Darken Vale

## Current Leader

The Undying Empress Elizabeth the Redeemed

> "The supplies are many, your presence is not needed. But I hunger and no scrap or morsel can fill this whole. An eye sought knowledge, now a fracture seeks souls." *--A Tierii Poem*
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## Overview

After being forced back from the Galken Earthfire by Heimsdale, the tierii were on the verge of turning into savage feral soulless abominations and dying. The tierii riicrafters discovered a way to make the land yield it's own soul to be consumed. A ritual was performed that caused the land to constantly die and grant its life to the inhabitants above. The skies darkened and the land grew barren, but the tierii gained a new home.

A large portion of the Darken Vale is a barren desert full of death. But the heartland is filled with sustained tierii settlements. Built ontop of the ruins of the Kyic empire, the dead land feeds the tierii with the essence they must consume to survive, but any living being walking on the land feels sick and is easily sensed by the native tierii.

## The Undying Empress

Elizabeth the Redeemed has been the ruler of **Darken Vale** for the entirety of it's existence. When the tierii first gained sentience and broke free from the bonds of Alilnegi and Ardorserii, each faction of the tierii had a leader, but after many years the vampire, Elizabeth, has proven time and time again to be the most intelligent and resourceful tierii and has built an empire on the struggles of her people.

## Hobbies

### Animal Handling and Herding

Because of the ritual on the land, the animals of the Darken Vale tend to be empowered and are incredibly powerful. . Since food is scarce, the Darkin herd and tame large groups of empowered animals and often times trade them in lands of the Clutch.

### Far Trading

Darken Vale doesn't have much use for sea-coin because of the how far away Darken Vale is from the rest of the world. Goods of foreign cultures are valued and exchanged as currency. A tierii might wear an Alyan trinket as a social symbol. Bazaars are common place across the deserts of the Darken Vale.

## Death Ritual

### The March

When a Darkin dies, their body is carried back to the valley before the mountain overlooking New Aliland and placed in the Kyic catacombs under the city. There they rest eternally under the watch of the moon until they might be needed again. The ritual was started by Elizabeth's sister, Olivia the Lost, in order to stock pile an army of bodies that be raised from the dead if ever needed. However, since tierii forfeit their right to an afterlife once they become undead, Elizabeth has transitioned the ritual to being their form of a proper burial and afterlife.

Because of the ritual placed on the lands of the Darken Vale, many times corpses will accidentally reanimate themselves, it is whispered that many of the corpses in the catacombs below New Aliland already walk again, and await to be called on by their Empress.

## Notable Places

### New Aliland

New Aliland is the capital of the Darken Vale. The city was built on top of the major southern catacombs of the Kyic Empire. There, the Darkin were able to tie what was left of their life force to the existing graves of the fallen, and live comfortably in the desert. New Aliland is covered by a twisted peak and is sheltered from the windswept desert, the oppressive sunlight, and the storms of the sea.

### Fort Dalewatch

Fort Dalewatch was a forward military base of Heimsdale but was conquered by the tierii of the Archblight as an attempt to gain access to the Galken Earthfire. However, facing pressure from both the Darkin tierii east of the fort, and Heimsdale west of the fort, the tierii holding Fort Dalewatch eventually fell. Currently the fort is occupied by the Empress' personal forces.

### Darkin Port

Darkin Port lies in the northern most reaches of the Darken Vale. The port serves as a trading hub for many tierii to trade and interact with the towns of the Clutch and Lowlakes.