Marketh
At one time, Marketh was a rough and ready, but growing, mining town.
The villages from all around the Skytop mountains would bring their ore
to Marketh to have it smelted down and it would then be transported and sold to
the rest of Shardar. The Lord was
Myles Astan, a good man if a bit rough around the edges, much like his town.
Justice was harsh and quick and it worked.
Everything about Marketh was rough but it all did work.
It was a town that was perfectly suited to its environment.
And then
the Mage called Raskas came to town. This
was at the time when the Mage Wars have been running for a large number of years
and the arrival of the Mage was seen as a mixed blessing to the town.
He helped in the defence against bandits and the fierce creatures of the
Skytops and the surrounding hills, he helped to locate the best sources of
deposits for mining and he even helped with the smelting of the ore once it was
taken from the mines. Raskas had a
fascination with metal of all kinds and he geared his Magical learning towards
anything that would allow him to manipulate and refine metal in any way.
Marketh and Raskas were made for each other and gave each other a great
deal.
But, with a
Mage in town, this attracted the attention of other Mages and the Wars that had
been raging started to affect the people of Marketh.
Soon, Raskas was spending as much of his time battling against other
Mages as he was following his studies. As
Raskas grew in influence and power, more and more Mages took an interest in him
and in the year 236, one of the most horrific battles of the Mage Wars took
place.
For a
reason that has since been lost in the mists of time, Mages from all across
Shardar descended on Marketh, each one determined to be the one to destroy
Raskas. These invading Mages seemed
to be shocked by each other’s presence and what started as a battle against
one single Mage soon spread into a free for all against dozens of powerful
Mages. Fire and ice battled against
smoke and wind, the very earth itself rose up to fight against mortal men and,
in the end, the vast amounts of Magical energy that were flying around
completely destroyed the town of Marketh, as well as most of the Mages in the
town.
The High
Lord of the time, Lord Payez, had had enough.
He knew the power that the Mages wielded but he was not prepared to allow
them to continue in this fashion. He
sent messengers to every Academy demanding that the most powerful Mages in the
land appeared at his palace in Camber and, when they arrived, Payez told them
how it was going to be. He told the
Mages that there was to be no continuation of the ruinous wars that had been
going on and that he would declare war on all Mages if it did continue.
There was a short peace between the Mages before war broke out again.
But, the history of the Mage Wars is detailed elsewhere and has no real
place in an examination of Marketh.
No one is
sure why all the Mages descended on Marketh at the same time, there have been
many rumours about this over the years. The
most strongly believed tale is that Raskas had just made some fantastic
discovery that would revolutionise the use of Magic and all the Mages wanted it
for their own. There is no record of any such discovery and many people
believe that Raskas took this discovery to his grave.
Because of this there have been many treasure seekers who have searched
through Marketh but few of them have been Mages and therefore, they would not
know what to look for. The few
Mages who have entered Marketh in search of treasure or knowledge have all said
that there is a feeling of great power in the ruins, but there is also a feeling
of all the Mages that died there and that is not a friendly feeling.
Other
rumours say that Raskas had found a Portal to the Planes, even though Planar
travel would not be truly discovered by Mages until many years later.
Some say that it was sheer coincidence that all the Mages came together
at the same time while others say that some great power, possibly one of the
Gods, decided that the Mages were growing too powerful and arranged for them all
to be in Marketh so that they would be destroyed and their power be kept in
check. No one can say for certain
why all those Mages came together in Marketh, but whatever the reason, when they
left Marketh was no more.
All that is
left of the town now are many rubble strewn streets, broken stone buildings
covered with plants and fungus and the few rotted remains of wooden buildings
that have managed to survive the passing of time.
The mining that goes on in the area has extended under Marketh, but these
mines have been abandoned due to strange happenings and the superstition of the
miners. No one is prepared to talk
about what happened in those mines but neither is anyone prepared to go back
into them.
A feral dog
pack is known to roam through Marketh, hunting and scavenging as best they can.
Occasionally the huge cave bears of the Skytop mountains will come down
into the ruined town in search of food to help them survive though the cold and
savage winter months. But the most
dangerous creatures to roam Marketh are humans.
Many of the
deserters and bandits that are so prolific in Shardar have made temporary homes
in Marketh. It is almost a true
town for these people, if a very rough and dangerous one, but it can be
abandoned in minutes, leaving very little trace that anyone was ever there.
On more than one occasion, Local Lords and Barons have arranged raids
into Marketh but each time they have come out empty handed and looking foolish. It is thought that the bandits have access to the tunnel
network that runs underneath the abandoned town and that they use these tunnels
as a form of back door to allow them to escape.
Many of
these bandits have prices on their heads, and there is a standard 10 Falcon
reward for anyone brining in proof of the capture or execution of a deserter to
any of the Lords and Barons of Shardar. Proof
is normally in the form of the uniform or the shortsword that all soldiers are
issued with. For this reason alone, many of the deserters try to rid
themselves of their issued uniforms and exchange the shortsword for some other
weapon as soon as possible.