Thirteen Wonders of the World

“The Thirteen Wonders” are a compilation of books and writings made by Arnold Oisimerinos “The Elder” and his descendants. They narrate the stories of the travels and discoveries of the Oisimerinos’ family, and have been taken by many travelers as guides to explore or avoid certain regions of the world. The popularity of this style of recollection has resulted in many travelling authors creating their own versions of the list.
== Arnold Oisimerinos and the Oisimerinos Family ==
Arnold Oisimerinos was a cartographer working for the Imperial Court of Azan around the 5th Dynasty, around the 4th century ABE. He come from a family of minor nobles who lived within the azanese territories near the Cardammon Plateau, but were forced to emigrate to Nanakinor once Azan began moving its borders away from the Cursed Battlefield. Losing most of the family’s fortunes due to very poor choices once in the capital, the Oismerinos’ patriarch did not have enough money to give the young Arnold a military training, and as such, he settled with sending him to be an apprentice to the Imperial Archives. Fortunately, little Arnold was very quick at learning all the knowledge the chroniclers and the cartographers of the Imperial Archives would teach him. By the time he was 20 years old, he was sent to map the Inselsënn Archipelago, something he managed to do in 3 years. The speed and precision with which he managed to register the islands made the Emperor send him to map other areas of the empire.
Arnold Oismerinos spent all his life going from one corner of the empire to the other, which earned him fame and fortune. In between his travels, he wrote dozens of books about geography and philosophy, like “The Wisdom of the Suns”, “Mountains of the World”, and “The World Sphere”, where he theorized that the world was a sphere that spun around a singular star, something that would be proven wrong short after his death. However, his most popular work was the “The Thirteen Wonders of Azan and its vassal nations”, which was published after his death as “The Thirteeen Wonders of the World” as an aggrandizement tool by the azanese government. This book explained his personal travels to the areas that had impacted him the most throughout his life, which proved to be exceedingly popular in nobility circles. This book was imitated frequently by coetaneous authors, seeking to find the same fame and success Oismerinos had gotten.
After Arnold Oismerinos died, his successors continued his cartographic work, exploring the different provinces of Azan as well as serving as scouts for future conquests and expansions. Using the Oismerinos’ surname, they were able to spread their works throughout the world, while also creating their own versions of the “Thirteen Wonders”, and also creating the opposite list in the “Thirteen Horrors of the World”. The success of the Oismerinos lasted around the azanese crisis during the 8th Dynasty, when the last of the Oismerinos’ descendants died during a witchelven raid. After the disappearance of the last Oismerinos, many other authors decided to continue the “Thirteen Wonders” and “Thirteen Horrors” on their own, with the end result being the existence of dozens, if not hundreds of different lists existing, all made during different time periods.
== The Thirteen Wonders according to the Hithlone Citadel ==
=== Xandrilex Library ===
The Giant Library of Xandrilex is the biggest repository of written knowledge in the world, located deep within the city of Xandrilex, in Biblion. Built in ancient times, it has expanded since its founding, with most of its structure being underground. Indeed, its lower sections are known to reach at least a kilometer in depth and beyond, to the point that even the bookimists and owlmen that keep the library in good condition rarely venture in some of the more forgotten tunnels and archives. Indeed, the known library sprawls all across the city’s underground, taking the shape of a tree with massive roots, and from time to time the city’s construction projects need to adapt to this situation as they discover a long forgotten section of the library.
The main building is the Tower of Xandrilex, a great construction made out of magically enchanted stone. This structure is near 200m of height, and it contains some of the most important archives of the library, chosen with great care by the Owl Council. This building replaced the old library building, after the Great Biblion Fire of 2.561 ABE. It was decided to be built out of magical stones, turned completely impervious to fire and flames as a precaution against further fires. The building itself looms over Xandrilex, having a circular shape with clearly defined levels, all covered in great arched structures to keep the weight of the building, as well as arched windows. Every three arched windows, one can find an arched niche holding a full-body statue representing a great author of the history of the step. At the top of the great tower, a massive hemispheric glass dome allows the light of the suns to shine through. This dome has, as well, enchanted to avoid the sunlight going through the glass to cause a fire to the books within. The inner structure of the building consists on multiple ring-like floors, with each wall covered in books, scrolls and other forms of written documents. These floors also hold rooms for the bookimists and the owlmen, either to study, to restore works in questionable state or to handcopy some of the most valuable items.
