"12d of Eren, 646--
A joyless crowded place crouches darckly above a rocky harbour.  High lanterns flikker from anchent walls, relicks of a past that lays heavily on the stones of the City.  Here I have lived for fourty years, trudging through the black streets and breething dead aire.  I can not begin to describe the melancholy shared by its residents; the mutual sense of foreboding, shared doom.  Most that arrive at the gates have been cast by unkind fate onto its shores.  It seems there are a thousand whays to reach Oth by no whay out.  No roads lead far from the citywalls, and few ships can manage the terrible harbour and crashing coasts.  I write now, overcome with emotion.  I think it's happiness.  The price even now seems small.  Only minutes after leaving port I feel free, at last, I am free."

- last entry in small journal found among the lowtide flotsam of the
Cre Dulnar

Oth

Capital: City of Oth
Population:  520,000 (Uren 93%, Urdar 2%, Halvers 1%, other 4%)
Cities:  Oth (298,400), Terazya (15,200), Genter (14,630), Erhet (5,340), Tavernton (5,210), Wesridge (4,900), Northaven (4,360)...
Government:  Dekàlan Monarchy (Merchants' Guild)
Ruler:  High Lord Edgur Rott the Third of Oth
Religions:  Roth (Evissor, Kandlan, Sudul, Woad...)
Imports:  Cheese, gems, produce, raw minerals, textiles, wine, exotic goods from all lands
Exports:  Ale, armor, furnishings, firearms, gunpowder, metalwork (clocks, locks...), timber, weapons
Alignment:  LN, CN

Nor Kalas Oth, the northern most city-state of the ancient Dekàlan Empire sits above the ragged harbor Kre Dulnar.  A massive city of some 300,000 residents, the city is surrounded by lush verdant farmland and thick primeval forests.  The walled city of Oth itself is covered by an omnipresent oily black pall which rotates above a towering mountain of iron, which is the Temple of Roth.  This massive edifice is the same artifact described in ancient texts that the God Roth instructed his people to build so that he might come to the world and live and work among them.  The Iron Temple's vents and chimneys still glows with internal fire, evidence of eternal furnaces and forges deep within its walls.

Surrounded by deep forest, sea, rocky hills, and towering mountains, the City is divorced from the world surrounding.  An ocassional ship passes across the sea's horizon but few draw near to the harbor's rocky maw.  Those rare ships that do stop keep their distance, not wishing to be visited by the City's shadows.  Fishermen have claimed to see the skeletons of ships that drew too near, their fractured masts standing in the harbor's murky depths.

Bordering the City to the north are the Northwoods, an ancient stand of hardwoods that was once the empire's border, the end of the "civilized" world.  The forest is an invaluable resource for the City, providing endless quantities of lumber and game.  It is also a source of dread for the people, harboring all forms of mystery and creatures that prey on the wayward.

To the south and west of the City stretch the Black and Fractured rocky hills.  The priest of Roth tell that the faithful were brought to this place in ancient times because of the land's abundant mineral resources so that the Temple could be built according to the god's plan.  The surrounding hills have produced the richest ore mines in the known world, and now lay riddled deep with tunnels and mines.  It is told that many of the mines were spent and abandoned long before the first High Lord was crowned.  Others claim that the oldest mines are not human mines at all, and that the area was picked-over long before the Roth faithful claimed the hills as their own by providence.

The City is serviced by an efficient and old sewage system.  There is no running water, though crumbled aquaducts in the South and West suggest there may have been at one time.

Regions

Kreyard (Harbor Ward):

Kyard (Keep Ward):

Naryard (North Ward):  The Naryard exists upon three hills in the northwestern portion of the City of Oth.  The curving hilly streets here are sandwiched with crowding buildings.  The Naryard is divided into two regions, the Lowardra and the Morardra.

The Lowardra are those low areas at the bottom and along the lower hillsides where the old cobble streets are deeply rutted and the ruts are littered with trash and the buzz of rats and flies.  Tens of thousdans live here behind the closed shutters and decaying facades.  Many of the city's once pleasant common squares and circles are now trash heaps, harvested by stray dogs and the most destitute Humans.

Higher on those same hills the streets become cleaner and the houses and building fronts appear better repaired.  Here, the oylers still go about their evening duties and Merchant Guard maintain their prescribed order.  The homes and buildings of the Morardra are no less crowded than those below, but along the north wall some have enclosed gardens.  On the eastern edge of the Naryard, the Morardra homes often have balconies overlooking the slope of uneven rooftops and the raging Cre Dulnar beyond.

An aspect that is unique to the Naryard are the oldumra.  The oldumra are warehouses or factories where indentured persons and families toil endlessly for a business or guild.  Those that work in each oldum are bound by contracts called Oldan Num which can compel work from individuals and families over more than one lifetime.

