Cathyr

City of the Desert

Cathyr, is a metropolis and the capital city of the Dambrath. The ''City of the Desert'' sat in a small bay on the far eastern end of Dambrath. It marked the final southern stop of the Trader's Way. The inner city was crowded and bustling. At the center of the city sat the king's palace which was surrounded by broad green parks, the only area with visible nature within miles. The wealthy lived in two or three story town houses on the west side, while most of the poor huddled together in the eastern sections of the city closer to the docks. Some lived outside the city walls in hovels that reached southward along the coast

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Baseline information in regards to Cathyr can be found here.

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Modifications to the actual lore include:

Cathyr is a city built on the eastern desert of Dambrath, near the only area of water within hundreds of miles. It rules over most of the Shaar Desert.

1450 after the Great War:

Reghar Rhazard, King of Cathyr, dies of old age, leaving his oldest son, the stern and ruthless Rogare Rhazard in charge. Rogare starts rapidly showing signs of nervousness in his new role, afraid to be overthrown at all times.

Reghar Rhazard is buried with his most precious possessions, including one of the seven mythical ''Hearts of Sand''.

1450s after the Great War:

Rogare has two of his three brothers executed, as his growing paranoia starts taking the best of him. The last one, Razg'hul Rhazard, flees the city with a tiefling servant woman.

Rogare's wife, Akilah, brings to the world the first four heirs to the throne, all boys. From oldest to youngest: Omar, Rhamed, Rigore, Razieh.

Rogare Rhazard, still afraid of losing his throne for reasons known only to him, increases security around the palace and sends convoys of soldiers to find his brother. After ten years, he is declared exiled and the searches stop.

1450s, 1460s & 1470s after the Great War:

Queen Akilah brings to the world 6 more kids. From oldest to youngest: Akeem (boy), Djamila (girl), Niesha (girl), Raed (boy) and the twins Aoth (boy) and Aery (girl).

Only known to Akilah, Razg'hul, Rogare's brother, is actually the father of the twins, which explains the rebellious and free temperament that they inherited from him. This information is only known to Razg'hul and Queen Akilah.

Unbeknownst to all but the Queen herself, the twins are actually the Aspects of the animalistic demi-gods of the Hawk (Aoth) and of the scorpion (Aery). They are the physical representation of their respective demi-god on the material plane, but this is a fact that is kept hidden from them, and from anyone else but Razg'hul, which she informs in a letter. Queen Akilah knew of this, as she was told by an angel that her last kid would be born an Aspect (which also justifies why the Queen was surprised to discover that her daughter also was an Aspect). Queen Akilah, growing more and more fearful of Rogare, decided to actively hide this fact from him.

All of the princes and princesses go through a very strict education and rigorous training, both of which do not leave a lot of room for mistakes.

The younger twins rapidly gained a reputation within the lower city. The curious pair, always in search of adventure and freedom, quickly learned to steal, fight and maneuver around the city's rooftops while their siblings were still taking classes. This caused Rogare, in an outburst of rage, to confine his two youngest children to the walls of the palace, making it harder (but not impossible) for them to escape into the lower city.

1480s after the Great War:

The walls of the city are closed to the public, unless under special authorization. Any form of commerce must be done outside of the city. News from the outside are required to go only to Rogare before they can be made public. This control of the information makes knowledge about the outside world a valuable commodity. A dangerous one too, since anyone caught sneaking ''outsider intelligence'' is executed publicly by the Sand Soldiers, Cathyr's elite force of highly trained combatants.

1487 after the Great War:

The Decepite Mare, one of the mythical ship of the relatively small Cathyr's Fleet, sets sails without the authorization of Rogare. Aoth Rhazard, after yet another disagreement with his father, decided to leave with a small crew of 18 men to live his life on the Sea. The Decepite Mare, over the next few months, grew the reputation of being a merciless "pirate annihilator''. Rogare declared his own son as an outlaw and declared him and his crew as exiled, never to return to the city.

After Aoth's departure, Aery, feeling betrayed and left behind by the only person in the world she really trusted, except for her mother, stops talking. Not a word will come out of her mouth until 1492.

An assassination attempt against Rogare barely misses. Rogare blames Jamal Windfire, Head of the Sand Soldiers, for it, accusing him of not being focused enough as a leader. Jamal is beheaded in public by the King himself. He is not offered any last words.

Set on molding the perfect Head of the Sand Soldiers himself, Rogare puts Omar, his oldest son, through the most rigorous training one could imagine. The conditions in which Omar is forced to live for those weeks are horrible and the tests more and more ruthless. Omar dies before reaching the end of its training. The King blames it on its inherent weaknesses and asks that the boy's name be removed from all texts related to the royal family. This process is repeated progressively with every one of its kids over the next 5 years, until Aery succeeds. As per the official records, King Rogare Rhazard of Cathyr had only one child: Aery Rhazard, Head of the Sand Soldiers.

1489 after the Great War:

The Decepite Mare is destroyed in an unexpected attack from a kraken. It is reported that no one has survived.

Queen Akilah, helpess in the face of her children dying one by one, writes a last letter to Razg'hul before throwing herself from the window of her chambers.

1490 after the Great War:

Rogare becomes obsessed with the idea of living forever, thus never leaving the throne ever again. The city starts being visited by a variety of liches, which casts a veil of terror over the denizens of Cathyr.

1492 after the Great War:

Aery becomes Head of the Sand Soldiers after surviving a strenuous and life-threatening training led by her father, the same training regimen that killed all of her older siblings. She still has not talked ever since her brother Aoth has left without her.

1493 after the Great War:

A messenger arrives within the walls of the court with a drawing of a crew of adventurers. Apparently, this group was the one responsible for liberating the Western city of Athkatla. Amongst them, a young man looking strangely like the exiled son. The messenger is killed in the front yard of the court on this exact day and the drawing destroyed.

Aery goes through a series of life-altering trials in Cathyr's Tomb of Kings, where she discovers that she is the Aspect of the Scorpion, the physical representation of the animalistic demi-goddess of scorpions. After she emerges, she starts talking again; after almost 6 years of silence.

The powerful Archlich, Acererak, cuts a deal with Rogare and makes him a lich, in exchange of a very large amount of resources taken straight from the kingdom's coffers. The Archlich is last seen walking into the Tomb of Kings, where not only the corpses of past kings reside, but also the riches with which they were buried. It was not seen walking out.

Aoth sneaks into the Tomb of Kings, with the help of his party, the Golden Company. There, he goes through the same trials as Aery and is reborn as the Aspect of the Hawk. With his newfound power, he challenges his sister in a duel that finishes with her death, while the rest of the Golden Company prevents Rogare from becoming a lich through the means of an ancient ritual.

- Razg'hul comes out of his exile, with his daughter Kri, to lead Cathyr, as Aoth renounced his claim to the throne during his trial. 

1495 after the Great War: 

Razg'hul expertly rebuilds most of the alliances that Cathyr once held in the region and greatly softens the measures put in place by his brother.

A flying crystal is added to a newly-built tower, to facilitate commerce and connections to the outside world. This was made possible by a generous contribution from the Golden Company.

Type

Large city