Akara

Literally translated, Sarivell means ‘Footstool of the Heavens’.It would seem this is a most fitting title as this area seems to be a utopia ofthriving life and beauty. Sarivell is an area of mildly spaced forest andmeadow that extends all the way back to Mount Sogno.The most unique quality that sets it apart form other such similar regions isthat it is made entirely out of crystal.

It is a high grade transparent crystal that is almostcompletely indestructible. Many a person near this region has chosen to fastentheir house from this crystal. Merchants and tradesmen make good money craftingthe crystal and selling it in the form of weapons or small decorative charms.

With the grass, the trees, and the wildlife possessing thisunreal transparent quality, this area appears to be a placid sea of glass. Thetrue site to behold, however, is the new face it puts on at night. Once Akara’sviolet moon rises over the sky its light and that of the stars transform theplant and animal life in this area, making them refract all the colors of thevisible spectrum. Many a sightseer comes to visit this region for its famednighttime beauty.

It has also been noted by some that when it rains in thisregion there seems to emanate from the trees a beautiful and strangely familiarmelody that one cannot quite place. The closest anyone has ever come todescribing it is the soft tinkling of bells, or perhaps the plucking of stringson a harp.

In the day this massive relic is nothing more than amansion, built by someone unknown to today’s knowledge. Lichen grown near thebottom of the outside walls. The courtyard has been overgrown with ferns,shrubbery, and an assortment of oddly shaped trees. A dried out fountain is inthe center with even more algae and lichen growing on it, so thick however thatone wouldn't even recognize it to be a fountain. The cobblestone is now crackedand broken, with parts missing so that large pools of mud form in it in therain. The main gate is rusted to the point of collapsing under it's own weight.The brick walls that surrounded the property that were once cut and built to perfection,are now battered my relentless time, and also have been overtaken by lichen andmoss.

The inside of the mansion in the day is almost just like the outside. The wallsare torn apart like they were slashed with knives. Termites have eaten into thebeams so that there are tons of little holes in them. One could say that it's amiracle this place still stands. The carpet has been shredded by all differentcritters that roam the halls seeking shelter from the weather at times. Bloodstains different parts of the floors from where two different animals wouldfight to the death for territory in this refuge for them.

There are multiple different levels in this building, none however anythingcompared to the dance hall. It used to be a place for monthly balls tocelebrate the new moon. Now the tables are chewed to dust by termites and smallrodents, the floors are torn apart, and the walls are stripped of their beauty.

When the full moon comes out however, the moss and trees and lichen in thecourtyard all go and seems to just vanish. The dry fountain starts to fill withwater and spring to life again. The cobblestone is reset. The gate and wallboth are repaired to perfection. The inside of the mansion is also repaired,the termite holes disappear. The carpet goes back to fluffy comfortableflooring.

In the dance hall, the walls are rebuilt instantly, the curtains that had holesand tears are now replaced. The rows upon rows of tables are repaired, and havewhite tablecloths on them. Each and every table has two candles, chairs, andglasses filled with all sorts of alcoholic beverages. All of the people thatlived in that town, or went to these balls reappear and seem to reenact one ofthose celebrations. Couples dance, friends drink, and get drunk, and as soon asthe sun comes up, it all goes back to the way it was in the day time before, andthe spirits that came take their leave, awaiting the next new moon.

They say that there's honesty among thieves. In the citiesand towns on Akara, you'd be hard pressed to find it. But under the surface,that's a whole different story. Underground, at a central hub of hiddensmugglers' tunnels and escape routes, lies Oro City.Here the thieves, con artists, and criminals gather to sell their stolen goodsand make a profit. They never cheat each other here, because they all want toget the full price of their stolen merchandise.

This place, however, has more vices than the petty thieves provide. Largewarehouses store contraband items and some times even more sinister things.Slaves are bought, sold, sometimes executed in the warehouses.

Large vistas cascade in a whole quarter of the city, monuments to the rich andsuccessful evil-doers. Another quarter of the city is open to a rushing riverthat runs into the ocean. Unbelievably large docks float on the water, alwaysmore than half filled with ships. The other two quarters of the city arededicated to housing and hideouts and shops. In the center of the city there'sa giant marketplace filled with loud shop owners and those offering jobs; ifone has business to, they could find a job doing anything from assassin work torevenge schemes.

Now, needless to say that not everyone who lives in Oro Cityis an active member in schemes for illegal profit. Some people, once they sawthe possibilities, have decided to live their life there. Some of them have nochoice; a force of guards keep the outsiders away and the whole city a secret.

The caves and tunnels and secret escapes run all across Akara. One of them, thelargest tunnel, even runs right underneath Mount Sogno....

Along a road, near the coast and somewhat to the south andeast of the underground Oro City, lies a tightly-knitcluster of small towns known as the Hallen Kust. There are five towns, startingWith Alleik in the north, then Uensa, Creaw, Fvorien, and finally Rheole. Thethree northern ones are communities brought up on fishing. The others, acollection of farmers. These towns are close enough together to support eachother; when some years, drought hurts the farmers crops, the fishing townspitch in to help, and vice-versa.

The people of these towns used to be quite hospitable but lately have grownsuspicious. No one knows what might have caused this change in disposition.Could they perhaps be hiding something?

