Irespan

The Magnimar skyline with the Irespan on the left.

The Irespan, sometimes called the Giant's Bridge, is the largest and most impressive monument in all of Magnimar and overshadows the city's poorest district known as Underbridge. The Irespan is actually the remains of an enormous bridge that stretches into the Varisian Gulf, standing over 300 feet above the sea and over 100 feet wide. It is, like most of the monuments that dot the Varisian landscape, a remnant of ancient Thassilon.

History

The Irespan is one of the cyclopean monuments of ancient Thassilon, built with the labor of enslaved rune and stone giants.

Nearly 10,000 years before the founding of Magnimar, the Irespan served as the main travel route through the mountainous realm of Bakrakhan. The Irespan used to stretch all the way from the capital city of Xin-Bakrakhan, the strange monument now known as Hollow Mountain, some 200 miles northwest. When Earthfall—the cataclysm that heralded the end of the Thassilonian empire—struck, most of the Irespan collapsed. Now all that remains are the end of the Irespan in Magnimar and a few crumbling stretches that speckle the entrance to the Varisian Gulf.

In 4584 AR, Alcaydian Indros, a paladin of the deity Aroden, led a small exploratory expedition into the wilds of the then unknown reaches of western Varisia. There he discovered the massive Thassilonian ruin of the Irespan, and while camping on the beach he and his companions (known as the Wardens of the Eye) were attacked by the Vydrarch, a massive sea monster. Despite the fact that he was fully armored, Indros strode into the waves to battle the monster. He emerged minutes later, having saved the lives of his followers, and declared the place would thenceforth be named Magnimar, or "Stone of the Sea".

The Eyes of the Hawk adventuring group famously defended Magnimar from shriezyx freed from the Irespan in 4623 AR.

References

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