Post by The Rising Dragon on Sept 30, 2009 23:15:53 GMT -5
Thebas, the Mega Necropolis
Thebas is an ancient city, dark and looming in the vast desert of Kemei. It’s high walls, topped with spikes, and even much higher towers rise up from the sands. It is the city of the dead, the Mega Necropolis of Ymaggion.
Thebas is build in a style quite similar to those of the grand cities of ancient cities that had been in the jungles before the Wood Temple's destruction, although the rocks used to build its buildings is much darker, and its walls are blackened through the taint of undeath and negative energy. At its large gates, there are some salesmen who trade special bands for valuable items. The special bands they hand out protect the wearer from the taint of undeath and the negative energy lingering in the air. Otherwise, they would be drained of their very own life energy within an hour. The salesmen have cleverly protected themselves from theft, because the bands need to be activated first, and only they know how.
The city has many areas, some possessing a more ‘open’ feel, as if you were walking in a park. The air seems less pressing in these places, too, as if the taint of undeath is slightly weaker. However, one should not be fooled by these places, for they are inhabited by spirits, some of them malevolent, others indifferent about those passing by. Most of them are tree spirits, dryads, or tainted elementals.
Part of the city is made up of ‘ghettos’, where the buildings are close to one another and daylight comes in harder. The areas are largely inhabited by zombies and lesser mummies, most of them – especially among the latter – being unintelligent ones. Zombies of all kinds can be found, and though most are still humanoid as always there are also quite a few giant zombies and some minotaur zombies too, as well as a fairly large amount of rat zombies living in packs, or domestic animals with rabies.
If one goes deeper into the city, they will notice that the area feels slightly more eerie, although the city will start to look cleaner. Near the heart of the city are the barracks of skeleton and bone warriors, the buildings themselves often partially made out of the skeletons of long-deceased creatures of huge proportions. The bone warriors recognize those who possess great physical strength, and often challenge those who come to the city heart out of boredom, allowing them entrance into the barracks if they manage to defeat five of them, often all at once.
Beyond the barracks is another wall, the inner city wall against which the barracks are attached to. This wall surrounds the heart of the city which is off-limits to the common folk. It’s not like they would want to go in there anyway, because the heart of the city is the home of clans of vampire nobles as well as the Lich Count and his sorcerers. The buildings much resemble grand estates and palaces, their insides decorated with expensive carpets on the floor and the walls, paintings, statues and busts.
The Lich Count’s palace-fortress forms the heart of the city, and it is a terrifying and yet captivating sight to behold. It is undoubtedly one of the largest buildings in the city, and grander than any other, the houses of the nobles included. However, it also very much is like a fortress, with its halls and walls lined with bone warriors. In fact, it is rumored that the basements of the palace-fortress are filled to the brim with corpse creatures, ready to assault any who enter, to defend whatever the Lich Count could be holding down there to their second death.
What is also a defining feature of Thebas is its extensive network of sewers that runs through all of the city. Though few of Thebas’ surface-dwelling inhabitants ever go down, it is patrolled daily by bone warriors, looking for anything unusual. Things that they don’t find unusual – which are the things that live down there, quite frankly – include such things as the mutated sewer elves, dire rats, undead vermin and mutated horrors of all sorts. One of the kinds of creatures you definitely wouldn't want to run into, of course, would be the kind that consist largely of many large, fang- and hook-tipped tentacles.
Bestiary:
Dwarf
Elf
Human
Komola
Lich
Mutargato
Necromental
Necropolitan
Orc
Skeleton
Vampire
Thebas is an ancient city, dark and looming in the vast desert of Kemei. It’s high walls, topped with spikes, and even much higher towers rise up from the sands. It is the city of the dead, the Mega Necropolis of Ymaggion.
Thebas is build in a style quite similar to those of the grand cities of ancient cities that had been in the jungles before the Wood Temple's destruction, although the rocks used to build its buildings is much darker, and its walls are blackened through the taint of undeath and negative energy. At its large gates, there are some salesmen who trade special bands for valuable items. The special bands they hand out protect the wearer from the taint of undeath and the negative energy lingering in the air. Otherwise, they would be drained of their very own life energy within an hour. The salesmen have cleverly protected themselves from theft, because the bands need to be activated first, and only they know how.
The city has many areas, some possessing a more ‘open’ feel, as if you were walking in a park. The air seems less pressing in these places, too, as if the taint of undeath is slightly weaker. However, one should not be fooled by these places, for they are inhabited by spirits, some of them malevolent, others indifferent about those passing by. Most of them are tree spirits, dryads, or tainted elementals.
Part of the city is made up of ‘ghettos’, where the buildings are close to one another and daylight comes in harder. The areas are largely inhabited by zombies and lesser mummies, most of them – especially among the latter – being unintelligent ones. Zombies of all kinds can be found, and though most are still humanoid as always there are also quite a few giant zombies and some minotaur zombies too, as well as a fairly large amount of rat zombies living in packs, or domestic animals with rabies.
If one goes deeper into the city, they will notice that the area feels slightly more eerie, although the city will start to look cleaner. Near the heart of the city are the barracks of skeleton and bone warriors, the buildings themselves often partially made out of the skeletons of long-deceased creatures of huge proportions. The bone warriors recognize those who possess great physical strength, and often challenge those who come to the city heart out of boredom, allowing them entrance into the barracks if they manage to defeat five of them, often all at once.
Beyond the barracks is another wall, the inner city wall against which the barracks are attached to. This wall surrounds the heart of the city which is off-limits to the common folk. It’s not like they would want to go in there anyway, because the heart of the city is the home of clans of vampire nobles as well as the Lich Count and his sorcerers. The buildings much resemble grand estates and palaces, their insides decorated with expensive carpets on the floor and the walls, paintings, statues and busts.
The Lich Count’s palace-fortress forms the heart of the city, and it is a terrifying and yet captivating sight to behold. It is undoubtedly one of the largest buildings in the city, and grander than any other, the houses of the nobles included. However, it also very much is like a fortress, with its halls and walls lined with bone warriors. In fact, it is rumored that the basements of the palace-fortress are filled to the brim with corpse creatures, ready to assault any who enter, to defend whatever the Lich Count could be holding down there to their second death.
What is also a defining feature of Thebas is its extensive network of sewers that runs through all of the city. Though few of Thebas’ surface-dwelling inhabitants ever go down, it is patrolled daily by bone warriors, looking for anything unusual. Things that they don’t find unusual – which are the things that live down there, quite frankly – include such things as the mutated sewer elves, dire rats, undead vermin and mutated horrors of all sorts. One of the kinds of creatures you definitely wouldn't want to run into, of course, would be the kind that consist largely of many large, fang- and hook-tipped tentacles.
Bestiary:
Dwarf
Elf
Human
Komola
Lich
Mutargato
Necromental
Necropolitan
Orc
Skeleton
Vampire