In the lower levels of the tower, one can find hundreds upon hundreds of printing press. The presence of the printing presses has caused a great deal of debate within the bookimist community ever since they arrive from the west. As the bookimists and the owlmen consider books and the written language as something sacred, their mass production seems sacrilegious to an extent. However, the sheer utility of these machines for the preservation of the written word is simply too big to ignore, especially after the Great Biblion Fire, and as such they are tolerated (and as long as those books magical in nature are reserved for hand copying only). These machines are functioning non-stop, as a faction of the bookimists known as the “printers” want to make a copy out of every single piece contained within the library, something that has forced them to search and expand the catacombs of the library for space. This also serves as a way to gain favor from the outside world, as crafting copies of works seemingly lost outside of Biblion has garnered them a lot of good faith with the rest of the nations. In exchange, the bookimists have been launching expeditions to some of the more dangerous parts of the step in search of long lost books.
Below the printing presses, the catacombs extend deep within the earth, protected by paper constructs and other guardian entities, as well as by volunteer bookimists and owlmen, making sure the works guarded there never become damaged. The seemingly infinite amount of departments and archives makes travelling through them a real danger, and expeditions are launched to recover particularly important works. The deeper and darkest areas are only accessible to the highest ranks of the Owl Council, who are the only ones wise enough to be able to go through the labyrinthine systems of tunnels and ever come back.
=== Citadel of Hithlone ===
The Citadel of Hithlone is an architectural complex located at the center of the city of Hithlone, within the district of Oxeye district. It began its construction in 2. 958 ABE, to celebrate the anniversary of the independence of Hithlone from the Second Elven Empire a millennia ago. Taking advantage of the event to clear out the most aged and crime-ridden neighbors in the district, the hithlonian authorities decided to clear away a massive portion of the area to create the “Citadel of Hithlone”, a center of learning that would be the envy of the civilized world. However, the project quickly grew out of control of the original limits, and thus it was decided that it would be funded over a long period of time, with the main building finishing construction in 3.010 ABE, and some of the secondary buildings still in construction.
The Citadel is a massive complex of buildings, surrounded by lush gardens and water canals. The main building is the Great Citadel itself, the biggest building in all Hithlone. The design of the building changed over time, as initially was going to be a relatively simple square shape plan, but the difficulties of creating the designed dome made them add different sections to it, and with more sections, smaller domes were planned as well. The end result is a square-shaped inner section connected with a five nave frontal section, and at the sides and the back one can find hexagonal structures to help sustain the weight of the main dome. At the front of the building one can find a three section front, with each of the naves visible. Using a combination of pillars and columns, the decoration consists of sober and clean designs, with a round tympanum marking the main doors of the building, covered in bronze panels that tell the story of the invasion and liberation of the island of Terphysthea. Above the second dentil, we can find a massive rose window, made out of colorful glass, surrounded by delicate relief sculptures. On top of the front, a massive tympanum crowns the entrance of the building. At the sides, the hexagonal additions are decorated with multiple levels of semicircular and pointed arches. On top of the building, we can find nine domes: two small ones at the front, six middle-sized ones on top of each hexagonal structure and a massive dome on the center of the building, towering above the rest. All of these domes have been elevated even further using drums made out of semicircular arches. At the top of each dome, a small pointed spire can be seen. The building is mostly used for the great speeches and debates, being able to hold hundreds and hundreds of individuals within its central room.
Outside of the Great Citadel, one can find buildings with a similar structure, though taking a more vertical approach, with towers with spires and gabled roof buildings dominating their structure. Each of these individual buildings holds an area of study, and they are more practical in design, as the construction of the Great Citadel often funneled most of the funds, leaving the secondary buildings with a more mundane, though still impressive, design.
=== Tower of the Eternal Fire ===
The Tower of the Eternal Fire, also known as the Tower of Eternal Fire, is a colossal magical construct built by the elyrian leader known as Avangar in the confluence between the waters of the Red Lake and the Iebrum River, between 2.945 and 2.946 ABE, in the place that would become Alga, the capital of the Avangar Empire. The tower serves as a magical beacon for the empire, used to change the environment of the dark and cold swamps of Eastern Littlestep into lands that can be used for civilized purposes. As such, most of the lands near the Tower of Eternal Fire are livable at all thanks to its magic, with the massive blue flames illuminating even the night, and giving the skies around Alga a particularly cold blue look during the hours of darkness.
The origins of the Tower of Eternal Fire can be traced back to many centuries before Avangar’s arrival to the elyrian swamps. The lands occupied by the elyrian tribes and other populations within the marshes of Eastern Littlestep had been becoming colder and colder by the year, making life harsh as many species of plants and animals became rarer and rarer, pitying the tribes against each other for the scant resources left. After the elyrian victory in their war against the Princedom of Platinum in 2.929 ABE, the elyrian leader known as Avangar began convincing the different elyrian tribes who had fought alongside him to begin the construction of a massive magical structure that would bring prosperity to the land. The negotiations took many years, needing all tribes pool their resources together, as well as Avangar’s own studies to make his idea a reality, but once he had the occult knowledge necessary to make his vision a reality, he finished the construction of the Tower of Eternal Fire in less than a year. While the results of the tower’s magic were not immediate, it indeed managed to defrost and dry the land around it, turning the swamps and stagnating marshes into healthy forests that could be converted into arable land. Despite the fears of many elders of the magic going out of control and turning the land into a scorching desert, the warmth was always moderate and evenly distributed throughout the land, , only really weakening during winter to allow for the needed rains.
