YERMOS DE MANÁ, LOS

Un erial de magia muerta

Alineamiento: LN
Capital: Alkenstar (53.600)
Idiomas: enano, keleshio, osiriano
Razas principales: humanos, enanos, gigantes
Religiones principales: Abadar, Erastil, Irori, Torag

Situados entre Nex y Geb, los Yermos de Maná son una pesadilla cambiante de desierto devastado por la magia, marcado eternamente por los duelos ancestrales de conjuros entre los magos-reyes y sus poderosos servidores. Este paraje inhóspito es la frontera fluctuante y sin dueño entre las dos naciones. La destrucción convocada sobre este extenso tramo desértico ha convertido el paisaje en algo mutable y extraño, y mientras que esta tierra caótica y alocada parece compuesta de magia pura, en realidad el lugar está muerto para la magia: todo el poder mágico disponible ha sido consumido por estas tormentas caóticas, y cualquiera que intenta lanzar conjuros aquí se esfuerza en vano.

Los peligros impredecibles y los habitantes ultraterrenos de los Yermos de Maná suponen una muerte rápida para la mayoría de exploradores, pero unos pocos exiliados políticos, esclavos fugados, y pensadores disidentes logran atravesar los Yermos hasta llegar al Gran Ducado de Alkenstar, una ciudad-estado independiente, llena de maravillas tecnológicas en las estribaciones occidentales.

Al no poder contar con la magia, la gente de Alkenstar se ha volcado en la alquimia, la ingeniería, y la metalurgia para sobrevivir. Los enanos del Bastión Dongun proporcionan metales y minerales a los ingenieros, alquimistas y metalurgos de Alkenstar, y después estos artesanos diseñan intricadas máquinas de relojería y edificaciones que dejan sin aliento. La impresionante Armería de Alkenstar produce la gran mayoría de armas de fuego de Golarion, aunque el Gran Ducado se queda con una gran parte de la producción. Los alguaciles pistoleros blanden sus armas de fuego en defensa de la nación, lo que convierte a Alkenstar en uno de los países mejor defendidos de Garund.

No encuentro una imagen buena del mapa de los Yermos de Maná, así que os lo enseñaré el próximo día. Podéis verlo aquí (está abajo a la derecha, entre Nex y Geb y debajo de Osirion):

http://www.mapsofgolarion.com/

Alkenstar

Alkenstar City is the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Alkenstar, housing the whole of the Duchy's governmental infrastructure. The city is located on top of the Hellfallen Cliffs, where the Ustradi River falls seven hundred feet down Alken Falls. Monumental works of engineering and architecture, including the Bridge of the Gods, connect the city to the vassal communities of Martel and Dongun Hold. As a result of the urban development of the Duchy, many incorrectly consider these vassals mere districts of Alkenstar City proper, rather than distinct communities in their own right.

Alkenstar City is also the nation's center of industry, housing the Duchy's infamous Gunworks, the source of mass-produced firearms used both for the protection of the city-state and for trade throughout the Inner Sea region. As a result of the industrial advancement of Alkenstar, a constant cloud of white steam and sooty smoke hangs in a haze over the city, generated by the gears and pistons of countless factories operating around the clock.

To the west of the city are the Karggat Hills, a rocky region dotted with mines and factories.

Description

The city of Alkenstar is divided into two distinct parts—Smokeside and Skyside—naturally separated by the Ustradi River. The poorer and more dangerous half of the city, Smokeside, is located in a permanent pocket of antimagic, where spells both arcane and divine simply cease to function. Here, a tumble down the stairs can be just as lethal as a bullet wound (though the latter is far more likely), as magical healing is non-existent and unpracticed doctors are the only way for many citizens to remedy deadly injuries or disease. Gangs and criminal organizations operate out of soot-covered factories, ruling the streets beneath a perpetual cloud of lung-burning smog. For all its hazards, however, this side of the city is also one of the most highly sought out, since it is one of the few places in the Inner Sea where one can reliably avoid magical detection via divination, as scrying and other eldritch means of locating a person simply do not work among the smokestacks and filth-ridden alleys of Smokeside.

The half of the city on the eastern side of the Ustradi River is known as Skyside because the towers here are among the few places in Alkenstar where one can penetrate the blanket of smog and see the sky. The wide river itself is an area of unforgiving primal magic, which washes down the Alken Falls as surely as it occasionally seeps into the waters of Smokeside and Skyside from time to time. Only the wealthiest and most established Alkenstarians may live in Skyside. Here, the Grand Duchy holds sway, as do the myriad engineering guilds, metallurgic factories, Brigh- and Abadar-worshiping temples, and universities of alchemy and primal magic. The organizations and businesses of Skyside utilize the unpredictable fonts of magical energy that course through the soil—arcane remnants of the ancient wars between neighboring Geb and Nex—in order to drive their noxious industries ever forward in the name of profit, progress, and power.

The result of these two distinct sectors is a dichotomy between the haves and have-nots—those who use haphazard magic in their privileged daily lives and those who must subsist in a raw, unforgiving world run by machinery and grit alone. Factor in the presence of clockwork automatons constructed by Skyside's wealthiest engineering guilds and the burgeoning technology of guns, and Alkenstar quickly proves to be one of the most fascinating, exotic, and compelling cities in the Inner Sea region.