Ocathia

*"How many wonders were lost when Ocathia fell? Uncountable, surely. The Esoteric Archives would be twice as full if only we knew what lay in that ancient city" - Archmage Danyel Redcliffe*

Ocathia was a truly ancient city of Izir, that rose and was destroyed prior to year 0. It was initially founded some time after the First Desolation. Ocathia was built upon a chasm containing a large cave system, allowing its citizens to retreat underground during the Second and Third Desolations of Izir.

Ocathia was an incredibly advanced city, and was the academic hub of the ancient empires of Izir. The Academy of Ocathia was where the title of Vizier was created, and where such individuals were trained. This Academy kept extensive records and its archive is listed as one of the Great Archives, at its peak it likely contained more knowledge than The Library of Mika'Zah or the Esoteric Archives do today.

Ocathian weaponry and magical items are highly prized and sought jealously. The Armoury of Ocathia was known to produce bizarre yet powerful weapons and armour. One of their greatest achievements were bird-like magical golems capable of flight, something that has never been truly replicated since. These are now called "Ocathian Vultures"

## The Fall of Ocathia

Ocathia's knowledge-seeking was perhaps its downfall. It was the time of King Imamu, and when Azathica mysteriously cut off communications with the rest of Izir, Ocathian Scholars and explorers investigated the city. They found maddened citizens with black eyes and purple skin, and a mysterious fog enshrouding the land. Most disturbingly, at the centre of the city, where the Unnamed Sorcerer King who consorted with evil powers had been locked away, there was now instead an enormous gaping black pit. Most scholars did not return from their visit to the cursed city, but those who did were traumatized forever.

On one such visit, they brought one of the Azathican citizens back to Ocathia, kicking and screaming. The man no longer spoke Izirian, and uttered an alien language that haunted the minds of those who heard it. It is known that experiments were performed upon the Azathican, but we have no idea what was discovered, only that most scholars who performed these experiments resigned, went mad, or killed themselves.

Ocathia's prying did not go unnoticed by the strange forces behind Azathica's transformation. It was not long before scouts began reporting a large host of Azathicans and horrifying creatures approaching Ocathia. Ocathia sat upon the only bridge across a chasm that split the desert in two, and acted as a gate between Azathica and the rest of the world. If Ocathia was lost, there would be nothing stopping the horrors of Azathica from marching onwards to the rest of the desert.

As this news spread across Izir, people began to see it as the beginning of a Fourth Desolation. Ocathia prepared itself for battle, and sent off a brave scout upon an Ocathian Vulture, to the Sky Spire far east, beyond Azathica, to request aid from the Monks there. This scout's name was Ishnylla.

Ocathia watched in horror as a shambling horde of black-eyed, purple-skinned warriors, clad in ragged robes and wielding crude weapons approached the city gates. Worse yet, shambling among this horde were huge black monstrosities, oozing corrosive slime, their many eyes fixed on Ocathia, their tentacles grasping forth. The barrage from Ocathia's ballista did little to stop this army of the Abyss.

Meanwhile, Ishnylla flew over Azathica, above the creeping fog and the strange monuments that had been erected in bizarre likenesses of malevolent gods. She discovered that the fog extended east of the cursed city, until it reached the Sky Spire. There, more terrible monsters lurked. The village and farms around the Skyspire had been destroyed completely, but the monsters didn't seem to be able to approach the spire itself. Yet when Ishnylla flew to the spire and the dwellings upon it, it became clear that the monks who preserved the spire had starved to death after the creatures had destroyed their farms and stopped them leaving. Nevertheless, determined to bring back something to aid Ocathia, Ishnylla took a large chunk of stone from the Sky Spire, and began flying back to Ocathia with it.

Ocathia's walls were holding, but this wouldn't last long. The maddened scholars who had visited Azathica turned traitor, and set free the captive Azathican. This traitorous group attacked the city's defenses from behind and opened the grand gates, letting a horde of black-eyed madmen into the streets. These were no mere mortals anymore. They bled black blood, and couldn't seem to be easily killed. Not to mention the corpulent, tentacled monsters which corroded everything they touched. Every Ocathian citizen fought back with vigour, but this served only to slow down the onslaught. The city's golems were more effective, since they did not reel with horror at the terrible creatures of the abyss, yet even these marvels of stone and magic were smashed to pieces one by one.

Ishnylla returned to find a city half destroyed already. She landed at the western gates, a last bastion of defense, and brought the stone from the Sky Spire to the Viziers. The Ocathians had researched the Sky Spires and knew how to manipulate their magic. Ishnylla explained how the monsters didn't seem to be able to approach the spire, and the Viziers knew what to do. They set to work setting the stone into a monument to empower it.

Soon the horde had reached the western gates. The Academy was destroyed, the archives collapsed, the great armoury ruined, the royal palace ravaged. At the western gates, the last Ocathians gathered to protect the monument as it was built. They were no longer fighting to protect their own city, they were fighting to stop this horde from moving on into the rest of Izir. It is said that King Imamu himself was one of the last defenders, bravely wielding a spear to protect the world from this malevolent horror. None of these defenders feared even the most terrifying of monsters, and not even the whispering of the abyss could pierce their iron-clad resolve. They put up a fight, but still were slain one by one. King Imamu fell, spear in hand. Ishnylla was clutched out of the sky and devoured. Yet when the horde broke through to the gates, they found, to their dismay, a shining monument of radiant energy. The spawn of the abyss, unrelenting up to this point, screeched in horror and were melted away. The black-eyed Azathicans trampled each other in their haste to retreat. Ocathia was eradicated, but they had prevented a fourth Desolation.

Three Viziers, those who had built the monument, survived to tell the tale of Ocathia's fall. They told the story of brave Ishnylla and King Imamu, and all those who had fought in defense of their city and the world. The monument became known as Ishnylla's Obelisk, and still it stands guard at the western gate of Ocathia, preventing the worst of the Abyss's horrors from escaping the Ruined Lands.

## Wonders of Ocathia

The Armouries of Ocathia produced many great wonders, using a special mineral that can be found in the ruined lands; Bloodstone.

#### Ranger's Hand-Bow

The rangers and scouts of Ocathia often wielded special crossbows. These were unique in the way that, instead of using ammunition, they would fire powerful bolts created from the blood of the wielder.

#### Soldier's Bloodblade

Upon first inspection, the Bloodblades given to the commanders of Ocathia may seem to be not very sharp. However, much like how the Hand-Bow uses blood to create ammunition, the Bloodblade uses it to form a razor sharp edge.

#### Ocathian Sentinels

The guardians of Ocathia, great ancient golems of varying shapes and sizes. Long after the destruction of the city, these sentinels still guard, though their enchantments should have degraded long ago. These sentinels are usually in the shape of great Izirian beasts, such as Sand-Nagas, Selketts, Drakes or Ifrits.

#### Ocathian Vultures

Perhaps one of the greatest of Ocathian creations, scholars across the world are puzzled as to how these flying golems were created. Like the sentinels, they have lasted an incredible length of time and seem no less effective.

#### War Armour

This bizarre bloodstone armour which curls around the body of its user and fits tightly combines the magic of the Ocathian golems and the blood-draining power of their weapons. The armour empowers the movements of its wearer, making them superhumanly strong, fast, and able to leap great distances. As a cost, it slowly drains the blood of its wearer, but never to the point of killing them.