Sortis-Mal

The Sulfur Swamp Farmers

Village— A stilted village gathering rare minerals from the toxic fumes of the sulfur swamps.

The People

For the majority of Ald-Amuran history, the toxic sulfur swamps of the far south were considered a deadly, uninhabitable, yet still beautiful, part of the world. Vast pools of strange chemicals venting iridescent gases made approaches unwise, and boiling hot pits of viscous polychromatic goo seemed to destroy any devices designed to explore the area. Things changed rapidly following the fall of kings. A community of people, apparently refugees from the violent reign of tyrants, emerged from the swamps, eager to rejoin the world.

Reconciliation was quick, and the people of Sortis-Mal had much to teach the world. They taught any who cared to learn how to survive, and even thrive, in the sulfur swamps, as well as how to extract the incredibly rare and useful materials from the noxious bogs. Mastery of the swamps and their unique resources had gifted the Sortian people with a wealth of inventions, both technological and political, that proved invaluable to the nascent post-revolution Ald-Amura.

Of note, too, is the unique reality surrounding Sortis-Mal. Much of Ald-Amura’s reality shifts and changes depending on local beliefs, but centuries of isolationism, perhaps combined with the strange chemicals the region bathes in, has given the enclosed reality a flavor most would consider “odd.” Time flows much more slowly, and gravity appears to have a certain bounce that it lacks in most of the rest of Ald-Amura. Sortis-Mal has a long alternative history of the world, and a divergent cosmology, both of which are of great interest to visitors.

The city itself is a sprawling vista of wicker and wood pyramids held aloft by precarious-looking stilts made from impossibly thin branches of the local Wilting Trees and connected by an overlapping network of walkways, elevators, zip lines, and nets. The people are quite deft at navigating these vertiginous pathways. You often see even the most elderly members of the village fearlessly swing from building to building.

The village is also notable for having a significantly higher than average Gifted population. Almost every Sortian has some strange growth or magical trick granted to them by The Great Ruz, most likely due to the fact that they all live so close to the Monster and breathe in his fumes around the clock.

Local Monster

The Grand Ruz is a distributed consciousness that exists in the sulfur pit directly below Sortis-Mal. The pool contains billions of single celled beings that act in concert; they are fully capable of forming complex shapes and machines from themselves. The Monster is even able to communicate quite well, vibrating each cell precisely to imitate a guttural kind of speech that has been partially translated by the people who live above.

Notable Sublocations

  • The Filters—The lowest layer of Sortis-Mal is made up of a series of wide-based pyramids that capture the majority of the foul-smelling, potentially poisonous gases that waft up from the pools below. Workers hang large sheets of absorbent felts woven from bark fibers while wearing an advanced suit of protective gear, including a distinctive mask.
  • The Clouds—The highest buildings in the community sit nearly 300 feet above the pits. Looking at the spindly legs of Wilt Wood that keep them aloft is enough to make one feel nauseous, but the buildings have stood for centuries, completely secure. These pyramids are decorated with vibrant paints made from minerals extracted from the sulfur pits, and are primarily used for education and youth facilities.
  • Narrow Hollow—Countless homes and workshops perch above the pit, so close that you can walk between buildings without even noticing you’ve done so. People hang tarps and colorful tapestries to mark their abodes, but welcome visitors with such abandon that accidental trespass is usually met with a plate of food, a drink, and a chore or two being assigned.
  • The Baths—The community gathering spot of choice, the Baths are a number of large tiled pools connected via a system of slides and passageways, filled with the purified hot water from the pits below. In the evening and during festivals, expect this maze of resting pools to be packed with almost every single citizen of the village.

What Happens When You Arrive

  1. The sulfur pool has begun to show events from the past, rapidly fast-forwarding through history. It will reach, then presumably run past, the current day within a few hours.
  2. A sickly gold ooze has been found in the Filters.
  3. Genjin’s Fury, normally a dormant geyser, has begun erupting a prismatic spray of dust that has been covering the village, making work impossible.
  4. The sun has not set in several days, and people are beginning to get nervous.
  5. The weekly cycling of the worker’s council has been disrupted when a swarm of bats fill the council halls.
  6. The Baths are filled with a viscous reddish goo that leaves one quite giddy if touched.