Roaming Ruin Basin

T

here are many stories surrounding the Roaming Ruin Basin. They say that the old stone ruins throughout the marshy basin move, shifting across the land. It is said that they keep their order and formation, but shift throughout the valley. In this land of moving ruins, unstable land, and deep shifting marshes there are no villages or settlements of any kind. The bottom of the basin is only for the beasts, plants, and water. Outsiders are held at the walls, where the land is steady and dry.

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The Roaming Ruin Basin was officially discovered and settled in 143 EH, as humans began expanding into the regions surrounding the Skyreach mountains and the capital city of Chronwhorl. The large basin is located on the edges of the Twilight Band, far enough from the lightward pole to had a day-night cycle. The dark bells more prominent within the basin than up on the rim, but they still do not bring total darkness to the area.

The floor of the basin is covered by marshland predominantly filled with long reeds, grasses, and floating plant life. Occasional Stoney patches of soil break the water's surface. Many of these sections of land hold the ruins the basin is named for. Crumbling stone walls partially submerged in the waterlogged soil.

Humans settled on the stormward side of the basin, nestled into the cliffside. The rim of the basin offers protection from the near constant winds off the storm belt, while also being the area with the most light each day. The cliffside is also more stable ground that the marsh below. Early humans tried to venture deeper in, but the region is known for irregular quakes and tremors which open new pockets of deep water and sinkholes. This makes building anything or travelling unprepared risky.

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The cliffside of the basin is home to several groups. Elementine in the area tend to be solitary or live in small groups all around the basin's edge. The primary exception to this is the Stonewatch. They are an ancient honor guard for an Eldyr who was killed during the earliest human expansion into the region. After the battle, the surviving elementine settled into the rim of the basin. While they are mostly elementine of the Ground element, there are some of Flowing and Synsri as well. The Stonewatch will interact with other elementine, but they avoid humans.

Humans and many of the myth-touched in the area live within Tremliff; the one true settlement within the basin. This far out from the capitol humans and myth-touched tend to get along, despite a minor order presence in the village. With only a single temple, the six order representatives live together and spend most of their time tending to their duties.

The few humans and myth-touched who do feel they do not fit into village life can be found in caves and caverns carved out from the cliff face beyond Tremliff's borders.

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The Roaming Ruin Basin gained it's name from wild tales of the ruins shifting about the basin on their own. While the tales are quite fanciful, they do hold a bit of merit to them as well. The landscape of the marshland in the basin is constantly changing due to the frequent quakes and tremors in the area. With each one, new sinkholes open, sections of the marsh change depth, and the ruins do shift. Strangely, they seem to maintain their relative formation but their position within the mash itself shifts. These changes make travel within the marsh treacherous. After the disaster of some humans trying to settle in the wetlands, now most avoid venturing into the marsh unless they are hunting.


The non-bestial plant life in the basin is mostly limited to long grasses and reeds. These grow in the shallower areas f the marsh, and extend onto the wet land. They make it very difficult to tell if there will be land or water under the next step, adding to the danger of the area. The surface of the water is open in some areas and covered in wide, flat vegetation in others. Some of these plants are simple plants, while others are vegetation beasts with bodies that mimic the simpler plants.