Greystar Canyon
"I swear, on my honor as a Kobold I would've starved to death out there if these peaceniks in the cliffs hadn't picked me up and pumped me full of cactus fruit... What? No, I can't tell you where they are, they had a nice older woman who sent me off with some pastry dish called a 'blin' make me promise I wouldn't." -Transcript from damaged A.C. Task Mage mission report, date and name unknown.
There are... scattered reports of an alleged secular village nestled somewhere in the canyons lining The Battlement Cliffs along the Katharan borderlands of southern Everwealth. What information is consistent, indicates the area as a village-commune at the root of a great desert canyon, where soil meets the sand at a point where in the light of the moon, the canyon is dotted with brightly glowing splotches of land eponymously akin to silver star lights in the night sky. They are supposedly a rugged, simple population that wants for little, content to dwell among themselves, unbeknownst to and unbothered by the outside world. By tradition no man would lie hungry if their neighbor had food, no child asleep in the dark and cold while a mat awaits them by the hearth. While by no measure technologically advanced nor magically inclined, anything beyond a wagon and wheels being a foreign concept to the Canyonites, the people which call Greystar Canyon home are afforded a life more luxurious than many poor souls beyond their lands will ever experience. Greystar Canyon, to the scant few who can even recognize the name, would likely deem it a dream come true, a welcome respite from the horrors Everwealth has come to recognize as the natural state of affairs. However, for whatever reason, despite no reported negative incidents from these monotonously uneventful pacifists, travelers who supposedly returned from Greystar Canyon often shared similarly concerning testimonies. Despite a kind air about those who lived there, something felt... wrong, and the people of the canyon were very insistent that those travelers NEVER came back once their business was tended to.
Demographics
The people of Greystar, commonly referred to as Canyonites, appear to share a communal, pacifist philosophy rooted in radical equality. There is no known currency in circulation, no formal market nor trade routes. Instead, all necessities are exchanged via mutual offering and quiet obligation. Each household opens its door to those in need, and disputes, when they arise, are deferred until the annual Conclave, a day of full-village gathering where concerns are brought before the elder, known as the Vedmak (or Vedma, if female). The Canyonites’ manner is courteous, even warm, but often laced with an eerie sameness, a rehearsed patience that unsettles more than it comforts. Their hospitality is sincere, but final. None who visit are invited to return, and all leave under the gentle insistence that their time in Greystar is finished.
Government
Greystar has no standing guard, no laws etched in stone, only tradition passed down through consensus. Their leader is elected not in times of crisis, but only upon the previous elder's death. This figure, the Vedmak, is rarely seen as a ruler, but as a speaker of the people’s needs, a custodian of peace. Most of their work involves overseeing the Conclave, organizing labor, and resolving minor conflicts by invoking long-standing custom. Elders are described as unnervingly wise, but more mysterious are their whispered dreams, which allegedly guide their decisions, a detail that does little to ease outsider suspicion.
Defences
None. No walls, guards, or weapons. The villagers neither train in violence nor prepare for attack. Greystar Canyon’s only “defense” is its utter isolation and the unspoken eeriness that seems to dissuade intruders. Those who seek it rarely return, and those who do, come back changed, and silent.
Industry & Trade
No external trade has been confirmed. Internally, the economy runs on collective bartering. The people raise goats for milk and meat, farm nutrient-rich desert-adapted plants, and fish the lake’s murky depths. Any materials gathered from the ruins near the lake are used purely for local function, not export.
Infrastructure
Greystar Canyon hosts minimal formal infrastructure. Water is drawn from a natural aquifer feeding the canyon’s interior oasis-lake. Houses are adobe-style domes reinforced with scorpion-shell tiling. Goat-hide tarps stretch between rock formations for shade, and woven-rope bridges cross narrow crevasses. Food storage is achieved with root-cellars dug into the canyon walls. No mills, no furnaces, and no paved roads exist here. The settlement endures without complex tools, guided by practical communal effort over machinery or magick.
Districts
The village is informally segmented by utility and terrain. The High Flats are home to elders and communal gathering spaces; the Goat Run houses livestock and the canyon’s outer edge; the Starfield Basin, where the glowing earth resides, is off-limits to outsiders and treated as sacred. All citizens participate in labor across these areas, though the Vedmak may mediate disputes and reassign duties during annual communal forums.
Assets
- A herd of mountain-adapted goats.
- Stockpiled dried cactus fruit, sun-pulped berries, and salt-cured scorpion meat.
- Sandfish from the oasis lake.
- Hardened scorpion chitin for construction and rudimentary armor.
- Glow-powder harvested from the soil in rare, secret ceremonies.
Guilds and Factions
There are no guilds in the traditional sense. However, communal roles form a loose structure:
- The Vedmak/Vedma - elected elder and mediator.
- The Foragers - those who brave the canyon outskirts for resources.
- The Hearthkeepers - caretakers, educators, and herbalists.
History
No records exist of Greystar Canyon in historical texts. It does not appear on Guild maps, and none can identify the culture responsible for the stone ruins near the oasis cave. The architecture resembles nothing known to current scholars. Greystar may be an offshoot of a Lost Age sect, or a far older civilization erased from memory. What is clear: the canyon dwellers intend to stay forgotten.
Points of interest
- The Starfield Basin - glowing soil patches with unknown Arcane resonance.
- The Oasis Cave - lush cavern with underwater tunnels and ancient ruins.
- Scorpion Ridge - jagged ledges where giant desert scorpions nest.
- The Listening Rock - a stone altar said to echo the names of approaching strangers.
Tourism
Almost none. Those who do find Greystar speak of it in hushed tones, fearing ridicule or worse. Would-be tourists are turned away politely but firmly. The few who’ve returned report exceptional hospitality… paired with a disquieting pressure not to return. No inns exist. Travelers are housed communally, expected to contribute to chores and share meals.
Architecture
The settlement is built from sun-dried clay, scavenged stone, and massive chitin panels harvested from local megafauna. Homes are rounded to resist wind and collapse, often painted with ochre designs. Doorways lack doors, privacy is communal, not enforced. Sacred spaces include cairn-circles of fossilized wood and an untouched central ruin beneath the canyon wall, draped in bleached cloth and antler charms.
Geography
Greystar Canyon lies hidden deep within the sun-blasted gorges of the Battlement Cliffs, where dry winds carve bone-white paths between pillars of sedimentary stone. At night, the valley glimmers faintly with silvery luminescence, patches of earth bioluminescent under moonlight, said to be touched by ancient magick or minerals unfamiliar to Everwealth’s modern miners. The canyon opens at a narrow pass barely wide enough for a mule-drawn cart and expands downward into tiered shelves of arable soil, natural terraces, and cavern networks fed by an underground lake known only to its residents. The few who claim to have seen it speak of unnaturally lush greenery hidden within the cliffshade, as if the canyon itself protects its secret life from the desert's reach.
Climate
Hot by day, frigid by night. Summer heat scorches the rock to blistering, while wind-borne sandstorms can shear exposed skin. Nights drop into freezing temperatures. Rain is rare but torrential, flooding the basin in unpredictable cycles. Most water arrives through condensation and subterranean flow.
Natural Resources
- Cactus fruit and Elf-Wheat
- Scorpion carapace and meat
- Goat herds
- Star-soil (glow powder).
- Oasis water and sandfish.
Founding Date
99 CA
Population
89 folk.
Inhabitant Demonym
Canyonites.
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