Broken Gate

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General Info

• Population : Uninhabited
• Region : Southgard Province
• Type : City Ruins

Description

The Broken Gate is the name given to the ruins of the old Imperial Capital. Once the largest and most prosperous city on Tritan, the Gate is a mangled hulk of collapsed structures overrun with dangerous creatures.

Cyton the Learned

An Adult Green Dragon and self-described historian and scholar, Cyton has made his lair beneath the University's ruined auditorium. His hoard boasts an incredible number of Imperial artifacts, including the true Crown of the Gate, which was recovered from the Orcish tribe living within the city ruins.

Cyton and his Kobold followers were responsible for ousting a Dohlaran expedition to the Broken Gate, reportedly burying a large number of the expedition's forces alive.

Vidarok the Red

Former Chieftain of a peculiar Orcish tribe in the southern districts of the ruins, Vidarok styled himself in Imperial trappings and called the Imperial Forum home. He died unexpectedly in 570 AGS of unknown causes.

It is unknown what repercussions his death may have had on the nascent orc nation, only time will tell if the adopted Imperial institutions can withstand an unexpected transition of power.

Geography

Located along the Southern coast of the Southgard Province, the Broken Gate sits at the mouth of the Lion's Tail Canal, an artificial river dug over a thousand years before the Great Sack.

As the region has a humid subtropical climate, the heavy rainfall throughout the year has helped nature reclaim much of the former capital. The once cultivated fields that surround the city have completely reverted to their primordial state, with only the wrecked foundations of farmhouses and barns indicating that the area was once inhabited.

With the massive exodus of survivors to the northern fringes of the continent, the area around the Gate teems with all manner of dangerous beast and creature.

Notable Features

• The Breach :

  The once mighty walls of the World's Gate were thought to be impregnable. Standing over 60 feet tall, the massive walls were constructed a millenia ago by Emperor Hydraehan. Since their construction, the walls withstood countless attacks and sieges until the arrival of Baltatrax the Ravager, a Demon Lord of the Abyss.

  With the destruction of the Imperial Army outside Emberedge, Baltatrax was free to concentrate all his efforts on the Gate's walls. Selecting a spot outside the banking district, Baltatrax ordered the construction of massive siege engines to bombard the walls. After nearly a month of constant barrage, the wall finally crumbled, allowing the demon's hordes to flood into the city.

• University of the Gate :

  Home to Cyton the Learned, the ruins of the University are home to a large population of drakes and kobolds, making it extremely treacherous and nearly impossible to approach unnoticed.

  Beneath the collapsed auditoriums lies the horde of the dragon, consisting not only of gold and jewelry but a veritable king's ransom of historical artefacts from the Empire and the World's Gate.

• Temple Hill :

  Broken steeples and collapsed walls dominate the only slight rise in elevation within the walls of the Broken Gate, the location of what was once the single largest collection of First Age temples and religious institutions on Tritan.

  It is rumoured that many of the temples utilized pocket dimensions to expand their footprint due to the extreme crowding of buildings within the district. Contemporary accounts suggest that these pocket dimensions were often incorporated into the rites and rituals, further elevating the mysterious and spiritual reputation of the district.

• Imperial Forum :

  Host to massive classical palaces constructed of fine marble, the Forum was the seat of government for the Empire and it's sprawling administration. Though much of the riches and relics of the Imperial era were lost during the Great Sack, the imposing columnar edifices still stand to this day, and appear to host a unique faction of orcs, known as the Empire of the Rufous Wings, that have adopted the trappings of the old Empire, including a stylized version of the Imperial Banner.

History

Historical Account

Settled some 5,000 years before, the World's Gate was at its height the seat of the Imperial Crown and the largest city on Tritan. Housing over 100,000 souls, the city was a marvel of the First Age. The core of the city contained the sprawling green gardens of the Imperial Palace. From the harbor, the gleaming golden spires of the palace could be seen rising above the marbled facades of the city's buildings.

Since it's founding, the city has been the capital of one kingdom or another. Although other First Age cities may have been richer in industry or trade, the Gate was the political, religious, and cultural center of antecasum society. Many First Age Gods had a major temple within the Gate, which saw thousand of pilgrims flocking to the city each year. The most prestigious arcane universities were in the Gate, as the city was inadvertently but fortuitously constructed on a Weave Node, a point where the barrier between the material plane and the immaterial dimension of the Gods was weakest.

With the rise of the Empire, the city was a natural choice to seat the Imperial Crown. With imperial tithes steadily flowing, the city reached its zenith around 1000 BGS. Much of the city was renovated under the rule of Emperor Ahgustuhs, who famously proclaimed "I found a Gate made of stone, and left it made of marble." By the end of his reign the city was a gleaming jewel along the gulf coast.

Even as the Empire cracked and crumbled in the late First Age, the World's Gate remained the foremost city on Tritan. Without the steady stream of imperial tithes, many of the city's fabled marble facades began to fracture, and many of the golden roofs were melted down to fund pointless wars and conflicts. But the city's true glory lay in its institutions, and although less visually glamorous than before, those institutions were still going strong.

It was not until the Spellplague and the ensuing collapse of the Weave that the city began to fall from grace. With the arcane and divine institutions on the verge of collapse, and with the Empire facing secession and rebellion from many member kingdoms, the Gate remained a symbol of a better past, a golden age of civilzation and society.

When Baltatrax's hordes finally sacked the Gate, they destroyed the last vestiges of the once glorious Imperial capital. Reports from Second Age expeditions to the Broken Gate, as the city came to be called, indicate that the area is overrun with the savage descendants of the hordes that sacked the city. Few of the principal structures are recognizable, as most have collapsed due to decay and ongoing damage from the warring tribes that lay claim to the Gate.

Despite the hazards, the Gate still holds the greatest trove of First Age relics on all Tritan. A single expedition can set a salvager for life, should they survive the treacherous journey and manage to avoid the mosters lurking around every wreck. The ruins of the old temples and universities are rumored to hold enough artifacts to equip an entire army. Should these repositories be liberated, it would prove to be a pivotal moment in the history of Tritan, and perhaps indeed, the World.

Timeline

Date	Name	Event
-700Y	Hydreahan's Walls	Emperor Hydreahan orders the construction of massive walls to surround the World's Gate. His original plans call for walls 40ft tall and 20ft thick at the base.
-600Y	Hydreahan's Walls Complete	Nearly a century after construction began, the final capstone is laid on Hydreahan's Walls. The final dimensions are 60ft tall and 40ft thick at the crown.