The Eternal Storm

"...The nodule was recovered from the region known as 'Merrigan's Field' approximately 50 miles south of Virdan's Folly. It was pulsating with a strange, yellow light. [...] We exposed two rabbits and three rats to its radiation for one week. One of the rabbits developed a third eye emerging from its forehead. The other one seemed unaffected, but later gave birth to a litter of tiny, tentacled monstrosities which were so horrible to look upon that several researchers fainted, and we incinerated them in our crematorium.
How the rats were affected is unknown - all we discovered was that they had apparently gnawed open the cages one night when no one was observing them. We found minor residues of acid on the bars, which explained how they could escape from the sturdy cages..."

- G. Finkelbloom, M. Jefferson: Modern Geology, 37 (1422), p. 174



Population: 2,415,970 (humans 62%, hobgoblins 13%, goblins 10%, elves 6%, gnomes 5%, dwarves 3%)
Government: None
Imports:
Exports: Rare minerals, elemental substances


The region where the Eternal Storm is now located used to be one of the most remote outposts of the Atalan Empire. To the wizards of the Empire, this made the region the perfect place to conduct some of their most dangerous magical experiments. This lasted until the year 510 NA, when a network of gates to the various elemental planes became unstable. Pure elemental matter broke free into the Material Plane and devastated the land in a diameter of dozens of miles. The unstable gates have remained open to this day, sometimes expanding, sometimes contracting, sometimes ejecting matter, and sometimes drawing matter into the elemental planes of air, water, fire, and earth.
Thanks to the dangerous nature of the area, civilized settlements are fairly infrequent and far from the heart of the storm - one never knows when the next storm front might break loose. Nevertheless, there are enough brave people here who are willing to gamble with their lives in the search for rare and valuable elemental substances, as well as outlaws and refugees from nearby regions who have nowhere else to go.

Industries

Life and Society

There are few permanent settlements in this region, and most of these can be found on its outer limits, where storm flares are rare and weak. Closer to the heart of the storm, there are a few nomadic tribes of goblins, and numerous temporary settlements of prospectors. These will operate for a few years and see brisk business, but sooner or later a storm flare will hit and destroy the community. Still, the high demand for the rare ores ensure that a new one will soon appear in its place, for the closer to the Stormheart the prospector operates, the better will be his chances of a rich find.
One exception to these are settlements maintained by powerful wizards, who use multiple wall of stone spells to create protective domes that protect their inhabitants from the elements. These wizards invariably demand high taxes and tariffs from all who live there or come here for business, but they are much safer than any other settlements out there.
Most prospectors work alone or in small groups, since the logistics of feeding large groups are challenging (anyone who can magically create food and water can make a fortune by providing for a group of prospectors). Upon arriving in a new area, they usually create a storm shelter first, a small, underground dwelling that (they hope) will protect them from minor storm surges. After this, they will systematically search the surrounding areas for surface deposits of promising ores and substances, and gather them until their provisions run out, when they will return to the nearest outpost of civilization to cash them in, buy new supplies, and spend the rest of their money on beer and other available over-priced amusements.
Of course, it doesn't always work out that way. Many prospectors have been caught in the open by a storm flare, killing them - or they reached their shelters, but either the flare was too intense for their shelter to withstand, or it lasted longer than their supplies (including their supply of air, in some cases). Sometimes prospectors dig up more ore than they can carry with them on their trip, intending to return and fetch it some time in the future. And sometimes they are killed by goblin nomads, bandits, or claim-jumpers. As a result, there are many hidden deposits of valuable ores hidden around the region, and many people make a living by plundering these instead of prospecting for new ores.

