Lorbeer

Lorbeer is a haunted ruin of a city in north-eastern Creoda. Before it was abandoned, it was the capital of the Kingdom of Wuffa. When it was sacked by the rebel forces of Eafa, the surviving royalty of Wuffa fled southward. But it wasn't until Eafa threw open the dungeons beneath the royal palace, exposing the horrors committed within, that the city truly died. The atrocities committed in the name of pleasure tainted the spiritual resonance of the city, and as they became known more thoroughly, the city became unbearable for all but the most sadistic to live in. Eafa's forces burned everything that could be burned, and destroyed anything that could be used to defend the site from attack, and then abandoned the city to be reclaimed by the forest. When the Kingdom of Creoda conquered the King of Pengwern (the kingdom founded by the escaped royals of Wuffa) they also claimed the territory where Lorbeer stood - a claim that Gewisse has never sought to challenge. Today, the ruins stand on the border between the two kingdoms, and all who are wise stay far away from it.

History

Lorbeer was originally founded by the Clarati sorcerer Fulmen. He used the city as a seat for administrative functions for his territory, and as a place to showcase the creatures he was building in Bestarium. The city was not large, and it was dominated by the large arena where Fulmen pitted conscripted warriors and condemned criminals against monsters of his own manufacture, before as large an audience as he could summon. In those days, the city was known as Fulmenorum.
After Fulmen's death, the city became the capital of the new Kingdom of Wuffa. Wuffa herself renamed the city Lorbeer, for the many laurel bushes that grew in the area, Lorbeer meaning "Laurel" in Inselsprach. For centuries, it was a center and seat of power for the royal family of Wuffa. They built their palace over the site of Fulmen's arena, and used the many tunnels and chambers beneath the building to conduct their atrocities. Eofa's forces collapsed as many of these hellholes as they could before abandoning the city, but some had been created by Fulmen's magics and persist to this day. 
It was after the abandonment of the city that the laurel bushes changed. They proliferated over the old tunnels, pushing through any crack they could find or make in the stones. On them grew the reddish-black fruit that has come to be known as clotberries. These fruit look at a first glance like a cross between blackberries and raspberries, and they have a strange sweet odor that is simultaneously compelling and revolting. Those who consume clotberries are invigorated, filled with supernatural power, and frequently exhibit short-lived magical abilities. However, they are also filled with the memories of torturing and tormenting helpless victims, with an overlay of fiendish glee as they shatter the bones and minds of their victims. Most people are deeply disturbed by the visions and the evil joy they convey, but some find that this horror resonates with some dark component of their own souls. Those who discover this portion of themselves frequently turn their newfound bloodlust on anyone who is nearby, feeding the growth of new clotberry laurels. There is a small and secret society of clotberry addicts who harvest the fruit from Lorbeer and tend the new plants - they call themselves the Pain-Gardeners and it is due to their presence that few who do enter the old ruins never emerge.

Founders

• Fulmen

Alternative Name(s)

Fulmenorum

Type

Large city

Location under

Ynys

Owner/Ruler

Aldric the Bold

Owning Organization

Creoda