Hark
The Humble Hills
Battlemaps set in this location
Jilder
Protected behind the renowned white walls of the Divine Bulwark, Jilder is a city of grand marble vistas and pantheonic churches. While across the world practitioners of divine magic are losing their connection to their gods. A universal crisis of faith has driven people away from religious institutions. From this collapse the Pantheonic Church of Jilder has emerged and has made it their mission to reignite divine faith. They archive and incorporate the various rites and rituals from all faiths. In the eyes of much of Crudilex, Jilderan clerics are renown flourishing where others grow steadily weaker.
Struggling settlements across the world can call for mercenary clerics and paladins to serve them, offering hope and holy protection. However there is an expectation that when they return they will bring with them one or more of the people’s youths to become squires in the city. It is sold as a promise of a brighter future, but often they never see their families again. Jilder presents itself as a city above reproach, the last bastion of integrity, with its paladins as the ultimate guardians of the sacred in an era of religious uncertainty. But beneath its virtuous face, secrets and underhanded dealings shuffle in shadows. Not all in Jilder is as righteous as it seems.
The Twisted Plains
Along the coast of hark, huge tracts of land hover in the sky, slowly rotating and colliding like a never ending explosion. Created in ancient times during the War of Sword and Fang. The elves and fey wielded the druidic magics of the land so forcefully against the invading humans that it left scars on the face of the world that persist to modern times. The natural arcana of the region was wholly consumed, leaving it cursed. A land completely devoid of druidic magic where nothing new can grow or flourish ever again. No natural, divine, or druidic spellcasting can occur here. The myths say only when what was done is undone, and what was wronged made right will the curse be lifted. But all who remember exactly why the devastation was unleashed died long ago.
Aberdeen
The epicenter of the Day of Dawn, a cataclysmic event that nearly ended the world. The ruins of Aberdeen were once famous for its College of Heroes. The school’s founders Eoin Cabal, and Crowl Weapharp were two powerful mages. They uncovered a hidden magical door. Above it in a language not spoken in crudilex, Crowl translated an inscription which read “when the key is turned, the chosen heroes will face the creator, Nin-Iv, or the world will end.” The two mages hid the door, building the college around it, and trained heroes for decades so that one day whatever came through that door might be defeated.
But Crowl betrayed Eoin, and the prophecy was misinterpreted. The truth that the chosen heroes were the key which opened the door. And he spent his life mastering enchantment and control magics to take possession of the god who’d cross that threshold and bend it’s power to his will. Eoin and Crowl worked side by side with opposite goals for their entire lives. And when that day had come Eoin, with his own hand, had forged the key that opened the Door of IV. The ensuing disaster nearly destroyed all of Crudilex, and Aberdeen was at the epicenter. The world was forever changed, and Aberdeen was wiped out completely. The school sank deep into the earth, swallowed by the Sunless Sea, and all other evidence of the city's existence has been reduced to foundations and rubble, and two weather-worn statues of the school’s founders. Both Eoin and Crowl were never seen again.
Owl Bridge
Once known for its Hall of Heroes in the town of Aberdeen, Hark is now largely farmland scattered with ruins. The only holdouts are the far southern cities of Saradross and Owlbridge. Owlbridge barely qualifies as a city, consisting of just a handful of taller buildings and a fort. However, its people are proud and resolute. They have defended their city from both the Ironcircle and Collora, and now enjoy their hard-earned independence. The city is ruled by a lotocracy, where five members of the population are randomly selected and advised by experts. These leaders debate until they reach a consensus for better or for worse.Their decisions range from criminal trials to local taxes and everything in between.
Oaklake
The quiet, humble town of Oaklake was once a Colloran settlement built to catalog the discoveries made in the nearby ruins of Aberdeen. Constructed in the high, rocky forests north of Fordum's Rift, Oaklake serves as a final rest before the long journey up the mountain to the ruins. With only 16 buildings and even fewer residents, it is the perfect place to vanish from the eyes of Crudilex, something the townspeople are well aware of.
Fordum's Rift
Long ago, the legendary human hero, Fordum the Barbarian, stood as humanity’s protector and achieved countless mythic feats.The most well known is the tale of Fordum’s Rift. With a single mighty swing of his axe, he cleaved Crudilex in half, creating a vast canyon and sending humanity's enemies hurtling onto a distant island. The canyon, now known as Fordum's Rift, marks the spot where his axe is said to have struck the earth with untold force.
Today, the rift serves as a natural barrier between The Savanna of Riddles and the redwoods of Dunwel Fen. Its desolate expanse is nearly devoid of settlement, as the treacherous terrain and eerie howling of the winds deter all but the most daring. Yet, the rift is far from empty. Strange and often dangerous creatures are said to creep from the cracks and crags of its jagged canyon walls.
Crosshaven
Crosshaven was established alongside the construction of the Sanroko Crossnational railroad, its very foundation built by and for adventurers. The town boasts a culture entirely its own within Crudilex, shaped by the rhythms of traveling parties, daring quests, and the ever-evolving needs of heroes and explorers passing through.