Prayard (Temple Ward):  The Prayard is the southwestern most region of the walled-city.  Dominated by the Temple of Roth, the prayard is also the filthiest of the city wards, soiled by the intermittent drizzle of oil and soot.  Despite the grime and darkness, the Prayard is also one of the busiest wards due to the giant common known simply as the Temple Square.  The Temple Square serves as a vast marketplace almost a mile to a side where the city's merchants come to sell and barter wares.

Sulyard (South Ward):  

The Barrens:  Like a raw sore, The Barrens stretch from one side of the city to other.  The Barrens was formed centuries ago when an earthquake rocked the city, opening a deep ravine along the Run Dul riverbed.  The resulting fires devastated a wide swath through the center of the Prayard and Harbor Ward.  The region was never reclaimed by the city's inhabitants as the newly formed chasm opened dangerous entryways into the Lower Streets.

People

At one time in the distant past, there may have been some characteristic that defined a man or woman as natives of the City of Oth or the areas surrounding.  If that is true, it is true no longer.  The City is an amalgamation of races, ethnicities, and cultures, all brought to this unfortunate place and stirred into one undefineable mass.  Add several centuries of blending to this recipe with the ocassional newcomers sprinkled into the mix, and you are left with the City as it currently exists.

Although it is impossible to discern what people might have be the true natives of the brooding city, it is possible to identify other races and people that have arrived over the centuries and managed to retain some cultural and racial identity.  These people are without exception, minorities.

The Noth are typically a slender long-limbed and dark-skinned people, with a rolling language unlike most others.  The dissimilarity of the language suggests that their native homeland is far removed from Oth.  Noth children are quiet by tradition, disallowed from speaking in public until the time of adulthood.

The Paldan are a tan-skinned people believed to have arrived from the distant East.  Their hair and eyes are generally dark and their size is unremarkable.  Older Paldan are stereotypically overweight.  The men traditionally grow bald early while women proudly fashion their long dark tresses into elaborate weaves.

Dekàlan History

The date of Oth's founding is something of a mystery, shrouded in the annals of the Temple of Roth and Dekàlan pre-history.  The first pilgrims of Roth are believed to have arrived at Nyr Platan around 230 HK.  According to the religious history, the priests of Roth were led to this mineral-rich area by divine guidance.  They found an ancient forest and hills and mountains laden with iron and precious metals.  There are some early tales of battle between these pilgrims and the natives of the area, but the stories are sketchy and the original inhabitants' identities lost.  Perhaps the most compelling element of this history is that there is little and conflicting mention as to whence the pilgrims came.  There are some that believe they were pushed Northward by the Empire's expansion, while others believe it more likely that they came from the East, and areas later known as Acentra.

The pilgrims' first duty was to build a temple and workshop for their deity.  High Priest Tuszum II, the earliest named cleric of the the Roth religion, is credited with receieving the plans for the temple via divine instruction.  Building began in earnest.  After some time the First Temple was completed.  The First Temple is not believed to have stood long, and was soon destroyed by fire.  The Second Temple was built from stone, but later destroyed by earthquake.  The stone foundations of this temple remain at the heart of the current structure.  These destruction of these temples was not viewed as retribution but rather Roth's urging toward construction of a more worthy temple.  Many years would pass before construction of the Third Temple was resumed.  In the late 5th century HK, the surrounding hills and mountains were honeycombed with mines, and the landscape erupted with large foundries and furnaces.  It was during this time that the god's name was changed (or revealed to be) Roth, meaning "Iron God" in their pre-Dekàlan tongue.  The name "Oth" is a variation of this, meaning Iron, or City of Iron.

According to the Skoru Dyazan, a record compiled by the historian Dorom the Elder, the Empire first arrived at Oth in 412 HK, having heard tales of a mountain of iron being built there.

"The iron mountain stands at the center of this north city, dwarfing all buildings scattered at its base.  The people of the city work tirelessly on its construction, hauling massive iron sheet and beams up the long wooden ramps with the aid of large oxen.  Each piece is set in place with a prayer.  The roads leading from the surrounding hills are lined with iron-laden wagons carrying an endless supply of materials to the builders of this wonder.  It is my guess that they will level every hill before their mountain is half-built."

