Los Ciagnac
And over the besieging forces every day was the shadow of Los Ciagnac, held aloft and shielded by magics beyond our ken. "Why are we even here?" we asked our captain one day. "Because we honor our alliances," he responded. "...and because we'd rather have people who can do that on our side than against us."
The capital of Talia Carte, Los Ciagnac was by all accounts a shining metropolis of advancements in philosophy, magic, engineering, stonework, and a dozen other fields. Sages, scholars, wizards, healers, architects, and the nobility of every nation were sent there to train. An expert in a field wasn't considered credible if they weren't at least recognized by the experts of Los Ciagnac. It held the anchoring structures and central arrival-and-departure gates for the Roadways, and it was there that every single member of Talia Carte's famous four branches of operations were trained. "All paths end in Los Ciagnac," it was said, and not just for the Roadways anchoring there. All forms of mercantile and political influence were at least swayed in the capital city, when they weren't simply being dictated. The Archives maintained by the Talia Carte Diamonds stored and offered access to every conceivable topic of information publicly, to the extent of being relied upon by even foreign nations as archival sources. And then it vanished. When the Roadways went dark, and no communications came from Los Ciagnac, the first concern in other nation's minds was invasion. Had the carefully-neutral empire finally decided to simply bring the rest of the continent, perhaps the rest of the world, under their rule? If so, no one was certain they could be stopped. As time passed, and expeditions failed to return, a much more frightening question settled into place: What event or foe could have ended such a civilization... and could it still be a threat to those of us who yet remain?
-Excerpt from a recovered journal passed down through a family for an unknown period of time
The capital of Talia Carte, Los Ciagnac was by all accounts a shining metropolis of advancements in philosophy, magic, engineering, stonework, and a dozen other fields. Sages, scholars, wizards, healers, architects, and the nobility of every nation were sent there to train. An expert in a field wasn't considered credible if they weren't at least recognized by the experts of Los Ciagnac. It held the anchoring structures and central arrival-and-departure gates for the Roadways, and it was there that every single member of Talia Carte's famous four branches of operations were trained. "All paths end in Los Ciagnac," it was said, and not just for the Roadways anchoring there. All forms of mercantile and political influence were at least swayed in the capital city, when they weren't simply being dictated. The Archives maintained by the Talia Carte Diamonds stored and offered access to every conceivable topic of information publicly, to the extent of being relied upon by even foreign nations as archival sources. And then it vanished. When the Roadways went dark, and no communications came from Los Ciagnac, the first concern in other nation's minds was invasion. Had the carefully-neutral empire finally decided to simply bring the rest of the continent, perhaps the rest of the world, under their rule? If so, no one was certain they could be stopped. As time passed, and expeditions failed to return, a much more frightening question settled into place: What event or foe could have ended such a civilization... and could it still be a threat to those of us who yet remain?
Demographics
45% Human ethnicities, 20% Fey(various), 12% Dwarves, 11% Gnomes, 5% Centauri, 7% Giants, Orcs, and Goblin minorities. (Deceased/Missing)
Defences
So much was stored in the Diamond Archives, very little is verifiable in terms of descriptions of the city any more, but recently-discovered and reviewed journals of soldiers who assisted in defeating some unknown siege on Los Ciagnac give us brief insights into the legendary defenses in place. If these accounts and their implications are to be believed, the entire city would lift from the ground into the air to hover a kilometer or more over the field of battle. Great glowing shields of force enveloping the underside of the land holding the city aloft are described as flaring into existence briefly when struck by siege weaponry. How much of this is pure fancy, or men and women exaggerating events, can't be known for certain.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
The third second-day of Third Summer, 542 MT (Presumed)
Alternative Name(s)
Lost Paradise
Type
Capital
Population
Unknown (Missing or Deceased)
Comments