Faunel
From A Players Primer to the Outlands (2e)
THE TOWN: Picture a great human city made of stone. Now, picture it in ruins, with crumbling and broken buildings, cracked fountains that spill old water, and cathedrals split in half by trees. Nothing but wreckage, tied up in knots of vines and vegetation like a meal splattered in a spider's web. The air's always hot and wet, and heavy downpours seem to come out of nowhere, followed by rainbows (or moonbows, at night).
Now, berk, picture the ruins inhabited by humanoids, animals, and planar creatures. That's Faunel - a broken city, full of life. Those who need structures to survive build with the old stone, but most bodies just form tents out of multi-coloured tarps. The colours and markings of the tarps are unique, so a cutter can pretty much find her way around town (Joak the Sage's tent, for example, is bright yellow, with a constellation of red dots). Still, it ain't always easy to pick a path through the mixture of clutter and vines.
Legends tell that the ruins actually come from prime-material worlds. Chunks of abandoned cities are said to fall into the Outlands and become just another wreck in Faunel. True or not, there's plenty of chant that hints at gates to many prime worlds in the town's debris.
THE GATE: The Gate to the Beastlands is a wide pool, guarded by a large stone statue known only as Wrath. Some say that Wrath was once a mortal, a creature of living cloud, who rebelled against his fellow bashers. One story says he turned stag in a bid for power, while another marks his "crime" as seeking solid form. Hardly matters, though - the sod's now made of stone, a monolith with a human face and glowing blue eyes.
Wrath won't talk about his past, but he does ask the business of all travellers who want to cross into the Beastlands. Wise cutters answer him, and do so truthfully. Berks who ignore Wrath or lie to him tend to meet messy and quick ends on the far side of the gate. (The locals Figure Wrath has a hand in it, but no one's quite tumbled to how.)
LOCAL SITES: Lots of planars call Faunel "The Wreckage," and cutters seem to stumble on more and more ruins all the time. Many of these ruins have actually been there all along, and just get "discovered" when masses of vines die off or get cleared away. 'Course, this doesn't stop folks from thinking the rubble comes from prime-material worlds, or from spreading rumours about gates.
One place in town that doesn't come or go is the Signers' headquarters, the Centre of Eternal Dreams. It's a blasted-out, roofless cathedral, with broken stained glass windows covered in tarps and hangings of the faction. Maps used by Signers show the building as the central point of both Faunel and the Outlands (pity the sod who trusts her life to such a map).
CURRENT CHANT: Stories tell of a secret group operating in this part of the Outlands - a group of lawful evil bashers known as the Vile Hunt. With a nod from the Mercykillers, this crowd wants to track down the petitioners of the Beastlands and put 'em all in the dead-book. (To the Hunt, beasts with the minds of men are abominations.) Wrath's on their list, too. They want to get him out of the way so they can make their own gate to the Beastlands - the better to hunt with.
Demographics
THE POPULACE: Faunel's natives are mostly nonhumanoid petitioners from the Beastlands. They're thinking beings in animal form, and the Clueless are often startled to find that they can speak. (Fact is, they think and talk a lot better than some Clueless do.) The rest of the town's rounded out with a few elves, humans, bariaur, kender, and halflings. Many residents belong to the Sign of One faction, and they run a large complex they call the Centre of Eternal Dreams.
Government
THE HOI POLLOI: Faunel's got no official ruler, and bashers report that the only law here is the law of the jungle. Wrath is the most prominent figure in town, but he's got his own agenda. He only spills the dark of things if he figures Faunel or the Beastlands will be safer as a result. Some chant says that Wrath's the only thing keeping Faunel in the Outlands.
Type
Town
Population
900 humanoids, and probably twice as many other creatures.
Location under
Owner/Ruler
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