Eria Nil Aldur (Air-ee-uh N-ill Al-dew-r)

Known for:

• Stargazing

• Salt mines

• Meteorological weirdness

• Burial rites

• Necromancy

• Skating

• Anatomical science

The city of Eria Nil Aldur is actually truly a large town, but easily the largest settlement in this region of the world. Remote enough to be forgotten by many, the location is nonetheless a cultural icon in Ostelliach for several things, as well as a lifesaver for locals both in literal resource provisioning and in culture in an otherwise desolate and unpopulated landscape.

If there were one thing Eria Nil Aldur was known for, it would be its salt plains. If there were another, it would be necromancy.

Life, Death, and Liminal Betweens

The general inhospitability of the Warded Hook region means that Aldurians see a relatively small amount of birth and life (especially with the salt and hard ground preventing farming) and a fair amount of death. The locals have an extremely casual view of death, aided in no small way by their burial rites.

The fact that Aldurians cannot bury bodies in the firm ground made them adapt long ago, adopting a sort of sky burial wherein the body is left unwrapped and untouched outside the town in order to allow the salt to overtake it. The wind whips the salt in the air, coating the body in a fine but unblemished coat of fine crystals that prevent decomposition. Bodies become preserved in this way, allowing researchers and death-curious folks an otherwise extremely rare preserved and completely composed specimen for study. Different local species groups adopted different rites to accompany this process, celebrating their loved one in different ways, but all were predicated on the notion that the body would be untouched and in fact actively put in a place that would preserve it untouched.

Eventually, after a varying length of time determined by different customs (and assuming the body has not been reanimated or claimed for science), the body is then set alight, burning the salt crystals in a vivid green glow that is visible far away and lasts for sometimes days. The bones (if any are left) are then lovingly collected by the family or returned to the sea by a special city representative called a Deathtaker if unclaimed.

Naturally, this sort of familiar view of death yields a curiosity for the process, as well as a fascination with the division between life and death. Thus, Eria Nil Aldur is sometimes called (for better or worse) Bonetown for the sheer number of necromancers and other death-interested folk who either come there or are molded there.

Eyes to the Sky

Eria Nil Aldur's remoteness, flat plains, and oceanside view lend it an unparalleled view of the sky, creating a natural fascination for astronomy and stargazing. Additionally, something about the area (hypothesized to be related to the salt content, the air currents from Deepdrop, and some sort of ocean phenomena) mean the skies often feature auroras, glittering lights, unexplained shooting stars, and other phenomena that mean no two night skies are alike for Aldurians. Indeed, such a love of the sky means almost every building features a sort of skylight that is charmed to stay salt-free for unimpeded viewing.

Death & The Sunup District

The Sunup District is the only truly notable district of the city, because being the capital of necromancy as far as most Ostellians are concerned means that there are a variety of services in the city tailored to supporting this, whether it is the scholarly study or the philosophical and ethical exploration. These are all colocated in an area known as the Sunup District, named for the now-defunct Sunup Studio where one of Eria Nil Aldur's first outspoken necromancers offered his services for a nominal fee.

Resurrection Services

There are, of course, a large collection of those who conduct resurrection services in the city. They are kept in one central location where operating permits are required to practice necromancy, allowing for careful oversight and transparent surveying of all available options for those who would need to partake.

The services are broken up into a few categories:

• Classic revivification, a time-sensitive resurrection of the recently fallen. Typically, these cases must be dealt with within roughly 1 day, lest the risk of personality decay be too great for most to risk. The individual (theoretically) returns to their normal self/body, often without remembering the experience at all.

• Communication services, where an entity is not permanently resurrected but only grounded/summoned for a brief time to interact. This includes your typical seance, ghost-talking session, and poltergeist wrangling but also a specialized subsect that is able to temporarily restore the thoughts/sentience of an undead creature. (This creature is typically laid to permanent rest once the process completes.)

• Post-revivify resurrection, where the whole of a person (the personality, memories etc.) are thought to be lost but there is still use of a body. This subsect of necromancy is closely overseen by the Deathtaker Division of city management, ensuring there are no unethicla resurrections, using bodies as mindless henchpeople etc.

