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Chapel of the Black Sun
Posted on July 31, 2026 in Steel-Realms
The Chapel of the Black Sun is a place spoken of in whispers and hushed tones. It is associated with all the evils that The Great Forest of Rhyl has to offer. It has a few names to different cultures and local folk. It is said to sit at the heart of the forest, impossible to find, impossible to destroy – like a festering wound. A perpetual fog rolls out of the area in multiple directions.
It is covered in Frost-Melded Icescapes from repeated attempts by the dragon to destroy its presence.
Chronicle/Facts of the Locale
Knowledge is broken down by ease of discovery/availability & Meticulous Record Keeping may improve usability; Any attempt to know more than what's Pervasive will require a reference, source, knowledge, check, or access to someone who can get or provide either of these. Specific Lores may increase the chance of knowing specific elements.
Trivial Outcome / Very Easy Difficulty & Pervasive Knowledge
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
Rumors About the Locale
- It is guarded by a nest of zombies and skeletons of those who sought its powers.
- Those who enter will be driven mad.
- It is at the exact center of the Rhyl Forest.
- The Chapel of the Black Sun is a place of pilgrimage for followers of the Church of Darkness.
Rhyl Formative Events
See the Herald's Quarterly for world updates.
Rhyl Formative Events
CY 7007 The area of North Gate Garrison freed & The Red March created; Money, supplies, armaments, and manpower flow into the north to fight the Lich Lords.
CY 6514 The Grand Duchy of Rhyl is created by the High King. In exchange for the resources and organization that can be brought to bear against the now organized undead armies, the lands become part of the High King's domain.
CY 6909 The Fall of the Grand Barony of Altair from a curse by the Lich Lords. The main passage of troops and supplies from the hinterlands and nfar north to the The Grand Duchy of Rhyl is sacked by an undead army led by a ghoul king.
CY 5980 The Kingdoms of old Rhylan united settled as a single Kingdom of Rhyl to fight the Lich Lords drive south. After centuries of warfare between territories and races, the common cause of the threat to the north secures a lasting peace.
> For 3000 years, the Kingdoms of old Rhylan was the primary form of Rulership in the territory of the current Grand Duchy.
CY 5580 Fall of Dundaria in the North - Frostfang spreads, the Lich Lord power rises. Hordes of the undead, fortunately disorganized (at first), sweep south and west from the heart of old Dundaria.
CY 2330's Fall of East / Rise of the Dark Lands (Orrishai Abandoned); Refugees flee - some cross the Tolkisson Mountain Range into the 'Lands of Rhylan' that would become the Kingdoms of old Rhylan and finally.
CY 1000 (Approximately) The Dragon of Rhyl is killed and its influence ends in the area around the Great Forest of Rhyl and the surrounding territories.
Simple Outcome / Easy Difficulty & Common Knowledge
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
A perpetual fog rolls out of the area in multiple directions, further obscuring its overgrown and mystically concealed pathways.
Minor Outcome / Average Difficulty & Uncommon Knowledge
The Chapel is referenced in The Endless Gates and Nonleveaux’s Lament.
The Chapel of the Black Sun is an icon of evil – a manifestation of the evil Black Lodge of legends.
A place to petition the void. A place to violently take the power of the void. A place to merge with the void. Speaking the Litany of the Void will draw its powers to the speaker here.
Divisive Influence: Its influence spreads. It un-civilizes, creates friction and division, shatters diplomacy, and unravels the ties of solidarity. The Frost-Melded Icescapes has diminished this effect, and empowered their lingering effects for tens of thousands of years.
Scarce Knowledge / Hard Difficulty
Inside everyone is blind. No mystical or mundane cure or counter for this will function.
It has no real association with the Church of Darkness.
The exact location of the Chapel of the Black Sun is at a crossroads of territorial, geological and mystical sources. It sits above Shoulder Blades Pass, at the place where a primary source of the Delben River (the divides the Wyldes of the Northern Heartlands and Freelands of the North) flows west into Blackwater Bay.