Despite the monumental size and presence of the tower, its construction started with humble origins. Indeed, the main elements used to build it were simple brick and mortar, which were covered in elegant decorations over the years, both the outside and the inner structure. The tower is divided into three sections, all of them having the shape of concentric decagons. It has a vertical design, with most of the outer walls covered in sebka panels, filled to the brim with vegetal and geometrical patterns, mixing decorative designs with magical signs and symbols. In the lower lever, a tall tower was built on each of the level’s corners, having a circular design and lifted upwards, with a similar sebka panels as well as pointed polylobed arched windows and needle-like spires on the upper parts. The second level’s walls are similarly decorated, but the amount of magical runes and inscriptions increases and some of them can be seen shinning in blue flames during certain parts of the year. The third level is where the Eternal Fire is stored, and only the imperial family and their most trusted wizards can enter, to make sure the structure of the spell is stable and going smoothly.
The inner parts of the tower itself are mostly empty, as the heat of the Eternal Fire radiates downwards, making it dangerous to be there for long periods of time without magical protection. The walls themselves have been permeated to protect the rest of the city from the heat, but even so from time to time hot winds come out of the tower’s windows. These winds are considered blessings by the local elyrians, and they often fly flags, banners and kites to celebrate them.
=== Great Royal Palace of Nananikor ===
The Great Royal Palace of Nananikor is a palatial complex built around the 18th century ABE. It is one of the many palaces built within the capital over the years, and the biggest within the city by far. Its origins lay as a hunting lodge at the outskirts of the city all the way back when the city was not nearly as big as it is today. As the city grew, the forest near the hunting lodge receded to make use of its resources, allowing for a great deal of space for construction. It would be then when the emperor Azadopolous IV would begin his project of a new palatial complex. Worried about the capital moving between cities every couple of decades due to political squabbling, Azadopoulos decided to settle it in Nananikor once and for all. To that end, he decided to begin the construction of the Great Royal Palace, which would serve as both the residence for the azanese imperial family and as the final seat of government. The project quickly grew out of control, occupying such an area within Nananikor that people started to name it “the city within a city”. Indeed, despite the rule of Azadopoulos IV starting at the beginning of the 18th century, the basic buildings would not be done until the end of the century, and would get Azadopoulous IV the title of “the spendthrift” due to the enormous expenses in the construction. From then on, every couple of centuries the palace would get expanded, including a double defensive wall built during the days of the war against the witchelven.
The Great Royal Palace of Nananikor includes over twenty different buildings, surrounded by gardens and carefully crafted roads. Many of these buildings are dedicated to administrative and diplomatic endeavors, as well as for the enjoyment of the royal family. Some of the most important include the Theatre of Valeria the Sage, the Royal Archives, the headquarters of the Archaeological Society of Azan, Princess Videlia Gallery of Art, the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Astromantic Academy of Adizhar. It also includes the Royal Stables and multiple fortresses for the garrisons watching over the complex. The main building is House of Azan, the gathering place for the Advisory Council of the Azure, in which they reunite and discuss matters of politics. The House of Azan has a circular plan design, surrounded by a set of columns holding the entablature. Above it we find a hollow second level, left only to allow light to enter into the building. Above it, a massive dome elevated by a tholobate, once again holding another entablature with a row of columns. The outer side of the dome is decorated with fine purple and white mosaics following detail geometric and vegetal patterns. The House of Azan is within a cloister that connects it with the rest of the building, a more basilical structure that holds a great room full of delicate glass ornaments and mirrors.
=== Gilgemash Ziggurat ===
Gilgemash’s Grey Ziggurat, also known as the Skybreaker Ziggurat or the Arik Grey Ziggurat, is a colosal construction located within the center of the gilgemashi city of Arik. Its construction took about fifty years, starting around 2.478 ABE and finishing in 2.529 ABE. It is the tallest building within all Gilgemash, with even the Royal Ziggurat within the capital of Urik being smaller in scope and height. It is also a unique design, breaking with the common traditional technique and design of gilgemashi architecture, looking like nothing else in the old-fashioned nation.
