Ancient Civilizations
- General content: | Felaryan fauna | Felaryan flora | Races | Characters | Locations | History and Lore | Science and Magic | Culture and Customs | List of all available articles
Under construction
Many ancient civilization of Felarya didn't endure time, becoming nothing more than tales and legends, whispers and faint traces in the centenial dust or mere footnotes in ancient history books. but some others managed to remain solid as
legacy under the form of ancient ruins and temples, for an explorer or historians to marvel or for a tomb robber to pillage. The origin
Dungeons and ancient ruins
The origin of the treasures in Felarya that adventurers often set out to unearth is a legitimate question. With rare exceptions (such as the Temple of Lataran), dungeons do not spring up to deliver treasure and monsters upon worthy challengers: they become that way through circumstance. Most of the dungeons in Felarya, and their treasures, are actually remnants from long-gone civilizations that just happened to contain valuable treasures. They can be divided into several categories, each with their traits, their own patterns and type of dangers.
- Dridder ruins :
The dridder empire, despite its short life as one of the dominant forces in Felarya, expanded and fortified rather aggressively its lines under Sineria: dridder strongholds are frequent compared to other ruins. They are also the most recent, thus suffering the least wear and tear of all ruins. The great importance of giant dridders in their culture (their royal line was one of giants) means that most such strongholds sport chambers large enough for giant dridders to live comfortably on. Considering the girth of a dridder's abdomen, that means the structures are massive indeed.
Most work spaces for man-sized dridders were in plain view of the larger dridders, and floors were separated for the ease of access of the latter: given that man-sized dridders can climb both up and down easily, their structures eschew doors, favoring instead verticality and netting (now mostly gone) as a barrier for the unwelcome. Some of those strongholds were abandoned in haste, and a canny adventurer could locate extraordinary caches of weapons and currency within. Unfortunately, canny predators have made their home in those ruins, taking advantage of their thick stone walls for a reprieve whenever they need to rest, and of the giant amenities inside for creature comforts. Giant dridders in particular favor these structures for nesting.
Sagolian people used to expand rather aggressively. The empire's old capital isn't their only ruin, just the only that the jungle hasn't been able to properly swallow so far. Nonetheless, their building technique, favoring monoliths and large stone blocks is known to have been widespread during their time. Nonetheless, Sagolian structures were heavy in both magic and maintenance, and they have felt the disappearance of their masters harder than other ruins: all Sagolian buildings are now thoroughly dilapidated.
They are rich in whatever magic and lore hasn't disintegrated since those years. Sagolians claimed large plots of land, and occassionally it is possible to find a temple complex or a noble's villa lost north of the Jewel River: some of them have been cleaned out to the point that they have nothing to offer but respite from the rain, but there may still be great riches to be gleaned from the greenery-covered buildings.
Elven strongholds are even older than both dridder and Sagolian settlements. They harmonized quite well with their environment, some of them being even built into the surrounding greenery, which, thanks to special spells, would only grow around it. Due to this, these structures are even more concealed than normal, and unfortunately, every one of them has a layer of bark covering every surface that wasn't sealed against the intrusion of either light or plant stalks. Though jewelry is quite common in those ruins (it is said that the Jewel River now only holds what gems the imperial artisans turned up their noses at), the true prizes inside are mostly enchanted wood and ancient earthernware.
As both elves and Sagolians were aware of ley lines, there are very few elven constructions surviving on the west bank of the Jewel River: the empire had no compunction in razing major elven architecture to build anew atop it. Elves have not forgotten this, and some of them openly place the blame on contemporary humans for these acts of vandalism. Elven strongholds are more common on the east banks of the Jewel River, where some of them endure, inhabited, to this day.
Titans and their ruins were, unfortunately, scoured off the face of Felarya after their defeat, according to ancient elven texts. However, it's possible that some isolated structures have survived at great depths beneath the surface. If this is the case, even a single room from such a ruin would contain treasure of greath worth, both historical and monetary. The only structure currently known to have been created by Titans is the depths of the Jadong Temple. It's not known yet whether it is representative or not of the Titan architecture.
Titan dungeons have only been theorized about. Given their lack of bodily functions, it's very likely that the dungeons had only workrooms and corridors. Records on their behaviour suggest that Titans likely tended towards repetitive or iterative designs in the decoration of their mostly spartan, utilitarian facilities. It is possible titans may have employed other constructs in order to protect their holdings: even if titans are no longer functional, those other constructs may still be. Though currency is not likely to have been a staple of titan existence, their interaction with other races during their time means they may have been given to possess some, and no one has yet been able to replicate Alcazath crystal or Tedrek steel, thus they still have great potential for valuables. Finding the remains of a genuine Felaryan Titan is also a mouth-watering prospect to most adventurers.
It is theorized thus that both the Ascarlin Mines and the Great Tonorion Hive may be the remains of Titan sites.
Other forces have built and abandoned strongholds in Felarya on a smaller scale. Elemental Sovereigns may have built lavish palaces in remote reaches of the dimension (in King Trazix's fashion), genies have been known to make their dwellings as well, and many legends speak of Angels or Demons whose abodes are now abandoned. Finally, it's possible some buildings have been warped into the dimension, never to return to their original world.
- credits to Stabs for coming up with the dungeon analysis.