The remaining history is difficult to distill from the accounts of Durum the Elder.  Durum was a historian, assigned to the armies of Ruun, so his accounts often drift into exaggeration.  This problem is compounded by the fact that the original history is guarded by the priests of Irul-Ruun somewhere at the heart of Wyrthyr Tor in Ummon.  The accounts of Durum the Elder are considered sacred by that cult.  Durum describes several exchanges of fighting between the landed army and the followers of Roth.  The fighting does not end by his accounting until Ruun's army marches North from Taldàna and captures Oth.  Important to the Irul-Ruun faith, is the account that Ruun did not accept the surrender of the High Priest when it was offered preferring instead to continue the fight until the priest and his officers were captured and killed.  Each minor cleric of the Roth faith were taken to an area South of the city.  There they were given the choice of accepting the new faith or perishing by dagger point.  Those that would not pledge allegiance to the Empire and new faith were stabbed and thrown to the shoreline rocks below.  This place came to be known as Dagger Peninsula.  A stone still stands at this spot commemorating the acceptance of Roth into the Dekàlan pantheon, and his ascendancy to greater status.

Construction ceased on the Third Temple for the remainder of the First Expansion.  All efforts were concentrated instead on the construction of weapons and warships.  When High King Lordrun I died in 432 HK, the people of Oth returned to the holy work of completing the Third Temple.  In 744 AR, the High Queen sailed to Oth to be present for the Temple's completion.  This would be the first and last High King or Queen to visit the northern city-state in that capacity.

By the end of the 6th century AR, Oth had become a busy trading port doing extensive business with merchants from all reaches of Acentra and the formidable northlands.  The city became very prosperous in the years to follow and attracted many merchants and craftsmen from overseas.  In 680 HK, the High Priest Duruun decreed that no apprenticeships should be granted except to the Temple faithful.  Furthermore, all skilled labors were holy observances, and any non-faithful found practicing these pursuits within the city were to be charged with heresy.  The High Lord of Oth readily enforced this decree, which had answered the growing concern that many skilled artisans were returning to their non-Dekàlan homelands armed with valuable knowledge.  In Vulune 680 HK, further killings were held at the Dagger Peninsula where a prison had been erected circa 480 HK.  News of the massacre spread swiftly along the shipping lanes, but ambassadors arriving in Oth and Lanàdus were turned away.  Word soon reached the Elve Leyrdryel that several of their brethren had been killed at Oth for not accepting the Human god, Roth.  Human merchants were rounded-up in all Elve towns and ports for slaughter.  Newly crowned King Endmun IV of Oth (cr 681-703 HK) retaliated with the Order of Avarlin in 681 HK which sent a small fleet of Dekàlan warships to the small trading port.  The soldiers burned the town to the ground and dozens more Elve were killed.  Oth was soon embroiled in the three year Othelve War.  The Elve suffered terrible loses losing foothold back to the Run Telabra.  The Elve refused to surrender the river border, fighting to defend the line at great cost.

There are many questions surrounding this early war.  Many historians and scholars do not believe the Othic army had the ability to confront the Elve alone.  Although there is no record of aid from Ummon or other city-states during the conflict, it is believed that the Elve strategies and defenses were betrayed by the Dwurden.  The Dwurden were old enemies of the Elve, and knew much about their strongholds and weaknesses.  Though no records exist to suggest that the Dwurden provided troops to the cause, it is widely believed that they offered strategic assistance against their old enemies.  Regardless, having reached the Run Telabra the Dekàlans ceased their campaign against the Elve and began the long work of establishing new defenses.  The next years were spent constructing borderland keeps, and eventually Duruun's Wall.  The loss of the Northwoods area would not be forgotten by the Elve.  This early precursory war gave the Elve valuable insight into Dekàlan magic and military.  They would not engage the Empire so blindly again.  Modern scholars credit the Elve lessons in defeat from this early war with the victory over Dekàlas during the End War (circa 1246 HK), some five centuries later.

Post-Dekàlan History

Following the End War, the City of Oth underwent a series of major changes.  One of only three Dekàlan cities to suffer occupation by enemy forces, Oth was stripped of much of its history.  Statues and memorials were torn down and minor temples were destroyed.  The Iron Temple was never taken however, its priests and some faithful surviving within its dark interior for 46 years.  In 12 DR, the High Priest Nazerus claimed that Roth had visited him and told of a great project that must be begun.  The Machine was activated on Eren 6, 28 DR and has been running ever since.  On that holy day, the Wheel formed above Oth, and the midday sun never shone on its streets again.

By 46 DR, the Elve left the City of Oth to its own destruction.  Most desired to return to their forest and mountain homes rather than serve endlessly in a police capacity.  All attempts to infiltrate the Iron Temple had failed, causing more death than the Elve had stomach for.  The remaining troops were Acentran, but their hold on the city would not last.  In 47 DR the High Priestess Vulandra II named Dryryn Zyan the High Lord of Oth, initiating the two hundred year Zyan dynasty.  Dryryn Zyan with a group of loyal followers sailed to Lanàdus where they were accepted and received instruction.  The group adventured for eight years before finding Katulth, and luring the young drake to Oth.  Returning to Oth, High Lord Dryryn Zyan raised a partisan army and began launching attacks against Acentran neighorhoods and guardhouses.  Soon, riots grew throughout the city culuminating in the Fire of Dagwurdunjun and the release of its political and criminal inmates.  The ruin of Dagwurdunjun is credited with the formation of Genter, and the Southswall nuroma.  Any believed to be Acentran were dragged into the streets and beaten to death with cobblestones.  Some Acentrans fled into the Elder Wood seeking help from the Elve.  There was no support for continued warfare among the Elve however, as too many had died and grown terribly ill from their recent occupation of the befouled city.  The High Lord Dryryn Zyan claimed the Iron Throne in 55 DR, at the time of his coronation the halls of Kry Shurulm were thick with the dead of his enemies and supporters.  The sanguine stain of those dead remains today.

