Galatias

The reach of Galatias has expanded, spilling out of the city. New settlements grow every passing year.

## History

### Date Created

3000 BTG

Once the symbol of slavery and oppression in Forestsedge, Galatias was ruled by the Skraeling tyrant Mik'Na Kirax, the second Stinging King. Mik'Na Kirax ruled the giant city with an iron fist, turning it into the central hub for slavery in the south and along the coast of Veiltouria. For thousands of years it ruled Galatias, until it was overthrown by Killigan Hammerfell and The Chaos Hounds. The city is now being rebuilt as a haven for those displaced refugees and former slaves, its borders expanding into a nation in its own right.

## History and Culture

Galatias started out as many coastal cities and settlements do, as a hub for pirates. Over time its natural defenses borne from being built into the eastern cliffs meant it became something of a save haven from attacks by sea. This enabled it to develop larger, more permanent infrastructure than some of its neighboring pirate cities.

It soon gained a reputation for slavers as a means of transporting their victims from Forestsedge to the ocean, allowing a massive increase in where they could deliver slaves to. The Holy City soon began to take interest in the city as a means of avoiding crossing the Umbil River themselves. With the Holy Cities patronage, Galatias grew ever more wealthy. It was in the rise of reputation and wealth that the first Stinging King arose.

### The Stinging King I

Tarmen Dalloway was a simple cook on a small time pirate ship named The Babylon. A street urchin with no family and nothing to his name, Tarmen nonetheless lived life with a positive outlook. He spent years on The Babylon as its cook, never gaining any wealth or respect, but content to have a home at the least.

This home would be destroyed when The Babylon crashed on a small island to the far south of Veiltouria. Seemingly uninhabited, the islands razor sharp rocks and violent tides made short work of The Babylon and her crew, Tarmen being the only survivor. Wounded and near death, he was rescued by a strange reptilian, insect like creature. Unsure of where he was, his body wracked with fever, Tarmen was nursed back to health by the creature. Over time, the two bonded, and Tarmen realized this animal was a Skraeling, the monsters long rumored to live in the southern islands.

Tarmen and the Skraeling, who named itself Mik'Na Kirax, soon travelled deep under the islands surface to the Skraeling hives, where Tarmen saw the species vast morphological powers. Flying beasts, huge siege monsters, silent assassins, the Skraeling had evolved defenses for every occasion. Tarmen soon found that they had a childlike innocence to them, and did not understand the concept of lying. Every falsehood he told was taken as an absolute certainty. Soon, Tarmen had convinced the hive that he was their God. A long hidden lust for power, for recognition, soon awoke within him and he began to drive the Skraeling hordes like a slave master. When his friend and rescuer Mik'Na objected to Tarmen's cruel leadership, he was attacked by his own people and exiled.

Soon Tarmen's lust for power extended past the small island and the Skraeling hives. He longed for others to see how great he had become. Taking his army of Skraeling below the surface, he had them dig vast tunnels, connecting to the mainland. Over night he led an invasion of Galatias, conquering the pirate city in one fell swoop. Proclaiming himself The Stinging King, he soon began building vast walls around his prized city. Over the next few decades, Tarmen oversaw continually grander defenses, the potions and chemicals he used to prolong his life were also driving him to paranoia and insanity. These potions were made from any Skraeling who began to question his rule, dissenting voices immediately expunged and bred out from the populace.

For the next three hundred years Tarmen grew fat on wealth and excess, his impregnable city becoming the main hub of slavery and trade to from the south to The Holy City. Tarmen built grand arenas and halls to his own glory, forcing slaves to fight for wealth and his amusement. The Stinging King planned to rules Galatias for an eternity, and he would have, if not for the return of an old friend.

### The Stinging King II

One faithful night, Tarmen went to sleep without his guards, his madness making him believe they intended to betray him. When he entered his chambers, he was ambushed by a huge Skraeling, wielding four powerful arcane swords. His former friend, Mik'Na Kirax, had survived its exile and grown powerful. The trauma of its life had forced its Skraeling genetics to evolve at an alarming rate, and the warrior had further enhanced itself with magic and modifications. Tarmen attempted to plead for his life, but to no avail, as Mik'Na executed its former friend without a word.

