Ah'Shal, Region of Smog
Buried underneath the thick and having smog lies the ash-covered streets and landscape of Ah’Shal. Once a beautiful, pristine region and twin of the City of Life, the City of Death has been overrun with factories and workshops that never seem to cease. If the smog doesn’t choke the population, then the intense heat and conditions certainly might. There is no vibrancy in the lands of gray and monotony. There is no vibrant green of nature nor painted walls or colored shingle roofs. The only spot of color are the dull yellow glow of lanterns that barely cut through any of the smog at all. Discolored skin and ash-covered clothing are staples of the people here as they walk and trudge through often-grueling days, ever mindful of the watchful eyes around them… They do what needs to be done to survive.
Almost everything in the land-locked portion of the region of Ah’Shal is covered by at least a thick layer of smog. Visibility at the edges of the Goddess of Death’s domain is reasonable, but dwindles to mere five to ten feet at the heart of her city. The smog produced by the hoard of factories that have arisen in her region have effectively smothered almost all traces of nature and of life, leaving on the workers, overseers, and enforcers behind to navigate the smog and ash-filled streets and alleys. As production burdens continue to increase and factories require more space to expand, the Cliffside upon which the main city sits has been embedded with factories linked by thin platforms with even thinner railings. Only the two northern islands have been sparred the brutal destruction and disregard of life that has occurred in this region, all to make more room for production. It is the realm of death after all… so who cares if the smog smothers all life? Better here than elsewhere or the City of Life for that matter!
Within the sprawling factory city that has covered the city of old, there are two lucrative businesses: production factories and workshops and the business of death. If the people aren’t gentle choked to an early death by the delicate, ever present touch of the smog, then they die early from injury sustained at work or perhaps a disease they tried to work through. In some cases, people just simply die of exhaustion, falling over in the ash-covered streets. It isn’t uncommon to find a body buried underneath ash piles. Yet, above the large, poor and downtrodden working class who labor to the point of exhaustion to support the ideas of brilliant minds who know not the horrors obscured by the smog, are two classes of people: bounty hunters and overseers. The overseers own the factories and reap the rewards of the people’s production. And the bounty hunters exist to enforce the status quo. Their watchful eyes in the smog keep most of the workers in line. While some are known to deliver quick and merciful deaths… there are others who are not so kind.
Basic History
In a time long past, before the calendar was instated... Tel’Rhea and Ah’Shal were one city, separated and connected by the bridge between them. Both cities were meant to represent the complete cycle of life and death – bound together and intertwined. Both cities were considered sacred as the starting point and end point of the visible Cycle of Life. People moved freely across the bridge. Although there were more orchards in Tel’Rhea and more morgues in Ah’Shal, the two cities were practically identical in architecture, people, and cultural customs. Nature was fully integrated with manmade structures and buildings of washed stone, marble, and beautiful wood decorated with swirling motifs of the two Goddesses.
Yet, as time passed, the City of Life was always predisposed to be more bountiful than the City of Death. As the City of Life continues to produce fruit, herbs, flowers, and other natural products from their giving, fertile land, the City of Death turned to production of other means, building workshops and mines with which to produce. As the City of Life developed a repulsion of the dead, they sent their corpses to the City of Death, filling Ah’Shal’s morgues and cemeteries with the bones and dead of two cities. A divide began to form between the two people and the cities. The wealthy and the rich began to move to the city of Tel’Rhea, enamored by its vibrancy. The poor and downtrodden moved to Ah’Shal to seek the rapidly growing opportunities for work in the many workshops and mines along the Cliffside. The divide between the two cities was slow growing… until Eredet rose to prominence.
In 497 YAR, Emilio Ah’Vanni organized his business enterprise into the very first factory of Ah’Shal, merging the multiple buildings he owned into a series of “assembly-line” workshops. The majority of other business owners in Ah’Shal prepared to sit back and watch Emilio fail… but the tiefling man prevailed, outperforming all of his competitors in quality and quantity. In the next few years, his competitors were scrambling to reorganize their enterprises in any hope to compete. In 502 YAR, when the Council of Eredet announced its expansion into the High Dremoran Council, Emilio became the first representative of Ah’Shal for the new Council. Although his enterprise never failed, his absence certainly allowed his competitors to catch up, creating the first network of factories across the City of Death.
As the still primitive factory systems began to develop, the smog-layer around Ah’Shal began to develop. Despite protest from the Acolytes of the Dead, those with monetary and political power seemed… unconcerned. Why shouldn’t Ah’Shal become a manufacturing hub? It is the City of Death after all. Who really cares if things die here? The voices in the House of Death were silenced as the factories – now supported by economical interest from Nacheevi, Ragna, Eredet, and Tel’Rhea, even – grew and expanded, smog thickening as they crawled over the City like a parasite. The walls of the city became stained with ash and smog and the death rate… began to climb.
Although Ah’Shal did not face an invasion from the Dread King during his war, the House of Death sent Acolytes to nearly every region affected by the war… and many of them did not return. When the War ended, the House of Death was not prepared to deal with the future increase in the death toll. As the forges and factories in Nacheevi cooled, the coals burned hot in Ah’Shal and the smog grew thicker and thicker with every passing year. Those born during and after the war no longer new what snow was… but they were all-too familiar with the coating of ash along the ground. Factories, workshops, and sweatshops alongside mines spread like an infectious disease across the landscape, churning out pounds of ash alongside the pieces and parts needed to support the brilliant ideas produced by those in other areas of the Bay and to line the pockets of the factory investors. As the production and labor burden spiked, so too did the death rate as workers were pushed to work longer hours in terrible, smog-filled conditions.