Rare Knowledge / Very Hard Difficulty
The chapel/church appears only during an eclipse.
The power of the Chapel of the Black Sun is part of what gives Blackwater Bay its name.
The Chapel of the Black Sun is where the majority of the source of the Plague of Hags stems from.
Hearth Corner-Stone (Umbakian Construction)
Posted on July 21, 2026 in Steel-Realms
The Hearth Corner-Stone is a Hallmark of Umbakian Architecture/Construction. Every room in an Umbakian construction contains a hearthstone carving. As it is the embodiment of their faith and culture, it is ever present in their building. In all rooms and corridors, a bas-relief carving of a hearth facade is added- It is a place of nationalist and faith observance – a constant reminder of the structure and order that ensures the shape of their lives and afterlife. The health, happiness, and success of both their physical and spiritual existence.
- The hearthstone is not meant for adornment, and only for personalization within meditation or sleeping chambers belonging to a specific individual.
- Decoration is through painting only, and each building or compound will generally have a uniformity of decoration that is a signature to the location and not personal.
- These are all uniform in size – at least within the same building.
- They are not uniform in placement – each room’s placement is appropriate to its function and efficiency of internal organization.
- These all are at ground level.
Shancere (ruins; Rhyl)
Posted on July 9, 2026 in Steel-Realms
Shancere (shan-ser-ay) is an ancient place. It may go back to the days when the elves and Dragon of Rhyl fought, before the modern age. It seems to be ruins, built upon ruins, built upon ruins. It is right inside the Southern Edgelands of the Forest of Rhyl and has steadily encroached on it for millennia, reclaiming it for nature. Several dozen kilometers away is Icen Churnidz – the ancient and potent Frost-Melded Icescape.
A hill rises up above the tree line. Smaller trees grow around it, marking the area cleared for defense a long time ago. You feel loneliness, hopelessness, sadness, and melancholy. This place has long been abandoned by civilized folk, it feels thoroughly wild – though its structures still stand. The centerpiece is an abbey of stone, rising up on the top of the hill. The large structure has a aura of ancientness about it, and time feels like it stands still in viewing it.
There is a small herd of 150 Wild horses nearby.
Abbey of Stone
The abbey is the centerpiece still, though you cannot tell what god or gods it may have once been dedicated to.
The Church Ruins
There is no roof. The walls are broken.
The Terraced Steps
A set of 5 terraced steps, seemingly built for giants, lead up to the double doors. The steps are cut into the earth, set with massive blocks that total 25m wide – as wide as a the church itself at the front. At the outside edge on both sides are a set of smaller human sized steps – three for each of the terraces. Strangely, the humanoid sized steps have been seemingly purposefully broken by tools.
As you climb the terraces that are steps, you feel like an interloper – as if this was never intended for you and your ilk. The human sized steps look broken and dangerous – and purposefully ruined to make it seem that way – as if a warning.
Massive Double Doors
The double doors stand closed, though it is easy to enter the church through a hole in or over the broken walls.
A smell like old earth, stale air as if from a cavern deep in the earth where nothing has moved in a millennium wafts upon the breeze. It smells of… the past. An ancient and cold past. Nostalgia overcomes you as your mind wanders into long forgotten memories.
Broken Altar
The Abbey Well
The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound
Posted on July 8, 2026 in Steel-Realms
The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound is a World Events of the Steel Realms that has long gone unexplained and is mostly forgotten now – though its effects are continuing to shape the world. For a brief moment, the storms, winds, and waves were quieted for most of the Steel Realms. That power was drained away and the power of the goddess was diminished greatly for a brief moment. That power was seemingly channeled to spur growth and regrowth of natural places. These effects continues to reverberate though the power of storms and the goddesses were restored before any advantage or change could be exploited.
