Monday, April 10, 2023

Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #100

Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #100 

April 10th, 2023 

  • Number: 100 

  • Name: One Part in Sixty 

  • Location: A hillock between the Ulu Maug and the Saut River 

  • Population (approx.): Varies but grows to several hundred at Joining Day 

  • Brief: The Wastelands features dozens of battlefields scattered across the landscape. The tools and spells used tend to leave unusual remnants and residue after-effects. Once such spot is a hillock, mostly bare of flora, surrounded by debris, mostly weapons and bones but some of a decidedly mechanical nature. Once each year, perhaps on the anniversary of whatever battle raged across this hillside, faint blue lights rise from the ground at dawn. As they swirl around the ground, over the course of the day, pieces of some mechanical giant rise from the ground and drift to the top of the hill. The lights swirl faster, coalescing at the summit, as the pieces assemble themselves into a 20-meter-tall humanoid-shaped metal construct. The blue lights swirl in and about the joints and gaps in armor and disappear inside. As the sun sets, the entity shudders, blue lights flashing within, creaking and whirring noises abound and then, when it seems the giant is about to move, there is silence. Moments pass and there’s a great explosion of blue light that scatters the components across the hilltop with crashes and thuds. Silence returns until a year passes and the strange ritual begins anew. 

  • Geography: The hillock, home to this ancient battlefield, is midway between the Ulu Maug range to the west and the Saut River to the east. This yearly phenomenon is known to the locals as “Joining Day.” There are some, whose ancestors were perhaps associated with the battlefield, who have moved to the area, living on the river, to worship the blue-lit giant as their “God in the Machine.” One worshipper, possessed of divine intuition, declared years ago that “One Part in Sixty” must be found or presented or delivered to the construct on Joining Day and their God would live again. Some are not sure finding this one last part is such a good idea and actively dissuade anyone from undertaking such a quest. 


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