The history of the wonder is a curious one, as during its construction, there were many points where it was at risk of the project being abandoned or outright forcefully stopped. Its origins date back to the days after the fall of the Khenomeric Empire. Being an old neighbor of the empire, the Kingdom of Gilgemash received a great deal of refugees running away from the chasing gnoll. Many of these individuals were part of the nobility and the priesthood who had manage to scurry away part of their fortune with them, resulting in a sudden spike of fortunes arriving to the kingdom. During this period, many temples to the khenomeric gods began construction, becoming a common sight within the gilgemashi cities. A group of nobles in particular took root, known as “the Ladies of Ash” began the construction of a massive ziggurat temple within the city of Arik, near the border of the Ettin-Range. The “Ladies of Ash” were a group of noble widows whose husbands had died fighting the gnoll, and had marked their faces with a light coat of ash as a show of devotion and mourning. Dedicating the ziggurat to the gilgemashi god of Uruc, patron of death and undeath, they project was designed to break all tradition from the get go, as a way to symbolize life from death, and a new beginning from the end of the empire. Its construction was surrounded by a lot of rumors and gossips, as the rate of accidents and disappearances was unusually high, all while the Ladies of Ash gained more and more influence within the city.
However, at about 2.500 ABE, the city of Arik was suddenly put under siege by undead, led by Vandervax himself. It turned out that the Ladies of Ash were not just a click of khenomeric noble women, but it reality, it was a vampire coven in disguise, having fled the Khenomeric Empire to take root within Gilgemash. The gilgemashi authorities and armies quickly arrived at the city, incredibly confused as to why the undead were attacking, but after Vandervax himself brought proof of the Ladies of Ash’s vampirism after they captured one of them alive, they agreed to cooperate with the assault. Together, the gilgemashi authorities and the undead executed up to 300 vampires. After the battle, the king decided to requisition the vampires’ properties to finish the ziggurat. Despite this, the sheer scope of the building required the kingdom to add to its funds multiple times, delaying the construction for a long time, and causing plenty of discussion within the royal court. It was finally done in 2.529 ABE, being the most important temple dedicated to a khenomeric god still in active.
The design of the Grey Ziggurat differs wildly from the traditional gilgemashi ziggurat. Where most ziggurats in Gilgemash have a rectangular design, often emphasizing width over height, the Grey Ziggurat is the opposite, having a clear vertical perspective. The design also foregoes the use of curved elements, with a clear predominance of the straight line, giving it a more sober aesthetic. The building was constructed out of fine rock from the mines near the Ettin-Range, and the outer walls are covered by fine reliefs of khenomeri design, as well as massive mosaic panels. These mosaics are made out of reflective colored glass, creating a colorful spectacle when reflecting the light of the suns. The Grey Ziggurat has a square plan, with three main levels as well as higher areas. The first level is surrounded by a sober garden, which leads to the ziggurat’s main stairs, leading directly to the third and upper level. The lower levels have to be accessed through secondary entries, at the sides of the building, as well as through within. The ziggurat also has multiple annexed towers within the complex, increasing the height of the building and giving it a mountain-like look. At the sides of the stairs, there are two great golden statues of winged lions, added many years after the temple’s construction.
The Grey Ziggurat is the most important temple for the god Uruc, and there are yearly celebrations in honor of the dead, where families bring great amounts of flowers to the ziggurat, to put them all across the temple’s roofs, as well as within the stairs. It is also an important center for those groups that, after half a millennia, still consider themselves as khenomeri. Every couple of years, thousands of people pilgrim to Gilgemash to mourn for the fall of the empire and to wish for the death of all gnoll within the step.
=== Ogabo Ice Palace ===
See Ogabo Desert
The Ogabo Ice Palace is a grandious construction located within the Ogabo Desert. The information we have about this mysterious structure is limited, as there are records of its existence all the way back in the days before the Battle of Empires. The tolbari people themselves ignore when it was created, as the folktales of the dwellers of the desert actually mention it was already there when the first Tolbari arrived to the Desert of Ogabo. The magic that brought the Ice Palace is incredibly strong, not only protecting the structure from the harsh sunlight and heat of the desert, but actually rebuilding any damages that the structure takes due to sand erosion or manmade damage. Because of these things, many wizards have come and gone over the centuries to study the magic of the wonder, though to this day, no one has been able to crack the secrets of the palace.
The origins of the Ogabo Ice Palace are surrounded in mystery. The closest thing to the truth may be the “Poem of the Djinn”, a folktale that the tolbari have passed over for generations. The story tells the tale of a powerful and proud djinn, so mighty that he was able to move the suns and the stars to his whims. However, like all djinns, he had been summoned by mortals to serve, and he had passed through many mortals over the centuries. However, it all changed when he ended up under the servitude of a young woman, a witch who had come from the frozen north, searching for the mighty djinn’s aid to bring back her lover back from the dead. These were the days before necromancy, and death was an impassable wall that not even djinn could cross unscathed. The witch and the djinn studied together for many decades, and the djinn ended up falling madly in love with the witch, but the sorceress only had eyes for her gone lover. Despite the attempts of gaining the heart of his mistress, the djinn was simply unable to sway her heart, nor were they able to bring the witch’s lover back from the dead. In the end, she decided to die peacefully by drinking a goblet of poison. The djinn pleaded to her, promising all the powers of the universe to dissuade her, but it was all for naught. Enraged, heart-broken and drowning in despair, the djinn broke his own physical container, unleashing the magics within. The tolbari tell that the results of the djinn’s death was the Ice Palace, creating a tomb of eternal ice just as the frozen north she called home.
