The Ankhala Dynasty and Kolokan

The Ankhala Dynasty

The Ankhala Dynasty is a wild and dangerous archipelago of Losivaa, sometimes referred to as the Ghodric dynasty, named after the now dead founder Takanus Ghodric. The inhabitants of these islands are the children of the matriarch Syal Ankhala, Ghodric's daughter and a Mordikhaani cutthroat who is convinced she is an ancestor of the Khul (which would be possible as the Khul became mortal). For three centuries, so Syal claims, the Ankhala dynasty passed down the Khul’s greatest secret, that once she became mortal she took a human lover and gave birth to a child. No Grace so far has deigned to visit Syal, now in her 50s, or her sons and daughters, to attempt to verify the claim. The Losivaa that the family have seized were once the home of the Khul when she went by the name Y’Tran, and her palace, Fothkaim, which mainly stands in ruins, is the seat of their power. They have built a small trading post called Y’Baril around the palace, which runs as an outpost for piracy, and is where many newcomers from the Mortal Realm’s more dubious kingdoms gravitate to. The Ankhalans view themselves as being the only legitimate mortal presence in the Celestial Realm and see the Solustine Kingdom, the Rathic Principalities and others as squatters (even though the Ankhalans have only been in the realm for three decades). Syal Ankhala believes that because of the family’s blood line, they will be spared any harm that Y’Luran might do to other mortals, but there is no indication that the punishing Grace is quite so understanding.

Y’Vestri Monastery

Secluded deep within the Shuraic Spines, The Ankhalan Dynasty’s most extensive mountain range, Y’Vestri Monastery is the most jealously guarded possession of The Dromonite Order, a strict Solustine sect favoured by the Iron Baronetcy. Originally an obscure outpost, it rose to prominence when a large deposit of a valuable salt called perodite was discovered during the construction of catacombs beneath the sacristy. Highly prized as a preservative capable of arresting decay and putrefaction almost indefinitely, perodite is a crucial component of the embalmment process which has been studied more extensively than any other mineral by alchemists, many of whom have wealthy patrons that are convinced it is the key to a cure for aging or perhaps even immortality itself. Consequently, pure, unalloyed perodite sells for an exceptionally high price, bringing obscene and unimaginable wealth to those in possession of even a small deposit. For this reason the Ankhalans are keen to seize the monastery, but do not wish to run the risk of all out war with the Iron Baronetcy. To bring as much of the deposit as possible under the control of the monastery, the abbot of Y’Vestri, Fra Reban, expanded the catacombs far beyond their original scope. The construction of the catacombs would continue indefinitely until the deposit was exhausted, the bones of its inhabitants existing only to testify to the sacred character of the land, placing it under the exclusive guardianship of the Order, allowing the Dromonites to condemn rival excavations as desecrations of hallowed ground. Consequently the monastery, and its abbot, quickly became obscenely rich, growing to palatial proportions. The monks lived in luxury scarcely dreamed of by the princes of The Rathic Principalities, even rearing their horses on the finest Arastian wine, specially selected by the Iron Baron’s personal wine merchant. Though despised by the more ascetic denominations of Aruhvianism as a canker on the Aruhvian faith, and an encapsulation of the increasing corruption and decadence taking hold of the Dromonite Order, the wealth and power of Y’Vestri Monastery, and the theological justifications necessary to maintain it, won it the favour and patronage of the Iron Baronetcy. Disguised as the construction of the most extensive catacomb constructed by mortals , the exploitation of the perodite was framed as holy industry, and the squalid conditions of the miners, the most wretched among the mortals of Celestium, who were locked each night, under armed guard in the tunnels they had dug out of the perodite, as sufferings and mortifications that imbued the opulence that glorified The Keeper with suffering that showed true contrition for the degeneration of Celestium and the disappearance of The Keeper. The Monastery, now faced with the twin threats of the Ankhala Dynasty and the Iron Baronetcy is less opulent and more militarised, the current abbot, Fra Locana Creele, is a formidable enemy. She views the wealth and power of the monastery as being under perpetual threat and has created a powerful mercenary army to protect it and the trade routes necessary to export the remaining perodite to its wealthy buyers.

