The dunes
The Dunes is the name of a vast, dry wasteland, which stretches for miles in each direction.
Hundreds of years ago, the Dunes were known by a different name: This area was where a desert state known as the Ithilian Empire was located.
The Ithilian Empire was renowned for its magical capabilities. In particular, the mages of the Empire were able to harness the energy of the dark, converting it into everything from fuel to magical components.
Since the Empire used the dark in such an extent, its citizens back then had a peculiar schedule, with most of them being active during the night and sleeping during the day. Although this schedule suited the Empire for the most part, the Ithilians were often subject to daylight raids by their nomadic neighbors, which reaped a heavy toll on account of most guards – and, more crucially, most magical weapons – being depleted during the day.
To combat this threat, the rulers of the Empire first resorted to hiring mercenaries, people who did not rely on the magical energies of the dark to protect the borders. However, this backfired when some mercenaries realized that they could raid the Empire just like the nomads did, and be far away by the time the military could respond.
With this insult delivered to the Empire, its ruler decided to resort to more drastic means. The emperor tasked the Empire’s foremost mages with devising a way to cover the Empire’s lands with eternal darkness, such that its military and magical might would always be at full power.
Of course, such a task was extremely difficult. Even so, the mages of the Empire set to work. Apart from finding the way to bring about eternal darkness, they would also have to create other items to make the transition easier. For example, the mages created sun lamps, magical lamps that projected light capable of making plants grow as if the sun fell on them for the entire day.
It took a long time – so long, in fact, that the emperor who had initially made the request was no longer alive. Even so, his heir was presented with the mages’ findings: A way to fulfill his father’s request, a way to cover Ithilian in darkness.
The new emperor agreed, and the mages got to work creating enormous pylons, made of a substance known as darkstone, able to act as a battery for the energy of the dark. These pylons were built all across the Empire, so the darkness could spread up to its borders.
When everything was ready, a grand ceremony took place, where the Emperor spoke of the great things that were to come in their land of darkness. Then, he gave the order to the mages, and the pylons and the central mechanism powering them were activated.
The nomadic people living around the Empire’s borders recorded that a veil of darkness descended on the Empire’s lands that day, just as the mages had wished.
However, the days passed, and soon turned into years, and nobody emerged from the darkness. None of those who ventured inside to find answers ever came back either.
More than a hundred years after the darkness had fallen, it suddenly lifted, as if it had never been there in the first place. When it vanished, the first curious explorers ventured inside the Empire, eager to see what had become of it.
They found nothing. The Empire’s many achievements had vanished, and only ruins were left, half-covered by the sands.
To this day, nobody knows what happened to the Ithilian Empire. However, life has returned to the Dunes, in the form of various oasis towns, as well as the city of Descent.
The city of Descent is named as such for the large pit it is built around. The city starts on the pit’s outskirts, and then continues inside of the pit, where houses have been carved on its walls.
Descent stands where the Ithilian Empire’s capital once stood. A testament to this is the crumbling darkstone pillar jutting out of the pit, shrouding the surrounding area in a state of near dusk for most of the day.
The reason that Descent exists is three-fold. Firstly, just like the old capital of the Empire, it is a trade hub, built along the quickest way through the desert.
Secondly, many tourists visit the city, wishing to see the site where the Ithilian Empire once stood. These gullible folk usually leave Descent with their money stolen and carrying some forgery or another, believing that they have on them a genuine piece of Ithilian techonology.
The third and most important reason for Descent’s existence is its technological value. Back when the Ithilian Empire ruled, it was considered to be more advanced than any other state. Even now, where the world has advanced far more than back in the Empire’s time, many scientists and researchers still try to comprehend Ithilian’s achievements. As such, many archaeological expeditions are sent into the pit and around Descent, hoping to find pieces of technology, or even an explanation as to what led to the Empire’s demise.
This demise is still felt across the Dunes. Once every two or three months, the darkness that ended the Empire returns, sometimes for only a few hours, sometimes for days. In that time, ghosts and monsters roam the lands, attacking anybody they find in their path.
Even the most technologically advanced illumination devices have thus far proven unable to dispel the darkness. This, of course, raises further fears: what if the darkness was to return permanently? And what if, when it did, it didn’t stop at the Empire’s old borders?
Type
Desert
Included Locations
Inhabiting Species
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