Dragging Tarmen's body to the Skraeling hives below the city, Mik'Na shed aside its name and became The Stinging King. In its years spent in exile, the warrior had developed a hatred for other races so intense that it had driven it mad. Assuming command of the Skraeling hordes, it overran the city and implemented an even crueler, more totalitarian rule over the city. Galatias had become a city of depravity and violence, an ode to The Stinging Kings hatred of mortals.

For nearly two and a half thousand years the second Stinging King ruled the walled cities, further building its defenses, at the cost of thousands of slaves lives. Galatias at become a city that could not be broken into, could not be besieged. The Stinging King opened the cities walls only to slavers, offering them incredible benefits to bring mortals to the cities walls. The Skraeling ruler needed constant supplies of slaves to appease its bloodlust.

Galatias remained this way, untouched and unchallenged, until The Chaos Hounds broke into its walls.

### Obstinath and The Hounds

Shortly before the group of Guardians made their way into the city, The Stinging King received an offer from Lennox Sanguine, a Hemomancer and chief of Obstinath's operations in Forestsedge. Lennox revealed that Obstinath wished to form his own council to oppose the Guardians, and that he was inviting the Stinging King to take part. Giving the Skraeling five days before answering, Lennox warned him of The Chaos Hounds and their potential to disrupt the way of life in Galatias.

It was under this warning that The Stinging King caught the group of adventurers, who had been aided by the Pirate King Sloan in making their way through the walls. What followed was a series of battles across the city, resulting in a final confrontation in the Grand Arena of Galatias. A warrior, Killigan Hammerfell, raised in the cities fighting pits and brother to a member of The Chaos Hounds, had rallied a force of slaves to fight against the forces of The Stinging King.

In the ensuing melee, both The Stinging King and Sloan were killed by The Chaos Hounds, and Killigan was installed as the new Stinging King.

### The Stinging King III

Killigan began rebuilding and reforming the city. He first banned slavery and forced gladiatorial combat, freeing all slaves within the cities walls. He then journeyed deep into the Skraeling hives below the city, carrying the blade of his predecessor to prove himself worthy of rule. Assuming command of the hive, he used them to further develop the cities infrastructure, while opening up its walls to the coast and the mainland. Soon Galatias was roaring city of commerce, the freed slaves approaching life with a renewed vigor, which led to an economic surge in wealth.

Killigan now sits on The Guardian Council, carefully trying to legitimize Galatias as a nation of freedom and trade, while also expanding tis borders to become a true powerhouse of Forestsedge.

## The Unbreakable City

Galatias has often been called The Unbreakable City, for its seemingly impervious defenses. No magical means can cross into its borders, and its walls had only one major entrance, the Great Gates. These Gates are strictly controlled to ensure who enters and leaves is monitored, though since the rise of Killigan Hammerfell more gates have been installed and the rules of entry have lessened.

The city itself is divided into seven distinct components, in the shape of rings, each ring walled off from the other and further gates controlling the flow of traffic. The outer four rings are largely filled with stores and trading establishments, while the next two are residential areas. The final, central ring plays host to the Stinging King's citadel and the arenas. Gladiatorial combat has always been a part of Galatias' history, and though under the current Stinging King the rules have changed it still plays a strong role in the culture.

Currently Gladiators are considered celebrities within the walls of Galatias, being paid handsomely for their service. They also often double as Guardians, travelling the newly settled region around the cities walls to protect the fledgling communities that are being built there. Gladiators are rarely forced to fight to the death, typically only if both combatants have agreed to it before their match.

Galatias is a multiracial city, and its culture is unique. A harsh, gruff people, dry humor and a fatalistic mentality are common amongst its people, with violence being the common tongue of all. Despite this, many find the modern Galatias endearing for tis forward thinking rules and open borders.

## The Skraeling

The Skraeling now serve as the main law enforcement and defense of the nation. Under Killigan, they have been given their own settlement and are free to make their own choices, though many elect to continue to serve their king. There are those few who decide to take their own path, with some even venturing to become Guardians.

The Skraeling city of Nuskraela is built into cliffs of the area surrounding the main city, the cliff face now a honeycombed hive of tunnels and paths. it is Killigan's dream to form an underground trading route based upon the Skraeling's work, though it is an ambitious project.