Support Services

Psychological, Metaphysical, Religious

An interfaith/unspecified religious hall is open to those who have philosophical or religious qualms about the field of necromancy, including those who have lost someone, been recently lost and found themselves, or need to understand their own feelings about the process.

Physical Health

There is also a robust physical clinic where those who have been revivified (or impacted by it) can seek therapy services (individual, group, or couple/party-based). The clinic also offers health physicals for post-resurrection patients who want to ensure all of their "bits" are still intact; this is typically a simple examination to reassure the patient, and many of the resurrection services will offer vouchers, discounts, or partnerships with the clinic to reassure those uncertain about the process.

There is also a specialized clinic for those who have been resurrected in less "standard" methods - draugr, zombies, vampires, ghosts etc. They are given physicals and recurring check-ins to manage any decay or discomfort causes by the erosion process, provided resources to manage their new reality, and given referrals to other places in Ostelliach that may be better suited for their new existence. This clinic is closely connected to the Deathtaker Division and the legal systems in place with them, to ensure the patients brought to them were ethically raised and will be ethically maintained.

Finally, there is a clinic dedicated to general restoration. With necromancy representing the management of the flow of life, deeper more involved healing measures are considered necromantic and many visit Eria Nil Aldur for this. Removing intricate curses and corrosive conditions, restoring necrotic damage, curing paralysis/decayed connection, and repairing damaged organs (such as traumatic brain injuries) fall into this domain, restoring dead anatomy.

Demographics

Eria Nil Aldur is not the same bitter cold of many areas on the eastern coast of Ostelliach, but it is certainly on the colder side. Thus, scaly types are far less common than insulated, furry species. Additionally, the general lack of foliage tends to deter many druidic or forest-dwelling types and though there are salt mines a-plenty, the ground is not particularly ripe for tunnel systems so those who prefer underground spaces are less likely to be found. That said, those with a love of wide-open plains will find there's certainly room to breathe in the city.
The town is not particularly known for trade so economic status is nothing extravagent. Typically, Eria Nil Aldur sees a lot of people who need to get away from the hubbub of larger cities. Hermits, creative types, people seeking refuge or secrecy and escape, introverts, and pensieve stargazers populate the town's sprawling architecture.
Finally, necromancers are drawn to the area (or people are inspired to become necromancers from living here).

Government

Eria Nil Aldur is by most accounts a city of hermits, those who are looking to achieve their own ends quietly. Thus, the government is largely a sketched-out concept used only in areas that people cannot self-sustain.
There are no official boundaries to the town, with the salt flats largely unclaimed for miles around, so people are largely free to build their home whereever they please so long as they don't upset others and businesses related to necromancy are located in the Sunup District.
Two districts that are closely maintained, however, pertain to the necromantic arts and keeping the people of Eria Nil Aldur alive.

Food Services

There is a dedicated organization of people who focus on making sure the population of Eria Nil Aldur do not go hungry. They organize soup kitchens and food distribution services, coordinate the delivery of food from Mother's Gift or Carrier's Crest, and keep count of how many people live in the city and what their dietary needs are. Participation in this cohort is volunteer-based.

Necromancy & the Deathtaker Division

In order to ensure Eria Nil Aldur's reputation as a city is not tarnished by unethical dark magic, the agreement for self-regulation and oversight came as the art of necromancy began picking up any sort of traction in the city.
Deathtakers are the primary policy makers and enactors in this capacity. Deathtakers (who take a series of courses and tests/evaluations split between Eria Nil Aldur and the Scriptorium Soiram) have several responsibilities, though people typically select one or two disciplines to focus on:

• Ethics and record keeping for those with licenses to conduct resurrection, including: conducting ethics training and ensuring all follow it; maintaining a log of those who have licenses in the city (or receive their license and leave the city to practice elsehwere, ensuring they check in/stay ethical while not under local oversight tracking documentation for necromantic activiites, including who has been resurrecting whom, how, and why.

• Maintenance and responsibility of arcane creations, similar to the work of Warmhearted Cold Metal for Warforged, ensuring necromantic creatures such as ghouls, zombies, and ghosts were created ethically and are not used for ill-gain. This includes tracking documentation to see that the corpse was acquired ethically (preferably with documented consent pre-expiration)

and is not being put to manual labor without proper rest and physical maintenance. In Eria Nil Aldur, a mindless shambling horde is not a red flag, but a mindless shambling horde that is falling apart, violating noise decorum, or clearly assembled from a graveyard without consent is something that raises attention.

