Shadowvale

Ruling House: Ascalon

Lord: Focalor Ascalon

Keep: Dusk Watch

Coat of Arms: A white crescent moon in a black starry field.

Maxim: *He Who Conquers Endures*

At night, which comes especially early in Shadowvale, a procession can be heard. Creaky viols, lutes, and drums create ominous and otherworldly melodies that echo down the dimly flickering cobblestone streets. High collared and frocked men and women, still awake and conducting business, drop small offerings of salt in the rusted metal bucket of the collector in the rear of the musicians, encouraging them to keep playing the notes believed to keep the evils of the dark at bay.  One after the other, the light of the lanterns that line the streets is extinguished.

The smallest of Seravia’s seven provinces, Shadowvale is a city built into a vast cliffside of the mountains of Highcrown overlooking a narrow valley. Perched above hundreds of meticulously bored tunnels and caverns through the mountain like an enormous anthill, this city is the most well preserved of any in Seravia.  Many historic city locations were chosen specifically for their defensible position, but Shadowvale not only has its enviable site and tunnels known well only to the locals, it also has forces exceptionally skilled at night raiding and fighting.

While most other cities were razed in either the wars or the Calamity, Shadowvale of House Ascalon has maintained. They have ruled in their valley, in one form or another, for longer than anyone can remember. Count Focalor however, has only been in charge of Ascalon since the reign of King Karsus brought him back to Seravia. It is no secret that House Ascalon is tied up closely to the Church of Night, and the House supports Count Focalor in his efforts as a priest of Night. Count Focalor and House Ascalon do not take an active role in the managing of their lands, stating that “The land and its creatures bend to our will if we but let them tell us their needs.” Day to day management of the city and surrounding villages’ needs are primarily in the hands of the appointed magistrates, while Focalor focuses on nurturing the Church of Night through Seravia and beyond.

However, the city famously has been known by another title: The City of Lanterns, for it was historically always well lit and glowing from the light of hundreds of lanterns that seemed to be kept alight by magic.  The reality was that a flammable gas was run through pipes throughout the city which had a source deep in the mountains. Nowadays, these same lanterns are starting to flicker and fade, and only burn part-time. Whatever source has been powering them for all these many centuries is failing. This is likely related to the increasing number of cave-ins and collapses within the tunnels of the mountain which occur with great violence.  Many believe that when the Calamity hit so many years ago, the Highcrown mountains shifted and weakened the structural integrity of many things within and below them. It is as though whatever force which has been holding the incredibly old city together is starting to die.

The stone, brick, and earthen homes that form the modest commune of the people all sit below the gaze of the castle that still serves as home to the ruling family here. The Ascalon brood has held the keep in some form or fashion for countless generations. All have shut themselves up high above the middling homes of the countryside, looming over their domain like some great black-winged bird. They have kept the serene, isolated cliffside haven free from outside incursions and influence for as long as many can remember. The villagers beyond Shadowvale who work in the valley below have also always called the House Ascalon noble line master, tilling in their fields and terraces, tending to their stock, and hauling in bunches of the large, blue-green grapes whose juice is fermented into the heady wine for which their valley is well known. The wine is said to cause a sense of peace and relaxation, and records dating back thousands of years mention recipes and medicinal uses for this wine. Some believe that the production of this wine has been encouraged by vampiric Lords – for fear can sour blood, and wine promotes relaxation and langor, thus making one’s taste more palatable.

The region of Shadowvale, and the valleys below, sometimes seems as unchanging and frozen in time as their unbroken lineage of Lord masters. It has been described as a living monument, which can have dark implications. A monument is not itself alive, and stands more as a testament to memory. This area seems to have never lost its vampiric presence from thousands of years ago in old Rogalia, and one wonders if the people who have lived here for generations have this stasis ingrained into the fibers of their being. Are they just walking the same steps of the same dance over and over again?  Or, just like the changes in the seemingly unshakeable mountains, are they destined to someday break their pattern and slowly create something new? Perhaps a sign of the changes over the centuries is the fact that House Ascalon permits the largest number of monster hunters to reside in their domain of any other House in Seravia. Small numbers of priests of other religions seem to not face the same levels of persecution here as elsewhere, perhaps due to the divided attentions of the Count.

Whatever change may come must be seditious, secret, and slow, for this land is rumored to possibly even be the birthplace of vampires.  If this is true, then their blood, spawn, and essence is seeped into the foundations of every home and field.

Even when Seravia was Rogalia, and this region was in the hands of humans, vampires still would infiltrate the court of House Ascalon. Some even believe that House Ascalon has always had a close relationship with vampires. Given this, it may be a surprise that there is also a secret underbelly to the human community of Shadowvale. The Order of St. Balta has a long history of covertly undermining and sabotaging the vampiric courts. Named for Balta the Bold, a lady in waiting in the court of House Ascalon long, long ago before the world changed, she became aware of a vampire within the court and lead a group of hunters and priests to murder that vampire during the few hours of sunlight the region had. She was killed for committing the murder of a noble, but her defiant act of protection for the community inspired others, and while it is more dangerous than ever to be a secret member of this order and plot against the lords, it is not only the vampire Lords of Highcrown who know how to use terror tactics in the dark. If the taint of vampiric history is ingrained in the bones of these people, so too is a hunger. It would be wise of Lord Focalor Ascalon to not turn his sharp gaze from the City of Lanterns and the warrens below, for the night contains many teeth.