Somerset

Tellus | Galtia

The Ruins of Somerset

Overview

Once called the "Jewel of the Sundergale," Somerset sat like a glittering crown in a lush river valley, nestled between the Sundergale River’s wide, trade-laden waters and the ancient roads that stretched east and west.

Founded atop forgotten Urlosh foundations, the city was built with soaring spires, great bridges, and shining stone plazas — a human triumph rooted in elder magic.

Today, Somerset lies shattered, battered by the magical wave unleashed during the War for the Spire.

Yet the bones of the city remain, broken but not erased — a place of echoing grandeur, stalked by the dead and reshaped by unstable magic.

The City’s Layout and Features

• Foundations:
  • Built atop ancient Urlosh ruins — layered history, with human structures sitting uneasily on cyclopean moonstone blocks, ancient sewer networks, and deeper crypts.
  • Occasional surviving Urlosh glyphs can still be seen half-buried in collapsed plazas.
• The Sundergale Bridge:
  • Once a magnificent stone bridge spanning the broad Sundergale River.
  • Portions still stand — jagged stone teeth reaching across the river — but most of the bridge has collapsed into the churning waters below.
  • Sections of the bridge still bear ancient Urlosh runic anchors, faintly humming on moonlit nights.
• The Spires of Somerset:
  • Tall, elegant towers — half of them now shattered like broken lances against the gray sky.
  • Some lean precariously; others have collapsed entirely, leaving jagged stone heaps and hidden cellars beneath.
  • The uppermost towers housed libraries, council chambers, and observatories — many ruined but still holding forgotten treasures (and lurking dangers).
• The High Plaza:
  • The city's heart — a broad, circular plaza paved with pale white stone.
  • Statues of kings, merchants, and scholars still stand, though many have been worn to ghostly outlines.
  • The plaza is cracked and tilted — in some places, warped by the magic storm into unnatural curves.
• The Riverfront Markets:
  • Great arched warehouses and sunken merchant stalls line the river.
  • Flooded, overgrown, and haunted by river-spirits twisted by magic.
  • Faint echoes of market cries are said to carry across the water at twilight.
• The Undercity:
  • Ancient tunnels and Urlosh sewers honeycomb beneath Somerset.
  • Many now serve as lairs for undead scavengers, warped creatures, and scavver gangs.
  • Some tunnels lead far beneath the Bleaklands, possibly connecting to the long-lost coastal Urlosh ruins submerged beyond the Great Way's end.

Atmosphere of the Ruins

• Sound:
  • Distant creaking stones.
  • The whisper of the river through broken arches.
  • Occasional shrieks of night-creatures.
  • Sometimes — music can be heard faintly at night, as if from a festival long ended.
• Visuals:
  • Broken towers silhouetted against a slate-gray sky.
  • Ranks of dead trees stand like blackened bones along abandoned boulevards.
  • Pools of stagnant water gleam like broken mirrors in cracked courtyards.
• Environmental Hazards:
  • Sections of the city are unstable — floors can collapse into flooded cellars or deep Urlosh vaults.
  • Residual magic in the area sometimes animates rubble into golem-like forms or twists time within localized zones (lost hours or strange déjà vu).

Inhabitants and Dangers

• The Shambling Dead:
  • Many citizens of Somerset rose after the magical catastrophe.
  • Some retain tattered robes of scholars, merchants, or soldiers.
• Scavvers:
  • Tough, pragmatic survivors who scavenge ruins for relics, food, and magic.
  • Some operate in tribes or gangs — others serve shadowy masters who covet Urlosh artifacts.
• Mistwalkers:
  • Spectral entities — perhaps echoes of the city's final moments — that drift through the mist, reenacting moments of terror or triumph.
  • Contact with a Mistwalker can sap a soul’s vitality or trap a mind in endless memory loops.
• Rogue Constructs:
  • Broken pieces of ancient Urlosh security golems still occasionally spark to life within ruined vaults.

Key Points of Interest in the Ruins

Landmark	Description	Danger
The Fallen Citadel	Former seat of governance; heavily damaged but rumored to house treasures in its vaults	Undead nobility, spectral knights
The College of the Sundergale	Once a prestigious academy; unstable magic storms occasionally flicker through the ruins	Residual magic surges, time distortions
The Shattered Bridge	Dangerous crossing; might lead to hidden river vaults or ferry relics trapped below	Fast river currents, lurking river shades
The Moonfall Gate	A partially intact Urlosh gateway hidden under collapsed buildings	Strange pulses of ancient energy, teleportation accidents
The Garden of Silent Bells	Former temple courtyard, lined with dead, silent chimes — said to "ring" when death approaches	Cursed spirits, trap spells

Flavor Snippet (In-World Description)

"Somerset still sings, if you have the ears for it.

Not a song of life, no — it is a song of endings. The wind carries it through hollow towers and broken bridges, a hymn to all we lost and all we dared to build on borrowed stones."

— Scavver Lorekeeper Brynna Marr, "Songs of the Bleaklands"