The Omphalos Spire

The Center of the old Khelat, all that survived the transition of an instant between what was, and what is.

The Omphalos Spire, located in an uninhabited region in the roughly geographic center of the magocracy of Khelat, is a tall, narrow tower some 500 feet tall. (For comparison, the U.S. Bancorp Tower, better known as “Big Pink,” the second tallest skyscraper in the city of Portland, Oregon, stands 536 feet.) At a distance it appears to be made of very smooth gray stone, but a closer look shows that the entire structure is clad in a layer of volcanic glass. With no apparent windows or doors, it is hard to tell whether the structure is solid or hollow within.

The US Bancorp Tower in Portland, Oregon by Cacophony, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

At the summit of the tower is a circular platform, roughly ten feet wide. Six metal arches are placed around the edge of the platform: two slightly larger ones at north and south, four slightly smaller ones in between. Beneath and within the coating of volcanic glass on the platform, one may be able to see a hatchway.

The interior of the tower is a complete wreck, with the interior floors and stairs having completely collapsed, perhaps in whatever cataclysm caused the entire exterior to be enveloped in volcanic glass (as well as, it has been theorized, blasted the landscape of Khelat from verdant meadowland to a desert filled with the remains of instantly petrified trees).

A group of adventurers made a brief entry and exploration of the tower, retrieving a few magical items from among the wreckage before resealing the entrance at the top and vowing to do all they could to keep what they had found a secret.

That accursed place. I do not object to your exploring it, but I would implore you, do so secretly and tell no one of its existence. Or purpose, lest someone try to recreate what was attempted there, so long ago.... Let us retire a short distance, and I will tell you all the tale....   It was several thousand years ago.  The land now called Khelat was a richly green and fertile one then. But even in those days, mages congregated there, for the Weave ran thickly there, and was easily called upon.  The mages thus prospered ... but as it is with so many things, the greatest of wickednesses began to take root among them. They looked for ways to draw even more of the power of the Weave to themselves.   They built the Spire, and the mechanisms at its peak, to draw the raw magic right from the Weave as one might pump water from the earth. But that much power is not made to be concentrated in one place at one time. There was an overload. An explosion, a cataclysm. The Spire itself yet stands, as you know. But all within are destroyed, and the land is laid waste, even now still recovering.