Haeldor
Some say Haeldor is dismal.
Bleak.
Gray.
But this is not true. Haeldor is beautiful, but only for those who put in the work for it to be so. Haeldor sits atop the Abyss, a quarry of incredible depth that has been deepened by every generation of Kellid living in Aurelian. The Abyss has been mined for centuries for all manner of stone, metal, and gem with a seemingly inexhaustible supply. New veins of ore seem to appear when they are sorely needed, and accidents always seem to happen just after the point they would be most devastating. No one can explain it, but the Abyss seems to have a mind and a will all of its own. At least, that is what the miners would tell you. Folk who spend years of their lives breathing the fumes and poison of industry and whose very lives depend on the “will of the rock.” In truth, the Abyss is nothing more than a deep well of rock and gemstone that improves the life of every citizen 100 fold.
Haeldor is suspended above the Abyss by the most fantastic construction of metal and magic ever devised by the architects of Keinfar. Citizens colloquially call it “The Screen,” a metal grate thick enough to hold the weight of an entire city and supported by adamantine legs attaching into the walls of the Abyss on all sides. Architecture on the screen varies, but many build homes out of the constantly falling snow-like ash that builds up around the city.
Wealthy families build their homesteads out of the most exquisite and vibrant red brick that can be found. While unfortunate families subsist by fashioning their homes from the compacted ash of the furnaces and forges. Nearly all of the foundry work has been relegated to the Abyss over the years. Machines and forges exist on a variety of incredible platforms that can be raised or lowered depending on the depth the miners are sent off to work. Having the machinery so close to the source allows for near instant smelting and metallic production, completely unrivaled in all of Aurelian. The city of Haeldor lives in a constant state of rising and falling ash; the heat of the forges in the evening lifts ash high into the sky, while the cool morning air drops the ash back to the ground in a snowy layer of soot for miles around.
While the empty skies would make one assume otherwise, the gods play a large role in Haeldor life. Haeldor has the greatest number of churches for the greatest number of faiths anywhere in the world, even if the church of The Silent One is the largest and most populated. Imposing cathedrals reach to the heavens and brush the low flying ashen clouds with their spires and turrets. Stained glass depictions of the gods and their deeds decorate the outside of many cathedrals, often casting a warm opalescent glow onto the dark-gray metal streets below. Many are decorated with the same red brick as the wealthy, while others are humble and ashen, but all are devoted to the gods and most importantly Haeldor. Haeldor may be a city of gray and sunless skies, but its beauty lies in its subtleties. The people, the steel, the brick – that is what makes up the true form of Haeldor.
- Approved by Chief Foreman Lorric