Fallen Arch

Fallen Arch is a small, peaceful fishing village in the far north-west of The Kingdom of Vallanna, in the Windward Peninsula region. The modern settlement itself is relatively unremarkable, but its location is what sets it apart from the other countless small settlements like it - Fallen Arch has been built in and around the impressive and looming ruins of an ancient city, whose builders and inhabitants are unknown to current scholars.
Constructed in and filling a shallow basin, the ancient city is arrayed almost like an amphitheatre, facing out to sea. Giving the current settlement its name is the pair of colossal carved humanoid marble statues which flank the seaside entrance to the small bay, whose ruined construction clearly once formed an arch over the mouth of this safe harbour. The connecting capstone of this arch has long since fallen to the sea below, however. The statues stand several hundred feet tall, are of indeterminate species, and face towards the ocean with an expression on their faces which is greatly disputed by scholars. Some maintain that the statues stand in welcome to travellers from across the Sea of Vallar and beyond, while others argue that such a grand design can only be meant as a warning against oppurtunistic invaders of the power wielded by the denizens of the land.
While occasionally visited by curious academics and archaeological expeditions from the University of Valliné, interested in exploring the ruins; Fallen Arch itself, and its residents are content, by and large, to keep to themselves, living a simple life, mostly ignored by the outside world.

Architecture

While the surrounding ancient ruins are constructed of hardy marble and granite, the current inhabitants of the bay have constructed their dwellings out of simple wood, choosing to construct their own village among the ruins, rather than to try and repair the ancient dwellings.

Geography

The fishing village is situated at the bottom of a shallow basin, ringed on three sides by rising hills (which are covered by the ruins of a previous ancient settlement), and on the fourth by the Sea of Vallar. Access to the ocean is gained through a narrow channel at the mouth of the bay, passing between the two colossal statues which abutt the cliffs on either side of the bay itself.

Type

Village

Population

~100

Owning Organization

Windward Peninsula

Characters in Location

• Obadiah, An Elderly Dragonborn Ex-Cabin-Boy