The wind howls through the Citadel Mountains as you step onto the well-worn stone path leading into Terasil. Before you lies the road to Kar-Thal, the grand city of the Orasians. Behind you, the desert sands of Zanarak shift endlessly, a world of illusion and glass. You have heard stories of whispering stones, spirits buried beneath the land, and cities hidden in the embrace of the mountains.
Where will you go first?
[[ Head to Kar-Thal, the heart of the Orasian civilization.]]
[[ Venture into the Cairnwall Range, where the stones shift underfoot.]]
[[ Seek the ancient forges of the Minthari, hidden deep in the Anvil Range.]]
[[Turn back towards Zanarak, to uncover what lies beneath the sand.]]Arrival at Kar-Thal
The journey to Kar-Thal takes you through the rugged valleys of Sanctuary Vale, where towering cliffs cradle the ancient city. Carved into the Citadel Mountains themselves, Kar-Thal is an imposing city of stone, its massive gates adorned with intricate carvings depicting the history of the Orasians.
As you step through the gates, the air hums with deep, resonant vibrations—a sound not heard, but felt through the stone beneath your feet. The streets are lined with towering Pillars of Memory, each one etched with stories of Terasil’s past. Orasians move with deliberate, measured steps, their mineral-veined skin gleaming under the sunlight filtering through the high stone corridors.
A guardian in stone-plated armor approaches. His voice, deep and slow like shifting rock, echoes around you:
"Traveler, you walk upon the sacred ground of Oras. What purpose brings you to Kar-Thal?"
Choose Your Path:
[[ Visit the Grand Archives – A subterranean library where the history of Terasil is carved into stone tablets. Perhaps there is knowledge here that may guide you.]]
[[ Speak to the Council of Stone – The ruling body of the Orasians, convening in the Great Hall of Oras. If there is unrest in Terasil, they will know of it.]]
[[ Seek the Gate of Origins – A sacred site hidden beneath Kar-Thal, said to be the gateway to the heart of Terasil, where the first Orasians awakened.]]Descending beneath the city, you follow an Orasian guide into the Grand Archives, an immense subterranean chamber carved deep into the Citadel Mountains. The air here is thick with history—the scent of stone dust and ancient knowledge lingers in the cool, dimly lit tunnels.
The walls are lined with stone tablets, each etched with the history of Terasil in the geometric script of the Orasians. Crystalline glyphs glow faintly, their energy pulsing in rhythmic intervals. These archives hold not just history, but resonant echoes of the past, as if the stone itself remembers.
At the center of the archive stands Keeper Vareth, an elder Orasian whose form is weathered but enduring, his skin resembling polished basalt with veins of shimmering quartz. He turns toward you, his voice deep and slow, like tectonic plates shifting beneath the surface.
"Few outsiders seek the wisdom of stone. What knowledge do you seek?"
[["I seek the history of Terasil’s creation." (Learn about the origin of Terasil and its role in Adaris.)]]
[["I wish to understand the Stone Cycle." (Discover the Orasian philosophy of endurance, erosion, and rebirth.)]]
[["What secrets lie beneath Kar-Thal?" (Uncover the hidden truths of the Gate of Origins and the Deep Roads.)]]The Creation of Terasil
Keeper Vareth studies you with eyes like polished obsidian. He moves slowly, deliberately, placing his heavy stone hand upon a massive carved tablet that stretches across an entire wall of the archive. The symbols etched into the surface pulse softly, as if responding to his presence.
"Terasil was the first. The foundation of all that is." His voice reverberates through the stone around you.
The tablet begins to glow faintly, revealing scenes of primordial creation, etched into the rock with the weight of millennia.
The First Land
"In the beginning, there was only Astram, the chaos of the void. But from its depths, Oras emerged—the first of the Primordial Spirits, the anchor of all things."
The carving shifts, showing a vast, unshaped landmass—a world of raw, untouched stone, unbroken and eternal.
"Oras did not shape the world as others did. He did not weave rivers like Jala, nor light fires like Tejas. Terasil was solid, unchanging, the great mass from which all things were carved."
But then, the carvings change. Deep cracks form in the stone. You see winds eroding mountains, rivers carving canyons, fire splitting the earth.
"Yet all things must change. The other elements arrived, reshaping what Oras had made. Water carved valleys, wind ground mountains to dust, fire melted stone into rivers of metal. Terasil endured, but it was no longer unbroken."
The Great Erosion
The carvings darken, showing a vast land breaking apart.
"The Great Erosion," Vareth rumbles. "When the forces of change first touched Terasil, the earth fractured. What was once a single land became many. Mountains rose. Valleys deepened. The desert of Zanarak was born from the rain shadow of the Citadel Mountains, where the land could no longer hold water."
He motions toward a large, jagged carving, depicting a massive sundered mountain, its shattered remains forming the land of Terasil as it is known today.
"Some saw this as destruction. But it was not. It was transformation. Terasil endured, but it did not resist. It adapted. That is why we still stand."
A Final Choice
Keeper Vareth turns back to you, his expression unreadable.
"You have heard the beginning of Terasil. But history does not end. The past shapes the present. You must decide what knowledge to seek next."
"Tell me about the Stone Cycle." (Learn how the Orasians understand the cycle of erosion and renewal.)
"What became of the first Orasians?" (Uncover the origins of the Orasian people and their role in Terasil.)
"What lies beneath Kar-Thal?" (Seek the hidden truths of the Gate of Origins and the Deep Roads.)
↶↷The wind howls through the Citadel Mountains as you step onto the well-worn stone path leading into Terasil. Before you lies the road to Kar-Thal, the grand city of the Orasians. Behind you, the desert sands of Zanarak shift endlessly, a world of illusion and glass. You have heard stories of whispering stones, spirits buried beneath the land, and cities hidden in the embrace of the mountains.
Where will you go first?
Head to Kar-Thal, the heart of the Orasian civilization.
Venture into the Cairnwall Range, where the stones shift underfoot.
Seek the ancient forges of the Minthari, hidden deep in the Anvil Range.
Turn back towards Zanarak, to uncover what lies beneath the sand.