Main Cities
Cor Gelidum or The Frozen Heart. It was a settlement of barely four dozen before the Drow were discovered living beneath their village. For years it was a quiet city nestled atop a mountain in the snow and ice. Food was fished from the large icy lake nearby, Third Son Lake, named for the legend of a tavern that sits on its shores. Drow families were said to send their third sons to the woman who runs the inn to protect them from the sacrifice. These boys then are swept away to parts and fates unknown. Timber is felled from nearby forests fueling the industrial growth of Cor Gelidum from a sleepy, frigid little village to a center of trade and regional power. When the Dawn’s Crusade protected the village, it grew into a respectable-sized city with all the amenities one could expect from living in much larger cities. Cor Gelidum didn’t want much. As long as the Drow remained in their hole!
Daily patrols of crusaders ventured Into the Abyss to conquer and purge Orbb Dra’sa, seeing its proximity to Cor Gelidum as a threat. Day after day the valiant crusaders would come back on stretchers and on their shields. The Crusade’s numbers dwindled to dangerously low numbers; too few to hold back the Drow in the darkness. The pylons in the tunnel that once kept the darkness at bay went unrepaired and went dark. If not for constant patrols, the Drow could come up to the surface to raid Cor Gelidum!
The War Cleric was at a loss. How could a cause so holy and righteous falter? War Cleric Suno called a hero among humans he knew. Commander Angelo Dragonfall and his mercenary company, the Whitestone Company. Archmage Victoria and the Gilded Conclave was sent for as well! Suno waited anxiously for the two weeks it took for the summoned forces to gather. Soon Cor Gelidum was flush with mercenary soldiers, manning the patrols and the watches along the walls and watch towers. The people of Cor Gelidum rejoiced at their arrival.
The settlement, once small, was growing larger and larger and more and more money and trade flowed through the settlement. Craftsmen of all kinds gather in the workshops of the town to ply their trade and make their living. In the war between Cor Gelidum and Orbb Dra’sa, the scales were balanced, waiting for the pivotal moments in history which would upset that balance. Cor Gelidum was a force to be reckoned with. Defended by mercenaries with holy charge from the Church of Shevarash, the men and women of the Company fight the Drow daily with renewed vigor and flood the brothels and gambling rings with coin.
The Church was displeased with the influx of mercenary ruffians, but they were at least an “evil” Suno understood and ultimately could ignore. It was the Drow that Suno swore would receive no rest, and if that meant certain activities in Cor Gelidum had to at least not be noticed then so be it. As a result a tavern arose wherein citizens of the city could bet on fights and other games. When the brothel began taking on clientele for the first time, people wondered what the War Cleric would tolerate. As long as the Drow were being defeated with visible proof of this progress - usually in the form of ears or tufts of bone white hair - the War Cleric was content to tolerate a little sinning.
Suno retired to his chapel on the fringes of Cor Gelidum for prayer and guidance from Shevarash. This left Commander Angelo Dragonfall and Archmage Victoria Ainsworth-Pennington mostly in control of daily operations for the mages and warriors in Cor Gelidum. Results were all that mattered to Suno.
Every time someone accuses a Whitestone Company warrior of being a mercenary, their commander, Angelo, loudly protests, claiming the divine charge of Holy Shevarash himself. A little exaggerated, everyone knows, but there was no hiding what the Whitestone Company warriors were. Mercenaries. But Cor Gelidum was safe and secure against the Drow for the first time since the Dawn’s Crusade was defeated in Orbb Dra’sa. The Whitestone Company, Angelo reminds often, has never been defeated.
Never.
Cor Gelidum stands against the darkness hiding below their town.
Welcome to the city that was once called the Rock Mother, Kraag'Xaarak. Or as it is better known these days as Orbb Dra'sa, "the spider's nest" in the Drow language. A long time ago when the Duergars ruled the city, the fires of the many forges burned continuously. Duergar craftsmen toiled at all hours producing precious metals and gems. As the years progressed, the population of Kraag'Xaarak was on a marked decline. For a host of reasons the population was weakened, and lessened. Few agree on a firm set of reasons Kraag'Xaarak fell into decline. Everyone knows what finally ended the duergar occupation of the city.
