Overview
Once the heart of a powerful necromantic sect, the Ruins of Orishan lie amid the shifting dunes of formerly fertile Kaijistan, on the banks of a long-dry river bed. As a living city, Orishan stood proud in the Kingdom of Kaijistan; now, its skeleton stands half-buried in wind-blown sand, a grim warning to those who dare to enter.
Though many adventurers have attempted to carve their names into its crumbling stone, few return — and those who do tell hushed tales of whispers in the corridors and undead shadows moving beneath the moon.
Origin, Decline & Current state
Origin: Orishan was founded during Kaijistan’s more temperate era, along a now-vanished river that once sustained orchards and gardens. The necromancers who made it their home chose its location deliberately: near water, near old trade routes, and yet remote enough to avoid unwanted eyes.
Decline: As the climate shifted and the river dried, the life that sustained Orishan withered. The necromancers’ death-binding magic, once a source of power, may have ultimately contributed to its undoing: energies unchecked, magical backlash, perhaps even revolt by spirits or undead. The city was abandoned, left to the sands, but not to silence.
Current state: Orishan is a place of eerie beauty and unquiet dread. The dry river bed that skirts the ruins is now a cracked ribbon of worn stone, but during rare seasons, water may trickle through — though no living thing seems drawn to it.
“Venture not into its halls, for the sands remember.” — local proverb
Places of Note
Sand-choked Courtyard
Once a grand plaza with statues depicting necromancers in hooded robes and stylised skeletal figures, now half buried in dunes. Occasionally, wind exposes fragments of broken marble, some carved with half-erased glyphs.
Ossuary Hall
A long corridor lined with niches that once held skulls, bones, and bone-crafted reliquaries. Some niches remain, others are empty. Adventurers report a faint rattling of small bones shifting in the gloom.
Bone Glyph Chambers
Off the main hall lie several small chambers whose walls are carved with mystic runes inlaid with powdered bone dust. Some glyphs glow faintly in moonlight, and rumour has it they can animate skeletons from the sand.
Whispering Catacombs
Beneath the visible ruins lie catacombs partly filled by sand. Ancient wooden coffins, warped and rotted, rest among broken sarcophagi. Some say you can hear low, ghostly murmurs when the wind blows just right.
Necromancer’s Spire
Once a lighthouse-like tower rising above the city, its upper portion collapsed centuries ago. The lower spiral stair remains, leading into darkness. A few broken altars remain, stained and etched with dried blood and strange glyphic symbols.
Tribal Boundaries
The native tribes shun Orishan. Many refuse relics, saying the curse clings to all who carry them; elders speak of haunted dreams and clans undone by stolen bones, for necromancers bound the sands themselves to answer any intruder.