Necropolis States

> *"We were safely off to the side of this conflict. Tucked away behind our walls of stone and steel. We thought ourselves indestructible, that the horrors of war could never touch us, that it was just good for business and we would never truly have to commit to survive. How wrong we were, how foolish."* (Ashed guard after fleeing the city)
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**The Necropolis States** or **Necropoli** are the ruins of destroyed Ashed cities and their surrounding areas. These dead cities were sacked during the first immortal war either through Tallet conquest, Goran invasion, or Corpsebloom infection.

These city states were abandoned and remain vacant due to a combination of danger in retaking the cities

and slow population growth of the Ashed. Due to political pressure and the hazards of the dead cities themselves, other nations have not moved in to the vacated structures, however due to their status as unexplored ruins with potential treasures, they attract treasure seekers. Due to their strategic positions near roads being re opened by the second The Family Hearth expansion, they are a potential staging point for bandits and marauders.

* At least one Necropolis has been re-settled by outsiders

## Dangers of the Necropolis

### **Forge gas explosions**

Functioning Ashed cities harvest and store a flammable gas known as **Forge gas** that comes off of their sewage systems. The pressurized storage containers while made to be corrosion resistant have gone over a century without maintenance and thus are prone to leaking and filling sections of the city with flammable gas. Any open flame or spark could level entire districts.

* Some cities intentionally did this during the sack to both kill invading armies and render their gains worthless

### **Structural collapse**

The city states have been left since the end of the great war to decay and fall victim to the ravages of time. The city stands on top of the **Undercity**, the ceiling of which can collapse and swallow entire carts. The buildings of Ashed, which by nature build upwards are also prone to collapse if anything heavy such as living creatures were to venture into them despite their sturdy nature.

### **Toxic materials**

The Ashed city states being large manufacturing centers of Soi often produced toxic runoff that the Ashed were unable to recycle or safely dispose of. During the War these materials were often placed in a watertight trench around the city to form a toxic moat. However during the sacking of the cities some of these materials in storage and even some in the process of being recycled were ruptured and spread throughout the city and its water supply, thus contaminating the entire area.

* Ashed have shorter lifespans even in functional cities due to this effect, walking through a contaminated area could possibly kill or cripple a healthy human being.

### **Corpsebloom**

The cities which fell victim to the Corpsebloom epidemic were abandoned and never cleansed of corpsebloom or the hosts. While the first hosts themselves rotted away or starved in the century following the end of the war, animals and hapless humans occasionally wander in only to breathe in the spores long enough to become infected. Many that fall asleep in the ruins of these buildings often never wake as themselves.

* This has led to the belief that the cities are haunted
* Infected mice and escaped boars often get infected while seeking shelter
* Goran incursions sometimes take refuge in these abandoned city states only to never leave

### **Rogue Biomorphs**

Some of the City states before the great war supported various Bio temples as a part of their industry and one of the only multinational projects the Ashed confederacy ever worked in unison on. These temples at the start of the great war had their research and research subjects moved within the city walls before the collapse, after which the subjects were unintentionally freed and still reside within the city. Many of these creatures are incredibly dangerous.

### **Ashed retaliation**

The Ashed rarely defend anything outside of their immediate borders, however they make an exception for the dead city states when they are threatened with settlement from Goran or Tallet, occasionally pushing out Unclaimed from these structures.

The purpose behind this is stated so that they may one day reclaim their lost territory once their population grows large enough, however due to the slow rate it seems that day is far off.

* Some cities without corpsebloom will post a few guards to send word back if an invasion is coming so they may garrison the structure.

### **Rae Woods**

In the wake of the Great Immortal War following the conquest of some distant Ashed states the Goran knew they would be unable to hold territory so far from homeland and supplies. As a response particularly resistant Ashed states that were destroyed had Rae Woods planted within the cityscape. The tangling vines and poisonous mosses did quite well within tight industrious Ashed ruins.