A darkness had been spreading throughout Kraag'Xaarak for months. Lloth had come to stake her claim on the dying corpse that was the city. Well-lit corridors and halls would eventually go dark; blacker than any torch could hope to illuminate. The great halls of the city's government were the final bastion of light. The darkness soon enveloped the citadel. The Duergar could see through the blackness the arrival of the vanguard of the Drow invasion. There weren't many at first. A few dozen Drow swordsmen led by flail-wielding priestess lead the way. Spells and curses killed many before the first Drow blades cleaved flesh and spilled blood. The Duergar resisted valiantly, but then a screech and chittering heralded the arrival of the spiders. They crawled down the walls of the great chasm which cradled the city. Spinnerets twitching and spidery legs clicking and clacking over stone, the vast spider host took to the streets.
First the foreign district fell. The city, low on Duergar defenders, battled for their lives, but were soon overcome in the market district. Drow warriors surged through the streets, rode in the several lifts which lead to multiple levels above and below. By the time the manor district was overwhelmed the fighting was over. The Drow had conquered the city and from that day on became known as Orbb Dra'sa.
The years soon forgot the Duergar that formerly made this city home. The Drow worked quickly to put their own imprint on the city with it taking on a spider web in its layout. Orbs of faerie fire line the walkways illuminating the walkways in the foreign district with several different races coming to reside there, tolerated by the Drow who mostly ignore the non-Drow of the district.
The Market District, a sort of neutral ground in the city, sees followers of House Alethar occasionally mingling with followers of other deities of the Dark Seldarine. House Niravar rules over the markets, taking a percentage of all transactions in the marketplace, becoming rich and influential, even to the Llothites who of course took a cut of what House Niravar makes. A profitable, sustainable relationship, all told even if House Niravar pledge no allegiance to the Spider Queen.
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In truth, House Niravar had designs on the city of their own. For years they plotted and conspired patiently. House Alethar gradually began losing sway over portions of the city as House Niravar began to oversee more and more of the market district until they controlled it completely. House Alethar no longer sends patrols to the market district, even though they fear the mercantile faction is now actively working to subvert Lloth's hold over the manor and temple districts.
It was absolutely true! House Niravar sought control over the city, to free those Drow under the influence of Lloth. Or to kill those who could not be turned. As the flow of coins increased into the coffers of House Niravar they gained more and more influence over city politics. This was the status quo for decades. The power of House Alethar and House Niravar went back and forth for a century, and things might have remained unchanged if it weren't for the arrival of the Dawn's Crusade.
They came down from the surface, filling the tunnel with enough light to burn away the inky blackness. No creature of darkness could survive the tunnel to the surface. Dawn's Crusade invaded Orbb Dra'sa with the intent to purge the entirety of the city of darkness and deny Lloth her claimed dominion. Flashes of blinding light foretold the arrival of the resplendent host of surface races who had come to the Underdark for fame, glory, and piety. Before the blades could even cleave Drow flesh, the light blinded most and they never saw what ultimately felled them.
The foreign district fell quickly and the host of light began moving across the great span bridge in the city center, headed towards the mercantile district. House Niravar had organized a defense of the district. Hasty negotiations were had with House Alethar and a compact was struck. The corrupting darkness of Lloth could not be burned away, not even by the light of a thousand torches. The combined forces of House Niravar and House Alethar rallied and pushed, the weight of their charge backed up by what seemed like innumerable spiders. In the darkness thousands of red eyes shimmered like rubies in the night. And wherever Lloth's oppressive darkness touched, her minions fought the hardest.
First the Dawn's Crusade was forced from the mercantile district, back to the foreign district. The darkness tried to reclaim its influence over the district, but a flood of golden light poured through the tunnel to the surface which held the darkness at bay. Unable to claim it fully, the Drow withdrew deeper into the city where the light could not touch. The foreign district fell into disuse for months. Brave (or foolish) merchants seeking to do business with the Drow returned to the foreign district.
One year later, the Dawn’s Crusade disbanded from too few numbers, leaving the War Cleric in an urgent situation about what to do. There was a legendary group of fighters known as the Whitestone Company though, and the War Cleric had just the kind of funds necessary to hire such a group of warriors. When the Whitestone Company reached Cor Gelidum, they immediately set to work setting guard over the city, then they began training the townsfolk. When they sent out their first patrols they had convinced the townspeople and the War Cleric that they had the strength and skill to succeed in the mission of destroying Orbb Dra’sa.
However the loss of the pylons of light in the tunnel protecting Cor Gelidum from Drow attack fell into disrepair and no longer function. Only constant patrols from the surface keep the elements of Orbb Dra’sa contained in their city below.
