Sanctuary

It's been more than five hundred years since the Conjunction made the surface uninhabitable. The peoples of the surface forced to flee into the crust of their world. Refugees without a home, many were lost as they plumbed the depths of what lies below. Now, the subterranean city of Sanctuary preserves as a bastion for those who were wandered, lost from the surface. Living memory does not reach back so far as the days of Sun and Stars, and many believe they may be nothing more than a myth. This world of darkness and pressure is their home now. The city of Sanctuary is divided along many lines. But one goal remains true for all, survival. The dangers of the deep dark are many and there are peoples who have been here since long before the Conjunction forced the surface worlders to become refugees below. Threats from outside are as significant as those which come from within. Overpacked with people, the city is cramped and crowded as well as being divided. The clearest division is the great cliff face that splits the Uppers and the Lowers. Some 800 feet in reach it splits the city into two unequal halves. The Uppers, with trade districts, places of learning, and the nobility of The Courts is less crowded, closer to their artificial light source, the Sundelier. The Lowers are packed full with people of lesser means, a cradle for burgeoning industry, and a river that runs through washing all manner of deep dark flotsam and jetsam into the city.

Defences

The Northwest Passage is guarded but a sturdy gatehouse under the primary control of the town guard. The Diamond District is surrounded by gargoyles which are rumored to be more than statues.

Districts

The city is split into Uppers and Lowers by a massive cliff. Districts and neighborhoods include the Diamond District, the Ashworks, Castaway Catch, The Wash, and Underbelch.

History

History of Sanctuary

Maps

Sanctuary
The city of Sanctuary is divided along many lines. But one goal remains true for all, survival. The dangers of the deep dark are many and there are peoples who have been here since long before the Conjunction forced the surface worlders to become refugees below. Threats from outside are as significant as those which come from within.

Founding Date

Type

City

Population

Overpacked at 50,000 souls

Inhabitant Demonym

Sanctite, Sanctuarian

Location under

The Near Reaches

Included Locations

The Near Reaches

Surface Times

So Long Ago it Might be Myth

Long before and so forgotten that it might just be a myth, people once walked on the surface of Cygnaria.

The Year it All Changed

The Convergence
Era beginning/end

Something sure happened. The surface become uninhabitable, but how is something not even most scholars really know.

The Descent

Uncounted Days that Stretched into Unknown Years

Exactly how long the Descent took is lost to time. But it was more than a generation for sure. History is a blur here.

Time Uncounted and Lost

Migration to Below
Population Migration / Travel

After the surface became uninhabitable the sun dwellers came down below and wandered for what seems like time uncountable. All semblance of time lost to them without the sun and stars. History remembers this time only vaguely.

Age of Sanctuary

1 and beyond

From the Founding of Sanctuary onward, the measuring of time becomes more precise and history is once again recorded and preserved.

1

1 /1

The Founding of Sanctuary
Founding

The cave system that holds the city is discovered and the first refugees decide that this is where they shall make their home. Groundbreaking on the first structures in Sanctuary. They began counting time again here, declaring the date of founding to be their first day of a new year.

Location
Sanctuary
1

3

A Vicious People
Military action

As Sanctuary began to form, resources and land were needed for the city's construction. They attempted to bargain with the local goblinoid tribes that had inhabited the area since before them to trade goods so that both may prosper but the tribes would not deal with the people of Sanctuary. One attempt ended in bloodshed, the merchants of Sanctuary killed by one of the tribes and from there centuries of war and conflict would sprout.
20

First Contact with Nepenthys
Diplomatic action

After years of observation, the city of Nepenthys made itself known to the people of Sanctuary. An envoy of drow was spotted by Sanctuary, and since then, they have seen each other many times, but never for long.
34

First Recorded Mana Cavern
Discovery, Exploration

Far from Sanctuary the first record of a mana cavern and its crystal creation is noted. A small civilization forms in the large expanding cavern within the centre.
60

1 /3

Beginning of Transmutational Alchemy
Technological achievement

Allen McAllister showcases his proof-of-concept for a device which allows the transmutation of common underground materials into lost rarities: first, by transforming raw mycellium into extinct cow's leather. The McAllister Alchemical Company is founded the same year
73

Cave Camberly Forms
Founding

The small civilization across the material from Sanctuary officially becomes military style school 'Cave Camberly'. It now hosts a small population but invites nearby cities young to study the arcane.
97

14 /6

Discovery of The Unders
Discovery, Exploration

The passage to The Unders is opened up for the first time. Exploration begins, exploitation follows.

Location
The Unders
138

14 /9

Great Shake of '38
Geological / environmental event

The great shake of '38. A very significant earthquake hit the city, changing some of the topography in the process. The cliffs were about 25 feet lower before.

Location
Sanctuary
174

26 /9

Mopo made Maester
Life, Milestone

As the previous golden eyed heir to the House of Golden Eye’s wealth and prestige passes on, he makes the surprising announcement that a gnome shall succeed him, Mopo is granted the title Maester and the family is his to run until he passes on as well.
219

The Blue-Light Treaty
Diplomatic action

The leaders of the goblinoid tribes were invited to the city to sign a peace treaty with Sanctuary. Delegates from the Zhou family met with them inside the Sapphire Hold in order to sign the document detailing an end to the conflict and a hold on any future expansions from the city. While tensions were high, the expert diplomacy of the nobles kept the meeting peaceful and the treaty was signed.

