Places (MonMarro)

Regions of the World

The world of MonMarro is composed of two known continents. One is collectively referred to as mainland MonMarro and is the continent from which the plane derives its name. The other continent is Opheron, which lies across the frozen Icebound Sea on the opposite side of the world. The continent of Opheron itself has been explored very little, and no maps or charts of the area exist. The continent is teeming with ferocious pseudonatural creatures and large fleshy lumps compose much of the landscape. Coupled with this, the continent itself is somehow highly resistant to almost all forms of magical scrying.

Mainland MonMarro is made up of several regions. These include the following:

Desiccant Flats

The Desiccant Flats are widely assumed to be the most inhospitable region upon all of MonMarro, beating out even the Adavakari Leylands and the Windswept Icefields. Long ago during the centuries-long Antiquity Wars the Desiccant Flats were home to a vast and prosperous kingdom in a state of perpetual warfare with another nation located in a land where the Earthrent Sea now lies. While the specifics have long been lost to time, historians have widely come to know that somebody from the kingdom in the Desiccant Flats discovered the mythal Calling from the Void. While being able to successfully use the mythal is certainly a testament for somebody's magical prowess, the actual using of the mythal is usually an indicator of extremely poor wisdom due to the spell's disastrous ramifications from its first three uses.

With a single use of the spell, the nation that the kingdom in the Desiccant Flats warred against was not only completely destroyed, but sunk entirely miles beneath the sea. However, the resulting collision of the enormous isle of entropium with MonMarro caused tremendous seismic activity that ravaged areas thousands of miles from the impact site, including the Desiccant Flats. Worse yet, the torrent of sea water melted from ice by the impact rushed to fill the gaping hole in the plane and an enormous tidal wave unlike any other rushed towards the Desiccant Flats. The wave was said to be miles high and was moving at such a speed that it completely annihilated the section of the Brokendagger Peaks east of the Desiccant Flats. The resulting jökulhlaup combined with large chunks of mountain roiling in the water utterly destroyed the kingdom residing in the Desiccant Flats, destroying everything and rendering the resulting ruins as completely unrecognizable. The wave, having penetrated 500 miles of land, then receded, leaving a thick layer of salt of unknown origin. Whether the salt came from MonMarro's own ocean or was another product of the use of the Calling from the Void mythal is unknown. However, the region of the Desiccant Flats was rendered completely unlivable until this very day.

There is no water, not even ice, in the Desiccant Flats. The area is instead ravaged by continuous sandstorms (and in some cases, saltstorms) that scours the boulder-ridden flats. Those that brave the dunes to plunder the depths of the Desiccant Flats' ruins often don't return. Tales of lumbering monstrosities that dry up a person's body with a single touch and mummified guardians of the area's ruins abound from the few that do return. However, the tales of riches that await those who can penetrate the brutal region are enough to keep enticing young adventurers to their deaths.

The one major settlement in the Desiccant Flats is Agarro, a moderately-sized city situated around a giant well and located at the very edge of the Desiccant Flats where it is still relatively livable. The city is largely a neutral ground for the many nomadic tribes that wander the habitable parts of the region. It is also a great secondary market for magical goods since it is the closest city to Bedlam.

Eastern Coastlands

The eastern coastlands is the most livable region on all of MonMarro. As a result, it is also the most populated. The great city of Telrych flourishes here and the other hospitable regions of the elven aristocracy and the marshes of Vbask are close by. Though the weather is as cold and hostile as it is almost everywhere else on MonMarro, the ground is significantly more fertile. The vast majority of MonMarro's crops are grown here and the region is one of two that is capable of supporting a large number of smaller hamlets and villages. While there is no official country here, Telrych exerts a great deal of influence and is arguably the ruling seat of the surrounding area by might alone.

Because of the livability of the eastern coastlands the region is also densely packed with ruins of all sorts. The most well-known ruin is Wyrnix, a hotly contested site coveted by both Telrych and Thanasilith. Very often these ruins are resettled and repurposed sheltering new towns. Erevain's Cairn is one such site. While many of these ruins have been picked clean long ago by adventuring bands, there are certainly still a few that have rebuffed invaders over the years that harbor valuable artifacts and grand treasures.

