Vathram

Vathram was built atop the ruins of Talamon after the Azlan seized it from the dwarves in -2493 IR, following the chaos of the Night Wars. Yekkat, lord of the Azlan, gave the city over to Chargiz, the general credited with conquering it. Chargiz became governor of Adantu, the northern-most province of Zakhema-of-the-Stars, with Vathram as its capital. The city was soon the center of a debauched and decadent aristocracy that set out enslaving the human tribes that inhabited the wilderness. Vathram hosted pleasure domes filled with phantom-forests, flesh gardens where slaves were shaped into amusements, breeding warrens where bizarre hybrids were created, and anima distilleries where deodand was extracted to sate the jaded elven nobility. These were but some of the dark pleasures found in Adantu's capital. The surroundings were given over to domed cities where slaves were kept under constant watch as well as manicured preserves enclosed by shimmering ghostflame walls. Here, human savages could live in barbarous ignorance until hunted down by fire-lance bearing gentry wearing spectral masks that showed the faces of angels and demons. Magic was used frequently, and the landscape was twisted and strange, changing at the whim of some local lord, who harvested the deodand of thousands to fulfil some whim, like turning a mountain purple or transforming a field of grass into a lake of bubbling, misty wine. The squabbles of the aristocrats would see them send armies of mutant slaves against each other, hurling spells that made cities walk and forests become expanses of screaming flesh. Demons cavorted through Adantu, feasting on spilled anima and dragging unfortunates to the Abyss. Humans endured such extended misery that many had been reduced to almost animal subservience. Some slaves were so corrupted they barely resembled their human ancestors. Only the tribes that dwelled far out in the wilds remained free, but even they feared the slave raids, and the ghost-masked elves astride their war-bred horrors. 
It was Irud Skyson, sent from the heavens, who at last broke the power of the Azlan. He rallied the slaves, smashing dome cities and throwing down ghostflame walls that kept humans penned like cattle. Mighty Vathram, with its orichalc spires and colossal, spell-scarred walls, could not stand against Irud's wrath. Even the terrible Tower Spell failed to negate his victory. Vathram was taken and cleansed of its evils, its warrens flushed with water from the River Anahi, its floating mansions hurled to the ground, the flesh gardens burned. Thus was Vathram made into holy Sacris, and thus was Adantu vanquished.
Category:Cities