Location
Sapphire Hold
231

The Dousing of the Blue-Light
Military action

Employees of the Greywind Ironworks were found dead outside the gates of the city. Butchered by the goblinoid tribes, these poor souls were mourned across the city, but after the mourning came the cries for vengeance. The treaty broken, the city saw little recourse but to reignite the fires of war and conflict between the city and the Goblinoid tribes started again in full.
298

14 /3

Locking the Unders
Disaster / Destruction

Delving too deep unleashed something terrible. Too much to fight off, instead the way to the Unders was closed. The creation of the Undersgate and the distribution of its keys are all that saved Sanctuary from what lurks beneath.

Location
Undersgate
299

Founding of Amberlight
Cultural event

Citing dissatisfaction with the city's ability to handle disasters such as that from the Unders, Mirabelle Blake leaves her position in the city guard to found a mercenary security company
302

15 /8

302

22 /8

The Week of Night
Disaster / Destruction

A critical shortage of the materials used for Fungalite refinement causes the Sundelier to go out for the first time since Sanctuary's founding. For seven days, the city is plunged into unbroken night

Location
Sundelier Station
302

20 /8

302

22 /8

When the Nightmares became Real
Disaster / Destruction

When the lights went out and fear followed suit, something else came along with, or rather many things came. Out of the darkness, a horde of insects born of chtin, nightmares and bone burst through the walls of the garrison, slaughtering creatures in their path as they flooded the warehouse district, attacking stores of unrefined fungalite. The exact nature of what followed has been lost, but to those who were there and survived, one thing was clear: the nightmares were real and were ravenous.
303

305

Sealing of the Lights
Cultural event

The scattered and competing Fungalite refineries are, one by one, acquired and brought under a single umbrella by the priesthood of That Which Was. The House of Lights is founded as the sole, combined house of Fungalite refinement. St. Alicia appointed as its keeper.
360

7 /7 07:00

Arrival of Subsylvan Refugees
Population Migration / Travel

Wood elves who have wandered the caves since time lost to memory stumble upon Sanctuary . The doors held open for them and the generosity of the city giving them a new home. They establish what eventually becomes Naturenook .

Location
Naturenook
412

23 /5

First Expedition of the Ecological Institute
Expedition

A group of naturalists, ecologists, and druids gather for the first time. Holding the first meeting of what would become the Unders Ecological Institute. Their curiosity overrides the fear of what they might find, and they plan an expedition into The Unders via secret paths they still have not shared to this day.

Location
The Unders Ecological Institute
416

13 /9

First Issue of Ecologist’s Quarterly
Founding

The first issue of the scientific periodical is distributed in Sanctuary. Few read it, as it is written in dense Jargon rather than the common tongue.
430

3 /6

430

6 /6

The Westwind Street Riot
Disaster / Destruction

A labor dispute at the Westwind Textile Plant escalates into a strike, and from there, into a full-scale riot. Hundreds are injured, dozens of buildings are destroyed, and sixteen are killed. It takes 3 days for order to be restored. One month later, Amberlight is granted an indefinite contract to act as a supplementary police force in the Ashworks.
440

The Warrens are Born
Cultural event

Following a record-low year of profits, the notoriously dangerous Eastreach Iron Mine is closed. One of the main sources of income in Castaway Catch is lost, and soon the mine's upper levels become housing for the destitute, its middle reaches a hiding place for criminals and hermits, and its lowest depths forgotten.
480

483

Beginnings of the Cableway
Technological achievement

Freelance artificer Raff Mizzleton introduces his first proposal for a citywide system of miniature messenger constructs, travelling via cables charged with arcane energy. Over the next few years, the newly-founded Mizzleton Communications Company links important businesses and the homes of the well-to-do throughout most of the Uppers (and some parts of the Lowers), in what would come to be called the Cableway.
488

6 /6

Exo’s Ascent
Life, Relocation

After growing up as the ward of Granny Gardenbeetle The tiefling known as Exo is released. His ancestral vow of a hundred years of service fulfilling. Eventually he makes his way to Sanctuary and builds a home, which will eventually become his bug shop.

Location
Exo's Vermin
495

Camberly Envoy Reaches Sanctuary
Diplomatic action

A Camberly representative reaches Sanctuary with a group for construction of a centre, after a few years a teleportation circle and main building will be available for Camberly to assist Sanctuary and vice versa.
500

1 /1

500 years of Sanctuary!
Cultural event

The 500th Anniversary of the founding of Sanctuary! This is where Gameplay Begins

Location
Sanctuary

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Settlement

World

Sanctuary - The City Below

Gameplay Info

Sanctuary

Defences

Districts

History

Maps

Sanctuary

Surface Times

So Long Ago it Might be Myth

The Convergence

The Descent

Uncounted Days that Stretched into Unknown Years

Migration to Below

Age of Sanctuary

1 and beyond

The Founding of Sanctuary

Location

A Vicious People

First Contact with Nepenthys

First Recorded Mana Cavern

Beginning of Transmutational Alchemy

Cave Camberly Forms

Discovery of The Unders

Location

Great Shake of '38

Location

Mopo made Maester

The Blue-Light Treaty

Location

The Dousing of the Blue-Light

Locking the Unders

Location

Founding of Amberlight

The Week of Night

Location

When the Nightmares became Real

Sealing of the Lights

Arrival of Subsylvan Refugees

Location

First Expedition of the Ecological Institute

Location

First Issue of Ecologist’s Quarterly

The Westwind Street Riot

The Warrens are Born

Beginnings of the Cableway

Exo’s Ascent

Location

Camberly Envoy Reaches Sanctuary

500 years of Sanctuary!

Location

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