The Lament

The Lament is a desert region in western Archaea with a long and troubled history. Until recently, Lazar was the only populated city in this region, peopled by the Lazarene and ruled by the Nine Synods of the Church of the Immaculate Youth. The rest of the desert was peopled by the human Nomads, who remained independent from the Church, as well as the Sand Giant clans.

More recently, the city of Lazar has been sacked by the machinations of the god Ignotean, who invested his mind and energy within the corporeal form of The Youth. Ignotean has conquered the entire region using a mixed horde of daemons and the undead, using his immense magical power to dramatically change the landscape.

Geography
The Lament's geography is a study of the disasters it has suffered. It is a desert made of pulverized glass, with very little biodiversity. To the east it is bordered by the Whitespine Mountains, a tall and forbidding range with very few accessible passes. To the north and west it runs into the Adwenian Sea, which is made nearly impassable by roving sea serpents and other such monsters of the deep. To the south, it encompasses the Dragon's Gullet, a bay made up of a deep, flat oceanic shelf and popular breeding ground for oceanic megaliths and monstrosities.

The Northern Lament
The Northern reaches of the Lament are dominated by the Glasslands, regions of open dunes formed by the breaking down of the fused glass left behind by the fiery Desolation 1,000 years ago. These areas are almost entirely barren, marked by fine, pallid sand combed into ridges by the gusting winds coming off of the Adwenian Sea. The glasslands are broken only by formations of natural gray stone, such as spires, ridges, and ravines.

The Glasslands are divided into two subregions by one such rock formation, known as The Underbite. It is an imposing ridgeline of rock some 600 ft tall, which runs parallel to the Magi's Teeth on the Northwestern coast. The Magi's Teeth are a short mountain range which shelters the inland Lazarene Sea, on the banks of which lie both Lazar and the ruins of Ankh-Khasut.

Below the glasslands lie the northern reaches of the Badlands, the only areas in the desert where some natural flora and fauna have managed to take root. These are dominated mostly by scrub brush and smaller, burrowing mammals.

The Southern Lament
The Southern Lament is markedly more geographically diverse than the North. It is dominated mostly by the Western and Eastern Badlands, which cover about a third of the total area. At the extreme southern end, the badlands give way to a low range of sandstone mountains culminating in the Dragon's Tail, a long and stony peninsula which forms the western border of the Dragon's Gullet. It is among these southern peaks that the black fortress of Arkhen overlooks the Lament. Its name simply meaning "sorcery," this fortress is marked by an architecture predating the age of Arkhenatelan, its stones raised before the human occupation of the region.

History
The recorded history of the Lament stretches back further than any other region on Archaea. Though much was lost in the Great Desolation, there were still records and fragments of records of ancient times kept by the priests and librarians of Lazar.

Ancient History
Before the Great Desolation occurred 1,000 years ago, The Lament was a lush green land of rolling hills and forests, ruled by a tribune of Sorcerer Kings who used the fruits of their lore to create a golden age for the race of Man. For millennia they architected an existence free of pain and struggle--all of life's ails prevented with magic. Most surviving records of this time were tightly restricted by the Church of the Immaculate Youth, but we are told that their hunger for knowledge was, in the last, their undoing. In their hubris, the sorcerer kings Earlichtun, Bazkabar, Kelindus, Nedermander, Ossimagus, Versifer, Golliad, Imoleth, and Ahemat were seduced and destroyed by powers from outside the mortal plane, opening portals through which these fiends could visit horror upon the realm. And it was through the sorcerer kings' agency that the Great Desolation was brought to pass--a cataclysm of hellfire which blasted the entire region to glass and churned the earth to grind it all to dust. All but the city of Lazar, protected by the divine sacrifice of The Youth.

After the Desolation
The Youth lay insensate, the child's mighty spirit straining to keep the portal wounds sealed. He would remain thus, in a holy trance, for the next thousand years. Meanwhile the nine corrupted Sorcerer Kings gathered what they could of the daemon hordes who made it onto the Mortal Plane and marshalled their new armies to carve out kingdoms in the ashes left of their Golden Age. It was not long before they began to jockey for power amongst themselves, each striving for pre-eminence over the others. Rather than working in unison to crush the benighted city, the magi undercut the efforts of their rivals to their own detriment.