The Ice Palace has a diamond design plan, with the lower levels covered with three pointed arches. The second level has a smaller diamond design, with a round tower that forms the entrance to the building, and connects it with the long set of stairs. The third level has a square plan, each wall with a massive vaulted space containing great geometric decorations. At the top of this structure we can see the massive pointed onion domes with elongated drums, all covered in beautifully crafted arches. Around this central body, multiple towers of different size rise above the different levels, all having similar onion domes. The insides of the building are covered in strange symbols and geometric patterns. The Tolbari believe these are, in fact, the memoires of the djinn, imprinted on the ice as it died. The icy structure also goes deep underground, where the temperatures go so low that even magical protection can only do so much. During the coldest nights, it is said that one can see the boreal lights above the palace, giving it an otherworldly look as the lights shine across the icy walls.
The Ice Palace is venerated by the coven of witches known as the Coven of the Frozen Djinnmaiden. They operate near the Ice Palace itself and seldom let anyone get close to the magical building. They see the Ice Palace as a holy and sacred place, and have dedicated their lives to the mastery of ice magic and the use of djinns. This grants them immense power, though their insular nature and dark deeds often make them clash with any who gets closer. Rumors circulate that the coven also practice rituals within the palace itself, though none have been able to discern what or why exactly do there.
=== Lindworm Bridge ===
The remnants of the Lindworm Bridge are a series of ruins located across the waters between Uska Island and southern Zemyland. Its relatively recent discovery and lack of any information about its origins makes it one of the biggest mysteries in the world. The bridge bits were first discovered in 2.905 ABE by the Princedom of Platinum, back when they started to explore the islands of the pondlings. Between the major Uska Island and the zemylander shore, there were spots of incredibly dense fog that were known by sailors as death traps, with no one who ventured in them ever coming back. However, an exploratory expedition to the Uska Islands ended up swept by the currents and going in these centers of fog. It is here when they were attacked by feral harpies, a seemingly impossible development due to not being any land from which to launch their raid. The result of this was soon discovered, as the ship first saw through the mist what they thought were mountains, but then turned out to be a massive bridge. Managing to arrive to Uska Island with their ship nearly derelict after crossing the rocky waters, they told their discovery to the Princedom’s authorities within the island. An expedition was sent to the region, with enough wizards and mercenary mermaids to be able to navigate through the unnaturally dense fog, and it was then when the discovery of the Lindworm Bridge was confirmed. The remains of this colossal bridge were then named after the captain who first discovered, Vyzal Lindworm.
Trying to study these mysterious remnants is a near impossible job. The waters surrounding the bridge are treacherous, with jagged rocks and wreckages from ages and the blinding fog making navigating the waters a death sentence. If one is able to reach it, then is also forced to fight the savage harpy tribes living within the remains of the bridge. Despite multiple attempts of establishing contact, they refuse any diplomatic overture, and thus they have to be driven back by force. Their language, tribal markings and behavior are unlike any other harpy tribe in the world, increasing the mystery about the place. Once this last obstacle is surpassed, one can arrive to the massive pieces of the bridge. These rose up hundreds of meters from the surface, with their foundations being all the way at the bottom of the sea, indicating a truly titanic size. The bridge is made out of a strange rock, which has been named “lindwormite”, not seen anywhere else in the world. The bridge has strange carvings that have been interpreted as tribal scripture, though there have been no advancements towards their translation. At the top of the bridge, an entire ecosystem has flourished, with a vegetation similar to the Uska Island, albeit much more reduced in size and density. There are two major pieces of the bridge, the biggest one being of about a kilometer in length, and half a kilometer in width. The harpies are able to use the air currents to move from piece to piece, though the distance between the bridge and the mainland is too big to do so.
There are many theories about the origins of the bridge. One of the leading hypothesis is that the bridge was made by the same civilization whose remains are found deep within the swamps of the pondlings, though the markings and iconography do not match each other. Another theory is that the bridge was made by the elder giants, though there is simply no proof to this discovered as of yet. Whatever it is, it is ancient enough to be even older than the earlier settlements within Zemyland, adding another layer to the mystery.
