Yorkis-Mal

Where They Gather The Light

Village— A place where the sun never sets, at the peak of Ald-Amura’s greatest mountain. They collect sunlight in bottles and give it as gifts to travelers who venture up into the clouds.

The People

Yorkis-Mal has been known by many names throughout Ald-Amuran history: Stormking’s Perch, Lightnings Final Bastion, The Pilgrim’s End, and others. Fitting, for a place that has been so many different things in its time. Myths throughout the world place Yorkis-Mal as one of the birthplaces of Monsters and Humans both. It has been a military outpost, a religious convent, a warzone, and now, finally, a quaint and peaceful retirement village.

Placed delicately atop Ander-Amura, the highest mountain peak in the world, Yorkis-Mal is the premier destination for travelers and the old seeking a place to spend their restful final days. The sun never sets here, at its lowest point still peeking over the horizon and spreading lilac-purple light over the cloud layer far below the village. The light lands a little heavier here, and the artisans of the village have become experts at weaving microscopic amounts of it into clothes, glass bottles, and other trinkets. These sun-woven wares are some of the rarest objects in Ald-Amura. It’s said ancient kings would sell their entire kingdoms to the warlords of Yorkis-Mal for just one sun-cloak, and die happy wrapped in its warmth.

Yorkis-Mal is notable for having an interesting relationship with death. During much of its time, secret necromancer cults used the peak as a base of operations, experimenting with their magic and using the direct line to the sun as a way to empower their works. The practice is continued to this day, and Yorkis-Mal prides itself on having the most complete collection of necromantic texts in Ald-Amura. Culturally, death features prominently in their artwork and media, with songs and tapestries depicting death as a dual agent, both a terrible, inevitable foe and a comforting friend.

The region is also well known to have one of the thinnest reality spaces in all of Ald-Amura. Rules simply do not apply quite as firmly here as elsewhere, and it’s very common for unexplainable events to happen here, such as time travel, resurrection, or speaking clouds and holograms in the sky. Stories have real, tangible power here more than anywhere else, and it is a courtesy to the citizens to try and avoid telling any stories that may result in unwanted apparitions.

A common travel advisory is to avoid visiting during the High Moon, when the spirits of the ancestors pour from Pu’una. The peak often gets completely saturated in ghosts, which makes meeting new people and exploring a new place a much more difficult prospect.

Local Monster

While no traditionally understood Monster makes its home in Yorkis-Mal, many in the area consider the sun itself a Monster, and sun worship is a popular theme in Yorkis-Mal rituals and festivities. People offer food and trinkets to the sun to celebrate various life events, speak to the sun when seeking advice, and consider much of the good, comfortable living of the region a direct result of the suns’ care.

Notable Sublocations

• The Old Queen’s Grave—A mausoleum dedicated to The Sun Queen, a powerful, near-mythological figure in Ald-Amura’s past. Rumored to have ten thousand hidden rooms, the catacomb extends deep into the mountain. The Sun Queen may have been the original founder of Yorkis-Mal. One of the few intact swords in Ald-Amura rests on the ancient golden altar above the entrance.
• The Sun-Weavers Association—A cottage near the village’s zipline houses the most talented artisans in all of Ald-Amura. Easily spotted thanks to its haphazardly-constructed focusing lenses balanced on the roof, the workers in this building slowly spin sunlight into bright, blazing threads, then weave those threads into impossibly beautiful works of art of all kinds.
• The Grounds—A large glass disc marks the village center, where an obelisk of unknown rock is marked with the names of everyone who has ever set foot in the village. Festivals and markets are held here, with great rugs spread out on the decorated glass to protect it.

What Happens When You Arrive

1. A great wind is pouring from the sun, overwhelming anyone leaving their homes and threatening the building themselves.
2. The sun-weavers have gathered over 200 times as much sunlight as they normally do, and their stockroom is becoming overwhelmed.
3. The ghost clouds are descending from the moon, far far too soon for the High Moon.
4. Mysterious masks are appearing in the homes of every citizen in the village. At night, they seem to grow larger, realer somehow.
5. Someone in the village has spoken a new history into being.
6. The Sun Queen’s tomb’s secret doors are opening one by one, and a horrid air is rising from the earth.