The Elven Aristocracy

The elven aristocracy, thanks to extremely powerful magics, is the most livable region in the entire plane of MonMarro. The weather is calm and temperate and the land is completely engulfed in forests. While powerful mythals are certainly part of the equation that keeps the Aristocracy such a nice place to live, a great deal of the reason for the Elven Aristocracy being a relative paradise compared with the rest of the plane is druidic slave labor. The elves of the aristocracy have found a great way to make money. Since the plane is very scarce on wood the elves force druids to cultivate vast forests only to clear cut them and sell the lumber at exorbitant prices. As a result of this much of the Aristocracy is lifeless muddy plains covered with tree stumps between harvests.

Because of the great revenue the Aristocracy takes in from lumber operations the Aristocracy supports a vast bloated noble class that lives at the expense of impoverished commoners. A favored past-time among elven noble families is traveling to the few remaining old-growth forests in the Aristocracy and hunting fey creatures that dwell there such as dryads. The crimes against nature that the elven noble class collectively commits has caused great outcry from druidic circles across the plane, but so far the elves have gotten away with no real punishment from the forces of nature.

Marshes of Vbask

Thanks to geothermal activity, this boggy region just south of the eastern coastlands is home to the only true swamps and marshes that MonMarro possesses. Geysers and steam vents are indicative of constant geothermal activity below ground. Because of the perennial snowfall much of the plane experiences, melted snow stagnates here and has formed the bogs that are now home to most of MonMarro's reptilian population. Indeed, without carrying one of the blood garnets mined from below the marshes which give off a supernatural warmth, the yuan-ti, lizardfolk, and dracotaur tribes that call the marshes of Vbask home would not be able to survive anywhere else.

There are two notable geographic features of the marshes. The first is Vbask's Fang, an active volcano that constantly spews forth ash and searing heat. It is only one of two known volcanoes on MonMarro, the other being Fire-In-Ice Peak in the Barrier Range. Vbask's Fang serves as a neutral ground of sorts for all of the marsh's inhabitants. Indeed, the mountain is pockmarked with reptilian warrens and culminates in a city of sorts near the peak named Sirrilix. The city was once the high seat of Vbask himself, but with the deity's death it now serves as a fortress and as a loose congregation of temples devoted to lesser reptilian deities. Particularly noteworthy is the temple to Fervor located within.

The other landmark of note is The Scald, a boiling freshwater lake at the base of Vbask's Fang. The waters of the lake are almost supernaturally hot, and prolonged exposure is enough to begin to warp metallic objects ever so slightly.

While the various reptilian tribes of the marshes have formed their own short-lived civilizations over the years, the only other civilization to flourish in the region was the minotian civilization. Indeed, much of their citizenry and infrastructure was located in both this region and within cleared sections of the Mired Forest. However, their towns and fortresses here were quickly abandoned at the end of the Minotian Wars, and much of their proud structures have unceremoniously sunk below the muck of the swamps. In their never ending search to one-up other tribes, the scaled folk of the region constantly excavate the ruins of their former masters hoping to dig up something powerful to use against their neighbors.

Umbral Vale

The Umbral Vale is a chaotic region in the Barrier Range that is shrouded in unending night. Because it is surrounded on all sides by a foreboding mountain range it is also virtually cut off from the outside world. Much of the area's unusual properties can be attributed to the giant crystalline moon shard that fell from MonMarro's moon ages ago. The substance the shard is made of has long been known to have bizarre magic-warping characteristics, and the region's prolonged exposure to the crystal has rendered the land dangerously unstable. The entire landscape of the region seems intrinsically amorphous. When one isn't looking, hills and valleys seem to appear and disappear of their own accord, ruins pop in and out of existence, and even the mountains of the Barrier Range seem to disappear without warning. Should one find themselves here it proves exceptionally difficult to leave. Unfortunately for travelers, the moon shard also seems to have rendered the entire region a dead magic zone for teleportation spells.

This region has few inhabitants, and those that survive here are not to be trifled with. The Umbral Vale is home to the dangerous umbral dragons: unstable beasts that combine the worst characteristics of dragons, oozes, and creatures of shadow. The other inhabitants of note are the mad kenku of Shardtalon. These crow-like humanoids worship the moon shard here as a god and have given it the name Krazziksik. They are also steeped in dangerous insanity and have no qualms with killing visitors and offering their bodies to the large chunk of shiny rock they venerate. Shardtalon too seems to have inherited the Umbral Vale's unusual properties. The very halls and vaults of the ruins are rumored to change their layout with no rhyme or reason. One widely-heard story consists of a group of unfortunate adventurers entering Shardtalon through a large and prominent entrance that could not possibly be confused with any other, stuffing their packs with looted treasure, and coming back to the exit only to open the door and find themselves looking into a giant room stuffed to the ceiling with angry kenku. Needless to say, the Umbral Vale is a mapmaker's nightmare.

