War-Wel

## History

War-Wel was a colony established on the banks of a river, nestled on the northern edge of the Isle of Tears. This island, covered in dense rainforests and rife with perilous creatures, had long remained uninhabited until settlers of the Blind Bastard's Domain arrived on its shores, almost twenty-five years ago, Their objective was clear - to establish a thriving colony that would serve as a springboard for expeditions into the uncharted territories of the Sea of the End and the Eldritch Jungle, while also providing a base for ambitious forays and conquests along the western coasts of Giantstep. That colony was a crucial part of Renne's long term plans.

The construction of War-Wel was a monumental undertaking, involving the labor of a thousand slaves from Moridan's infamous slave pits who worked day and night to erect the city. In just five years, the city had grown into a bustling port, benefiting from its strategic location and drawing in travelers from Azan, Dsvyrth, Asvaran, and even pirates from the infamous Maneater Islands and Ortuga. At its height, War-Wel was the second largest city in the Domain, surpassed only by the capital city of Moridan itself.

It earned the moniker of the "White City" (War-Wel, in the bastard Azaneese tongue of the south), thanks to the extensive use of marble in its construction. Many thought that the White City would grow to be the largest port of the south, but, alas, its prosperity was short-lived. Less than a decade of its founding, a deadly disease called the Wither reached the city's ports. Little is known about the origins of the Wither, other than that it is believed to have originated in the Eldritch Jungle.

The failure to quickly identify and quarantine the sick allowed the Wither to spread rapidly through the White City, with people soon dropping like flies. The elite and the wealthy holed themselves in their mansions, hosting large feasts while entire hills of corpses lined up on the streets. This did not deter the Wither, and they too soon fell to its onslaught. Only through a single man's actions (whose name did not survive, but it's believed he was an Azaneese officer) was the Wither contained to the Isle of Tears. Upon the spread of the disease within War-Wel, he order his men to torch all the ships resting at the city's port, preventing them of sailing away.

Within less than a month, War-Wel, from a bustling port, home to more than a dozen races and countless languages, turned into a desolate ghost town.The city's downfall was so swift that the officials of Moridan believed it had fallen to a foreign invasion. Renne sent out more than three investigative parties, but none ever returned. WAs merchant cogs and raiders arrived at the port to unload their spoils, they encountered nothing but ruins and an eerie silence. Soon, the news of War-Wel's fate eventually spread, especially after Eugen Lennhart, a renowned scholar of the Hithlone citadel, published his findings from his expedition at War-Wel.

Renne quickly abandoned her ambitions of establishing a colony in the Sea of End, let alone of exploring the uncharted depths of the Eldritch Jungle.

Nowadays, the waters surrounding the Isle of Tears are infested with pirates and corsairs, but even they steer clear of the ruined city. The people of southern Giantstep consider War-Wel to be cursed, the Wither being a terrible disease brought on by the gods to its inhabitants, living in a city built on the back of slaves. None dare to enter, as ominous mist now shrouds the sunken statues, palaces, and skeletal remains that now reign over the ruins.

**Excerpt taken from the Journal of Eugen Lennhart, scholar at the Citadel of Hithlone:**

*"After all my travels throughout the known world, I can say with certainty that I've never witnessed a more wicked disease than the Wither.*

*I was aboard a merchant cog headed from the steppes of the famed Zulutaurs to the Kingdom of Lorient. In order to avoid the pirates of the maneater islands, Captain Sargasso took the decision to anchor at the city of War-Wel, at the Island of Tears.*

   *It's important to note that War-Wel was a colony that was set up by the exiled Azaneese people that live west to the land of the ants, their leader being a woman named Renne. Their intent was building a base to explore the vast southern jungles, since traversing them by land was nigh impossible. When our sails first took wind, it was but a few months old. They had emptied the slave pits of Moridan to help them build the colony at the fringes of a rainforest.*

*When we approached the settlement, we were welcomed with scenes of horror. Two of the mercenaries passed out from the stench that came out of the huts, and I was forced to wear my mask in order not to puke all over.*

*The corpses were all over the colony. Out on the streets, inside the huts, in the river, under the shade of palm trees. Swarthy people of the savannah, Azaneese, Zulutaurs and even the Ra'Ga crabs had succumbed to the illness all the same.*

*Some of the corpses that I examined were only a few weeks old, but most were recent. A few, even, were still alive - if one could call it that - at the time, but even those showed the same symptoms of the Wither as the rest.*

*The men that we examined... it pains me even to recollect these memories in this journal, but as I am the only remaining survivor of this expedition, it shall act as a heed of warning.*

*Their bones had rotted away, their jaws were as if they were crushed under immense weight and their muscles were in a state of constant contraction, rendering movement extremely difficult. Their teeth and nails turned black, falling off eventually. Every orifice of their body was filled with pus and flesh eating maggots.*

*One of the corspes that we found in the colonial offices - as we later found out - belonged to a man no older than 30 years old. If it weren't for his journal, it'd be impossible to believe. The man was dead less than 24 hours, but his appearance was that of a 80 year old elder. A husk of a man he had turned, it horrified me to a point of no return.*

*It pains me to say that I did something that no doctor should ever be forced to do.. I had to take away of the poor sods that were still breathing. It was an act of mercy, not one of cruelty. Then, the mercenaries torched the place as we departed, never setting our eyes in that godsforsaking colony again.*

*What really intrigued me, however, was a discovery I made no less than a week ago, 13 years after the incident I just described. I dusted off an old journal I never got the chance of reading during my short time in War-Wel. It was written by an Azanneese officer.*

*As it turns out, the last batch of slaves headed from the Blind Bastard's Domain to the southern jungle, instead of the Savannah, as it normally did, due to unknown circumstances. The colonists came in contact when they were attacked by an odd ape-like specimen while in the jungle, much larger and ferocious than the ones called the "Hog Men".*

*It is my observation that this contact is what caused the outbreak of the "Wither" in the colony of War-Wel. I greatly advise any sane man to avoid these hellish jungles at all costs."*