Kolokan

Kolokan is a subterranean city carved entirely out of perodite built to host the first Iron Baron Larakh Trodin, for a visit planned three decades in advance. More a spectacle than a city, Kolokan was to be seen, not inhabited, with gargantuan structures ornately carved out of the glistening green salt, expansive avenues and parade grounds, thousands of labourers were imported from the Baronetcy, many of whom were arrested on fabricated charges and conscripted in the construction of the city. Necessitated by the breakneck pace required to finish the Kolokan by the time of the baron’s visit, construction was brutal and exhausting, with miners regularly working back breaking 18 hour days on inadequate rations. Conditions were so terrible many miners threw themselves into the deep foundation pits built to support the centrepiece of the city, The Sanctum of Empyrus, a domed temple, comprised of cyclopean masonry enclosing a small sepulchre said to contain a surviving fragment of The Keeper’s Empyrus form, which broke off from the Keeper following the coming of Levanto. The Sepulchre was situated at the centre of a great necropolis, populated by the bones of the workers who died in the construction of the project, as well as Solustine nobles and high ranking members of the clergy. Construction was halted after several construction teams disappeared in strange circumstances. The few that made it out were in a catatonic state, completely unable to communicate what they had experienced. After three decades, when construction was finally completed, and the miners were gathered in great multitudes for the various parades and spectacles planned for the pleasure of the Iron Baron. They executed their revenge, decades in the making, in which they had stashed secret caches of weapons throughout the city in secret rooms, carved out of perodite, unknown to the architects that planned the city’s construction. A great battle ensued between the miners and the elite praetorian guard of the Iron Baron, with heavy casualties sustained by both sides. Though Trodin, and his few remaining guards managed to fight their way out and escape, the abbot and the monks of Y’Vestri were driven into the sepulchre said to contain the fragment of Empyrus where they were immured.
The leaders of the insurrection seized control of the city and quickly established a The Kolokani Commune, organising the remaining troops into militia and sending brigades of shock workers to construct a secret network of tunnels leading through the Shuraic Spires through which food, arms, and goods could be smuggled, they then collapsed the entrance to the catacombs to prevent the Iron Baron’s forces from besieging the city . The struggle for survival in the first few months of Kolokan’s existence, and the threat of a common enemy, united the various factions among the miners, ensuring that relative stability prevailed for several years. However unbeknownst to its inhabitants, perodite becomes unstable when it is carved, degrading over a number of decades, releasing a strange green mist. As the mist spread throughout Kolokan, the city started to emit a strange shimmering glow, taking on an irresistible beauty that captivated and obsessed its inhabitants, drawing them deeper into the ethereal mists. Now Kolokan is an eerie, empty place, the fate of the perodite mist’s victims is unknown, but the ancestors of Kolokan’s survivors tell stories, handed down through the generations, of the terrible transformations that occurred amongst its victims.

Notable Ankhalans

Salak Thar

Salak is the Ankhalan’s Half Firg slave . A series of cursed gems burned into his arm by a Mordikhaani Vowbinder forces him to do the bidding of Syal Ankhal. At will she can cause a burning energy to course through his arm from the stones. He is her personal armourer and bodyguard and has killed for her on numerous occasions.

Ankhalan Adventure Hook

Salak Thar has a desperate plan for freedom. The PCs are hired to do some nefarious task by the dynasty and once they return to Fothkaim to collect their payment he has them thrown in jail on a spurious charge. In the night he lets them out of their cell and pleads with them to cut his arm off. He had crafted a metal arm but needs to take it to the Gnomi at Precalion to help fit it.

Notable Yvestrians

Fra Lemnus

Fra Lemnus is Y’Vestri’s warrior monk and one of Fra Creele’s most trusted allies. He is renown across the Celestial Realm as a skilled tactician and battlefield general. He is a short bald man with a scar across the top of his head. He commands battles from horseback and fights with a glaive.

Y’Vestri Adventure Hook

The PCs join the mercenary army at the abbey and discover that some of their comrades are involved in perodite smuggling. The client is a powerful figure in the Mortal Realm, from the city of Taeor. The PCs are sent in secret by Fra Creele to discover who the buyer is, but find out instead the abominations the buyer has created using perodite.