Temporary List

Placing the names here until such time that they are given proper entries.

The Barrier Range, the Elven Aristocracy, the Glacial Span, Highmeet, the Mired Forest, Ullusk, the Umbral Vale, the Underground, the Windswept Icefields, the Yawning Wastes

Major Cities

Bedlam

Bedlam borders on the Adavakari Leylands: a chaotic place dominated by unpredictable, surging magical energies. Bedlam is not completely immune to this. The occasional bolt of magical energy will arc from building to building, portals to random places on the plane will appear, and mundane items will become infused with magical energy and become magic items in their own right. Because of that latter fact Bedlam is a great market for magical goods, but many of these magical goods are of the type not typically used by adventurers. These include such items as a wardrobe that changes the color or style of clothes placed within it, flaming silverware, a spyglass that offers views of another plane, or bread that turns your skin green for several hours.

The government of Bedlam is just as chaotic and unpredictable as the magical energies that linger there. The city has trappings of a monarchy with a new ruler chosen by the old one near his or her time of death. When the monarch dies without appointing a successor, power struggles often erupt to determine who will rule the city. The current ruler is the ancient gnome Kielteras, who in his advanced age has yet to name an heir to his throne. The gnome has largely abandoned ruling the city and leaves governing to his lackeys while he conducts bizarre and dangerous magical experiments deep in the heart of his citadel. Kielteras makes no secret of the fact that he worships Iverdol, the mad gnomish god of Artifice, and he seeks to emulate him to some degree. Kielteras's lackeys don't have the city's best interests at heart and have been ransacking the city treasury while taxing all excessively save for a few noble families with friends in Bedlam's government. Services in the city have been cut dramatically and the city guard is quickly losing ground to Bedlam's growing criminal element.

Etherwatch

Etherwatch is situated atop a small mesa on a small strip of land at the end of a peninsula along MonMarro's southern coast. Rather than build outwards and expand the city limits, Etherwatch as a whole has elected to build upwards and downwards into the ground instead. The city is dominated by tall towers housing hundreds of people each. The city had been ruled by Fervorite tyrants for several decades and has only cast off their old form of government some thirty years ago. However, though the city has a new government, elements of the old Fervorite and Saesoth-backed regime are still present in the form of corruption in the city guard and even in the city council. Etherwatch's government is comprised of twenty-one elected councilmen who serve two-year terms and vote on important matters such as new laws and regulations. The council is overseen by a high councilman who has veto power over the council's decisions. The current high councilman is the sorcerer Vazzat, a magical genius who has served in this capacity since childhood.

Etherwatch is also the biggest city in southern MonMarro, bigger even than Telrych but falling behind Thyll in raw population. Because it is the only large city for a thousand miles in any given direction, smaller communities in the region such as Teskel, Mastodar, and Tarjhan rely upon it for trade. Because of this Etherwatch is moderately wealthy. However its wealth is eclipsed by cities in more favorable trading positions such as Thyll and Telrych.

The city of Etherwatch is granted its name by the stunning views of the night sky that the city is afforded. Magical auroras are continuously generated from the Adavakari Leylands and from the lingering magical energies in the Shattered Isles. Brilliant hues of green, purple, and yellow are visible nightly from sundown to sunrise.

Ghessen

The city of Ghessen is built around a gigantic iron rod of unknown origin and age that has seemingly been plunged into the earth. The artificial structure can be seen for tens of miles in any given direction from the blasted flats that surround the city. Historians and mages have long ago concluded that the rod rests in a spot where all the magical leylines upon MonMarro converge and has likely been placed there for that purpose. Not only does the rod act as a marker for such a magical phenomenon, but it also acts as a powerful channel for magical energy. Unsurprisingly, Ghessen is a city filled to the brim with wizards and sorcerers hoping to exploit the latent magical energies here.