The Crusades
As each of the Sorcerer Kings tried to conquer the others, the Lazarene gathered their numbers. Led by the Blades, holy knights of the Church, the City of Lazar mounted a crusade to cleanse and reclaim the desert once and for all. Led by a hero bearing the sorcerous blade Nakish, the army of Light marched upon each stronghold in turn, toppling the dark and traitorous Kings. Until at last they reached the dark lord Ahemat, greatest of the Sorcerer Kings, ensconced among the southern mountains in the black fortress of Arkhen. It was there that the combined might of the living was completely surrounded by the forces of the Outer Dark--all according to Ahemat's designs. Each of the Crusading Army's victories had been carefully orchestrated, with Ahemat using his black arts to weaken the other Kings as the Crusaders approached, causing their undead troops to rebel and abandon their defenses. As each of his rivals fell, the Sorcerer gathered their remaining forces into his own, slowly designing and building up his final ambush. All seemed lost. The bearer of Nakish, whose name is lost to time, staked all on a final gambit. With Ahemat's eyes on the army outside, the warrior led a picked group of soldiers up into the city through its catacombs. He stormed the throne room, where Ahemat scried upon the battle through mirrors of crystal. The ancient hero managed to overcome the Sorcerer King in single combat, at the cost of his own life. His lifeless body was dragged from the city of Arkhen by his three sisters, the only surviving members of the troop he entered with. They bore him back to Lazar, rallying what they could of the shattered Crusading Army as they went. Lazar would never regain the strength they had during the crusades.

The Modern Era
In the years after the Crusades, the ecclesiarchy of the Church waxed in power, even as the City of Lazar itself stagnated. With no concrete threat to face, and little access to trade or agriculture, the population struggled to remain steady--especially as groups dissatisfied with Church rule began to leave The Lament for greener pastures. The Blades became more of a pest control force, patrolling the desert to cut down the numbers of roving daemon bands. The Church spread its control into every aspect of city life, enacting strict morality laws and eventually banning all forms of sorcery and magic not sourced by the Divine. In very recent years, after the latest Lizard War, the Church made a call to begin a new Crusade in the manner of the old, looking to cleanse the desert at long last. Though mercenary companies and soldiers of fortune flooded the desert in droves, the Lazarene made no move to march or organize their campaign. The Crusading Army swelled outside the city walls, forming great, sprawling camps and draining city resources. With no action in sight, the situation seemed to be building to a breaking point. As the situation soured, the morale of the Army became assailed by a plague of troubled dreams eating away at the soldiers in the dark hours.

The New Desolation
All became clear in a flash of unholy light. Through deceit, treachery, and the intervention of mortal hands the dark god Ignotean managed to possess the mortal form of The Youth--one of the only beings on Archaea capable of channeling an entity of such magnitude. With the portals reopened and the ability to use his powers upon the mortal plane, Ignotean blacked out the sun and called up the ruins of ancient, glassed-over cities from the depths of the desert, the desert sands turning obsidian in color. Bodies of long dead Arkhenati shambled forth to conquer the living, even as the mercenary army outside Lazar--their vulnerable minds under Ignotean's thrall--turned on its inhabitants, scaling the walls and setting fire to the city in an ensorcelled daze. They weren't alone in their betrayal. A corrupt faction had been growing amongst the Blades for years leading up to this moment, a dark cult amongst the ranks beholden only to themselves. They had thus far escaped notice by the ecclesiarchy by disguising their motives behind court politics and bureaucratic infighting. These Black-Veil Blades showed their true colors the moment Ignotean sprung his trap--they turned upon their brothers and sisters in arms, cutting down the holy warriors one by one.

It was a complete and utter rout, with a bare few survivors managing to escape by sea. After the Sacking of Lazar, Ignotean turned his forces outward, only to be met by something completely improbable. The Sand Giant tribes united in purpose, leading a massive stampede of desert wurms into the bulk of the daemonic army. The outcome of this clash has not been seen by the outside world, but the armies of Ignotean seem to have been delayed from spilling forth over the mountains.

All else is shrouded in perpetual night, the new Lament a place of black sands and unquiet dead. The sun never rose again after Ignotean plucked it from the sky, starving the meager desert fauna and freeing dark spirits to wander unhindered.

Settlements

 * Lazar - A great city, inhabited by humans since ancient times. Once a stronghold of sorcerers, it is the lone surviving city of an ancient, region-wide Desolation brought on by misuse of the magic arts. After the land was turned to desert, the city foreswore all forms of meddling in sorcery, instead placing its faith in the Divine. For 1,000 years it held the Shrine of the Youth, where a young boy lay magically suspended in animation, his psychic presence completely bent upon holding shut the portals ripped into reality by the ancient Sorcerer Kings. The Church of the Immaculate Youth formed around him, eventually taking over governance of the city itself.
 * Nazalbur - Ruined. A great stone pyramid set into the mountainous ridge of The Underbite. In ancient times, CCI05032019.jpgbur served as a central fortress for the region, keeping watch on the Whitespine mountains for barbarian invaders. As the power of the Sorcerer-Kings waxed to fullness, none dared invade the region for fear of its might. The fortress slowly became a waypoint for trade and travel coming down from the mountains. Ruined in the Desolation, it has become infested with demons in the years since and resisted all attempts to cleanse it.
 * Menephos-by-the-Sea - Ruined. Also known simply as Menephos, it was called Menekh-at-Aphos in ancient times. It was once a port city even greater than Lazar, the center for of commerce for the whole region. It has lain empty for innumerable years, until a group of modern Nomads chose to cleanse and occupy it. The timely placement of a Sun Stone upon its altar was able to save the settlement from the brunt of the New Desolation.


