Gran Veya

Once the proud capitol city of this region, Gran Veya was laid low by a rampaging monster and reclaimed by the forces of nature. Now a hunting ground rather than a hub, the remnants of this once-bustling metropolis are known colloquially as the **Veya Ruins**. Much of the sprawling, decorative architecture that made it so famous in its heyday is still standing, a true testament to the hard work and skill of the craftsmen who built it. Unfortunately for humans the city is far from habitable, being not only decrepit and unsafe, but actively inhabited by all manner of monsters. They moved in just after Gran Veya's fall seeking shelter from the elements and found it accommodating enough to stay. Now it's as wild and teeming with life as any jungle. A select few species have even begun to adapt to this environment specifically, using the architecture and manmade materials to their advantage.

### Environments

Being the remnants of a city, the Veya Ruins are split up not by regions or biomes, but by districts. Though they're no longer marked and occupied, it's still easy enough to tell what's what thanks to the remaining landmarks.

#### **The Market District**

This winding network of manmade ravines was once a bustling marketplace known all across the world. Its wide brick roads were well maintained and used to transport both people and goods, but the ravages of time have warped their formerly flat surface into tiled, rolling hills and sunken ditches. Tall grasses and hardy shrubs reach up from the spaces between, providing sparse foliage for wandering herbivores and nest-building birds. The streetside shops enclosing these "ravines" are almost all inaccessible, either boarded up by their former owners or too badly deteriorated to enter. Functionally speaking they're more like small mountains than buildings, inaccessible from all angles and heaped in rubble and grass. The shops' competitors, food carts and other small portable stands, have fared even worse: the few that still remain are little more than rotting heaps of wood and textiles now. Most of them are so coated in fungus and moss they're totally unrecognizable, useful now only to small-bodied creepy crawlies hiding from the sun.

The Veya Ruins primary base camp lies in this region and leads to a circular, open courtyard with a waterlily filled fountain much loved by frogs. This is essentially the map's main hub and leads up and out to all the other parts of the city.

Traveling north through the ravine and up the large stairway leads to the Cloud District and Clocktower. The western path goes through a narrow, overgrown vineyard and then eventually the Guild District, which sits even with but is not connected to the Marketplace (the two zones are separated by a massive, ivy covered wall). The Waterfront lies east and is located below and outside what's normally considered the "main city", far off but quite easy to survey from a height. Three roads narrower than the main thoroughfare lead downhill to this part of Gran Veya, but only one (the northernmost) remains unobstructed. Once in the Waterfront hunters can also access the Sewer, though it's said keener eyes will find faster and more direct routes.

#### **The Cloud District**

Directly north of the Market is the Cloud District, an elevated residential area that once housed the city's older and wealthier citizens. The streets here aren't as wide and open as those in the Market, but the buildings are another story. Most of these structures are substantially larger and easier to get into, with open windows, doorways and crumbled walls allowing access for both hunters and animals. These rundown homes are an ideal place to get away from inclement weather and hold many intriguing artifacts from Gran Veya's past. The second floors of most buildings here are blocked up or collapsed, but some are at least partially intact and can also be explored. The rooftops above offer an even more spacious, albeit more barren and unstable, layer in this zone.

Plant life in the Cloud District is mostly of the creeping variety. Ivy and vines grow in abundantly here, scrambled far up the sides of most buildings and posts and creating natural ladders, nets, and grapplehook spots. The more densely-packed tiles of these roads are less conducive to shrub growth, making the streets here far dustier and less often traveled by herbivores. Grasses and other similar ground plants have a hard time growing in the Cloud District. There are only a few spots where bare soil has been exposed, most of which were created by the eruption of large tree roots stretching out from other districts.

The main route into the Cloud District is an enormous set of stairs leading up from the lower Marketplace, though there are also some smaller, curved stairways serving as secondary connection points between these zones and the Guild District.

Being at the northernmost edge of the city, the Cloud District also buts up against Gran Veya's protective perimeter wall. This part of the structure is still well intact thus too tall to climb, at least without the aid of special items and stamina-enhancing items. There's also the Clocktower, which technically resides within this distinct but is also considered a separate area unto itself. It lies to the the southwest.

One additional base camp can be raised inside the Cloud District and lies atop the perimeter wall.

#### **The Clocktower**

In terms of horizontal surface space this is the smallest of all Gran Veya's regions, but vertically it's monumental, towering high above the roofs, trees, and even the outer perimeter wall. This colossal landmark was once a proud symbol of the city and many scholars and architects celebrate its survival into the modern day. Unfortunately for them their enthusiasm has done nothing to wrench control of it back to human hands.

The tower has four giant clockfaces and all of them have been at least partially destroyed, letting in generations of roosting birds, bugs, and flying wyverns. The beasts that fly in through them have a safe space to sleep and raise their young in, too high up to be endangered by predators and decently protected from the rain. The wooden floor of this level is in surprisingly good shape but is covered in droppings, claw marks, and debris. Layering down from here to the very base of the Clocktower are many more spaces still, each equal in width and separated by floors. The ropes and gears once used to operate the clocks and transport workers are still present and in much better shape than those in the roost. Vertical travel here is accomplished mostly with the grapplehook, as the wooden stairs and ladders connecting each floor are not all in good shape.