• Advanced necromantic healing, making sure that necromancers conducting complicated healing rituals are still following the same rules of medical ethics as any healer.

• Oversight of unclaimed deceased and bio-experiment discards, meaning making sure the people who die in the city without anyone watching over their burial rites still get treated with respect. They also are responsible for assisting with failed necromantic experiments like resurrections that didn't work or revivifications that brought back something unexpected. This is the most well-known, most feared, and most respected subsect of the Division. It is understood that they make the hardest house calls, showing unceasing respect and devotion to the unloved dead but also making the unfortunate action to mercifully put down things that came back unwanted.

The Deathtaker Division are understood to have the full power to enforce their rules in the area around Eria Nil Aldur, including incapacitating rogue necromancers and would-be villains. There is even rumor that the Deathtakers maintain a connection with The Tryst and have a method of severing people's contact from The Web in case of gross malpractice and there are scattered stories of traveling Deathtakers that roam Ostelliach making sure the ethics of the city's practices are followed no matter how far from their area they are. These traveling Deathtakers are understood to have jurisdiction everywhere, working with far-off law enforcement and militias to enact their punishment no matter where it happens.

Industry & Trade

The primary export of Eria Nil Aldur (and a very profitable one keeping the city afloat) is salt, a preservative and seasoning that cannot be mined in significant quantities anywhere else in Ostelliach. This fuels the economy with more than enough to keep the small city (large town) afloat.
The inability to farm in the area means citizens are very dependent upon the import of food.

Tourism

People visit Eria Nil Aldur for a few different reasons:

• To escape more inhospitable weather or less survivable homesteads

• To enjoy the natural light shows and other unique weather phenomena

• To utilize the necromantic services in the area, including seeking resurrection, studying anatomy, or learning the art themselves

• To get some peace and quiet

Architecture

The buildings of Eria Nil Aldur tend to be squat single-story buildings, built to be rounded igloo-like shapes to allow the salted winds to rush over/past them as easily as possible. They are all made of a composite building material made from alchemically combining the salt of the area (making use of what is readily available) and stone powder. Most buildings feature a skylight magically kept free of salt buildup in order to enjoy the nightly light shows overhead, but otherwise are often windowless. Firepits made of the light-colored stone in the buildings themselves are often located outside the house, used for cooking, while the inside of the building is kept warm through insulation and the warming through the skylight. Homes typically have two rooms: one for bedding/sleeping and one for everything else, sharing sleeping quarters communally in the family.

Geography

Eria Nil Aldur is located on a vast salt plain that sometimes enjoys the diversity of an icy protrusion or detached tumbleweed. The plains of Warded Hook are known for their bright white, opalescent sheen in the sunlight, and tang of saline shimmering in the air a few feet above them; they are not known for much else. That being said, many truly enjoy the wide open spaces and vivid brightness, so white it seems to glow at night (yet somehow never impeding the stargazing). To that point, the plains are fantastic for stargazing and the remote location combined with the unique visual phenomena of the area are the real natural attractions people enjoy.
To the east and south of Eria Nil Aldur, the warm waters of Deepdrop are good for swimming and fishing (and fungal infections) and the nearby lake ________ provides freshwater to an otherwise relatively inhospitable peninsula.

Climate

Eria Nil Aldur enjoys a slight reprieve from more arctic winds thanks to the warmth from the Ilcarian Jungle south of it, and thus has cooler but manageable climate. The winters see upticks in wind and snow, but the summers are incredibly mild and many travel to the area to escape the worst of either season.
This being said, Eria Nil Aldur is known for extremely unpredictable weather phenomena, typically visual light shows of borealis, comet showers unseen anywhere else, strange shimmering lights in the sea, and salt-infused waterspouts that dance in the distance. This feeds the poetic souls of the introverts who seek the place out, as well as the curiosity of astronomers and meteorologists, but generally is considered harmless.

Natural Resources

• Salt

• Fish

Alternative Name(s)

Salted Sanctuary, Bonetown

Type

Large town

Inhabitant Demonym

Aldurians (Al-dew-ree-ans)