City in the Salt

Before Time

In the time of Salt, there was no life, no water, no sunlight; only eternal darkness upon barren earth. The Creators, a strange family of unfathomable beings, wished to twist and mold the land with their own machinations. One such being called The Bled Mother created life in what is now the High Plains or Andrytus. Many believe that it was she who brought life to the land of the Salt. Her creations had mixed reactions amongst the creators. Some scorned the idea of creating creatures that may someday rival them whilst others embraced her ideas and sought to make their own beings of flesh. 
Those that embraced her ideas, such as the Father of Sleep, created the Lauma and introduced "manlings" (or humans) to his vast forests within modern-day Ealdé. Those that didn't, however, were incredibly spiteful of their existence, constantly plaguing their creations with disease, famine, and mortality. The Creator that orchestrated these plights upon life is known as the Grieving Brother. It is said that his face of marble ran with ripples of molten gold constantly fluxing from his opulent eyes. He cursed the life of the world, lamenting that their existence had become more important to his fellow Creators than that of their own. 

Plights Upon Humanity

As living things became more rampant across the land, the Grieving Brother schemed to destroy life but was often thwarted by fellow Creators. He had grown hateful towards the Bled Mother's most intelligent creations: humans. She purposefully made them sapient as to not easily fall for the traps of the enemy Creators such as Him. As such, he created a city far adrift from the masses of land that had risen high above the Salt. It was a land of opulence: rivers of molten gold flowed between palaces of lapis lazuli. Every street was paved with marble and precious gemstones grew upon the petals of flowers. This place, however, was not paradise; it was merely a ruse to insight a new emotion amongst the living: greed. 
As time went on, the mortals of the world began to take notice of the far-off island floating in the distance. Its grandeur was visible for miles away, sparkling in what little sunlight reached it. The Grieving Brother realized that the temptation of riches was not merely enough, so he created more sin to entice the Mother's creations. His unliving agents, Sorrowborn, took the form of humans and infiltrated their society with promises of pleasure, riches, and peace. As time rolled on, his agents successfully began to sew discord amongst humanity. One such agent by the name of Bellum wished to impress his master by creating yet another weakness amongst mankind: destruction. 

Bellum's Wrath

Bellum was a particularly crafty minion of the Grieving Brother. His skin was smooth like marble, giving him an angular, handsome appearance that he often used to his advantage. Commanding several of the Brother's minions, he acted as a courier of war, spreading rumors between nations and city-states. To this day, his name is cursed whenever war falls upon mankind. It is said that Bellum has since become as feared as a God. The Grieving Brother's scheme may have fallen silent, but he entrusts Bellum to carry out his hateful schemes. Bellum rules over the City in the Salt, ushering many of the Mother's creations to the island to carry out his work. Bellum, however, grew more and more tired of destroying humanity and soon turned his sights upon using them for entertainment in massive coliseums where they would fight for his entertainment.
While the City in the Salt is no longer visible to mankind, the Grieving Brother knows that his agents and the destruction they have wrought with it seem to be satisfactory enough for the angry God.