Vokroth, the Sunken City
Overview
The sound of frogs and insects pervades one's ears upon arrival at the ruins of what was once the Black City, Vokroth. Submerged mostly beneath the bayou now and lost to the trees of the swampy forest, the eastern reach of the aerai is a mostly forgotten relic. Once, its spires, necropoli, and ziggurats served as a mecca of knowledge and remembrance of those that had passed. Now it's a place only those seeking the knowledge of the damned still travel. Hardly more than a whisper upon passersby's lips in the Crossroad Mire, few still trek Vokroth.
It is said that one knows that they've reached the edge of the city by the rancid stench of death that pervades the area. In fact, the water moves unnaturally between what buildings still jut out of the bayou. Some whisper that undead masses still roam Vokroth's streets, maintaining their duties to the best of their decaying abilities. Others say it's the wards and hexes upon the buildings that cause the water to churn so. Either way, travelers are most definitely at peril when roaming within the ruins.
It is not uncommon for a relic hunter to lose a limb or life to city, which seems to reach beyond its own grave to feed upon those that dare seek its treasures. And there seems to be a steady enough supply of those willing to sacrifice themselves in pursuit of the knowledge held within the city's depths. Some say the power to transcend life and death lies deep in the catacombs of the city, and it is most often that particular legend that brings people to their death.
It is said that one knows that they've reached the edge of the city by the rancid stench of death that pervades the area. In fact, the water moves unnaturally between what buildings still jut out of the bayou. Some whisper that undead masses still roam Vokroth's streets, maintaining their duties to the best of their decaying abilities. Others say it's the wards and hexes upon the buildings that cause the water to churn so. Either way, travelers are most definitely at peril when roaming within the ruins.
It is not uncommon for a relic hunter to lose a limb or life to city, which seems to reach beyond its own grave to feed upon those that dare seek its treasures. And there seems to be a steady enough supply of those willing to sacrifice themselves in pursuit of the knowledge held within the city's depths. Some say the power to transcend life and death lies deep in the catacombs of the city, and it is most often that particular legend that brings people to their death.
Points of Interest
Scattered throughout the region are a number of buildings that have held up better than others, despite the water that sits above them. Many of these buildings house forgotten relics that were not deemed worth removing from Vokroth before the Aerai sunk the city.
The Black Library
The Necropolis
History
Like all forces of good that fight evil, there comes a time when a civilization realizes that they must study that which they find blasphemous. And it was for that reason that Vokroth was originally founded by the Aeraesar as an eastern extension into the Bayou Garramarisma--a place remote enough and as they had thought at the time, safe enough, to study death and other black magics. When the city was built, it was determined that it would also house the dead and protect their own against the very magics they studied. Unfortunately, power is corruption.
In time, the aerai that ran Vokroth were consumed by their studies, and they began raising their own dead into a life of servitude. Said to be touched by a great darkness, these aerai were said to be maddened. Many of them were glad to take up their dark arts against their own kin, when eventually the Aeraesar deemed Vokroth to be too much of a risk to continue onward.
Coming together, the noble families and military of the Aeraesar crusaded upon Vokroth and sunk the city into the bayou, believing to have killed and trapped most of its denizens. Unbeknownst, there were survivors even among the nobility of Vokroth, and its likely from the mouths of these that recent rumors of dark magic abounding have been singing a siren's song to would be graverobbers.
In time, the aerai that ran Vokroth were consumed by their studies, and they began raising their own dead into a life of servitude. Said to be touched by a great darkness, these aerai were said to be maddened. Many of them were glad to take up their dark arts against their own kin, when eventually the Aeraesar deemed Vokroth to be too much of a risk to continue onward.
Coming together, the noble families and military of the Aeraesar crusaded upon Vokroth and sunk the city into the bayou, believing to have killed and trapped most of its denizens. Unbeknownst, there were survivors even among the nobility of Vokroth, and its likely from the mouths of these that recent rumors of dark magic abounding have been singing a siren's song to would be graverobbers.