Land of the Ilwyryn

Although the soul of the Old Empire will always will be located within the heart of Kryr Trèmendūm, the body of the Empire was slain when the City of Ildûn was brought down. Here within the ancestral homeland of the Ilwyryr, resided the Old Empire’s energy. The Eylfāe believed that a successful strike against Ilûwyr would bring the entire Dekàli Empire crumbling down, and they were mostly correct. For over 600 years the Old Empire has been reeling from the effects of the Battle of Ildûn. Despite centuries of rebuilding, to this day no is sure what can done to replace what was lost in Ilûwyr.

Life within Ilûwyr is exceedingly difficult. Not only is the region devoid of water, plants, and animal life, but the preternatural climate discourages most anyone or anything from crossing its borders. The barren landscape is continuously battered by brutal windstorms which churn up blinding curtains of sand and stone, seeking to erase all evidence that this was once a temperate and fertile land. The streams and creeks that once flowed from the barrier mountains now lie frozen on the eastern slopes, waiting for the day they may return to the dusty riverbeds and lakes. Typically, travelers into the Crescent Desert bind themselves in leather and cover their eyes with heavy goggles. What the cold temperatures do not claim with the Black Bite, the swirling debris can shred to the bone.

Regions, Geographic

Illûwyr is bounded by the Mar Dekàli to the east, and the provinces of Tiréwyr to the north followed clockwise by Aðéwyr, Nadrèwyr, Savàrið, and Lāyrdawyr.

• Black Spring. An area nestled between Mor Vùlūne and Mor Dymora where oil seeps from the ground. Before the Devastation that scoured the land of all plants and topsoil, there was a single black spring that provided oil to eastern Illûwyr. Contemporary reports from the area claim that numerous springs have since been uncovered. Hogshead wagons of crude oil occasionally circuit between Black Spring and the southeastern outpost of Dymòrdea along the Blasted Road. This route threads between the Falen Merdun and the haunted ruins of Dnurm.
• The Bowl. A shallow area in southeastern Illûwyr was once a large inland lake supplied by creeks and rivers from the surrounding mountains. The only evidence that remains of the lake are the coastal ruins that circle the ancient depression. The Blasted Road skirts the northern edge of the Bowl between Dnurm and Dymòrdea. In the early days of the Devastation, travelers found shipwrecks throughout this area, but today none remain.
• Coast of the Watchers. Along the northwest coast of Illûwyr are a long series of large pre-Empire sculptures. It is believed that the statues were erected by early Ēōyn peoples or a more ancient stone-age culture. The stones bear the likenesses of warriors, all facing out across the sea. The purpose of the statues is unclear. Historians have suggested that they are memorials to ancient kings, burial markers for heroes, or sentinels positioned to protect the land from some forgotten threat. Unlike other landmarks of Illûwyr, the features of these statues remain intact due to their placement along the margin between the coastal winds and those of the Devastation. Watchers exist elsewhere throughout the Ælyri Islands, but not in the numbers found here.
• Undying Coast. As the Devastation mounted and supernatural storms ravaged the region, refugees sought to escape the interior of Illûwyr. The roads were choked with thousands of refugees carrying all that their horses, wagons, and backs could bear. Villages and towns marched toward the coasts where rumors of waiting ships promised to carry them to safer shores. However, when they reached the ports the weary refugees found that the piers and harbors were empty. Some groups moved from port to port, looking for ships, others built giant encampments, waiting for them to return. An industrious few converted wagons into boats and escaped to the Alfard and Memorial islands where there descendants live to this day. Most of those left on the shores of southwestern Illûwyr perished as food shortages, winter, and the coming weather ground them to dust. In a scenario repeated throughout the region, the shadows of the forsaken Ildûnan remain: waiting for the boats that will never come; calling to the survivors that crossed the waters; questioning how their world came to an end.
• Wraith Wood. North of the Ildûn ruins, stands the skeleton of an ancient forest. In a land where centuries of abrasive winds have erased the faces from statues and the crags from cliffs, the leafless trunks and branches of the Wraith Wood are a curious anomaly. The few travelers that have returned from the lifeless wood, have described an eerily tranquil place like the eye of a storm. It is believed that all manner of aberrations are hatched from this place before roaming out into the wastes of Illûwyr. These creations are known locally as the Rayð, and their forms vary in size and dead much like the inimical Odárad. During the Old Empire, the Wraith Wood held a guarded significance to the Ildûnyr. Only the Crown and its delegates were permitted access to the area.

