Nagisa

Nagisa

(City)

Titles

The White City

Nation

Mwangi Expanse

Region

Mwangi Jungle

Size

Ruins

Demographics

Possibly once elven, currently Alijae (in surrounding outposts)

Source: Heart of the Jungle, pg(s). 55f.

Nagisa is a ruined city on the eastern part of the Bdonge River in the Mwangi Expanse. It is also known as the White City, as its buildings—a number of terraced pyramids, surrounded by smaller structures—are built entirely from white stone.

Every pyramid within Nagisa originally contained a totem to a demonic power. However, after many years of attempts to cleanse them by the Alijae elves, many of the pyramids no longer hold these totems. Some of these cleared pyramids are used for various purposes by the Alijae.

There is evidence that Nagisa was an elven city, the only such known in the Expanse. There are a pair of statues of what appear to be elven warriors at the western gate, and the city's stones are covered in elven script. The script is a vast and rambling epic poem, telling of how a group of elves were separated from their kin and charged with protecting the world from an ancient evil—although one interpretation of the text is that the evil actually existed within those elves. This poem was composed long after the site was built by the precursors of the Alijae, based on an oral tradition held by the ancient Mualijae elves, to prevent the loss of information in the future. This act of documenting the poem, as well as the recorders' belief regarding what it referred to, provided the start of a schism between the Alijae and the rest of the Mualijae.

Students of history remember Nagisa as the site of the massacre of Taldor's Sixth Army of Exploration by the Gorilla King; it is said the white pyramids were stained red with Avistani blood. More recently, a group of treasure hunters from Cheliax mounted three expeditions into the ruins. On the first two occasions they suffered heavy losses, which they attributed to widespread traps and bloodthirsty fey, but emerged with an impressive haul of treasure. They never returned from their third visit to the city.

Evil fey and traps discourage most adventurers exploring the ruins of the enigmatic White City. The Alijae also work to protect the ruins from outside explorers. Nevertheless, every year groups of adventurers set out to investigate Nagisa, including elven archaeologists seeking secrets of their race who once built the ancient city.

One of the most intriguing ruins in Nagisa is the Temple of the Toad.