=== Quartz Tower of Florinth ===
The Quartz Tower of Florinth is a massive construct located within the city of Florinth, near the shores of the Sherillu-Ium Lakes. It is used as both a lighthouse for the ships navigating the lakes and as a symbol of the history of the city. Indeed, the tower has been built and rebuilt over and over from millennia. The building is located near a great hill within the city, a strategic place for a defensive position. Indeed, historical records tell of a fortress located in the area before the khenomeri first arrived to the lakes, albeit a crude one. The Khenomeric Empire rebuild the settlement as the city of Sherilalia, and they built another fortress on top of the old fortification. Over the centuries, the tower had to be rebuilt multiple times, both during a fire during the War of Supper and during the fights of the Sherillu-Ium Lakes and the Green Order against the Northern Khenomeric Empire during the First North Khenomeric Civil War. After the druidic victory and the later founding of the League of Florinth in 1.611 ABE, the fortress was rebuilt as a lighthouse, though that also needed to be taken down and be built back due to problems with poorly made foundations. It would be the third and youngest son of the founder of the League of Florinth who would begin the construction of the current structure. The construction began in 1.635 ABE, and was finally done in 1642 ABE. The last addition, the “Star of Florinth” is a gigantic blue quartz geode found at the bottom of the sea, a gift of the royal authorities of the Merfolk Empire to the new nation. A jewel near the size of a small house, it was decided to be put at the top of the tower, with its conical spire taken down to accommodate the giant geode at the top of the building.
The structure has changed a lot over the years, with most of the current look being from the latest reforms during the 17th Century ABE. The tower reaches almost 100 meters of height, having a circular plan. It connects to the rest of the city with a long road of stairs in the shape of a spiral around the hill, and continue all around the tower itself to the top of the building. The tower is surrounded by beautifully maintained greenery, with many fountains and statues all across the stair path. The tower itself is needle-shaped, with many stained glass windows made out of the finest glass in all of Florinth, often shown to the apprentices of the glassmaker guilds as a show of what they ought to achieve. The design of the tower forgoes the use of straight lines, preferring to have organic shapes, with mild curves and arches that imitate sea waves. At the top of the building, a small lighthouse is stored, illuminated the city during the night as well as making sure the ships reach the shores safely. At the very top, there lies the “Star of Florinth”, the massive sapphire-like quartz crowns the entire tower, having been worked into a 70-face polyhedron by the finest artisans of the old Merfolk Empire, and put at the very top of the structure. Indeed, the geode is kept at the top by complex engineering and magical measures, as the weight of the rock is tremendous. During certain moments of the year, the light of the suns shine through the Star of Florinth, covering the city with blue light. It is said that those couples that are hit by the blue shades are blessed with fortune and eternal love by the gods.
=== Qadash Pyramid ===
The Pyramid of Qadash is a monumental construction located at the center of the ruins of the city of Qadash, within the Handprint Desert. It is one of the oldest still-standing buildings in the world, believed to be built around the 25th century BBE. It was one of the great works of the Queen-Priest Ish-Shimnash Mahind to turn Qadash into the most powerful of the cities within the desert. The many complex works of irrigation and water preservation during a time when the desert was drying up at an alarming rate made Qadash the biggest and most influential population center, bringing untold riches to their inhabitants. The Pyramid of Qadash was one of such works, meant to be a tribute to their gods.
The Pyramid of Qadash is a stair pyramid, and has a square shape plan. Each of the ten sections was made of white marble and crafted with intricate reliefs telling the history of the Men of Bronze, but due to erosion and time, the majority of these crafts have been lost. Connecting the floor with the entrances, one can find four massive staircases that go all the way to the upper section of the building. The upper half consists of a single piece of solid gold connected to the rest of the building, a shockingly advance feature of metallurgy and engineering difficult to imagine even in current times. It is believed that the priests directed the religious rituals from the top of the pyramid, with the rest of the population looking at the shinny golden reflection. The depths of the pyramid are better preserved, having many inscriptions and hieroglyphs telling the history of their gods and the growing adoration of water. These drawings also make archaeologists think that the pyramid was covered in greenery to show their prowess in handling water, though if that was ever true, there are no remains left of it.
Beneath the pyramid, a complex series of tunnels, canals and waterways connect it with the rest of the undercity. During Qadash’s later period, life in the city became more and more subterranean, as it was much easier to keep the moisture in sealed tunnels than irrigating the scorched land. However, investigating these tunnels is incredibly dangerous, as of this moment a map of the underground has not been found, and thus travelling through the dark is simply suicide.
=== Etera ===
The city of Etera, also known as “the Sapphire in the Mountains” or the “Sapphire City” used to be the center of the nation of Etera, one of the oldest known civilizations in the history of Giantstep. The city occupies a great portion of land, massive even in comparison to some of the biggest populated centers in current year, but the study of the city itself is incredibly difficult due to the magical spell that protects Etera. Indeed, a colossal force field surrounds the entirety of the city, and because of that, nothing can come in or out. Attempts of going across by moving from above or below have resulted in failures, as the force field is a seemingly perfect sphere that goes all the way down into the earth. The force field itself only lets light go through, and that is how we know the city of Etera is still on the other side. Studies over the long millennia have proven that whatever spell that holds the city within its grasp also prevents time to have an effect on the city, as no matter how long has passed, the city seems impervious to decay or ruin, being just the way it was when the spell was supposedly first cast. The city has been abandoned from as long as anyone can remember, and not a single living thing has been detected from the outside of the force field, with many rumors, tales and legends talking about the possible fate of the ancient eterans.
