Ur-Sagol
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Contents
Danger: Normal
Sub zones: Great dimensional gate
Inhabitants: kensha beasts, nagas, podmaws, sagoblepas, jevals, yelzips
Characters : Jissy
A ruined, ancient city, once safe and prosperous. Over time, Ur-Sagol became a large and mighty metropolis, well known on several worlds for its powerful mages and its great gathering of Felaryan artifacts and treasures. The true reason for the city's destruction is unclear and probably lost in the sands of time, as it occurred, according to some scriptures, some 2000 years ago. However, it is widely believed that the city became too big and expansionistic, and finally drew the attention of a guardian. Which guardian is unknown, but the destruction of the city is said to have been spectacular and fast, though that last point is still debated among historians. Strangely, the jungles surrounding the ruins have been slow to reclaim the land, leading many to believe that it has been cursed as well. Ur-Sagol has since then become an ominous warning to every Felarya city, often used to dissuade expansionistic leaders
The ruins now form a gigantic maze of crumbled buildings with countless cracks and crevices, narrow passageways, forgotten caves, dead ends, and dark tunnels roamed by all sort of creatures and animals. Despite its sinister reputation and aspect, the existence of the dimensional gate on the outskirts of the city means a fair amount of traffic still passes through it. This place is dangerous though... not only do Felaryan predators often come here seeking fresh prey from other worlds, but also many bandits and thieves lurk in the ruins and have established their hideouts there, robbing the newcomers and trade caravans headed to and from the gate. A magic-user by the name of Tanya has set up a small business trading in magical spells and items just outside of the city walls. Prices vary but the results are usually good.
Sagolian people
The Sagolians were, as far as anyone can tell, brilliant. Building massive structures and excelling at various types of magics, they seemed to command great power and wealth. However over the past 2000 years the city has been thoroughly ransacked and pillaged, leaving little to no evidence of their cultural heritage and way of life. The only sure thing is that the large structures resemble early Babylonian and Egyptian architecture of ancient Earth. These buildings range in size from small hovels to monstrous temples scattered over a large area.
Great dimensional gate
Danger: Low
Inhabitants: Varies
This gate is one of the most used ones on Felarya. Its design is unique and a great source of wonder and mystery. Other gates are only able to connect to gates that use a similar connection system as they do, whether magical or science based. However this one seems to be able to adapt, connect and otherwise function completely independent of all others... perfectly. For example, one day an assassin used the gate to connect to a heavily secured, and normally impenetrable, teleport network inside the Tetronis Imperial palace, and murdered the emperor. (This led the Tetronis empire to officially declare war on Felarya in order to destroy the gate even though they had no clue where it was to begin with.)
Another mystery is how easy it is to use the gate. Merely thinking about where you wish to go is sufficient for the gate to accurately teleport you to your destination gate. Obviously, this makes the ancient and mysterious artifact something of a legend on many worlds, baffling mages and scientists alike, and no one has ever been able to figure out how it works. The gate itself appears to be solid stone of some unknown type. Dark, but with a slight luster, it seems as solid and ageless as time itself. It is also very tough: a missile fired at the gate would not leave even the tiniest of scratches on its surface. All attempts to date it have failed as well. Records indicate that it has existed as long as anyone can remember, leading most to believe that it was created by a god of some sort long ago. Several peoples have adopted it as a sort of religious symbol, making its ownership a thing of great contention. However, after its last "owners", the people of Ur-Sagol, were destroyed, it has been left alone, many fearing the same fate would befall them as the doomed city.
Structure
The gate itself forms a perfect circle. The inner edge has a diameter of approximately 5 yards. The pedestal the gate is placed upon is ordinary granite from a local source, and is believed to be around 4000 year old, revealing that, at the very least, the gate has been in the same spot since then. A great tower stands next to the ring, probably raised by the Sagolians. The orb at its summit will hurl thunderbolts at anything above a certain size. These thunderbolts are not lethal but painful enough to dissuade a great predator from simply laying down, mouth wide open against the gate...
