Colvers

The Misty City of Colvers is the capital of divination in Totania, for only diviners are able to truly make their way through the streets covered in a smothering fog. The mist of the Ethereal Bay covers the city, blotting it out of sight. Most people who enter Colvers do so by accident, passing by the bay and not realizing they’ve entered into a city, as the skyline was obscured and the streets out of sight. Even on some maps, Colvers is left out, as many mapmakers miss it on their travels to scout out locations.  

Major Locations

Unlike with any other city, there is little that can be said about the locations and areas within Colvers. There are no maps of Colvers, as the mist obscures where anything is, and attempts to map it have been met only with seeming inaccuracies, contradictions, and confusion.   Still, some buildings are known to certainly be there, and others are rumored to exist.  

Ethereal Docks

The Ethereal Docks are where ships come into and out of the city from, and they are on the coast. These two things are certain, as there is some maritime trade in the city of Colvers. However, it is reported that some people cannot find the docks, no matter how much they search, and for this some speculate that the docks at times sink below the tides or are swallowed completely by the mist.  

Temple of Tohil

Historical records from Ancient Ishada almost unanimously corroborate that the land where Colvers is was likely the site of the most bustling temple of Ishada, the Temple of the Goblin God of War, Tohil. The issue is that few in modernity have ever found this temple, and most doubt that it still stands. If it does, it is hidden deep in the mist.  

Military Ruins

Remnants of old military structures built in Ancient Ishada and the Helft Empire are likely scattered around Colvers, as it was a strategic location during both the Ishadan and pre-Heroic ages. These include bases, barracks, walls, and monuments to heroes long since forgotten. In the mist, their remnants rot away, out of sight and out of mind.  

Orb of the Order

It is said the Order of Omens, a group of diviners in Colvers, has a large orb that is their headquarters. This is the center of divination education, as well as day-to-day divination activities, in Colvers, and it was designed to be large so that people could find it more easily.   There are small parts of the Orb that visitors are allowed into, for readings, but the rest of this mysterious structure is forbidden for anyone but members of the Order.  

City Hall

The center of government in Colvers, it’s a rather small fortress for what has been its own independent kingdom at various points in history. Due to the nature of Colvers as a once famous battlefield, old fortresses were torn down to little more than ruins, and so the current one was built to be harder to detect within the fog. Its miniscule size makes discovery difficult, and allows for the government to continue on in times of war, and for them to remain safe in the fog and walls combined.  

Diviners of Colvers

Considered a forbidden magical art in most of the world, divination had a special place in Ancient Ishada long ago. This can still be seen in Alzirgos with the Oracle and in the divination mages employed by the World Court in Stallbourne as Admissibles, but Colvers has carried the tradition further than the rest of them.   Divination is taught to the citizens of Colvers from birth, for otherwise it is said that citizens may just wander into the mist and never return. Most residents only learn minor divination, particularly wayfinding or other types to help guide people. This aids the residents in not just navigating their city, but also sailing on the Ethereal Bay.   Few travelers ever go to Colvers due to the immense danger in just walking down the misty streets, but when they do, they come to get their fortunes told (which can be done any time of the year and by nearly anyone in the city, unlike the seasonal and temperamental Oracle of Alzirgos).   The greatest issue with divination in Colvers, as with diviners anywhere, is that one can never be certain they are telling the truth (or seeing it, for that matter). Divination is a strange magic that shows possibilities, not certainties, and for that reason the futures that diviners see (save for the wielder of Prediction Magic) is only one of many. Wayfinders might see one possible path, but an issue may arise that closes that path. Fortune tellers may tell you of a future that could come to pass, but circumstance, fate, or luck could change the outcome. Due to this, some believe the residents of Colvers to be scammers, and some are! But truly even they don’t know everything.   Most magical institutions, organizations, and guilds don’t recognize the diviners of Colvers as anything but upstarts, tricksters, and scammers. The Magic College of Zephys classifies them as “rogue charlatans” while the Institute of Maya Zaman instead labels them “tricksters using mist to rob innocents blind.” The World Court does not include them on threat lists, even when they predicted the fall of the Court. Official word from Camor’s Elven mages is that they are not even aware Colvers has diviners.   Still, Colvers takes its diviners seriously. Alongside its rulers, there is an organization of diviners that has great influence in the city, being the Order of Omens. The Order of Omens help govern the city and make its laws by predicting what is needed and educating diviners within the city. However, not all diviners are part of the Order, and for that reason a large majority actually live on the streets, in rags hoping to get money from anyone they can by predicting their future, helping guide them, or… well, anything they can use their divination for. The Order of Omens doesn’t mind, knowing that the diviners they choose are more powerful and skilled than the street urchins scrounging for money.   The Order of Omens is not well-respected globally, even though they fashion themselves as greater than ordinary diviners, as most mages worldwide consider them to be just the same as the rest of Colvers’ divining population.