It also comes as little surprise that there is a great deal of competition in the city for access to the iron spire. Ghessen's own form of government dissolved ages ago and the city is now ruled by dozens of street gangs manned by those of a sorcerous nature. Gangs that own territory in the city utilize them as their own little kingdoms, ruling over the citizens living there as they see fit. There are countless other smaller gangs that try to gain their own little piece of territory in the city as well, and territory in the city is constantly changing hands. The city is also marred by a perpetual state of street warfare with roving bands of wizards with a wand and an attitude looking to kill members of an opposing gang for the sake of their own reputation.

Telrych

Telrych was founded in spirit ages ago on a rocky outcropping on the Icebound Ocean. However, its population has waxed and waned and the city itself has been lost and rebuilt time and time again, and every new iteration of the city built upon the ruins of the last one.

The current Telrych has survived for approximately 3,000 years, weathering such difficulties as the Minotian Wars and even the passing through of a massive Far Realm entity (both disasters causing a gross loss of life). During the last few hundred years Telrych has managed to avoid major calamity, and as a result the city’s population has bloated to the point that the population has begun inhabiting deeper and deeper layers of the city left abandoned for many years. Refugees from the wasteland and outcasts from the Elven Aristocracy continue to trickle into the city which exacerbates the problem, but anybody that can pay the hefty “refuge tax” is permitted entry. While Telrych may not be the most populous city on MonMarro, it is by far the wealthiest and most powerful.

Telrych is governed by a monarchy that is notoriously reclusive and at times even detached from the workings of the city in the truly ancient Telrych Keep. The visible face of the Telrych monarchy is the Hand of Telrych, a council of five individuals that are hand-picked by the king for life terms to create and ratify laws and perform other bureaucratic functions. When there is need of a new king (due to death or an inability to rule), traditionally a member of the five is chosen in a process that remains unclear to all but the highest in the Telrych hierarchy. This is not always the case, but it is the rule rather than the exception.

The current king is Morovir Araxas, who was formerly Telrych’s emissary to other settlements. He never leaves Telrych Keep (as far as it is known) and is rarely seen even by the Hand. The five members of the Hand of Telrych are Darrett Blackleaf, Llana Alemande, Kasserak Vero, Jacyn Moore, and Arghain VeRouche.

Telrych has a very strained relationship with the elves of the Elven Aristocracy. As lumber is scarce on MonMarro and there are no sources of it near Telrych, the city has to import the vast majority of it from either the lumber camps near the Mired Forest (a long and dangerous journey) or from the Elven Aristocracy. However, disagreements about pricing between the two powers are almost legendary. While they have never been at war with each other, many times they have seemed near the brink, and both always have troops ready to march should the worst occur.

Ur

Ur is a city located deep underground. It has been cut off from contact with the outside world since its creation ages ago and its citizens, once of the "normal" races, have devolved into brutish and ugly monstrosities now known as the Ur-spawn. While survival in MonMarro's underground would normally be impossible due to the Far Realm entities that reside within it, Ur is an exception to the rule thanks to the shard of crystal that it is built around. This crystal, made of the crystalline material of MonMarro's moon, acts as a repellent for Far Realm beings. Nevertheless, the latent corrupting force of these entities has taken their toll on Ur's populace.

The city of Ur is entirely self-sufficient and is run by a council of seven mages and one sorcerer which the population of Ur venerate as gods. However, the propaganda that the Eightfold Faith feeds to its citizens are lies, and while the council may be powerful mages indeed, they are by no means gods. Having sustained their lives for an unnaturally long time thanks to the magics they wield, the rulers of Ur have grown so old and senile that they hardly remember just why they founded Ur to begin with. However, they have discovered a way to steal divine essence from the pantheon of MonMarro and use it to grant prayers to the clergy that operates in their name.

Ur is currently ruled by the Abjurer and former minotian archmagus Jalbaan, the insane conjurer Archillus, diviner Tercivel, Parthomir the enchanter, ancient elven war-wizard Indaryn, Ixinus the increasingly-detatched Illusionist, Vizzix Xarlothi the ulitharid mind-flayer who deposed Ur's necromancer lord Karthrax, and Belthias the transmuter.

Life in Ur is growing increasingly difficult. The city has exhausted all safe resources at their disposal and has been refurbishing, recycling, and otherwise reusing goods in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. Rumors on the surface world abound that the city of Ur might turn to desperate measures, such as warfare, to acquire the goods they need for their continued survival.

Temporary List

Placing the names here until such time that they are given proper entries.

Daernan, Liulum, Saesoth, Thanasilith, Thyll