Dead Man's Rest

The city of **Dead Man's Rest**, once known as **Dawnshire Port**, is the decrepit and decaying remnant of a once-great city of the realm. When the first sailors of Alar arrived upon the shores of Alterra in the First Age, they were met with a black forest and crags as high as the clouds. It was here, surrounded by the treacherous Salt Sea, that the Alar established the trade city of Dawnshire Port, the first capital of the realm.

## Age of the Dawn

The First Age was marked by a feeling of relative prosperity by the first immigrants of Alterra. The Alar found camaraderie amongst the danger they faced in the infancy of the realm. With little knowledge of their new home, they made quick work of the construction of their city. Laws were written and contracts were forged, setting the stage for what would become the monarchy.

Soon the welcoming hearth of Dawnshire Inn was constructed in the wood to the West, and the new land began to feel like home. With hunters and scholars discovering knowledge of the new land each passing day, a library was constructed at the apex of the city. The most imposing building, it was to be a signal that the colonization of Alterra would further the fields of science and academia.

The rapid development of Dawnshire Port and the Great Library improved the morale of the immigrants so much so that the First Age is recounted as "The Age of the Dawn" by modern historians. Still, nothing lasts forever.

## Snowbirds' Flight

Just as no king may rule forever, no great city is immortal. With the stability of the burgeoning realm all but assured, groups of settlers began leaving Dawnshire Port in increasing numbers. As the frost melted and the last blooming Wintercress returned to the dirt, travel became less of a risk, and only a few groups of academics remained in the city. Without an established militia to keep the peace, nor neighboring settlements to trade with, the city of Dawnshire Port was diminishing in authority.

Soon the great city of Azana would begin construction, effectively signing the death warrant of the first capital of the realm. Still, its remaining denizens retained hope, focusing their efforts instead on the pages and tombs contained within their Great Library. For much of the Second Age, this strategy proved effective in asserting the efficacy of the city, even after Azana would be formally declared the realm's new capital.

## The End of the Old Guard

The Second Age exploded into the minds of the people with a series of monumental events which would change the course of history. The discovery of Runic Magic, contact with the northern tribes and Zenites, and the political unrest in Azana were more than the infantile power structures in the realm could handle. Swarms of disaffected citizens fled Azana and returned to the old capital. Yet, with no established military, the incoming refugees became the law of the land.

Ironically, the new law of the land was to be that the city would not be beholden to the laws of the monarchy. Fearful of the oppressive power that drove them away in the first place, the refugees of Dawnshire Port fought tooth and nail against any centralized form of power, eventually fraying ties with the realm to the point of being deemed a city of outlaws.

This marked a historical moment known as "The End of the Old Guard," during which the city's remaining academics and keepers of the Great Library yielded what authority they retained to the vagabonds that declared themselves "freemen." Dawnshire Port, already showing signs of degradation due to its rushed city planning, decayed further under the rule of the outlaws who now called it home. Keen to make the once-great city an example of the consequences of secession, the High Lord of Azana declared Dawnshire Port outside the laws of men, and it was renamed "Dead Man's Rest," the final resting place of bandits, pirates, and roguish figures.

## The Sunken Library

In times of late, the Great Library of Dead Man's Rest has become the target of the Azanian military. Long abandoned by the academics of the First Age, the Great Library has fallen under the presence of a mysterious force, one which has been deemed magical in nature. Intent on discovering what magical secrets lay within, the High Lord of Azana has dispatched a company of soldiers to occupy the forsaken city and investigate what the commonfolk are calling "The Sunken Library."

Indeed at the same time, the last bastion of the resistance, led by Theia Ark, has tracked the company and are monitoring their whereabouts.

Whatever dark forces are contained within the library, the fate of the next age may be decided by which fellowship unearths them first.