El'Dnak

El'Dnak is one of the four goblin strongholds of Aelas. It is a swamp city with no laws, leaders, guard, nor government of any kind. Its location is a secret, known only to the goblins who inhabit it, the monstrous creatures who come to it for shelter, and the adventurers who seek it out for its otherworldly goods and forbidden magics.

Geography

The exact location of the city is a closely guarded secret, but it is known to be somewhere in the east of the Blightmire Swamp, in one of its wildest depths. Those who have seen it, describe it as a loosely organized but densely packed city of thousands, floating on mounds of black muck, rickety causeways, and into the canopies of giant mangrove trees. It is a dark and gloomy land, perpetually shrouded by high dark trees, opaque mists, and the pernicious taint of Night Magic. Travelers have said the city is thick with the smell of swamp gas, and is lit by hundreds of bog lights and ghastly will-o-wisps which hover close to the stronghold's newcomers whom they hope to lead to their doom.

A dilapidated El'Dnak goblin shack built between twisting willows and lit by roving will-o-wisps.

There isn't an organized layout or plan for the city. It grows and shrinks along with its population and the integrity of the muck under the city's foundations. The majority of buildings are wood or stone shacks, many of which have to sit on stilts or by propped up by strong trees to avoid sinking into the swamp. Many of the buildings are in a state of disrepair or have at least minor structural damage. There are few buildings beyond homesteads. Most merchants sell out of their homes, stalls, or carts.

Ancient stone ruins are scattered across this part of the Blightmire. Some of them present in the city have been turned into makeshift homes and buildings by the local goblins. It's unclear what the origin of these ruins are. Some say they're form an ancient kingdom of Bullywugs, others say it's form the days when Adravas controlled the swamp, and numerous conspiracy theories abound.

What few buildings stand for other civic or business purposes are fairly large, damp, and are typically the best constructed edifices in the city. These include taverns, temples, schools, a place called The Museum of Heads, and a necropolis where non-goblin residents have buried their dead for centuries. Most goblins just let bodies sink into quicksand, returning to the earth that sustained them, and avoiding the work of a laborious burial.

Independent State Within Liothe

Liothe claims sovereinty over the entire Blightmire Swamp, and sees the existence of an independent lawless city-state as an affront to its laws and the crown. Because of this, it has sent explorers and rangers to map out possible routes to El'Dnak, but they've either returned empty-handed or were never heard from again.

History

The origins of El'Dnak are shrouded in mystery. No goblin founder ever bothered to keep a written account of its inception nor maintain an oral tradition of its history. Because of this, the city's entire history up until the last century are at best a loosely preserved and often-contradicting mess of disorganized events, and at worst are complete fiction.

For as long as outsiders have reported on it, little has changed. The city retains the same goblin spirit of anarchy and extreme independence it had in its earliest accounts by reliable explorers.

So long as the world knows, El'Dnak has never known a code of law, an external conflict with another tribe or nation, nor a leader of any kind.

Culture

El'Dnak is a perfect representation of goblin culture. Those who call it home have never sought to organize it into the same kind of regimented civilization that the other mortal Races of Aelas typically do. It is a beacon of anarchy in the purest and most goblin of forms. El'Dnak's citizens are fiercely independent, to the point where there is no currency or shared idea of value. Trading with one goblin may use the same convention of metal coins all Aelas peoples use. Another goblin, may not like shiny things, and is only interested in candies and pie. The value of life itself is subjective, with some Dnakian weighing it with the same value they would an especially attractive walking stick. Some see it as sacred, others see it as a commodity and nothing more.

Despite this, fatal violence between mortals without an especially good motivation is a major faux pas in El'Dnak. There are no guards to enforce this taboo but if one offends the Dnakians, they may be looking at an angry mob quickly forming, looking to drag them deep into the swampy parts of gods-know-where. This does not mean death is rare in the city. Its haphazard building on quicksand, carnivorous plants, Swamp Lung epidemics, and proximity to dangerous beasts make it a perilous place. The most common cause of death, is what gives the city its night-lights. Will-O-Wisps are as common as fireflies in El'Dnak, and illuminate its otherwise stygian pathways by night. They will commonly try to trick travelers to step off the beaten path and into a dangerous place in order to kill the odd Dnakian and sustain themselves on their death. This is an accepted part of life in the stronghold, and the goblins have come to see it as a natural way that the land weeds out fools.

