History of Ringhaven

Overview

Ringhaven was once a thriving settlement in the remote cliffs of the Myrrhspine Valley, famed for its mystical connection to floral dragons, arcane gardening, and sacred sites of power. Built around an ancient stone circle known as the Dracoring, it was a haven for scholars, herbalists, and those seeking isolation from the wider world.

Today, Ringhaven is a ghost town, its ruins steeped in decay, magic, and sorrow. The exact cause of its fall remains disputed, blamed variously on disease, arcane corruption, dragonic wrath, or the town’s own buried secrets. But all agree on one thing: Ringhaven did not simply fall.

It withered.

Founding and the Ring

The town was founded approximately 280 years ago, during a period of territorial expansion into the high valleys. The settlers were drawn to the site not by wealth or fertile soil, but by the Dracoring, a stone circle of unknown origin, predating the settlement by centuries. Scholars noted that the stones resonated faintly with ley energy, and local legends spoke of dragons drawn to the ring to sleep, nest, or mourn.

Early Ringhaven was a town of reverence. Homes and roads were constructed in spiral patterns around the Ring, mimicking the symmetry of blooming flowers. The people believed that harmony with nature and ritual would protect them. For many decades, it seemed to be true.

Crops flourished unnaturally. Magical affinity among children was unusually high. Floral dragons were occasionally seen circling the valley, unthreatening, like guardians.

The Bloom Sours

Roughly forty years ago, the town began to change. Subtle signs emerged: failing crops, strange wildlife behavior, odd dreams shared among unrelated townsfolk. Children spoke of voices in the wells. White, scentless flowers began to bloom uninvited, facing only toward the Ring.

What began as a spiritual unease turned physical. A thick, cloying scent hung in the air. Those who stayed too long near the Ring suffered hallucinations or nosebleeds. Then came the first death, the town’s herbalist, found drowned in her own water barrel, surrounded by bloomed lotus petals. Her journals referenced a "false spring" and a dragon “returning in black bloom.”

The Withering and the Corrupted Dragon

Witnesses spoke of a floral dragon, once known as Vaerith the Verdant, returning to the valley, but changed. Its wings were shredded, its scales blackened and veined with root-like scars. Where it flew, spores rained down, killing crops and sickening animals. Its breath, once rumored to heal, now brought delirium and madness.

Whether Vaerith was cursed, corrupted, or summoned is unknown. But soon after its arrival, Ringhaven began to suffer uncontrollable arcane bloom-events: spontaneous flowerings of magical flora that burned flesh, induced visions, or warped time itself.

Panic overtook reverence. Many fled. Some stayed to “hold the line” mostly priests, mages, and desperate families. None survived.

The Final Night

On the Night of the Red Moon, the Ring hummed so loudly it cracked stone. Reports from a passing skyship spoke of the town shrouded in a pollen storm, lit from within by an eerie bioluminescence. For three nights, the valley glowed. When the storm passed, nothing moved.

Ringhaven had become still.

The river had begun to flood the lower streets. Homes had sunken. The temple spire was found collapsed, its golden roof shattered across the square. Statues lay broken, and all organic matter, trees, crops, even livestock appeared crystallized or fossilized in bloom.

Those who have visited since describe a place that feels neither dead nor alive, but paused, as if caught mid-blossom… and never allowed to finish.

Current Status

Ringhaven is officially abandoned. Marked on maps only as a ruin, it is avoided by most travelers, though a handful of treasure-seekers, cultists, and scholars still attempt entry.

Common warnings include:

• Time dilation and memory loss.
• Floral revenants and dragonspawn.
• Water contamination.
• Unnatural weather and spontaneous bloom events.

No restoration attempts have been made.

Cultural Legacy

Despite its fall, Ringhaven lives on in legends, lullabies, and whispered warnings across Flora Draconis. The phrase “Don’t follow the bloom” is commonly used as a proverb meaning “Leave well enough alone.”

Tales of lost love, cursed flowers, and dragons who mourn are often traced back to Ringhaven’s story.

Final Notes

Ringhaven may be lost…
But it is not gone.

The Ring still hums.
The river still sings.
And the petals still fall.

Every bloom remembers.