Ruins of Salar
In the lightless nadir of the Crystalfen Caverns ,
directly beneath the splendid Port of Emon , rest the
eternally slumbering ruins of Salar. No mortal has
beheld these ruins— once the capital of a mighty
aboleth dominion—and returned to the surface with
wits to tell the tale. Salar is known only in myth
and legend as the Unseeable City, because mortal
eyes cannot look upon its alien architecture without
destroying their fragile minds. Salar is treated as
an urban legend by Emon’s scholars and archeologists. Nevertheless, many believe in its existence, for
numerous scholars have returned from expeditions
into the deep caverns with their minds shattered by
otherworldly power.
Those who have returned from Salar brought back journals filled with increasingly crazed notes. The most intelligible of their writings indicate that all that survives of the ruined city are emerald marble structures of unfathomable design, seeming to shift and shimmer as the eye tries to comprehend, moving through time as they remain static in space.
The once-renowned archaeologist Karaline von Ethro claimed to have visions of Salar, describing a subterranean city with twisting pillars that stretched higher than any tower, kissing the seat of the surface world from the bedrock of the earth. At the peak of the central pillar floats a giant pearlescent disc. This so-called Moon Disc bathes the entire city in unsettling, milky light that refracts eerily through the emerald spires.
Karaline von Ethro is long since dead, and her journal—by far the most coherent record of the Unseeable City—is an apocryphal artifact. The Arcana Pansophical kept it in a closely guarded vault, which only added to its mystique. However, the journal was stolen long ago, and since then, dozens of manuscripts said to be the Von Ethro Journal have been sold in black markets across Tal'Dorei . Anyone lucky—or unlucky—enough to find the genuine journal would learn a terrible secret that the Pansophical has held onto in silence for decades: dozens, perhaps hundreds, of aboleths survive within Salar.
Their master, Durrom of the Emerald Eyes, lives on in secrecy while expanding its army of thralls and learning all it can about the ignorant surface dwellers. Durrom’s ultimate goal is to shatter the forgotten Pillars of the Earth beneath Emon and cause the city to collapse into its subterranean domain.
Those who have returned from Salar brought back journals filled with increasingly crazed notes. The most intelligible of their writings indicate that all that survives of the ruined city are emerald marble structures of unfathomable design, seeming to shift and shimmer as the eye tries to comprehend, moving through time as they remain static in space.
The once-renowned archaeologist Karaline von Ethro claimed to have visions of Salar, describing a subterranean city with twisting pillars that stretched higher than any tower, kissing the seat of the surface world from the bedrock of the earth. At the peak of the central pillar floats a giant pearlescent disc. This so-called Moon Disc bathes the entire city in unsettling, milky light that refracts eerily through the emerald spires.
Karaline von Ethro is long since dead, and her journal—by far the most coherent record of the Unseeable City—is an apocryphal artifact. The Arcana Pansophical kept it in a closely guarded vault, which only added to its mystique. However, the journal was stolen long ago, and since then, dozens of manuscripts said to be the Von Ethro Journal have been sold in black markets across Tal'Dorei . Anyone lucky—or unlucky—enough to find the genuine journal would learn a terrible secret that the Pansophical has held onto in silence for decades: dozens, perhaps hundreds, of aboleths survive within Salar.
Their master, Durrom of the Emerald Eyes, lives on in secrecy while expanding its army of thralls and learning all it can about the ignorant surface dwellers. Durrom’s ultimate goal is to shatter the forgotten Pillars of the Earth beneath Emon and cause the city to collapse into its subterranean domain.
Karaline von Ethro
Archeologist, anthropologist, and explorer extraordinaire; Karaline von Ethro was a human adventurer and inventor. It was her designs that created the Sunbeam Compass, a device that always directs the user to the sun by emitting a small light at the tip of the needle in a glass orb, allowing it to rotate in all directions—a very useful tool when exploring subterranean territory. However, despite her discoveries and inventions, she is most remembered for going mad after allegedly having visions of the Ruins of Salar. Karaline’s madness eventually led to her tragic demise at the young age of 37.
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