Oth is ruled by a hereditary monarch, Lord Rott, in the Dekàlan tradition.  The Rott family is the fifth line of rulers to sit on the Iron Throne.  The Rott family has ruled the city and its surrounding area for over 400 years, since the line replaced the older Zyan ruling family.  The sickly Zyan monarch died (238 DR) leaving no heirs or traceable family except for one elderly matriarch who refused the Iron Crown.  Rule of the city descended upon the Temple for five years until a new monarch could be named.  In 243 DR, a young woman was crowned High Lady Hela I of Rott, the 11th great-grandmother of the current High Lord.

References

1. Jzar's Tower - An empty lot where the tower of Jzar the Mad once stood.  A few things have been constructed on the spot since its razing, but nothing has remained standing for long

Places

Adashart Kdar
Candan
Cenotaph
Dagwurdunjun
Dreg's Brewery
Erhet
Kry Shurulm
Kyrm Oryroth
Lower Streets
Northfields
Oddon
Portage
Southswall
Toch's Square
Vullinshrith
Wesridge

Oth: Dyn I, House 1
House Jurn

...

Oth: Dyn II, House 1
House Kar-Tharûn

...

Oth: Dyn III, House 1
House Skarçard

Zir'a II (630-637)
Endmun II (637-651)
Endmun III (651-658)
Karan I (658-681)
Endmun IV (681-703)
Sharn I (703-747)
Ettikus I (747-769)
Sordon I (769-792)
Karan II (792-816)
Ettikus II (816-837)
Nâran I (837-852)
Dirama I (852-861)
Valanya I (861-879)
Valanya II (861-892)
Davan I (892-895)
Davan II (895-972)
Orvud I (972-974)
Nolda II (974-986)
Orvud II (986-998)
Sharn II (998-1004)
Valanya III (1004-1037)
Orvud III (1037-1067)
Zir'a III (1067-1121)

Oth: Dyn IV, House 2
House Zyan

Dryryn I (55-68)
Edgur I (68-70)
Esulle I (70-76)
Aradda I (76-102)
Orvud V (102-111)
Orvud VI (111-124)
Verus I (124-143)
Azalla I (143-181)
Orvud VII (181-194)
Eldin I (194-238)

Oth: Dyn V, House 1
House Rott

Hela I (243-270)
Cyrys I (270-303)
Mothrim I (303-349)
Hela II (349-355)
Nuala I (355-382)
Azra I (382-389)
Ilarya I (389-420)
Adarran I (420-440)
Drezen I (440-466)
Adarran II (466-471)
Edgur II (471-489)
Orvud VIII (489-514)
Adarran III (514-568)
Astyral I (568-575)
Astyral II (575-585)
Adarran IV (585-617)
Edgur III (617-now)

Dekàlan Lands

Azàlari (of Zalan)
Candal (of Kandlan)
Jadth (of Sudul)
Ildûn (of Draun)
Lanàdus (of Iráen)
Oth (or Roth)
Panath (of Path)
Taldàna (of Amra)
Ummon (of Irul)
Viríllis (...)
Zyrr (of Zyrr)

Terèthori Lands

Arduwu
The Central Vale
Dekàlas
Endrul
The Fiery Isthmus
The Grey Wastes
Juduth
Kirydis
Muluk
Naskara
Nulura
The Shar
Sul-Terèthor
The Wild Coast

Geography

Teréth End is a Dekàlan name meaning "Whole of the Land".  This terrestrial world consists of five continents,

Emer (The Lost Isle)
Lyrast (Ancient Land)
Tasserus (Wild Land)
Terèthor (Uncharted Land)
Vulmura (Center Land)

nine seas,

Acentran (Inner Sea)
Dekàlan (Western Sea)
Endless (Last Sea)
Great South (Inhuman Sea)
Kirydian (Emperor's Sea)
Odimis (Northern Sea)
Path (Sea of Eels)
Vulmuran (Forbidden Sea)
Zaloo (Eastern Sea)

and three moons.

Mamra (Green Lady)
Woad (Blue Moon)
Nuléun (Elfin Moon)