Tiro’en
A city of glowing spires and magnificent glass and stone buildings of varying sizes, shapes, and designs — some of human or even halfling size, some large enough for giants — stands in the caldera of a long dead volcano. A strange stone obelisk at the center of the city is carved with a variety of symbols and seemingly random words of various languages. The symbols and words change slowly over time, as if the stone rewrites whatever was meant to be written there — with one exception: the word “Tiro’en” carved into the base of the obelisk in a variety of languages and alphabets.
Dust and dirt stirred by the winds sweeping through at this high-altitude swirl and move along broad avenues, empty fountains, statues, and wide areas that might once have been parks or greenways, but today there is no life amid the ruins. No plants, animals, or even mosses or fungi find purchase here. Any animals that might pass by move away quickly, and even intelligent creatures find the eerie ruins unsettling and have no desire to stay or explore. Buildings stand open, yet are strangely hollow and bereft of any life or even a hint of who, or what, may have lived here in the past.
While the location of Tiro’en is known and even marked on some maps, little is known about its history or origins. Rumored to hold treasures and secret knowledge, adventurers have tried to explore the ruins, only to be turned away by storm giants, if they do not disappear altogether. Dwarves of the Iron Kingdom give the ruins a wide berth and claim no knowledge of its origins.
In truth, a clan of storm giants built Tiro’en long ago, back in an age when some of giantkind thought it wise to share knowledge with other races. They used powerful spells to bring forth this city from the volcanic glass of the caldera. There they built a library and invited visitors from other races to come to exchange ideas and knowledge within a collection of ornate, beautiful buildings and gardens created to encourage peaceful contemplation and study.
The city’s doom came when one storm giant seeking knowledge best left unknown touched the mind of an elder god and was driven irrevocably mad. Flush with power from this deity of the void, she cleansed the city, slaughtering every living creature, animal, and plant within its confines. Only the empty buildings and a looming sense of fear remains of the beauty that once was Tiro’en.
Whether they acknowledge it or not, the true history of Tiro’en and its destruction is what drove storm giants to their more solitary existence and their extreme caution when sharing knowledge, or even interacting, with other races. The ruins remain unexplored, as anyone entering the barren city triggers a signal that draws several storm giants to the area to discourage investigation. If asked for an explanation, none is given, as even the giants themselves have forgotten the details of Tiro’en’s destruction. They just know that they are to prevent anyone from exploring here and possibly repeating whatever disaster might have occurred.
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