Despite the relatively excellent preservation of the Clocktower's interior there are still some hazards to be aware of. Hunters running about here may notice some parts of the floors look worse than others and make loud creaking sounds when traversed. These are weakspots created by wood-eating insects and can all be destroyed, sending whatever's on top of them tumbling down to the floor below. Some of the giant gears here are also a liability, rusted together by rain and years of disuse. They may come down if struck with sufficient force.

It's also worth noting that the interior of the Clocktower is one of the darkest spaces in Gran Veya, second only to the Sewer. Most of its floors are still totally enclosed and thus get very little sunlight. There are some small windows on the uppermost levels and the roost, of course, is fully open, but most of the chambers below are fairly dim inside and may facilitate the use of a torch, especially after sundown.

Lastly there is the Gran Veya Bell, an oversized, wrought-iron bell situated at the very top of the tower. Inoperable and rusted from the wind and the rain, it nevertheless remains in place, serving as both an impressive decoration and a hazard. Strike the bell with a strong enough attack and it will ring one last time before crashing down, smashing through the roost room's wooden floor... and then every other floor beneath it. It will deal massive damage to any monsters caught beneath it and leaves gaping holes in its wake for the rest of the hunt, limiting floor space per-level but also letting in light and creating a new shortcut for jumping down.

The bottom floor (where the bell may eventually end up) is a dark and unremarkable chamber formerly used for storage. Its only noteworthy features are four doors leading out into the the Cloud District, which are the only direct route in and out of the Clocktower... or are they?

#### **The Guild District**

An imposing wall covered in ivy stands in the west. Pass through its mangled, rusted gates and you'll reach the Guild District, the most heavily fortified and badly damaged part of Gran Veya. The Guild District used to be one of the busiest places in town, housing not just armaments but also a vast library, greenhouse, and cadet academy. Sadly, barely anything remains of any of them; the Guild's weaponry drew the brunt of the attacking monster's ire and everything nearby paid the price. Highly prized Guild documents and weapon components might still be buried in the rubble, but finding them won't be easy! The few small buildings that are still standing here are in very rough shape, burnt and opened with rubble inside.

The one notable exception is the largest building here, the Gran Veya Guild Hall, which even half-destroyed is an inspiring sight. It was split in two by some monstrous force, leaving only the front stairs, lobby, and a small storeroom. The sea can be plainly seen when inside, as all that the lobby leads to is a sudden drop. The entire western corner of this district collapsed when the final blow was struck, taking half the hall and part of the perimeter wall with it. All that remains now is a steep cliff overlooking a rocky, debris-filled shore thousands of feet below.

Though it's true this leaves the Guild Hall wide open on one side, that side is at least quite hard to reach. Only flying beasts like wyverns can circle the building and get inside- monsters that walk and crawl will find that this old ruin is still very much defensible. The remaining walls are sturdy and thick, and though in need of some repair there are still working cannons and ballistae strewn across the premises. Some of the wooden barricades still stand outside, too battered to stave off large monsters but potentially useful for funneling hordes of small ones into choke-points. Lastly, the open double doors can be shut tight if two hunters are around to push.

Still, in the event of a breach there's always the storeroom to fall back on. It's too small and confined to be used for a last stand but monsters can't get to it. Run down the narrow hallway leading to it on the right and you'll be safe. In fact with enough time and elbow grease it would actually make a good camp!

Though it is very unlikely, some architects have proposed that part of the old library's basement might still be intact deep beneath the Guild District's ruins. Official search parties haven't found evidence of any openings and believe the room to be fully caved in, but on the off chance something does remain down there the Guild has offered a very substantial award to any hunter who can retrieve texts from the Guild library.

#### **The Sewer**

Located underneath the other districts, the Sewer is the least vertical but most expansive part of Gran Veya's ruins. Its sprawling manmade caverns move a slow but steady supply of fresh water into the ocean. It's more sanitary than it used to be, but long stretches of stagnant water and minimal sunlight mean the Sewer is still a breeding ground for bacteria. Hanging mosses, molds, lily pads and lotuses all thrive in this sheltered swamp-like ecosystem. The greatest concentrations of flora are around manholes and tunnel grates where sunlight's more plentiful, and the same grates that connect the Sewer to the outside Waterfront also let in a westerly breeze that aerates the tunnels and spreads seeds and spores.

