and the sound of harmless insects emanate from within, as if beckoning them to come inside and rest. Whatever draws someone into the clutches of the Undead Capital, very few have escaped to tell the tale. Those tales - when coherent in the slightest amidst the sobbing and cursing of the heavens - speak of shifting walls, poison flowing through the streets, and skeletal Ceph rising from the gutters, calling on visitors to join them.
Arda Archivum
As written works tend not to hold up particularly well in the wet conditions that kept the ancient Ceph so comfortable, water-tight archives were built: the Arda Archivum. Within these hallowed halls, knowledgeable and knowledge-seeking Ceph would leave their comfort zones to find and record the knowledge of their people. It's said that these sealed libraries could hold the greatest treasure trove of historical knowledge the modern world has ever known. Since their demise, the Arda have remained largely untouched for millennia, waiting for someone to survive the city to reach them, and survive again getting back out. What knowledge could be found in these ancient places? Only the city itself and a few of the most dedicated historians could say for sure.
Defences
The gates of Demeris have remained open - fallen right off their hinges - for the last several centuries. The true defense of the city is the same doom that killed off its population. The cloying green mist still hangs around the ceilings of enclosed spaces, waiting to descend upon the unwary. It has also dissolved into most of the water that still churns and pumps through the city's heart, making the entire region, while not as lethal as the original Death Fog, quite unpleasant in the short term, and assuredly deadly in the long.
In addition to essentially being filled with poison at all times, the spirit of Demeris has slowly become capable of manipulating the stonework and waterways of the city, allowing it to move walls, shift flows, and otherwise redirect would-be explorers however it desires. Over the years of these meddlers entering its walls, it has become quite adept at killing the unprepared and spooking the more skilled into making dire mistakes. Thus far, no one who has entered Demeris has left with anything more than whiter hair and a shorter lifespan for their troubles.
Infrastructure
Demeris' greatest accomplishment was its water distribution systems. Plumbing and filters and mechanisms decades ahead of their time. The entire city was perpetually flowing with water, whose motion was fueled by the incoming tides. Even the city streets served almost like canals, keeping cephan bodies wet and comfortable as they went about their daily commutes.
Architecture
The majority of Demeris is constructed from bricks of sandstone, oilstone, and concrete largely composed a mixture of oilstone dust and lime. The city is built in layers, with various districts being set on shelves, supported both by a robust collection of pillars, but also a number of central towers that grow larger and more densely pack the deeper one goes into the city. A complex series of pipes, screws, pumps, and gutters allows water to be pulled in from the ocean at high tide to be spread throughout the city, keeping things wet and flowing at all times. And in an unprecedented display of hygiene for the time period, they even thought to put in separate lines for their waste.
Geography
Demeris is seated on and over a vast swath of coastal cliffs and tide pools on the Northwestern coast of Duwallen. The swamps mostly give way to solid ground in this area before even that suddenly falls away into the sea. The regular, moderately shallow tides coming into the various shoals and pools of the area made it the ideal place for an amphibious species to found their capital. It was undesirable to most predominantly land-bound species, and would have made a terrible port, but it was incredibly valuable in terms of oceanic resources.
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