Cursed Temple

Cursed Temple is a place in the Site of the Forsaken, a region which was once the location of Virisi City. Almost nothing remains of the city today, but Cursed Temple is the location which held the Emperor's temple, and some of the foundation stones are still present.   The temple to Etervir was part of the Emperor's Palace, and only the Emperor himself--and his family, if he permitted--was allowed to worship there. When Allshadow launched his campaign to wipe out the Viri and take control, one of his first acts was to murder the Last Viri Emperor.   This act was committed inside the temple courtyard. It was clearly visible to the crowd, but within the boundaries that nobody else was permitted to cross. As a result, the body of the Emperor was never moved from where Allshadow set it on display. As if that wasn't enough of a desecration to the temple, Allshadow systematically and personally smashed every statue and icon depicting Etervir before setting the tapestries on fire and leaving the temple to burn.   Some myths claim that at the moment Allshadow left the temple, Etervir spoke, damning him for his actions. Others claim that divine signs or a prophet foretold Allshadow's eventual fall (which would not happen until a millenium and a half later). But whatever may or may not have occurred in that moment, it's generally acknowledged that the place where the temple stood is cursed. Many historical and modern eye-witness accounts bear this out: strange apparitions seen from a distance; perpetually-barren land; and supposedly anyone who's daring enough to try to enter the area where the temple stood meets their death.   The Last Emperor's remains are no longer visible, buried under thousands of years of dirt and clay. Some more recent skeletons of the above parties, whose bodies were unable to be retrieved, remain on or near the surface. Various laws over time have made crossing the threshold illegal. Cursed Temple is one of the few pieces of land which was never successfully claimed when the land laws passed, and so by default belongs to the Sovereign of the Teardrop Sea Islands.