Most of the tunnels accessible to hunters carry only swift and shallow water. They're dark, maze-like, and can be very slippery but are otherwise ideal for travel, with the inclined slopes especially making great slides and shortcuts. The passages differing from this are less numerous altogether but are much, much larger, making up over half of the Sewer's total space. These larger chambers are where the greatest quantity of water accumulates, forming deep, brackish pools that can only be traversed by swimming. Currents here are so much slower than in the rest of the Sewer that duckweed and floating debris accumulate on the surface, sometimes creating the illusion of a solid floor. Spots like this are a natural resting place for trinkets both worthless and valuable that might have washed down from higher districts. As the zone's most permanent bodies of water they also host permanent fish and insect populations.

Though not always plain to see, there are passages into and out of the Sewer all over the Veya Ruins. The most obvious are the large culverts in the east that connect it to the Waterfront, but every district has manholes or cave-ins that could be used to go down. Of the numerous openings available, almost all of them can also be ascended with the grapplehook. Moving between the surface and the Sewer is actually quite easy if you know where to look!

There are multiple rusted ladders leading up into different parts of the Market and Cloud Districts, but be careful when going back and forth: not all the manholes leading down into the Sewer have corresponding ladders to go back up. The most obvious way out is through the large culverts in the east.

#### **The Waterfront**

A wide and sturdy concrete beach located far below the city wall. Throngs of fishermen once crowded here to catch and sell fish but the passage of time has erased all signs of their presence, leaving only barren, disused structures. What does remain is entirely open, offering no shelter for men or beasts. A series of long wooden docks does extend from the main platform, but none are wide enough to accommodate more than a few hunters. The pillars supporting them are thick but very badly deteriorated and could be destroyed by aquatic monsters. The bay itself makes up most of this area and is fairly spacious, yet shallow, deep enough for swimming but barely a puddle compared to the ocean beyond. A series of disjointed islands and paths becomes traversable by foot at low tide, though much of this temporary land is muddy and makes for slow going. A line of buoys in the distance marks the limit of human exploration as well as the location of a long, tattered sharq net only monsters can pass through.

As a whole the Waterfront is fairly isolated, directly adjacent only to the Sewer system. The fastest way to enter or exist is to pass through those tunnels and use the openings there, but a long curving road does lead up to the fountain square of the Market District. Alternately it is also possible to jump down from the top of the perimeter wall, but getting there can be easier said than done.

### Weather

The Veya ruins have by far the most temperate climate of all the hunting grounds, which is no great surprise considering the city was originally built here for its ideal conditions. The ambient temperature is neutral, ranging only from Cool to Warm and demanding no special gear or items even in its underground and underwater components. The most common "inclement weather" seen here is a light drizzle of rain, which in the colder winter months can give way to snow.

Rainstorms and even blizzards can set in here, but it is a very rare phenomenon indeed, witnessed only on certain quests like Events and Elder Dragon incursions.

### Notes

* The name *Gran Veya* is an alternation of *gran vieja*, Spanish for "great" and "old".
* Every District in the city has at least one destructible structure to exploit.
	+ The wall around the Market District is indestructible, but can be cracked and cratered by monster attacks. Some of the closed manhole covers here can also be knocked off from monster attacks or barrel bombs to open new Sewer shortcuts. Lastly there is one specific shop hidden among the rest which can collapse if hit by a ranged attack from a large monster; doing so will flood the neighboring street with a cloud of dust, essentially triggering a giant smokebomb.
	+ Two roofs in the Cloud District can be collapsed. One is a home in the south which is already partially destroyed- hitting it with a barrel bomb will finish the job and drop the hunter into the building's otherwise inaccessible attic. Another is on a mansion in the northwest that can only be caved in by large monster attacks.
	+ The Cloud District also has a building with a collapsible wall in the southwest. Barrel bombs and large monster attacks can knock it over, crushing small monsters or temporarily pinning large ones.
	+ There are dozens of breakaway floors and destructible gears in the Clocktower, as well as the Gran Veya Bell.
	+ The rafters in the Guild Hall's lobby can be swung from with the grappling hook but aren't stable. Using them too many times in a short span of time or shooting at them can cause each one to individually fall, dealing a small amount of damage to anything caught beneath. If three of them break in the same hunt the entire ceiling will collapse, dealing massive damage to anything caught beneath but also opening the area and making it easier for monsters to get in.
	+ A hidden trapdoor in the Guild District can also be destroyed. Monster attacks and barrel bombs will rattle it, but not break it. The only way to get past is to search for buried munition, load a cannon, and fire it at the door; blasting it off reveals the secret library underneath.
	+ There are two metal grate walls in the Sewer that can be knocked over by large monsters, opening paths between two pairs of normally separated tunnels. Large monster attacks can also cause debris to rain down from the ceiling, though it's merely cosmetic.
	+ All of the wooden piers in the Waterfront can be destroyed, but only by monsters. Anything standing on them at the time will drop into the water. There is also the sharqnet at the end of the bay, which is not destructible but can be used to tangle up aquatic monsters who charge into it. It has unlimited uses but individual monsters will learn to avoid it after getting trapped repeatedly.

### Real World Inspirations

Chernobyl, RussiaChernobyl, RussiaHoutouwan, ChinaOkinawa, JapanParis, FranceBangkok, Thailand