The Ruins of the Ancient city of Elante

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A long time ago, the city of Elante was built right on top of an area of extremely high magical activity. This amplified the power of its inhabitants and allowed them and the city to prosper for several centuries, becoming the most influential organisation on the whole continent. They were ruled by a succession of powerful lords and ladies who were able to hold the entirety of the land the city was built on under their control.
Unfortunately, after a time, there was no one left with enough power to do so. This resulted in the city getting torn into a long succession crisis that has still not been properly solved even a millennia later. Because of this, the city has been divided into hundreds of small fiefs that are controlled by lords and ladies constantly battling to defend and expand their little territory.
Since they have to content themselves with a very small patch of land, the lords and ladies have had to built upwards. What is now called the City of the Hundred Fiefs is made of enormous towers put directly on top of the ruins of the old city and made with materials gathered from the previous buildings. Yet, sometimes you can still find traces of what used to be. Leftovers foundations in the caves of the towers, or even whole subterranean complexes.

The City of the Hundred Fiefs by diversepixel on DepositPhotos

Any stone from the pre-division time is very easy to identify with the way they are all still brimming with powers and are often covered with runes and elaborate nature-themed engravings. While any artefact and memento is highly valued by all lords and ladies—and even more by foreigners who are always sure to buy them for enormous amounts—almost all of what is left cannot be safely moved. Or even touched.
Most of this was part of ancient ward circles and is still used nowadays by the owner of the fief where they are to power their own smaller and weaker version of defensive wards. Some remains were instead part of more dangerous constructs such as prisons or energy gathering machinery. The rest have simply become corrupted by all the battle magic that has been thrown around over the centuries.
For the inhabitants of the city, finding traces of the old Elante is always an exciting prospect sure to make famous the few that survive the event. Death is indeed the most common outcome, whether because the lord or lady of the fief will fiercely defend their wards, everyone is going to fight for the possession of a precious artefact and the ability to resell it, or because of the danger inherent in the remains themselves.

by grandfailure on DepositPhotos

Not a lot of the old city is left after a millenia of warfare...

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