Ürch

**Ürch** is a long lost village told about in hushed tones. It was located on a small island just of the southern coast of Alweald Swamplands] before being swallowed into the Maw sea.

## History

The legends say that the town of Ürch was once a thriving fishing village, a rising star on the Maw sea which would grow into one an important centre of trade in the area that could rival Madamsrest. Every day the Ürchers become more convinced of their own superiority, and every day they turned more in on themselves. They began to shun the company of outsiders, claiming that only the people of Ürch knew the ways of the Six Heavens and as such outsiders were not worth their weight in sand. Eventually the village elders even decided that no outsider was allowed to enter Ürch unless they were married to a full blooded Ürcher.

As the years passed on the town become more isolated, and its promising future quickly faded from the memory of those living nearby. Instead of singing its praises the nearby towns now whispered amongst each other that the Ürchers had grown thick bony foreheads and jaws, broad necks which were covered in flaps of skin, pairs of large unblinking eyes that almost seemed to bulge out of their heads, and a bend-over shuffling gait, as if they were uncomfortable with walking on their own legs. Even if only a fifth of these rumours were half true it did not stop the people living in Ürch from being infamous for their ugly looks, and rare was the woman who even allowed herself to be seen with an Ürchse chaperone in public. But in the minds of the Ürchers their ideas of superiority and grandeur stayed very much alive, and even as the influx of new blood nearly dried up completely they continued to marry amongst themselves.

One night in the early spring of 966 the lighthouse keeper rushed into the village. He was an outsider and a widow, only allowed to stay because his wive was an Ürcher and because he knew how to operate the lighthouse. He ran around the village, calling for all the elders to assemble. For during his nightly walks he had found something of great concern, a tear in the dyke protecting Ürch. The elders begrudgingly gathered together in the village hall to hear the keeper out, but somewhere along the way things took a turn. None know for certain what happened and everyone gives their own spin to the conversation that follows, but all agree how it ended: with the keeper sacrificed in the temple of Wildett, Ürch's god of the sea and the rest of the village continuing on as if nothing happened.

During summer a natural philosopher from Madamsrest had come to visit, with permission of the village elders, to research the local wildlife. While tracing a rare species of fungi he discovered multiple tears in the dyke, and he went back into the village. When he presented his facts to the elders they brushed him off, saying that they had already taken the necessary precaution to repair it and that their god would protect them from any danger. The natural philosopher turned angry and called them superstitious fools, to which the village elders repaid him in kind by hanging him from the bell tower with his own belt.

Then during fall a man washed up on the shore, stepping out of the waves with large amount of seaweed in his hair and a algae covered beard. He told the investigating village people that he had been send by Wildett himself to tell them that they need to repair their dyke or face to full force of the sea. The Ürchers looked at their dyke, which was now covered in tears, and called him a false prophet. One of the big Ürcher's slammed the man unconscious with his giant fists, and they burned him alive at the city square. Between the temple of Wildett and the bell tower.

And so winter came, and on the last day of the year the Ürcher's celebrated together and laughed at the uppity outsiders who thought Wildett would allow the dyke protecting his blessed people to break. And just before midnight the dyke indeed burst open, and the entire island on which Ürch stood was dragged into the Maw sea as the gods themselves sighted, and Ürch was never seen again.

Yet there are some sailors, passing over that little piece of water where once Ürch was, who claim that they see humanoid shapes moving under the surface, almost as if the people of Ürch are still very much alive.