Chronicle/Facts of the Event(s)
Knowledge is broken down by ease of discovery/availability & Meticulous Record Keeping may improve usability; Any attempt to know more than what's Pervasive will require a reference, source, knowledge, check, or access to someone who can get or provide either of these. Specific Lores may increase the chance of knowing specific elements.
Trivial Outcome / Very Easy Difficulty & Pervasive Knowledge
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
The Days of Quietude In CY 8391 an event took place that attacked Elancil Stormqueen – the grey goddess and her domain. This was the start of the cycle of The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound. For about three days, the sea was tamed and the winds went slack. There were days of quiet across the entire Steel Realms (and the global seas), and the divine powers of followers of the goddess were diminished. Before any major move could be made against her clergy or sacred places, her power was restored and storms once again raged. The source of this has remained a mystery, and none have claimed credit.
Rumors About the Event
- It was a result of the war between the gods!
Simple Outcome / Easy Difficulty & Common Knowledge
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
Energetic Roots: The collective Deeproot Shamans of the sylvan faeries (elves and Smallfolk) find a way to harness the power of the storms and take Elancil’s magic as part of The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound to use it to their own ends. It is to make the trees of the realm grow faster and replenish themselves and reclaim lands lost to forestry. The ‘energetic’ growth has continued for near a thousand years.
Minor Outcome / Average Difficulty & Uncommon Knowledge
A Surging Tide The Days of Quietude in the The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound was the catalyst that refocused the goddess Elancil‘s most devout clergy in Gwinn to their path of dread revenge. It was not in the form of nature’s wrath, but a political storm – the Empire Revived movement. The ascension to the reigns of power within her church of those seeking to right the wrong. The rise of the war brands that would take Tarmysia from Dunstrand, fight the Umbakian navy to near extinction, win the battle against the combined fleet of the north and the Sebajain SkipIands that were invaded and renamed Valdeysian Isles. The attack on the stormfront fastness (failed in 8644).
The becalming effects from The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound persisted in Cabella until about CY 8600 – it became dead coast for a hundred of years – utterly becalmed.
The Energetic Roots effect of The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound is set to continue to accelerate growth on the edges and logged interior of the forests affected for a single millenium. This has caused logging and conflicts over it to accelerate as well.
Scarce Knowledge / Hard Difficulty
The Curtain of Night (in this area) was robbed of some of its power as part of the effects of The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound. It retreated eastward for dozens of miles around CY 8400, taking a hundred years in some cases to regain the lost ground.
Some scholars believe Elancil‘s penchant for violating the The Godspeak Accord made her vulnerable to The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound.
The energy from the The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound invigorated the Wylden anima power of the Great Forest of Rhyl that powers the The Autumn Wall.
The Faerie Ceremony of Energetic Roots was the foundation for the cycle of The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound. It was enacted by the a conclave of shamans, priests, and druids (mostly from Ynth) to try and reinvigorate the forests of the Noble East and Steel Realms in general, and to help the diminishing population of the The Smallfolk of Faerie in The Realms in the Noble East.
Rare Knowledge / Very Hard Difficulty
Secure the Smallfolk’s Future: The efforts of Energetic Roots of The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound was also an attempt to grow new areas in all the major forests, that can serve as a Ellosarr home for the Faerie Smallfolk that have been being pushed out and displaced.
The The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound significantly expanded the Chauvelah Weald.
Made Vexation of Nature by the Smallfolk were more powerful in these regrown forest lands.
After the becalming effects of The Odyssey of Elancil’s Wound wore off in Cabella around CY 8600, it appeared again in Gwinn’s attempts to conquer the Tarmysian Peninsula by becalming their ships. It has also diminished their priests’ powers as they sought to land troops.
Unknown to the Faerie Ceremony of Energetic Roots conclave participants, it sucks some of their own virility, and their fertility is (in the males) in decline – especially in Ynth. Everywhere a males went through, spread the magic until almost unnoticed, a thousand years go by and logging is still thriving everywhere but elven birthrates are in decline. When the growth effect ends, so to will this.