Askelon

The Grave of Seiforh

The city of Askelon was the capital city of Saga the Kinslayer's Ofirar kingdom from the year XXX to 1258 Re. Situated in the direct center of Seiforh, it grew during her reign from a small hamlet into a city renowned across Pretheya. It became legendary for its architecture, which despite being made by humans could rival that of the Fyrstbairn's holds. Even more well known, however, were its libraries and the scholars that came from them; which were said to be the largest in Pretheya and the most knowledgeable people on the continent respectively. In the present day, it exists only as a ruin; having been utterly obliterated during the Karvina invasion of Seiforh in 1258 Re.

History

During the siege of Askelon, the besieging Karvina forces called upon the avatar of Rukhmar in order to try and bring a swift end to the siege. The Firebird's avatar unleashed a tornado of fire centered upon the heart of Askelon, which was so strong that the city itself began to melt. The walls of the settlement turned to molten slag and began to pool upon the floor, while the city's inhabitants who were caught near the centre of the attack were vaporized and ceased to exist. Those further from the epicentre were instead left as charred bones; to eventually be covered in a thick layer of ash once the Time of Red Skies began.

Present Day

In the present, the ruins left behind after the siege are barely identifiable; consisting mostly of fused piles of rubble and debris, and the occasional brick or stone that escaped the burning. The site is recognisable by the characteristic black-charred ground that surrounds the former centre of the city, which has remained for the six centuries after the attack. In the days following the attack, smoke let off by the burning of the Cloudbough trees near to the city is thought to have killed all those who survived. This is evidenced by the numerous ashen statues of humans that can be found for multiple miles around the exterior of the city; men and women frozen in various poses, bodies transmuted to ash in the middle of whatever they were doing.
In light of this, all but the bravest of travellers give the ruins of Askelon a wide berth when journeying through Seiforh.