Faunel
| Gate-Town | |
|---|---|
| Population: | 900 humanoids |
| Gate To: | the Beastlands |
| Primary Faction: | Sign of One, Vile Hunt |
Picture a great human city made of stone. Now, picture it in ruins, with crumbling and broken buildings, cracked foundations that spill out 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-colored tarps. The colors 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 easy to pick a path through the mixture of clutter and vines.
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'll be safer as a result. Some chant says that Wrath's the only thing keeping Faunel in the Outlands.
Legends tell that the city actually comes from the prime-material worlds. Chunks of abandoned cities are said to fall from 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 travelers 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.)
The Populace
Faunel's natives are mostly non-humanoid petitioners from the Beastlands. They're thinking beings in animal form, and the Clueless are often startled to find they can speak. (Fact is, they think and talk a lot better than some Clueless do.) The rest of the town's rounded with a few elves, humans, bariaur, kender, and halflings.
Many residents belong to the Sign of One faction, and they run a large complex called the Center 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).
| Gate-Towns |
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Automata . Fortitude . Excelsior . Tradegate . Ecstasy . Faunel . Sylvania . Glorium . Xaos
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