Kathodrarg

• Previous
• Next

In 441 HE, Asmodeus's Scion, the Piamauza founded the settlement Kathodrarg. They built it where lowlands meet one of Skein Tus's great fjords. Over time, it grew to cover the canyon, both outside and inside. Gira'gah, a devout follower of Asmodeus, had her people build a fortified temple to Asmodeus and then encampments about the area. After discovering gold and adamantine in the scars of Skein Tus, the town opened trade with the peoples of Tulukhan and the eldritch giants of Hokzii Stov. With two rich resources, Kathodrarg went on the path of rapid growth and great prosperity.

The Tulukhan desired gold jewelry and the giants wanted the adamantine. The latter would go on to establish companies dedicated to supplying an aggressive empire, bent on grand conquest and domination. They were the sons and daughters of Asmodeus, would you expect anything less?

- Hemlayfur, of Tulukhan, 6^th Petal Activist - "Dads Gold"

In 526 HE, the empire of Mir'piamauza was established with Kathodrarg its capital.

Today, thousands of years since the fall of Mir'piamauza, the grandeur, might and magic of this fallen empire still holds places like Kathodrarg intact. Its black ominous walls tower over the landscape, pitted and scarred from the powerful diabolic magic that once was practiced so openly, and by so many. At night, street lamps of tantulhor light with eerie glows. Many of the ruin's fountains, decorated with devilish depictions and statues, still work. The basins of some are cracked or broken; spilling their waters down streets or into drains leading beneath the city into ancient foreboding labyrinths that cover an area of the Underdark twice the size of Kathodrarg's surface.

Outside the surface ruin, for miles in all directions going outward into the rugged canyon riddled land of Skein Tus are towers built in the visage of a warrior. These towers vary in design with the armor style indicative of the period in which they were erected.

Kathodrarg is a nightmarish place haunted by ghosts and spirits and with sounds like cries of agony, haunting laughter, and whispers from out of nowhere. These panic most if they remain more than just an hour and have driven the weak-willed to become cunning murderers. The ruins are littered with bones and skulls from the thousands of Piamauza that perished when Kathodrarg was stricken with pestilence and disease. These poor souls perished in the Mir'piamauza Civil War (1608 HE - 1612 HE), abandoned to die alone and are said to be the reason why the place is a haven for ghosts and other malevolent spirits. By 1617 HE, the city was entirely abandoned. For nearly a decade after, wandering beasts and others that entered the ruin succumbed to virulent diseases. Fifty years later, an expedition returned to Kathodrarg backed by a large cadre of healers and found the disease to have died out, yet were unable to survive the perils of marauding monsters and a few otherworldly creatures still lurking about since the heyday of Mir'piamauza.