As the divide between worker and factory overseer continued to grow, bounty hunters rose to prominence, thriving in the cutthroat environment that pitted worker against overseer. The poor would arrive with high hopes to work their way out of the City of smog, but quickly found those hopes dashed. Good laborers are hard to find… and the overseers wanted to ensure that they stayed. They had demands to meet, after all. Those who attempted to run or who stirred up trouble found themselves staring down often-vicious bounty hunters. It is easy to ignore what is covered and obscured by thick smog.
Politics
The common rabble of the region has absolute no say in the region’s affairs, whatsoever. Although the workers possess the numbers, they are too exhausted and too stifled to ever think to organize and rally. Thus, they remain at the mercy of the wealthy factory owners and overseers… many of whom are not even from the region of Ah’Shal. Instead, the wealthy class come from Nacheevi, Eredet, and even Ragna, Varoona, or Tel’Rhea. These wealthy outsiders make all of the local decisions, often exerting control on aspects of their workers’ lives that would appall the region that these overseer’s were born in. But exceptions can certainly made for the region of Death, right?
The wealthiest and most prominent factory owners make the large political decisions for the region. Many of them have estates within the city of Ah’Shal, but they rarely live there, preferring to spend their time in the luxurious capital of Eredet (breathing down the neck of their own High Council representative) or in other countryside locations on the Neg’Varos Bay.
Economy
Ah’Shal is a production-based, factory-driven economy. The acquisition of raw materials occurs within the region primarily through mining for stone, metal, and other underground material. Lumber and wood is imported from other regions, as needed. The factories constantly churn out pieces and parts for warships, gadgets and machines, and – most recently – arcane engines to power cities, navies, and vehicles. To meet its massive production quotas – for both quantity and quality – it relies heavily on a large population of laborers with very few protections.
The two small islands are free of the factory parasite, but what little they produce is insignificant compared to the massive production levels of the factory system. Regardless, the islands produce some agricultural products, gems and other metals, and a small supply of lumber that is then shipped to the mainland. They also enjoy trade with the island controlled by Tel’Rhea and the northern, underwater city of Keresello.
People
The people in Ah’Shal are of a diversity of races, but are all generally united on one principle: poor, downtrodden, and down on their luck. Despite Ah’Shal’s importance in production and making the lofty, ambitious ideas of other regions a reality, the people are some of the poorest on the entire continent. Many are afflicted with poorly treated injuries, show clear signs of malnourishment, and possess discolored skin and teeth from years working in the factories. The people here do what they must to survive, but often their survival is short-lived.
There is a large minority of warforged in the City of Smog. Many of them migrated from the City of Life when they failed to find a purpose within its nature-laden walls. More resilient to the smog, they are often the most well treated workers and most valued. Those that did not fall into the labor pool of Ah’Shal often serve as bounty hunters or guards for the factory overseers.
Religion
Are death and the act of dying not a religious observation to the Goddess of Death? In the more recent centuries, the worship of Ah’Shal has been reduced to the moment of one’s death. Those who feel they are nearing death’s door often offer small offerings and tokens at the House of Death – what meager scraps they can muster from their daily toils. Many often view death, in the smog-covered and grueling city, as the saving grace from a hard life. It is the saving grace or the warm embrace of a mother welcoming a lost child home.
Beyond that, Ah’Shal and Death are merely regarded as an inevitable and always present entity, similar to the hanging smog. She is viewed as something that just exists and is rather than a Goddess to be worshipped and followed. Even the House of Death has been reduced to the mere preparation and honoring of the bodies – those who have already died. In years past, the House of Death served as more than a morgue. For Death was once just a stage in a cycle – one that would feed new life. In the city of choking smog, however, it is hard to imagine any new life taking shape. It is much easier, and comforting, to think of death as one’s escape and reprieve from the harsh reality of the factory systems.
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Included Locations
Characters in Location
Related Reports (Primary)
Free from Smog
Located north of the main peninsula of Ah'Shal are two relatively small islands under Ah'Shal's jurisdiction. Both islands have been mostly spared the horrendous disregard for life that has occurred on the mainland as the factories encroached and eventually consumed almost everything. While there are some biofuel refineries along the shores, most of the islands have managed to avoid the accumulation of ash and smog. However, with available space for factory expansion on the mainland dwindling, this luxury may not last much longer.
- Ah'Javara – The more southern of the two islands, composed of mostly rocky terrain with some scrubland. The island is a common nesting ground for a multitude of seafaring birds. Although the servants of Elis have long since departed, those that remain have occupied their partially suspended cities.
- Ah'Nephys – The more northern of the two islands and the lushest land in the entire region of Ah'Shal. Small-time farming and agriculture occurs here, supported by the neighboring island under Tel'Rhea's control. In the summer months, the two people often visit one another by sailing across the narrow strait of water. In the winter, the people meet on the thick layer of ice for games and festivals.
Emilio Ah'Vanni
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