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The Spirit in the Shadow A tranquil place to rest your aching bones in the shadows of the nearby Snakecoil Mountains. It is surrounded by a 9 foot high wall that protect it against sandstorms and critters from the desert. A few people live here, mostly humans that work their farms or have a small trading business with the Nomads and the distant settlement of Oasis. Up North and to the West are the entrances to the mines of Shady Sands. Populated and worked by an uncounted number of brutes and dwarves. Being the only natural resource in the area, it is the main source of labor and luxury in the land. Iron ore, copper ore and stones are brought up, processed and sold in both "the Shady" and "the Under" (in Brute terms). These mines are also an entrance to the lower Undersands. Undersands is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. It is ruled and divided by several small Crime Lords and governed by The Judge. The Judge is an old, old man with mystical powers that lengthen his life and secure his rock hard grasp on the people of Undersands. The will and way of the Judge are the law of Undersands. If you do not abide by it, you would do better to run and hide or you'll end up in the Arena fighting for your life. If you're lucky, your hand will be cut off after you've fought in this pit of despair. If you're not, your chances of survival have just been reduced to less than nothing. You probably wonder, "why cut off the hand?" Well, the Judge loves hands, he collects and revives them so that they become his mindless thrustworthy iron fists of the law, his talons of terror. The Judge's grasp reaches far beyond that of a normal man. Deeper down, far below the lights of the Shady and the Under lives another race: the graw elves, gathered in monasteries, practicing the art of the body. Not much is known of them. Some known monasteries are: The Order of the Silent Chain, The Shroud, The Order of the Hidden Light, The Order of the Innner Sight, The Order of the Enlightened Path and The Angered. There are more orders than these, these are just the only ones whose names have ever reached the outside world. |
