Baalbek

Balbeek, back then it was nothing more than a research and pilgramage site. We lost it for centuries, the entire purpose of our city collapsed under the promise of war and plunder.

It was not until the Church returned that we finally peeled back the rubble to find an impossible granite island fortress built within the flooded Geode that once housed Balbeek. I know Cellini did his best, but even for him, it's impossible to stave off the inevitable.

— Margeret the Enlightened

A Pre-lacuna settlement that spawned after the discovery of the Bronze Stone by Sir Mictaf Cellini. During the final stages of the Blitz of Sidon, the Meissner canal built to connect Sidon to Balbeek was destroyed to hide Balbeek from the invading Syndicate forces.

Many expeditions failed during the Lacuna and the city became more myth than fact over the centuries over time.

It was not until the Levant was brought back under the control of the Somnolent that enough resources were dedicated to reconnecting Balbeek to the outside world.

Balbeek holds the nickname "Sun of the Underground." The reason for this is because the city is built within the top chamber of a kilometer wide gypsum geode. When there is enough light within the town, especially during the Rosemary Games, the reflections off the walls light up the entire geode.

The town itself is shaped from the surrounding granite and marbles, making an almost unfanthomable fortress of stone below the surface. It is ancient myth that Mictaf built the city with the powers of Harpe and the Bronze Stone.