While Crosshaven operates under an official government, the true seat of power lies in the Tavern on the Hill, a legendary gathering place for adventurers. A quiet but unshakable understanding binds its transient residents: if ever the town were in peril, its inhabitants, both locals and adventurers, would band together to protect it. This unspoken pact has kept Crosshaven safer and more orderly than any garrison of guards could ever hope to achieve.
Yenna
Once a federalist military camp which grew steadily over time and after the war transformed into a city. The first city of the Palavier Republic. Yenna embraced the Federalists’ modern ideals, repurposing the fruits of war engineering to serve civilian life. With nearby saradross factories and industry and a blooming infrastructure Yenna has blossomed into a beacon of progress. The city introduced marvels such as electricity, indoor plumbing, canned goods, refrigeration, and even the talkie moving picture show, cementing its place as a window into the Republic’s vision for a brighter future for all of Crudilex.
Saradross
Saradross isn't an easy place to live. Nowhere is the class divide more clear than in this city. Divided cleanly down the middle separating those who have from those who don't. The White River, named before the industrial boom of the Sixth Godsbirth, is now the most polluted stretch of water in all of Crudilex, and it is that toxic waste that separates East End from West End. The city is rife with problems, strife, and crime, much of which the powers that be, namely the politicians and the Thieves' Guild, have no interest in resolving. Those in power are only interested in how many pockets they can empty. There's a saying among its citizens: "Saradross is altruism’s grave."
The Relentless Witness
The creation of the Relentless Witness marked the bitter end of the Colloran Federalist Revolution. Under Royalist command, soldiers rounded up every citizen in the free city of Saradross, forcing them into brutal labor. Their toil gave rise to a monstrous dreadnought, an indomitable airship forged from blackiron, a material said to be utterly indestructible. Rising above all other aeronautic creations, the Relentless Witness had the power to rain devastation from above anywhere in the world. Indomitable, rendering resistance completely futile.
Yet, even this terrifying weapon harbored a fatal flaw: it was piloted by mortal men.
The horrific majesty of the Witness was undone during its very first flight. Chaos erupted in the control room, culminating in regicide. King Infante du Collora was slain at the helm by none other than his son, the prince. In the ensuing madness, the dreadnought veered off course, its immense bulk plunging into the Soughtsoul Mountains. The indestructible ship buried itself deep into the mantle of the world, its blackiron hull protruding from the mountainside like a colossal blade. To this day, the Relentless Witness remains where it fell, a grim monument to ambition and hubris, a black knife wedged into the heart of the earth, defying time. cold and dead.
The Savanna of Riddles
The vast drylands between Old Colloran and Hark were once an unrelenting desert during the Age of Adventurers, home to a single mysterious creature: the Colossus of Riddles. This towering behemoth of sandstone, headless and inscrutable, roamed the desert in an endless circle, awaiting its prophesied clash with the Leviathan, a battle said to herald the end of the world. Wherever the Colossus tread, the shifting sands hardened beneath its immense weight, forming a continuous path of sandstone.
Now, nearly 50 years later, the Colossus has vanished, leaving only its path behind. In its absence, the barren desert has undergone a miraculous transformation into a verdant savanna teeming with life. Yet, the great ring of hardened ground remains like a road crossing the drylands.
Kitendawili
Long before any other beings arrived in Crudilex, the Atlanteans called this land their home. Among their most mysterious settlements was Kitendawili, a society that existed before the concept of time itself was forged; A place where the progenitors of the world sought to predict the direction the newly created universe might head, and what might bring about its end.
Little is known about this isolated ruin, but a great mystery still permeates the ancient site. How could a civilization so deeply rooted in temporal magic fail to prevent its own demise? The ruins of Kitendawili tell a confusing story, carved in glyphs still slowly being translated by expeditions to the site. Among these depictions is the Colossus of Riddles, recorded long before it ever reached the savanna, standing in the heart of Atlantis being hand carved by the most ancient peoples of Crudilex.
Despite people’s fascination, Kitendawili’s ruins remain shrouded in mystery. Its remote location, combined with ongoing conflict in the region, has prevented successful exploration leaving many wizards and scholars to wonder what other Chronomancy secrets might still lie hidden in its crumbling walls. What wisdom was left behind by the Atlanteans which is now slowly being dissolved by the ravages of time they sought and failed to control.
Thom
The last fortified outpost of the Colloran Royalists, Thom is a bastion fortress city with towering walls, deep trenches, and a formidable military presence. Originally constructed by the Ironcircle during the Fifth Godsbirth to house refugees fleeing the devastating Dolver plague, it has since been repurposed as the stronghold of the Royalists under the leadership of King Bentley Thom.
Thom’s strategic value as a military outpost has become its defining feature, transforming it over time into a self-sustaining military city-state. While old tensions with the Republic Federalists linger, a tenuous peace holds, with each side keeping its distance to focus on serving their own people. However, whispers in the high towers of Castle Thom suggest that King Thom harbors dark ambitions. Some believe he is on the verge of unleashing something catastrophic upon his old adversaries. Raising banners of the colonial empire that once ruled the land in years past.