Government and Politics

Groups and Organisations

Religion

Important NPCs

Major Geographical Features

The Chaos Pits: This is the region immediately surrounding the Stormheart. Storm flares occur on a daily basis, and once the flare recedes, it often leaves a variety of noxious liquids behind which react strongly with their environment. As a result, the land here is covered with puddles, pits, and even small lakes filled with alchemical substances constantly interacting with each other. A few, strange creatures survive and even thrive here, but only the most suicidal or magically protected humans dare go here, despite the high prices offered for samples by alchemists from all over the Known Lands.
The Crystal Forest: When the Eternal Storm broke loose, a section of the forest of Turaveen was engulfed by it. When the storm flare receded, the entire forest had been turned into crystal - the trees, the animals, even the very earth were now made many-hued crystal.
However, this didn't mean that they had died. Rather, any beings that were alive before the transformation now continued life as crystal entities. Crystal animals ate crystal plants, crystal plants grew out of the crystal ground, and a few bands of unfortunate elves who had been caught in the storm now lived on by hunting the crystal animals and eating them. The elves of Turaveen recoiled in horror and avoided all contact with their cursed brethen, and the crystal elves, who were now unable to eat organic matter, likewise rarely left the Crystal Forest. This state of affairs continued for centuries, and though crystal animals and plants were considered to be an interesting curiosity in far-off lands (especially in the city of Mercytos, where crystal-growing has long been a well-established profession and where it was possible to keep some of the crystal entites alive away from their home), the forest was mostly left to its own devices.
However, in recent decades some of the forest's neighbors have noticed that the forest seems to grow beyond its original confines. Certain scholars who investigated these claims have discovered that some plants have appeared at the forest's borders who can seemingly transform ordinary earth and stone into crystal, thus expanding the size of this bizarre ecosystem. What this portends for the rest of the region remains to be seen.
Shieldwall Mountains: This short but towering mountain range is fairly close to the Stormheart, and it is constantly buffeted by elemental effects. Still, the side of the mountains that faces away from the Storm is somewhat protected from the worst elemental effects, and there are numerous groups that make their home in its cave systems, from orcish raiders to small dwarven communities that make a fortune growing mushrooms and selling them to the other settlements of the region.
Stormheart: The center of the Eternal Storm, where the elemental forces rage on continually. No human can live there without massive magical protection.

Important Towns and Cities

Guroth (Town, 16,376): Hardly more than a large military encampment, this town serves as a spearhead for the ambitions of the Hobgoblin Dominion in this region. The hobgoblin soldiers have started to harass many of the smaller settlements in the region, and many fear that it will be only a matter of time before most of them will be forced to join the Dominion.
Judianc (Small City, 60,341): Thirty years ago Millian Hedwell, an ambitious wizard from Dartmouth developed the theory that it should be possible to build a large surface settlement very close to the Stormheart, as long as it was protected by a nexus tower which would shield it from the elements. He was initially laughed at, and even when he finally found some backers for this ambitious scheme, he suffered several setbacks, including a catastrophic magical failure that led to the destruction of an earlier settlement through a storm flare (he escaped thanks to a timely teleport spell). Still, he never gave up, and eight years ago his efforts were rewarded by a settlement that was finally safe from the storm, but close enough to a large number of promising ore fields to attract a large number of prospectors.
The community has grown rapidly and become one of the favorite safe havens of the prospectors - not only has it a reputable bank to store any riches they might have acquired, but also a large number of bars, casinos, and brothels to help them spend it. Now the city even attracts a fair number of curious visitors from other regions who want to see the storm up close - without being exposed to any danger!
Hedwell's latest project is building an underground railroad to safer areas, which would allow fast, safe, and reliable transport of the ores out of the region. However, this is met with stong opposition from the rulers of Kolchov, who would prefer to maintain their monopoly.
Kolchov (City, 180,334): About two hundred years ago, a major flare of the storm reached this region and transformed it beyond recognition - but when the storm retreated, vast mineral wealth was left behind. A wealthy merchant from Svardholm named Kolchov decided to exploit these resources in a systematic manner, and used his considerable wealth to found the town that bears his name.
Today his descendants are the undisputed rulers of this region, and use massive slave labor to peel back one layer of the earth after the other to gain access to the riches below. Slaves perish daily under the brutal labor, while the corrupt Kolchovs and their cronies party as if there was no tomorrow - which might very well be the case, if the Eternal Storm once more breaks loose here.
Medras (Small Metropolis, 562,932): This ancient city was the center of several death and funeral cults in the days of the Atalan Empire. Therefore it had sprawling underground catacombs when the Eternal Storm broke loose. When the surface was ravaged, most inhabitants retreated beneath the surface - and have stayed there ever since.
Today, Medras is the largest permanent settlement in the region, and serves as its unofficial capital. Its inhabitants have expanded ever further downwards to expand their living space, and their tunnels reach all the way into the Underdark. Most prospectors come here to sell their finds, restock their supplies - and spend the rest of their money in the city's casinos and brothels.
Virdan's Folly (Small City, 55,213): The oldest and largest of the settlements protected by stone domes, Virdan's Folly was named after the wizard who started it and was not expected to survive as long as it did - but still, it stands. Since magic is so important for its maintenance and expansion, it houses a small but renowned school of wizardry, specializing in magically created buildings and magic-assisted agriculture and life support - a neccessity, given that the city is often cut off from the outside world for long times.
As of late, the city has been eclipsed by Judianc, which can expand faster thanks to the fact that it can support open air buildings instead of requiring expensive stone domes. Now the city's wizards are seeking possibilities that will give them a much-needed economic boost. They have been digging into the Underdark in the hopes of finding a new and safe trade route. Unknown to them, they are coming close to drow territory, who will react with violence to such an intrusion into their territory.

Important Sites

Regional History

Adventuring near the Eternal Storm

Adventure Seeds


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