Augsdale

Augsdale (7 lords)

In the midst of the Stori rise to power, a wizard grew obsessed with seeking the Ushabti keys to death. According to some legends they had found ways to tie their life forces to a body possibly making oneself immune to death. This was the fabled Dal Sookral, the Undying Emperor, lover of Urgoatha, and the one who opened the whispering way. His acolytes spread and put the continent of Ushab, and possibly the world at risk. Heroes of another age held him back and eventually destroyed him, but not before he had spread his foul teaching to different corners of the Airth. One of his youngest acolytes, a necromancer by the name of Elzoric, as his masters cult was being plunged into the desert, set sail for a new continent. There he found a desolate land, killed his followers, and raised them up again to be his undead army. He bought and sold people, because he still desired mortal worship, just as his master before him. And in order to provide a defence against would be heroes and monster killers, he allied with nearby rivals, assisting them in defence, but maintaining an evil grip on his lands. Cities

and trade developed, but largely it was under the despotic perception of the Dark Lord of Augsdale. Most churches were disbanded when established, except for those churches to Urgoatha and Pharasma. Pharasma as the only alternative to the personal diety of the ruler of the lard, because the vessel of everyone’s hopes and needs, including those of the sentient undead.

During the Slaver war, Elzoric stretched himself too far, and one of his early martyrs, a priestess to Pharasma, who had been imprisoned as a ghost, led a revolution that killed him, and broke his hold on the many living and undead servants he had. This changed Augsdale int a very different dominion. The Cult of the whispering way, adapted as well usurping Urgoatha and replacing it with Pharasma, the goddess at the threshhold of life and death. The undead would be honored provided they were not hostile, and the living would be protected. The obelisks and monuments built by the dead as testaments to Elzoric were turned into residents and monuments to the escaped victims of his powers.

To this day the dominion of Augsdale’s skyline looks similar to the days of old, but it carries a stranger

happier feel. There are undead, who typically avoid the daylight and visibility, but all know they are there. Graves and tombs are honored, and most cities carry with them the smells of insense and flowers constantly. Grave robbing is a capital crime, and those who breach these laws tend to be hunted by Ghoul Hounds. Even on clear days,

incense and fog clings to cities.

Elections are especially strange to outsiders who are always allowed to join, but rarely want to. The Lords in Augsdale are elected every 4 years, on the darkest month of the year, and involves a week long celebration, of feasting, music and revelry. Children are not allowed to attend, but the dead are, though many are masked or disguised (as are most people). At the end of the festivities, Lord candidates are elected based on the audience’s vocal response to their name, so it entails a would be Lord to throw the most extravagant parties and bribe the citizens of Augsberg with the best gifts. The priestess of pharasma, judges the audience and chooses the 7 Lords with the most active audiences. Technically there are no rules against one of the undead being elected, but this almost never happens for pragmatic reasons.

The Lord Governor goes through the same process, though invariably it gets awarded to one of the descendants of the Lady of Beyrun, the ghost who led the rebellion. Other people are allowed to run, but it has never been awarded to any of them.

Features: cosmopolitan, theocratic, egalitarian, superstitious

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