Chemer

### Chemer, the City of Ashes, the Well of Bones

The sand-scrubbed, white walls of Chemer are home to the famous Cactus
Gardens and the Argent Moon Collegia and Museum. Built within the ancient
ring of an eroded crater, the city has been depopulated and repopulated
countless times over several millennia. It is the oldest continuously
inhabited settlement in modern times. Approximately fifteen feet tall and
built along the rim of the crater, the walls of Chemer have served to
protect the city for five centuries. Every three hundred feet, a fortified
turret houses bowmen and sentries, providing excellent defenses for the
settlement below. Within the valley of the crater, sun- bleached stone
buildings of all shapes and sizes circle outward from a tall, rounded dome
in the middle of the town.

```
  "Constructed on the upper rim of an immense crater, the bleached walls
  of Chemer rise high above the rooftops, emphasizing the stark buildings
  housed in the shadows of the basin- the Well of Bones."
                                    - Krahtes, *A Scholar's History*

```

Due to the sun and the desert's heavy scouring influence on the city, new
colors are quickly bleached off any buildings, wooden or stone, leaving
ash-gray or bone-white structures. This corrosive effect gives the town an
extremely uniformed appearance from the distance. Many current scholars
believe that the city's pale buildings gleaming within the crater created
the inspiration for the settlement's nicknames of the City of Ashes or the
Well of Bones. Ancient historians, however, claim that Chemer was the site
of a terrible and bloody genocide that occurred several millennia ago
during a war which lasted for 101 years.

```
  "Hark! The light!
   Which city gleams so brightly
   Within the well of shadows?
   Tis none other than the City of Ashes,
   My beloved Chemer."
                                     - Minna, "City of Ashes"

```

File:Chemer-sketch.jpg
A radical group of historians claims that over four thousand years ago,
Chemer was a green city built in a grove of thick forests in a valley that
was once home to a race of beings known as terik-moi, or in common, elves.
For two thousand years before the great earthquakes that re-shaped the
entire continent, the terik-moi built gorgeous wooden and stone buildings
deep within an ancient forest and celebrated a culture that dwelt on
knowledge and art. They lived in the southwestern tip of an immense
continent called the Sahblen Plate by geographical scholars. Approximately
one thousand years into their civilization, the terik-moi closed their
beautiful, thriving city to the rest of the world. The cause of the
subsequent war is unclear. Some records say that the isolation warped the
minds of the terik-moi, turning them into murderous, intolerant people who
released their worst citizens into the world to ravage, maim, and conquer
other civilizations in the name of their ancestors. In desperation, other
established cities gathered their forces and marched on the depraved,
isolated settlement and destroyed it in the name of self-preservation.
Other historians have uncovered a completely different story, one in which
the terik-moi sadly closed themselves off from a world that was ever more
ruthless, deadly, and uncaring. In an effort to preserve their culture, the
elves isolated themselves completely. Rumors, however, circulated in the
outside world that the terik-moi closed their gates in order to hoard a
"wondrous and mystical treasure" within their walls. Jealousy and
resentment grew in various other cultures and civilizations throughout the
world, and the elves were brutally attacked for their rumored wealth.

Regardless of the cause of the conflict, the result was the complete
annihilation of an entire race in a war that lasted over 100 years. The
city was in complete ruins for centuries, populated only by wild creatures
and desperate adventurers. When the Sundering occurred and the gods split
the land, the ocean separated the ancient ruins from the rest of the known
world, and the sands crept through the forest, leaving dunes and burying
cities in its path. The people who had fled south to escape the mass
destruction were trapped on an island, albeit a large one, that was slowly
turning into a desert under the heat of an unforgiving sun.

Those who managed to live through the Sundering either died off or banded
together in an effort to survive the massive climate change. They housed
themselves the ancient ruins, sheltered in the crater, and rebuilt the old
structures, reinforcing them with stone found in nearby quarries. Though
they painted the buildings with bold colors, this practice soon stopped
since the sun was bleaching away the pigment in less than a year. What did
not disappear in the heat was scoured off by the swirling sands. Most
people believe Chemer derives its nicknames from the drab nature of its
architecture, but others claim that its tragic and deadly history gave it
the dour appellation of City of Ashes or the Well of Bones. Chemer remained
a small haven in a hostile environment for centuries until the appearance
of a canis named Terzt Grrt.

Terzt Grrt was born to a mange-infested litter of pups in one of the inner
buildings of Chemer. Left to roam on his own at a young age as the alpha
male of his litter mates, Terzt Grrt learned every inch of the chaotic city in
the struggle for his life as well as the survival of his brothers and
sisters. As he watched his siblings die off to the dangers of the wild
settlement, his analytical mind began to dissect the remaining structures in
the ancient ruins, and his dynamic personality brought people to his cause.
Terzt Grrt became the driving force in rebuilding Chemer to surpass all of
its former glory. Though he was never named Chancellor of Chemer, he was
the first person to serve in that capacity.

The Chancellor of Chemer is chosen every twelve years by the sworn citizens of
the city, and he, in turn, chooses seven other loyal citizens to serve with him
for the duration of his term. Responsible for arranging for the defense as
well as the civic services of the town, the Chancellor and crew often
enact public policies as well as promote civic duties within the borders.