Ortega, City of Mystics
And now the final city to discuss, when talking of the Ortegans. The City of Mystics, the City of Thrones, the House of Magic. I should write little about this one, as well, yet I must speak the truth to myself. This was the city where the end of Ortega began, and Erisdaire would be forever changed. A great deal of life and knowledge lost, with history itself rendered scarred through it. A tragedy for humanity which is an echo of what my people endured, as incomprehensible as it may be for my kin.The capital of the Ortega Empire is where the name comes from, yet information about the city itself is hard to track down. Even its location is hard to discern, though those who have delved the myths and records which mention Ortega now believe the capital was situated somewhere in the western ocean. Furthermore, it is known the city was home only to mystics who were doing more research into various lesser issues. The wealth of magic which might be waiting to be found tempts many who have heard the legends.
I would ask any who read these pages to understand the folly of Ortega was the pursuit of forbidden knowledge - and refrain from seeking what should not be found.
Most who know of the ancient lost empire, and who also understand the importance of their capital, can be found attempting to find a way to search the western ocean for wherever the city is. However, the dangerous current which prevents ships from traveling too far out of sight of land also make it impossible to chart a search.
History
WARNING: This section is heavy with spoilers. Do not read if you are playing in my campaigns and wish to remain innocent!
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As the Ortegan empire reached what many of the mystics believed was its full potential, they began to debate what to do about their capital. Until then, it had been merely situated at the oldest city which had been founded and the ruling council met infrequently at best. There was a desire to build a city which could serve the mystics properly, to give them a location to do their research and serve as a central location to handle the affairs of their seven great cities. The travel magic which Seriaven had developed meant the location need not be central in a geographic manner, but there was a desire for distance so mundane interruptions might be made more limited. Locations scouted for candidacy were often rejected out of realization others would know about the location the instant the city was founded. One of the ruling council proposed simply "creating" a location, and presented a few documents containing experiments which had used established magic and suggested it was possible to simply shape the world as it was needed. Better to do so where there was nothing, the argument went, and the western ocean offered nothing else of interest to the empire.
So it was Ortega was built purely through intense magical rituals, made to be a perfect reflection of the mystics' desire for isolation and a certain level of 'function over form'. It took less than the course of one moon for the city to be made, and the word to be only passed to mystics. No citizens who were not also mystics or their trusted assistants were allowed to reach the new 'City of Mystics', which bore the name of the empire so it could be readily understood to be important. Most of the mystics undertaking minor experiments transplanted their work to the new city in order to be closer to "important people", or otherwise to have a more concentrated amount of peers in the area to consult for input. This led to a rapid proliferation of magical expression, both in the form of spells and enchanted objects, as well as a refined theory of magic which became the basis of later arcane studies. Mystics often would "be called to Ortega" and not leave the comforts of the city - beginning a sinister reputation for the empire's new capital which only grew over time.
After a relatively short time, there was a great project unveiled which was intended to prove a theory needing more demonstrable proof. The theory stated there were several places where magical energy was more concentrated, perhaps even flowing between similar locations across Erisdaire. An orichalcum bell was made, enchanted, and intended to act as a conduit directly into this network of magical energy. Once it was completed, however, the great bell became linked to the other seven cities and their great artifacts - and an incident happened at one of them which caused a shockwave of magic to flow through the whole networked cities. As one, the eight great cities of the Ortegan empire were subjected to a massively disruptive pulse of uncontrolled arcane might. Predictably, this caused chaos and what is known as "the Doom of Ortega" within whatever sources were written by survivors of the empire's fall.
The great city of Ortega was lost even more completely than the others, as the event left permanent currents in the western ocean which become stronger as ships travel westward in their grasp. Seekers who think they have a location to scout often leave on a ship and are never heard from again, while those who seek the other cities almost universally report a lack of success despite believing they found the absolute correct location. This has led to the phrase "the Doom of Ortega" to also encompass whatever fate befalls those who seek the ancient capital itself.
So it was Ortega was built purely through intense magical rituals, made to be a perfect reflection of the mystics' desire for isolation and a certain level of 'function over form'. It took less than the course of one moon for the city to be made, and the word to be only passed to mystics. No citizens who were not also mystics or their trusted assistants were allowed to reach the new 'City of Mystics', which bore the name of the empire so it could be readily understood to be important. Most of the mystics undertaking minor experiments transplanted their work to the new city in order to be closer to "important people", or otherwise to have a more concentrated amount of peers in the area to consult for input. This led to a rapid proliferation of magical expression, both in the form of spells and enchanted objects, as well as a refined theory of magic which became the basis of later arcane studies. Mystics often would "be called to Ortega" and not leave the comforts of the city - beginning a sinister reputation for the empire's new capital which only grew over time.
After a relatively short time, there was a great project unveiled which was intended to prove a theory needing more demonstrable proof. The theory stated there were several places where magical energy was more concentrated, perhaps even flowing between similar locations across Erisdaire. An orichalcum bell was made, enchanted, and intended to act as a conduit directly into this network of magical energy. Once it was completed, however, the great bell became linked to the other seven cities and their great artifacts - and an incident happened at one of them which caused a shockwave of magic to flow through the whole networked cities. As one, the eight great cities of the Ortegan empire were subjected to a massively disruptive pulse of uncontrolled arcane might. Predictably, this caused chaos and what is known as "the Doom of Ortega" within whatever sources were written by survivors of the empire's fall.
The great city of Ortega was lost even more completely than the others, as the event left permanent currents in the western ocean which become stronger as ships travel westward in their grasp. Seekers who think they have a location to scout often leave on a ship and are never heard from again, while those who seek the other cities almost universally report a lack of success despite believing they found the absolute correct location. This has led to the phrase "the Doom of Ortega" to also encompass whatever fate befalls those who seek the ancient capital itself.
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