Dyinglight

Dyinglight

(City)

Nation

Sarkoris Scar

Region

Frostmire

Size

Abandoned city

Demographics

Fiendish marsh giants

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Ruler

Glungur the Mighty

Source: The Worldwound, pg(s). 7–9

Standing at the headwaters of the Sarkora River and surrounded by the marshes and sulfurous hotsprings of the Frostmire Fen, Dyinglight was once a major city in the Kellid nation of Sarkoris. Abandoned by its human inhabitants shortly after the opening of the Worldwound in 4606 AR, Dyinglight is now the home of a particularly violent band of fiendish, cannibalistic marsh giants.

History

Before the death of Aroden and the subsequent demonic invasion, Dyinglight was the center of religion in Sarkoris, with a great ring of idols honouring the empyreal lord Pulura. It had a population of several thousand humans who made their living primarily on hunting, trapping, and the support of these two industries. The humans battled the marsh giants and other unsavory denizens of the surrounding Frostmire Fen, but were never able to eradicate them completely.

The Worldwound opens

When the Worldwound opened, the priests of Pulura from the monastery of Pulura's Fall in the Northmounds received a warning vision from their patroness. They informed the inhabitants of Dyinglight, who grabbed their most prized possessions and evacuated the city. While most fled to the west into the Realm of the Mammoth Lords or south and east into Ustalav, Numeria, and Mendev, a small number of evacuees (led by one of Dyinglight's most prominent families, the Tarnshiavs) refused to abandon their homeland entirely and settled near a hot spring in Frostmire Fen known as Shadow Spring. They remain there to this day, albeit subtly changed.

Giant invasions

A small band of frost giants under the leadership of the visionary Jarl Bjorvesh entered the city soon after the Worldwound opened, and briefly occupied it before being overrun by the local marsh giant population whom the humans of Dyinglight had been holding back for generations. Upon slaying the frost giant jarl, the marsh giants received a message from the demon lord Kostchtchie, who demanded that they devote themselves to him and found a new giant empire in Dyinglight. The awed marsh giants heeded the demon's command and settled in the city. Within a generation, they began to notice small changes in their offspring; small fiendish touches. These mutations, brought about by the Abyssal emanations leaking out of the Worldwound, eventually changed the marsh giants enough to classify them as a new species. The fiendish marsh giants who still occupy Dyinglight today only remember their original ancestors as distant myths.

Dyinglight today

Dyinglight today is one of the primary targets of the Reclaimers, the group of individuals attempting to cleanse the remaining corruption of the Worldwound and retake the places of power of Old Sarkoris. They are opposed in their efforts by the giants who still remain firmly entrenched here.

Inhabitants

The city is the haunt of the johud, fiendish marsh giants who once dwelled in the Frostmire Fen, led by their high priest of Kostchtchie, Glungur the Mighty. They also clash with the war clans of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, resulting in fierce raids from both sides across the empty tundra between both nations. Despite these continual conflict, the demons have shown little interest in pressing for westward expansion due to the massive expanse separating both nations.

Because of the relatively small number of fiendish marsh giants occupying Dyinglight, most of the city remained abandoned during the century of the Worldwound's existence. Various other creatures crept in from Frostmire Fen and built their lairs there. Demons were relatively scarce (by the standard of the Worldwound), as the city remained far from any of the demonic power centers.

References

Paizo published a section on Dyinglight, including a city map, in The Worldwound.