El'Dnak is keenly aware of the other three goblin strongholds, and despite its sequestered nature, is surprisingly up -to-date on the goings-on of its sister strongholds: Ai'Ralam, Qi'Tokran, and the exiled goblins of lost Oraugas.

Goblins revel in a Dnakian beergarden while two onlookers look on, feeling left out.

While there is no standard for monetary value, or even value at all, most in El'Dnak highly value glassware of any kind, as the means to make it within the city are severely limited, and the chances of breaking it when transporting it to the city are highly likely.

Goblin Stronghold Tenets

There are no official codes, courts of law, nor a legal system of any kind. Despite this, goblin culture has universal rules about how to conduct oneself in anarchistic society. Below are what are considered the seven tenets of goblin stronghold living. Breaking them is a cultural taboo, but there is no body to enforce these beliefs, only mob justice.

• Seek not to make thyself a ruler
• Seek not to commit murder against a traveler or thy countryman, without just cause
• Seek not to rename thy homeland
• Seek not to impose a common currency on thy homeland
• Seek not to impose rule of law on thy homeland
• Seek not to destroy the construction of an edifice, unless it be a temple
• Seek not to bring outsiders in great numbers to thy homeland

Beyond these broad codes of conduct, anything goes. Even theft goes unpunished and is expected. The individual works for what they have, keeps all they have, and is responsible to hold onto what they have.

The lack of law, oversight, or cultural taboo in El'Dnak make it a magnet for dark and even sinister forces. This has led to its nickname, the Asylum of Monsters.

Asylum of Monsters

What few travelers return from this place report seeing creatures of every aspect, shape, and size. Bloodthirsty vampires use El'Dnak as a haven for when they need to go into hiding. Gorgons (medusas) have been known to walk its fetid ghost-lit alleys. Giants who have long wished to hide from the violence of mortal humanoids cower in the city's muck, accruing ramshackle homes and tenements on their titanic bodies. Hundreds more species and creatures with enough sense to use speech have called El'Dnak their home, whether permanently or briefly, as the city's true freedom affords them solace the rest of the mortal world couldn't.

Not all monsters who come here are evil, but all monsters are welcome, as no one is turned away. Most will refrain from harming others within the city limits, treating their neighbors with neutrality. Once the peace is broken, their safe haven vanishes, and few in the position of a sentient undead or a wounded sphinx could afford that.

Swamplight-Markets

Anything from the rare drink, coffee, to a cask of Human souls can be bought and sold in the night markets of El'Dnak. As such, it has drawn collectors, merchants, and traders of strange and forbidden things. The city's presence of monstrous beings causes the most unusual and rare things to circulate in the markets. Necromancers, infernal conjurers, poisoners, torturers, alchemists, vampires, firebrands, and pirates can be found every year haunting the boglit stalls and vendors for otherworldly goods.

Even the globally-despised practice of slavery makes the occasional appearance in El'Dnak, although slaves are rarely sold here. The city's intense respect for personal freedoms makes slavery a difficult practice to sustain here, and the only non-goblin civilizations that allow its practice in all of Aelas are tucked away in the remotest corners of the western Gulf of Sirens.

Shadow Hounds

Shadow hounds, in addition to the Liothan crown, take umbrage with a lawless city harboring necromancy and dark magic.

All manner of rogue mage have vanished into the swamp over the centuries, seeking to lay low while on the lam, or to further their own dark agendas. Shadow hounds will stalk the Blightmire by night in hopes of tracking down El'Dnak, either to find their quarry or end the presence of dark magic in human lands. Shadow hounds are a regular sight in the taverns and armorers of BLACK DELTA. They remain in the Liothan city a few days or weeks before venturing into the swamp to find the Asylum of Monsters. It is unclear if any have ever found the city, as its location remains a secret to this day.