The World of Mantica
CHAPTER 1.1
Dungeons of Reknown
Many are the deep and dark places of the world that withhold treasures once robbed and secrets undiscovered. As Adventurer’s we oft refer to them as dungeon’s as a common term but in reality they are varied, often unique and don’t always match what common folk might call a “dungeon”.
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High upon mountain passes, hidden amidst deep-woodland thickets, strewn within labyrinthine ruined cities and buried in cavernous halls beneath the earthly firmament, dungeons come in many guises but offer the same purpose to the wilful adventurer, the ultimate goal of discovery and reward.
But some of these dungeons have gained reknown beyond the books and whispers within the Adventurer’s Guild, having entered the everyday tales and folklore that tell of celestial artefacts, inexhaustible riches and the unspeakable terrors that guard them.
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The Halls of Dolgarth
The remains of an ancient Dwarf Hold beneath the plains of Diffeth, the Halls of Dolgarth are a ruinous reminder to Golloch’s people of a time long past when wealth and mastery were in abundance under the roof of their once proud capital.
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Like many holds of lesser name during the War with Winter, Dolgarth was lost and forever changed when the ice receded and the flood came upon it’s polished floors.
Now it offers no hearth & home to the Dwarven people but lies open and aghast as a deep, dark bastion for beasts beyond imagination.
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And yet, that cruel fate that befell Dolgarth also casts an offer of hope to many an adventurer. Hope of glory, hope of wealth and hope of renown amidst ancient artefacts of lore and wonder. Though for most who dare delve those halls, hope is as close as ever they come, for few leave Dolgarth alive and fewer again leave it unchanged.
Forest of Galahir
On the northern edge of the Dragon Teeth Mountains lies the ancient expanse of the Forest of Galahir, the timeless woodland that the Sylvan Kindred of Elves call home.
Equal in age is the celestian that is called the Green Lady, who also resides under the canopy of Galahir, deep at the heart of the forest where the trees are mightiest of all in Mantica.
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Whilst the power of the Green Lady reaches all corners of the vastness of Galahir, it is not without it’s own belligerent occupants however. The Lady is nature itself and she is neither good nor evil, but only interested in balance between the two.
Many bands of Orcs, Goblins and Trollkin call the great wood their home (if home indeed is a word associated with creatures of that ilk) and worse things still if all accounts are to be believed.
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Yet fear of foul creatures is the least of an Adventurer’s concern when under the boughs of this living citadel. For greater again are the numbers of true nature aligned inhabitants; Dryad, Sylph, Naiad and Satyr all live within Galahir’s embrace and will answer the call of the Green Lady if she wills it.
Fierce is the force that they can bring to bear if the unwary are felt to disturb Nature's balance.
The Black Fortress
“Be good or we’ll send you to the Black Fortress”, is what old Nan’s tell their grandchildren to scare them into good manners, such is the fear it strikes when the name is uttered.
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Little are the facts known about the legendary keep that is called the Black Fortress, least not it’s true location. Most stories place it as high upon the slopes of the Mammoth Steppe, at its eastern edge towards the Frozen Sea and none of those tales offer it a good word.
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They tell of a great fortress hewn into the black rock of the surrounding mountains, a formidable bulwark jutting out of the otherwise barren landscape. It’s appearance is striking, least not for the chitinous black rock that it is built from and hewn into, but also for the year-round snowfall that lies upon it’s lofty parapets that makes the black rock all the more stark & foreboding.
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Stories abound of the rock itself and what granted it’s deathly dark colour; charred from the attacks of great dragon-sires of old, or warped by the magic from the Wicked Ones or even that it is discoloured by the stain of the Abyss that has spit the earth asunder to its south.
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Of the inhabitants, tales are even scarcer for few are those who travel that region and ever return and lesser still ever approach it once it is spotted on the horizon. Some of the barbarous Varangur clans are rumoured to wander in its foothills and may winter within the fortresses walls, but older tales tell of creatures of bone standing sentinel for the Black Fortress and a dark Master within.
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