Exploration of the city of Etera has been complicated, though there have been many drawn plans of the city, with artists, wizards and other experts flying over the city with magic or other mounts. The city itself seems to be organized in a spiral plan, with the center of the city occupied by a castle of ancient design, a circular structure of beehive-like shape that is crowned by the typical shinning blue roofs that are common in the entire city. Surrounding it, a massive open area believed to be reserved for open markets or public celebrations. The city also includes multiple buildings believed to be either temples or palaces, though the lack of identifiable iconography makes categorizing them quite difficult. Strangely enough, one can also see multiple empty areas, circular in shape and multiple blocks in size, inscribed with strange spiral runes. Some wizards believe that these are just the ritual works that generate the force field, though trying to replicate the strange inscriptions is utterly forbidden in case that the unknown magic wielded end up creating another impassable bubble somewhere else.
=== The Temple of Contemplation and Peace ===
The Temple of Contemplation and Peace is one of the biggest religious buildings in the world. Located at the depths of the jungles of the Realm of the Goddess of Harmony, it is the biggest temple dedicated to the deity, and the most sacred place for its followers. Its origins date all the way to the days when the Khenomeric Empire claimed rulership of the jungles. Fearing offending the Goddess of Harmony, the realm was put under khenomeric protection, and the locals were able to rule themselves with a great deal of independence and minimal taxation. In exchange for this freedom, many followers of the Goddess of Harmony ended up working for the Khenomeric Empire as bureaucrats and administrators. It would be these people who would start the construction of the great temple itself. Many tales tell stories of their pilgrimage across the jungles to find the most sacred spot on the land to lay the foundations of the construction, and all the experiences and revelations they enjoyed. The construction itself has never stopped since those days, as the Temple of Contemplation and Peace keeps expanding even to this day.
The temple was expanded over hundreds of years, bringing some of the greatest minds at the services of the Goddess of Harmony. The architecture of the place is monumental, being able to see the highest spires and roofs from great distances. The temple covers a great area, many of the rooms and structures built over time with different materials and techniques, and yet somehow creating a sense of union and togetherness. Multi-tiered rooftops and towering spiral spires are joined together with great arches both curved and spiked at once; creating rooms open to the outside. These open spaces are then dedicated to gardening the thousands of species of plants brought from all over the world, which grow in wondrous patterns of shape and color. From many of these hang many beehives, that pollinize the tens of thousands of flower that dot the terrain. The columns are covered in geometrical and vegetal patterns, as well as showing many of the constellations that have covered the skies of the world at some point or another. At the center of the temple, a great golden bell tolls every day in a slow but precise way, never stopping, never ringing a moment sooner or a moment later. The followers of the Goddess of Harmony pray to that bell, considering it blessed by the goddess itself.
The road to that temple is an extraordinary hard feat. Many pilgrims who wish to go there to find inner peace have to walk over miles and miles of wild forest, avoiding all of the dangers within, both natural and unnatural. The Goddess of Harmony will test its followers along the way, creating situations that need the utmost strength of mind and determination to succeed. Many have compared this to the challenges put by the God of Action, both gods liking to test their followers in creative ways. Some of the recorded tests are looping sections of the forest that seemingly never end, creatures that follow the pilgrims and need wisdom and attention to deal with, chasing shadows that can be dissipated through meditation, puzzle-like blocks that need solving… All the different tests that the Goddess of Harmony creates are recorded in the temple’s archives, once the followers are able to reach it. After centuries of many pilgrimages, some cities have popped up along the way, serving the many pilgrims that go to the Great Temple and becoming prosperous centers of trade. These centers worship the Goddess of Harmony in its many aspects, with the streets covered in flowers and beehives. It is said that those who try to steal or commit a crime in one of these cities will be attacked by the bees.
=== Leng Labyrinths ===
The Leng Labyrinths are a series of intricate mazes that extend through kilometers across multiple areas of Leng Island. The complexes were started during the days of the Merfolk Empire, as the island had become the summer residence of the royal family, and as such, grew in importance over time. This saw the construction of multiple palaces, libraries and theatres, all made for the enjoyment of the nobility. It was then when one of the princes of the merfolk royal house decided to add a small but intricate labyrinth to his private residence in the island, starting a trend that led to all nobles within the island to start building their own labyrinths. Soon enough, what once was a fun trend quickly evolved into something much more complex, as labyrinths grew in scope, size and complexity, connecting with each other and ever going underground. This trend would last near two centuries until the merfolk emperor had to ban further construction of these mazes, as there were already talks of people becoming utterly lost and being unable to escape. After the Curse of Uun hit the Merfolk Empire, the damned inhabitants of the island started once again to expand the labyrinths, even when most of them went to the Dem Helidden Peninsula and became the ludenite ratfolk. The ones living in Leng today are the remnants of the cursed, mostly left alone by the new human inhabitants coming from Giantstep, both from the Khenomeric Empire and other nearby areas during the expansion of the gnoll.
