Landmarks & Locations

Maps

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  Forsaken Keep

  This keep was the original Imperial Guard Stronghold acting as both headquarters and training grounds for new recruits, until tragedy struck about 500 years ago. What few records survived, mentioned the destruction and worst storm ever seen. Strange things were witnessed in that storm, both above and under the water. The Keep was battered by a fierce hurricane. Lightning caused something inside of The Keep exploding. Alchemy supplies were suspected. With this storm lasting a long 3 days, unfortunately every person went missing and no bodies were ever found.
    Half of The Keep was destroyed along with the cliff that was underneath it. The Empire stated, "this was not an attack of any sort" and was officially deemed a "natural disaster" with "unsecured alchemy supplies" causing massive damage during the storm. Looking in person, at how much of the cliff was missing and seeing half of The Keep also missing, it makes one's mind begin to wonder what sort of powers could even cause such massive destruction.
    Since then, plenty of locals have had their own speculations on what really happened, but the guards seem to be quick to discourage such talk. Due to the history of the Empire, it really comes to no surprise at how willing they are, and go great lengths, to hide any secrets that might upset the general public.
    Over the years, ghost stories have been told about this location. Suspected of being haunted, with sea monsters in the water, unnatural storms, strange ships being spotted nearby, and even spirits of the fallen roaming around. Most locals consider this a cursed and haunted area. They will not go anywhere near this place.
    Now, it's more of a monument to those that were lost with no plans to ever rebuild. To discourage looters and those that would risk their lives going into the crumbling building, it was made illegal to trespass here unless on official business. However, within the last several months, there have been loaded wagons coming and going to and from The Keep, all under escort of guards. We're unsure of what is going on, but it looks like there is activity at The Keep once again.
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  Shipwreck Cove

  To land boats, this beach cove area is extremely dangerous due to the razor-sharp reef and rocks just beneath the water's surface. Smugglers have been known to use this spot for just that purpose, as it's a desolate area where the navy could never reach safely. This may explain all the hidden spots scattered around this area. Occasionally, the Empire will send a patrol to this location to make sure there are no illegal activities.
    The position is convenient, Shipwreck Cove is halfway between Echo Bay and the Forsaken Keep and after a few hundred years of this being a most dangerous landing area, the bottom of the ocean floor has become littered with shipwrecks and the reason locals call this beach "Shipwreck Cove".
    To the far west is nothing but The Great West Ocean. It's not too uncommon for strong storms to appear quickly. Nasty storms pick up great speed right before hitting landfall. The most skilled ships will sail far from the shore to prevent being blown and tossed over the trenchant reef. Unprepared captains are forced and fractured by the jagged rocks when they're not experienced enough to deal with such fast moving destruction. There have been plenty of rumors of something else causing the shipwrecks, an unseen force in the waters may be attacking ships, sinking them.
    There are far more rumors than truths regarding Shipwreck Cove. It would not be surprising to find out that smugglers and pirates were starting those loose rumors to keep nosy people away from this coveted area and with plenty of old sea monster stories to go around at the tavern table, they've all been heard more than a few times. Told are new tails. Some strange and unfamiliar looking ships that are being spotted up north and foreign ships with red sails have been seen to the south. It's been known that S.E.N.D.E.R. has been looking for savage divers and crew to recover lost artifacts from one of the ships that sunk here. In the last few months, wealthy investors have tried to put together a savage team to retrieve lost treasures from among those shipwrecks. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong with the last savage crew, as their ship sank off the coast for unknown reasons.
    According to some of the oldest history books, there are mentions of a small island out away from Shipwreck Cove that had sunk into the ocean. No evidence but there is mention of a large occult temple which was built upon this small island to serve the sleeping good but after some sort of natural disaster it had sunk into the ocean. Over the years there have been treasure hunters looking for this underwater temple, but nothing was ever discovered. Some locals even whisper that this could be where the sea monster came from. The Imperial Navy denies all this as just silly wise tales and nothing more as they have never seen anything larger than a whale in these waters.
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  Crystal Falls

  Beautiful waterfall with clean ice-cold fresh water. Named for the fact that this part of the mountain range has numerous common crystals, so the riverbed is lined with many crystals. When the sun is bright, the water has an amazing colorful glow as the sunlight reflects off the crystals under the water. The waterfall feeds into the mountain lake which then leads off to a river and this is where Shivershire was built. The lake and the river both make for some wonderful fishing of all sorts of freshwater fish.
    Folk travel here to have the chance of witnessing this wonderful event as the water glows with different colors as it comes over the waterfall. Depending on the season, there tends to be slight color changes to the waterfall. In the summertime the water gets so brightly colored that it looks as if the water is glowing magically and can be seen from a far distance even.
    With such a heavy abundance of crystals in the area of this waterfall, there are many that come here to hunt for crystals. Most crystals here are common and not worth very much. Sometimes rare magical crystals can be found deep in the cliff and mountains thru various tunnels. Along this area can be found caves linked together by a vast network of tunnels. Visitors are warned not to enter these as it can be a confusing maze, and some are never seen again after entering.
    The herbalist in Shivershire has been known to trade for the rarer types of crystals. Offering her wares, services and sometimes coin for crystals that are to her liking. Being older she no longer travels into the tunnels to get the crystals herself and has been known to be always looking for one particular type of crystal which enhances her abilities.
    In recently months there have been a few reports of people going missing near the waterfall, but no evidence of foul play was ever found. Shivershire did form a search party of volunteers that searched the area including some of the closer tunnels but once again, nothing was ever found. One of those volunteers did report hearing strange 'clicking' noises coming from the deeper caves and tunnels.