 * Ankh-Khasut - Ruined. Once a great temple city of the region, Ankh-Khasut was famed for its Nine Altars of Immortal Flame. The Nine Flames died during the Great Desolation, and it was prophesied that they would never be relit until the ending of the next Age. It has served as a base of operations from which Ignotean gathered power, manipulating mortals through the Dream-World in order to pave the way for his investiture.

Civilizations

 * The Lazarene - Last scions of the ancient Sorcerer Kingdoms, this human civilization is centered around the Church of the Immaculate Blades.jpg--a religious organization founded on the miraculous powers of a boy from ancient times.The Church held all arcane magic to be anathema and banned its use from all lands under their control. Though the city's economy largely depended on maritime trade, the Church's dogmatic orthodoxy caused friction with many of their trading partners, and discouraged outsiders from migrating or visiting. In the time since the Great Desolation, Lazarene culture has been slowly stagnating, strangled by a supremely hostile environment and rigid social controls. The Blades, holy knights of the church, largely concern themselves with rooting out and eradicating the daemons which still plague the lands, as well as enforcing the ban on magery. In recent years, the City placed a call to raise a New Crusade, heeded by thousands of mercenary veterans from the Lizard War. The army sat outside the walls, unused, until Ignotean was able to spring his trap and Invest himself in The Youth's physical form and beginning the Sacking of Lazar. Though a group of refugees were spotted escaping with a ragged fleet from the harbor, it is generally accepted that the Sacking spelled an end to the Lazarene as a culture.
 * CCI05062019.jpgThe Nomads - The nomads were originally formed by a large group of Lazarene malcontents who chafed at the rule of the church, and sought to make a living outside the walls of Lazar. Their culture was radically changed by the challenge of living in the elements. In order to evade the roving daemons, the nomads were forced to live a traveling life--never settling in one place for long. Their tents and temporary structures are crafted to blend into the surrounding ecology, and made with such mastery that a person could walk within 5 feet without noticing. In order to defend against daemonic scrying, they have developed an antire culture of anonymity. Every nomad wears a near-identical suit of camouflage, with a carven face mask depicting a human at the uttermost depths of sorrow. They do not speak aloud, instead using a language made entirely of hand-signals, so that they cannot be differentiated by voice. Nor do they refer to one another by name, or any other unique identifier. They spend most of their time alternately hunting and fleeing from daemons, foraging the badlands, and plundering ruins. They make some small trade with mountain villages of The Whitespines, the Sand Giant tribes, and the Lazarene. In recent years, a group of nomads attempted to cleanse and fortify the ruins of Menephos, citing increased numbers of daemons and undead driving them from the open desert. With some outside aid, the group was able to restore one of the lost Sun Stones to the altar at Menephos, restoring some of the ancient magic which warded the city. It is unknown how this group fared during the New Desolation.
 * The Sand Giants - A truly unique culture, the Sand Giants are descended from Mountain Giants pushed out of BUCKNIFE.jpg Whitespines by Dwarven resistance in the years following the Great Desolation. They adapted to the challenges of desert living in a truly ingenious fashion: they combined rudimentary magics and rudimentary engineering to create flame-powered sleighs capable of speeding across the dunes faster than any daemon can chase. Their culture soon developed to focus entirely on this new method of travel, dividing up into small tribal units alternately called "clans," "gangs," or "clubs" with a fierce sense of competition. These gangs compete with one another in games of skill, either racing or making combat with each other in struggles for dominance. The greatest of these "games" is the Great Wurm Hunt, where a gang shows their skill by taking down one of the colossal Sand Wurms which burrow beneath the desert, a nigh-impossible feat. Upon the advent of the New Desolation, all of the Sand Giant clans gathered in the eastern Glasslands, where they initiated the last and greatest Hunt of all. Knowing that the Desolation spelled the end for their wayfaring lifestyle, and unwilling to leave the desert behind, the tribes collectively summoned an enormous number of Sand Wurms which they then whipped up into a stampede and herded westward into the desert, striking at the heart of Ignotean's power. It is unknown what happened to them there.

Notable NPCs

 * Ziah - A Knight of the Blades, current bearer of Nakish, follower of the Third Synod. She has gathered a group ofZiah.jpgene refugees and escaped to the sea. Permanently maimed at the hands of Wykim Lychwood.
 * Elder Keffir Threepwood - Elder of the Third Synod, and patron of Ziah. He was looking into the Black Veil Cabal when the New Desolation occurred.
 * The Lost Prince - An ancient, semi-divine spirit consumed by a mournful madness. Arranged for the Sun Stone to return to Menephos, just barely before the New Desolation occurred.
 * Bucknife - Last surviving member of Team Worm-Bait, gave a ride to a few hitch-hikers fleeing the New Desolation. Was amongst the Tribes who whipped up the Sand Wurm stampede in the wake of the Desolation.