Ruins of Gelch Pond/Millers Pond

Steel Realms

About a half mile west of Torrelsons Ford is an ancient ruin that the locals mostly refer to as “Millers Pond”. The mill is non-operational, and in fact only a few stones are visible beneath the overgrown site. There is a clear pond nearby, and a spring. Once the spring water was sought out, as it was clear and most refreshing – some say its source was sacred to the Wyld faith, centered in the Pranin Moorswood. However, the loose stones around the ruins began to collapse and too many folk were being hurt. Now, few remember it, and all are told to avoid it.

About/Chronicle

Knowledge is broken down by ease of discovery/availability. If nothing is indicated, assume Common Knowledge.

Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty

Most Recent History

Commonly Understood Origins

A temple to the Wyld faith

Commonly Understood Development

Sacked by Orrish

General knowledge…

  • Key Places: Main Temple Ruins, Mill Ruins, Pond, Spring Head
  • Key Entities: None live near it or claim it
  • Key Concepts: Crystal clean water

Uncommon Knowledge / Average Difficulty

The site was a hidden and remote underground altar to the Unholy Trio at one point (5000 CY?). The place was attacked, the altar cracked, and a temple to the servants of the green Church was built over the natural spring that made it so ideal. A hundred years later, the temple was sacked by the Orrish and desecrated.

Rare Knowledge / Very Hard Difficulty

Twice more the area was settled and fought over in the next hundred years. Each time the ground got more soggy, and overgrowth happened faster. The ruins got more treacherous with each passing decade – and strangely they could not stop it. Rather than go back and forth, it was left to collapse by the Green Church.

CY 9165
Dunstrand Rising (Steel Realms Campaign) Living World Campaign Record

Because the White Sisters came to town to seek the source of the phantoms walking the lands, and the Lightbringers have tried to put down a greater foothold in Torrelsons Ford, the site once again became a sight of minor pilgrimage and offering. Especially since the recent church the Lightbringers were building was ruined for nefarious purposes(?). And with the destruction of the Briarwood, folk have drifted more towards the Lightbringers who have been available. Rumors of strange happenings in the Pranin Moorswood have also made folk suspicious of the druids, causing an uptick in Lightbringer services. For lack of any other real sacred places, townsfolk are taking their minor offerings to the old pond.

Obscure Knowledge / Near-Impossible Difficulty

Note: Secret Knowledge is information not available in any known references; It is not necessarily Forbidden Knowledge.

Originally, the lowest level was a cistern that was dug out and filled by a special Decanter of Endless Water – an object sacred to a shaggy druid named Kierslake the Mutable. The holy man planted the decanter and raised a Briarwood on the surface as a place of refuge from the dark forces of the Forest of Soos – what would eventually become the Pranin Moorswood.


Adventures

Realm's Aptitude Powers: Divine, Occult, and Psychic