Esurian
Saya
"Do you three seriously still need convincing that Xana is a terrible person? Well come on! The Bone palace is this way!"Esurian is a barony located in Azure in the Kingdom of North Cassel. It is bordered on the west by Lycuria, the northwest by Tholos, the east by Wheages, and the south by Fulmenor. About half of this land is at sea level and until about a thousand years ago a large body of water was here known as the Azure Sea.
In the year 1876 Iron Age, a large volcanic eruption caused the mountain range holding the sea in place to collapse, sending the water crashing to the north. A large amount of flooding and destruction was caused in the Kingdom fo Yurrimkil to the north. With the sea drained and never coming back, the old city of Esurian, originally on the shore, was abandoned and rebuilt in areas where the sea used to be.
The city has grown quite large as the sea contained many resources, including numerous aethercite crystals that probably washed away here from the The Sun Valley before the sea drained and rivers were rerouted. There are quite a few mid digging operations here, going through meters and meters of silt sifting through finding crystals but also small amounts of various metals and other resources. The soil is also great for growing crops, so previous dug land is repurposed for this. Orkadages for example has large apple orchards and is famous for its Black Orc apples.
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1431, Iron Age
Esurian
Baroness Locaya XI
7,839 km2
Oceanic
217,500
85% Human
10% Elf
5% Orc
Esurian
Baroness Locaya XI
7,839 km2
Oceanic
217,500
85% Human
10% Elf
5% Orc
Black Orc Apples
This variety of apple is only grown in the town of Orkadages. Contrary to popular belief the town is not named after orcs, but for an ancient word for Orchard. Their black apples also have nothing to do with orcs even though that belief was popularized recently. The name is again from the word for orchard.
Black orc apples are characterized by a dark violet skin and a blood red interior. The taste is said to be very sweet. Like most fruits, this can store mana. This variety of apple is said to be able to store great quantities of it and there is no outside indiciation of how much mana it is storing. When you cut it open, the red interior will start to glow when charged with mana until it is almost too bright to look at at maximum charge.
The properties of this apple also change slightly when charged with aether. The red interior will turn deep purple, and then blue when it hits aetheric saturation. The taste will also turn sour. At aetheric saturation, the seeds of this apple can be planted and it will grow very quickly, taking about 1 year to bear fruit instead of the usual 8.
The Bone Palace
Long ago, there was an event known as the Bear Slaying and popularized as a story called Xana and the King. These two tales describe when the fairy Xana turned an entire army of Cassel into bears that then tore each other apart. It is said that the blue waters of the Azure Sea turned red for a time after this. The ruling Baroness at the time, Locaya I, ordered her soldiers to burn all the bodies and gather the skulls. These tens of thousands of skulls were then placed around a fort that was there at the time.
This fort eventually became known as the Bone Palace. The parts that aren't covered with bear skulls, the original structure, is constructed with granite blocks and limestone and was constructed around the year 1000. It originally sat on a bluff overlooking the Azure Sea, but now it is quite high up on a cliff. It can be accessed easily from the east.
No one takes ownership over this castle. No soldiers are stationed here. It is a haunted, hate filled place. Long dead spirits still roam around the skulls. They normally can't interact with the living, but anyone who is sensitive to spirits will become very uneasy, even sick, if they are in the Bone Palace for too long.
Myles
"Uhm..that is a bear skull, but, those aren't bear teeth. There should be giant canine teeth in the front, but--"
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