This relic of a refuge is now abandoned by it's unknownprevious owners.  It now serves refuge toall who seek it and is visited often by people interested in its vastmysterious history.  The prehistoriclooking outer walls are covered with lichens towards the top.  The inside of the structure looks just likeit was a brand new house.  The floors arered and blue patterned tiles.  Theceiling is swirling cream colored as well as the walls. 

The outside is a grass covered field with some occasionalpatches of shrubbery.  The field goes onfor maybe half a wheel until it drops into a barren clay slope.  This goes on all the way until reaching theocean on the south, and the forest on the north.  

Terror? Yes. Darkness? Yes. Spirits? ... Perhaps.

Ciripmav Cemetery is located aboutone mile east of Vrend. It is a rather lonely looking place; dead leaves litterthe ground, the graves are unkempt, branches and stones lie scatteredthroughout. It is surrounded by an iron fence, with four squeaky, rusty gates;one for each side of the cemetery.

This area is not often visited; people are frightened bystories told by travelers passing through. Of course, you will always have theold stories of the dead walking at the full moon, or ghosts; stories which fewpeople believe anymore. However . . .

A story was once told by a merchant. When he had arrived atthe gates of Vrend, his skin was as pale as moonlight, his eyes sunken, wild,crazy. He was taken to a healer nearby, and they eventually nursed him back tosanity, after which he would recall his story. “I was walking through thecemetery,” he’d said. “I thought it would take too long to go around, so I justwent through.” Evidently, he made it through most of the way relativelyunharmed, though he admitted being slightly frightened, for an unnatural misthad begun to creep around his ankles. When he was only a few hundred paces fromthe other side, his vision began to blur . . .

And that’s where his story ended. All he would tell anyonewas that he had relived the worst experiences of his life, felt the pain as ifhe were there again. Perhaps the man was mad, but the condition he arrived inwas enough to make nearly everyone believe. The cemetery was rarely visitedever again by any villager, and those few times for not more than a fewminutes. People are starting to become slightly braver and are going in ondares and such, and most claim that they made it through completely unharmed;however, there is always one who will have the same story as that merchant somany years ago, and others who come out maimed physically, claiming they weredragged into the mist by some creature of amazing force. And every century orso, someone just doesn't return...

Along the edge of a thunderous northern mountain range liesa dormant volcano. For centuries, possibly millenniums, it has lain silent, itsunattended lava vents slowly becoming more and more filled with poisonous,glowing fungi and the strange, mutilated creatures that have adapted to this environment.

But, sometime around when the mysterious planet evacuations began, the volcanobegan to awake. Whether this was pure coincidence or the work of somethingmore, no one is sure. Or perhaps someone, somewhere, does know... For deepinside the volcano, in a gigantic vent which has not yet awoken and may never,lies a forgotten cluster of buildings. All of them are centered around aten-story tower that ends in a jagged top. Whoever lived in this place has abandonedit long ago, and all record of even the existence of this forgottenarchitecture has disappeared; all but strange superstition and myth, that is.Now the only inhabitant is the strange poisonous fungi that's creeping steadilyup the walls of the tower like bulbous, luminescent ivy.

Occasionally, the half-dormant volcano will spew out a thick, mist-like gasthrough the lower vents. On these volcanic fumes are carried the lesser effectsof the cave-fungi: strong hallucinations. The dream inducing fumes create asort of low, heavy fog that can blanket the base of the volcano for days. Allof the animals have left the area, and for good reason. Though this fog itselfis not harmful in any way, it will give the poor traveler who enters it veryvivid dreams, usually while still awake. Sometimes the events that occur inthese dreams are real, sometimes they are not; the dreams are always different.The only constant within them is that everyone who is in the fog at the sametime as you will be sharing your hallucination. So don't be surprised if youfind someone wandering into your fog-induced dream....

Barren; rocky; nightmarish. These are only three words thatmight describe this area. Nightmarish would be the closest, easily.

This area holds witness to a most frightening display ofthis world’s magical properties; a literally unending thunderstorm. The heavyrain and lightning never lets up. Nearly two thousand wheels in every directionthis thunderstorm stretches.

The thunderstorm itself holds magical properties. On the waythrough this area, you will find a select few forests, and only two rivers. Thismay seem like a relief to find at first; however, the thunderstorm has somehowdistorted the forests and rivers and all the wildlife inside of them. The treesare of unnatural shapes; the river water is colored with a tinge of blood red.

The trees in the forests of this area are not welcoming atall from the downpour; the thin branches provide almost no cover from thethrashing rain, and they are twisted in shape, sinister, menacing. The wildlifeis deformed; sometimes in appearance, but more often in thought. They are evil,seemingly possessed by demons, even. The more twisted individuals of the worldgo here to gain their bonded.

However, these aren’t anywhere near as horrifying as themind-altering properties. Many of those who try to cross this area lose theirsanity; even more die on the way. The magic in the area attacks the mind,causing hallucinations, pain, and sometimes causing the brain to shut downentirely. It would take a great amount physical and mental strength to crossthis alive and with a complete mind. Sicknesses such as pneumonia often takepeople, as well.

One magical property that is useful, is that nearly as soonas the water hits the ground, it evaporates, keeping the entire area fromflooding the entire world. However, the water that falls on living beings doesnot evaporate, so the hope of getting through without being soaked to the skinis a vain one. Even if one were to create a barrier with magic, the waterusually penetrates it.