Cities, Towns, and Villages

Most of the towns and villages of Ilûwyr were destroyed in the Devastation that brought the Old Empire to its knees. Those that were not destroyed, were worn down by centuries of wind, dust, and neglect. Despite these forces, a handful of ruins remain in what was once a thriving, fertile region.

• City of Ildûn
• Town of Dnurm
• Town of Godyrmadh
• Town of Kælynoð
• Town of Kymòrim
• Town of Nuryð
• Town of Targyr
• Village of Dymòrdea
• Village of Nyl
• Village of Solmyræ

Landmarks

• The Burning. One of the strangest echoes of the War are the ethereal flames that scorch the lands between the Rundnùdra Galdûð and Targyr. An earthly Nephet, the burning lands blaze with ghostly flame every night a full moon shines, hidden above Illûwyr’s dusty pall. Echoes that are normally visible only by mage-sight, tower into the night skies as they did during the invasions 650 years before. Those with enhanced sight may also see the more subtle shapes of people running from their homes, carrying their children and guiding loved-ones, and being cut-down by invisible foes along dark, forgotten roads. It is unclear why these images survive centuries later. The atrocities of this area are not believed to have been any worse than those suffered elsewhere.
• Gardens of the Asàdyi. The Gardens are a massive necropolis that were once the largest formal garden west of Vulmùra. Today, all that remain are curious stone structures and statuary, scoured faceless by the unforgiving winds. It has been suggested that the Gardens of the Asàdyi may be the most restless location in all Illûwyr.
• Graven Cliffs. On Illûwyr’s eastern wall stand miles of sheer flat cliffs, blasted smooth by the supernatural winds. Dekàlan historians spent a great amount of time and effort copying the ancient carvings of Ummàgyrea that once adorned these stony walls. The Ēōyn claimed that the walls contained the entire history of the native Aylyryr in endless friezes of pictographs. The names of those portrayed were forgotten before the Dekàlyr arrived, but their efforts and victories lived on in the stone record. Today, the ancient pictographs are gone, scoured smooth by the Devastation. Mage-sight remains the only means to see the graven images as they once were.
• Shrines of Gulgagea. The Ilûwyri shrines of Gulgágēa (GULJ ah GE ah) once crowned the many foothills of Mor Nyðæn. Today, most of the stone circles have been scattered into valleys and chasms. During the Dekàlan era the shrines were regarded as harmless curiosities, reminders of the conquered natives.
• The Thousands. Though the War ended 650 years ago, a great many mysteries remain. North of restless Dnurm stand the Thousands. The identity of these ghosts are unclear. They appear to be Dekàli troops mustered to defend the region from invaders, but somehow caught unaware and killed where they stood. The legions stand at eternal attention, encamped across the hills and valleys of the district. Though their weapons, armor, and bodies were erased by centuries of eroding winds, their apparitions remain. Standing silently amid the barren rocky landscape, they seem to be waiting for some final order, a chance to avenge their fallen Empire. If only there were a horn to blow.

People

There is no longer a people that identify as natives of Ilûwyr. Those that live within the borders of the wasted province are frontiersmen, adventurers, and desperate entrepreneurs.

History

In ages long passed, before the coming of the Dekàlyr and the heretical Cult of Drāūn, the green countryside of Ilûwyr was populated by the Ilûwyryr clans.

Nomenclature: Iluwyr Dekàlic: Ilûwyr (place), Ilûwyri (pertaining to), Ilûwyryn (resident), Ilûwyryr (people)