Felarya Express
The Felarya Express is a human-run company providing express flights through Felarya. It operates a fleet of enclosed airships, which can hover and travel at relatively high speeds a short distance above the ground. The company is not based on Felarya; its headquarters are located on a safe world populated by humans. Felarya Express ships typically travel through the jungle between the dimensional gate at Ur-Sagol, and the one at Negav City; thus Felarya is not so much a destination as a transit area. While Felarya Express ships stop off at both Ur-Sagol and Negav City, their primary purpose is to ferry travellers from one world to another, via the Felaryan dimensional gates. A successful flight therefore means entering Felarya via one of the gates, stopping briefly at each of the two cities, and leaving via the other gate.
Felarya Express is well-known to Felaryan predators who live on or near its flight path. Its ships are sturdy and fairly well armed, but predators have been known to snare them and smash them open in some way or another, to reveal a feast of tasty humans inside. The naga Jissy is known to refer to these ships as “fast food”. The company guarantees to its passengers a 25% survival rate during the journey through Felarya, or a refund to the families of the deceased if a higher proportion of them perish. A shotgun is placed under each seat, for insurance purposes, since such weapons are pretty useless against most Felaryan predators. Each ship has a crew of two, and can seat up to fifty-four passengers, although ships often fly more than half-empty. A ship’s interior consists of a crew cockpit and a large passenger area, with rows of seats. One of the company’s most experienced captains is Pal Sebrit, who operates a battered ship designated flight FE-013. His current pilot and vice-captain is Manda Kugi, whose predecessor, Lindsy, was unfortunately eaten by a fairy. Flight 013 connects the technologically advanced colony of New New Symphonia to the mostly agricultural port of Askimboon on the Tahanja world, via Felarya.
Mhurr's Many Marvels
Mhurr is an elderly male neko - quite tall, albeit a little stooped, with sun-tanned, wrinkled skin and thick grey hair. He operates Mr. Mhurr's Many Marvels and Souvenirs Shop, a portable stall which can be found right next to the Dimensional Gate near Ur-Sagol - within the protective range of the tower that keeps giant predators away.
Mhurr's Marvels is, as its name suggests, a simple souvenir shop. It sells cheap, "typical" tourist trinkets. Here you will find:
- postcards
- t-shirts with the words "I got eaten by a giant naga and all she spat out was this lousy t-shirt"
- t-shirts with an arrow and the words "I'm with Stupid. Eat him instead!"
- t-shirts with the words "Felaryan-grade boobies"
- crudely designed, colourful, illustrated maps of Ur-Sagol and its surrounding region (authenticity not guaranteed)
- small clay, stone or metal replicas of various Felaryan monuments
- "snow globes" with a gaping maw at the bottom, and flakes shaped like tiny people falling into it
- balloons that mimic Anko's squeal when squeezed
- children's colour books depicting predators hunting down and devouring unfortunate explorers
- scent bottles (chocolate, mint, fruit, honey...) to spray on yourself when caught (if you want to do a predator a favour, and turn yourself in to a more memorable meal; these are usually sold as joke gifts)
- action figures of giant predators
- plush dolls of giant predators
And many other gadgets and things. The only magical items on sale are small, animated chocolate or gingerbread figures. When let out of their box, they run around aimlessly until caught. Mhurr himself is a friendly, if somewhat eccentric figure. His reply to any comment or question tends to be wildly off-topic. Ask him "Have you got any other varieties of those scent bottles?" and he may well answer: "Oh yes, it is quite lovely this time of year. Especially when it's raining!" Along with a broad smile that makes his eyes crinkle.
Communication is somewhat easier when his daughter is present. A lovely young redhead neko called Likki, in her twenties, she always lends an interested ear to the tales of passing travellers, and charms them -with her dazzlingly pretty smile- into buying the most useless trinkets. Mhurr and Likki are not always to be found by the Gate. They keep irregular working hours. When they've finished their trade for the day, they pack up and go back through the Gate to whatever world they come from. It's interesting to note that Mhurr's customers are usually people arriving in Felarya and underestimating how dangerous the world is. People leaving are usually less receptive to that particular humor!
- Credits to French-snack for the Felarya express and Mhurr's Many Marvels, and to Wowandwas for some ideas to develop Ur-Sagol.
