The Bathhouse

Nostvary    Section 6: The World Guide    The Sondaran Empire    Kin'ta      The Zento      The Bathhouse

The waters of The Glowing Sea are capable of more than just healing wounds, or rejuvenating the sick, they can fill dragon eggs with the magic they require to grow. Dragons are relics of a time when magic flowed freely through the mortal realm before it was captured by beings destined to become gods and hoarded jealously. As such, they can only grow in conditions akin to that age but only a few places in Nostvary match their needs. The volcano in The Vale of Alungar is one such place, infamous among the citizens of The Sondaran Empire for being the birthplace of the dragons that caused them so much hurt.

Memories of the war with The Dragon Eyrie have long fed a desire within the Sondaran Empire to breed their own dragons but until the Zentos was opened up they lacked a site of magic powerful enough to serve. With the removal of the Jackel guarding the entrance, the empire had its chance.
In the cliffs above the port of Sentinel the followers of Dromae have built a network of tunnels and caves where they can research the magical ether that flows across Nostvary. In one of these secret rooms, guarded by soldiers was a clutch of dragon eggs more valuable than all the gold in the treasury. They were brought out into the sun and escorted to the Zentos by a battalion from the Sentinel Regiment. Once there the priests of Dromae set about identifying a spot to hatch them.
The glowing sea (it's a lake but the name stuck) has plenty of half-submerged buildings but the priests were searching for something particular. They had no experience of hatching dragon eggs but they had collected as much information as they could on how to do it. The Jurati, elves that lived in the southern jungles, and the Dragon Eyrie both guarded their secrets but imperial spymasters are known for their resourcefulness.
Rowboats were sent for and carried the long distance. With them the priests explored the caves and flooded temples, dismissing each in turn but when they reached the northern shore they found what they were searching for. The bathhouse, one of the few buildings where the scholars are in no doubt as to the initial use, is a wide building set into the rock cliff with open arches looking out over the lake. At the rear are rooms lit by magic lamps, some that fill with steam at the turning of a lever, others with pools of icy water. Along the front are a series of shallow pools fed by water pumped up from the lake and warmed by some hidden means.
The priests of Dromae set about replicating the birthing pools of the Jurati, inscribing on the walls the mystical symbols and submerging the eggs into the water. Nothing happened to begin with but each failure was a chance to learn. Years passed but the eggs started to respond. They were soaking up the magic slowly and soon would hatch. The priests rowed back and forth every day to watch over their eggs, eager for them to wake but it was on one of these trips that the accident happened.
The glowing sea is stirred by the magic that makes it so special. At times it can be like a stormy sea with waves crashing over the rocks, at others it can be still and glow with ethereal lights. Four priests were being rowed to the bathhouse by a soldier when a wave struck. A priest and a priestess fell into the water and the soldier dived in to save them. They survived and made it back to The King's Temple but the changes had already begun.
Mortal beings are normally unable to hold magic beyond the weight of their own souls. It flows like a river over stones worn smooth by time, ever drawn toward the Timeless Sea but when a living being, be it human, dwarf, or tree is overexposed, the magic clings and gathers more. When the priests and the soldier swallowed the water the magic began to build within them turning them into small gods, beings trapped in the mortal realm but now of the timeless sea.
The priest of Dromae and the soldier turned violent and attacked any that tried to enter the crater while the priestess of Liandra fled into the warrior's necropolis.
No one has been able to enter for nine years without being attacked by what remains of the soldier. Hundreds have died attempting to enter through the king's temple and by going over the top but none have made it out.
No one knows what happened to the dragons left in the pools but nine years is a long time in the life of an egg.

RUINED STRUCTURE
-600

Founding Date

-1900

Type

Bathhouse

Parent Location

The Zento