Merrai

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* Map

Merrai is a sunken city deep within the waters of the Cobalt Sea.

## Description

Merrai served as a research centre for the Guilds of the Velvet Rose and Silver Lotus for their investigations into a Legacy of Distant Reverie, hoping to use it to provide training opportunities for wizards in an artificial and arcane environment, allowing for simulations, trials and other experiences to be created with a high fidelity. This research facility made up most of the land mass, with other areas dedicated to a populace of commonfolk serving in more mundane roles, as well as a church to Veth.

It was discovered during an expedition to the city in 7WD, Jas-Greencrown that the city's arcane suspension into the air had been tampered with following an assault by denizens of the Far Realm seeking to claim the artifact for themselves, led by Baron Eordemos Lightvale.

## History

### Completed by Bren

Aspirations of flight have no doubt existed since the creation of the Principal Races, save those moulded from snow by Aita for Taranis, for those of Aarakocran heritage have already achieved such latent desires. While arcane means can facilitate flight for a time, many spellcasters would prefer not to have their concentration dedicated to such things, and use of magical items is a limiting process, granting only such abilities to the individual. Thus so, plans to raise areas of scenery and land alike have been present within the planning of many of the Ten Guilds forwards plans. Sponsorships were touted by many of the Realms, but none more illustrous or generous than those offered by the Duchy of Rhous, Veth's chosen amongst the Sixteen Duchies of Tynd, who offered an undisclosed sum to the Guild of the Silver Lotus - known for their talent with the School of Transmutation, and the Guild of the Velvet Rose - often since considered to be a ceremonial gesture, given the Velvet Rose's long-standing relationship with the Duchies.

Duke Jannick Ashlance worked closely with representatives from both of the Guilds, pledging initially a trio of constructions - a settlement to house the martial and civilian population alike stationed upon it, a mobile research hub for the Guilds to operate within and further their experiments and a temple dedicated to Veth, God of the Winds, Waves and Travel, a fitting tribute upon a prominent and bold declaration of the power of the deity. Construction of these started in 716AG and was completed within the year, building direction upon Mertal Peninsula, an outcropping of land a dozen miles south of Castle Washguard. The subsequent necessary rituals underwent a series of rigorous tests before on a crisp morning in Halla-Greencrown 717AG, just two days before the festival of Wanderer's Rest was due to be celebrated, the lands were lifted aloft. As well as several high-ranking members of the Ten Guilds, numerous nobles also occupied the halls, along with two hundred commonfolk chosen by lot to be aboard, helping to tend to the more mundane demands of the establishment.

Unlike previous smaller scale experiments into the creation of stationary earthmotes situated but a few feet from the ground, Merrai ascended to a height of nearly a mile and had been enchanted as such that its directional movement could be controlled via an arcane device referred colloquially to most as simply the "City's Wheel". Nonetheless, the travel was wistful and slow, not capable of matching even the passage of the clouds through the skies and so the maiden voyage of simply crossing the Cobalt Sea south of Ester Bay was anticipated to take a matter of weeks and months. Declaring the process a success, the Duchy of Rhous returned to relative normality as the mote disappeared skyward, with more and more clamouring to be able to enjoy a trip aboard the wandering city upon its return.

It has not yet been established exactly why Merrai fell from the sky during the night on the 29th day of Glede-Amberlight 717AG, though a few facts are known for certain. No distress call, magical or otherwise was sent to the Duchy or elsewhere in the time leading up to the initial rapid descent, implying that the change in aerial bouyancy was a rapid and unexpected one. Those few that survived, primarily via use of *Teleportation* spells, reports that there was no disruption to the city that they were aware of it, no obvious wanton destruction, assault or disruption - save for the increasing angulation of the city into a pitchdive into the waters. Despite attempts to cover up such a loss, news of the failings of Merrai quickly spread throughout the Duchies of Tynd and the wider Realms - and with it came rampant speculation on what may have occurred.

Many point fingers at the research being completed by the Guilds upon the island as the likely culprit. Particular secrecy had shrouded the purpose of the research facilities on the island and given its security by nature of isolation, some speculate that magical enchantments and manipulations unbefitting of being performed around prying eyes may have been performed. Reports state that in the final days before Merrai was lifted into the sky, nearly three hundred crates and boxes officially recorded in ledgers as simply mundane food and drink items were carried aboard by armed porters clad in plate, despite previous reports that the city was already laden with provisions sufficient for near a year aloft. Conversely, others point to divine intervention, for accounts that escaped the crash suggest that the Temple was rarely visited by many of the residents, and those that did found themselves in the care of an aloof and drunkard priest that mumbled through prayers and his sermons without vigour. Rodven Rogasu, a magewright that claims to have survived the initial impact with the waters and was subsequently rescued by fisherfolk reports that the last thing he saw was the commonfolk corralling into the Temple, pleading for forgiveness for their wrongdoing. Other tales come from individuals that claim to have witnessed the crash for themselves, though few correlate with the commonly-accepted timeframe of the descent. Reports talk of a water spout rising from the ocean floor, an attack by a band of red dragonriders and the approach of other earthmotes shrouded in cloud and storm but all accounts are riddled with vaguities and blatant irraccuracies and so have been largely disregarded.

Regardless, the fate of Merrai and its residents has remains ever present in the minds of the Realms since, with later expeditions findings the majority of the city has sunk deep into Darkgrave Trench, a chasm reported to extend in the depths of the earth beneath, effectively lost to the world. It is therefore of little surprise that few have attempted to replicate such a feat since, until the Astedian Empire itself found a novel way to reduce the risk of a repeated disaster. In 1053AG, the tail end of Admiral Asher Sung's Fourth Expedition into the Elemental Plane of Air, the floating islands of Solace Islet were brought through into the Material Plane and subsequently renovated via means of an army of Gearheart constructors - with it the city of Aviacrest came to be, tethered to the world via the Great Conduit arcing from the peak of Jolberry Bluff.