The labyrinths have grown massively since the days of the Curse of Uun. While before the god’s treachery the merfolk labyrinths were already monumental constructs, nowadays the industrious lengites have made it so near a 7th of the surface of the island is completely covered in labyrinths, all interconnected through underground sections whose total size is unknown. Unlike other of the cursed inhabitants of the old empire, the Besshiru have actually kept a great deal of their mind and powers, though their shapes have been twisted into unrecognizable monsters. As such, despite being driven by the same laborious impulses that their ludenite cousins, the Besshiru can actually canalize these impulses into actually beautiful works of art, making the already gorgeous labyrinths into one of the most magnificent constructions in all of the world. This is considered as a curse by the Besshiru themselves, as their faculties have degraded just enough to not being able to enjoy their still marvelous creation, forever trapped in the expansion and defense of the labyrinths without ever being able to take joy in the creative process of it. Many of the better known parts of the labyrinths are explored by the new human inhabitants of the island, but going deeper they risk to fall prey of those Besshiru who protect the old merfolk treasures and secrets. The labyritnths have been raided multiple times, both by pirates, explorers and even the drunig merchants at the start of their economic expansion, but it is estimated that only a portion of the treasures hidden within have been discovered and successfully extracted.
The labyrinth is not just there to guard the secrets of the old empire, but also some of the more horrible creatures birthed by the Curse of Uun. The Besshiru know that these creatures, turned immortal due to the curse of their treacherous god, could cause horrible devastation if they ever escape, and thus they labor to keep them at the deepest parts of the mazes, where not even the Besshiru themselves can guarantee finding their way out.
=== Fehrum Edzulair ===
The Fehrum Edzulair complex is a massive magical fortification located at the top of a floating island above the Lake of Wolves that serves as the slumbering place of Dragongod Phorsiussarx and the residence of the now extinct Cult of Phorsiussarx. It is not exactly know when the structure was built, but legends tell that the early khenomeri became the first humans to discover the resting place for the dragongod, and many of them were charged with keeping the entity’s sleep undisturbed. Over the years, the Cult of Phorsiussarx build what was essentially a small city around the original structure, something that took millennia due to the sheer difficulty of bringing the materials to the top of the floating island. However, the arrival of the gnoll turned out to be the end of the cult, as after a long and grinding siege from 2.563 to 2.576 ABE, the gnolls managed to destroy every member of the Cult of Phorsiussarx. The war did not end there, as the dragongod himself then took to fight the gnoll for many decades afterwards, only finally submitting to the Gnoll Empire after the Nameless managed to infect Phorsiussarx with cursed maggotgnolls.
The greatest mystery of Fehrum Edzulair is the fact that it has been floating in the air for many millennia, standing near a kilometer up above the lake. How it manages to do so it’s a mystery, though many astromancers argue that there is a massive core of aether within the floating island that keeps the piece of land in the air. The floating island is connected to the bottom of the lake by titanic chains, made out of indestructible metal. The island moves around in circular patterns depending on the winds and the air currents. There is no way to arrive at the top without climbing the massive chains, something that the cult used to facilitate by adding strong ropes in between the chains. Indeed, many in the world considered that the members of the Cult of Phorsiussarx were the most gifted climbers in the world to be able to go up and down, and reaching the top unaided was a test to be allowed into the order.
The fortress itself can be divided into two sections: first, the town area where the cult lived. Over the centuries, the members of the Cult of Phorsiussarx had crafted small but delicate structures: temples, fountains, markets, libraries… all with a great attention to detail, as bringing further materials from the world below was a grueling task, so no failure was permitted. Much of this art has been lost due to the Wars of Heaven, that brought a great deal of destruction to the fortress, both as a result of the gnolls’ rampage and of Phorsiussarx’ retribution. The second area is the layer of the dragongod itself. At the highest peak of the island, there lies a massive construction, a building with a singular room, closed by titanic doors made out of trees not seen since the beginning of days. Only the dragongod himself has the strength to open and close these doors without magic, and so the highest members of the cult used to enter through a series of tunnels now considered lost. Within this place, there lies the mighty Phorsiussarx, sleeping after his defeat at the hands of the Nameless.
== Contested Wonders ==
These inclusion of these wonders has been debated for a long time in the scholars' circle, for various reasons.
=== Tanzurutu ===
=== Ketlovian Dance Hall ===
Category:Wonder
Category:Lists
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