The far southern tip of Helios was known as the point of Ariel, where was built Anor– the Eternal City. For three thousand years the city stood against the Dark Mists, where long ago fell Effinitia was cleaved from space and time, and cast into the dark alone. From across the point lay the Anor straight– dividing upper Jania from lower Jania and guarded by vile creatures called sirens.
The sirens hold the straight so firmly that no sailor dares to take the pass. Their blockade of songs prevented any ship from the Quendi Ocean from breaching the Great South Sea and vice versa. Thus Anor was cut off from western naval trade on account of these creatures. Instead its goods came by land or through the South Sea– especially from the port city of Argentum in the Dire kingdom. Yet even this was not without struggle.
Naval routes closed down during invasions, and even when open, the sailors had to contend with vile lizardmen– creatures born of ill cruelties that now pirate the South Sea endemically, as well as the Wadjat Wetlands and Plemmyra Savannah above and below the Great Azuna Desert; Asurchadnezzar Lake on the east end of the Heartlands; the Anathion River at the west end of the Heartlands; the island of Al'asad facing towards the ocean and away from the Gold Sea; lastly, all the coasts of the isles of Iseer located within the Al'asad ocean approximately eighty thousand Drakefoots from the island of Al'asad.
Being cold blooded, the lizardmen are migratory and so their raids are often predictable. However, they're also strategically clever and lizardmen piracy has strained Anor many times in the past.
The creatures have an appearance of sea-green or turquoise colored scales but can (depending on the environment) have darker scale colors at times. Their underside is typically a pale yellow or coral color, suitable for concealing oneself in reefs or seabeds. A lizardman's physique is slender and top-heavy, with long muscular arms about half the length of their bodies and extending an additional four digits' length from the fingers. Their visage and neck are lengthy and suitable best for peaking above calm waters unseen.
But in the shallows, lizardmen can bend their body into uncanny shapes to remain hidden despite their size (avg 6.8 ft) and muscular upper body (particularly in the arms and back– muscles most demanding on a swimmer's physique). They have a balancing tail averaging about two thirds of their body size in length, and with the thickness of a man's fist narrowing to a natural end. The legs are digitigrade and reverse-jointed. Designed for high spring power with pulsating digit and calf flexor muscles that are essential for water-bound agility.
The arms are also digitigrade with an extra finger-bone in each of their four fingers to enable the required grasping to use basic tools (although complex appliances remain beyond their species). Lizardmen can use (and often prefer) sabers or spears, curved bladed weapons, or throwing weapons. These are often made of bone, wood, and teeth. But Lizardmen will lack a certain precision in their use and often resort to using them in spectacle for intimidation and swift death.
It is quite difficult to determine sex within the Lizardmen species. At a glance they're virtually indistinguishable and appear monomorphic. But small details can be recognized with discernment. The females have an inner sickle thumb on their digitigrade legs, while the males have an outer sickle. Females also tend to remain within the tribe's main hold, while the males hunt and engage in piracy.
They're not a species capable of speech. Though they will occasionally hiss to each other, their primary means of communication lay in body language and social assertiveness– even forcefulness at times.
The reason for confusion in Lizardmen dimorphism lies in the fact that they were not naturally evolved, but created through dark alchemical practices. Being the result of ancient Archon experimentation, their species was engineered– likely from humanoids with strong physical constitution, hence primarily men then. Their general androgyny arises as such from their shared origins in captivity and is consistent with the tendencies of the fickle Mágëa-Kings, who treated biology such as sexual dimorphism to be a hindrance rather than sacred nature.
Mágëa-Kings often experimented within their floating silver cities with creature sex and biological reproduction in an attempt to trivialize its importance, viewing the practice as inconvenient and seeking to engineer species which didn't require such a thing to reproduce.
But while lizardmen are often cited as a bane to fishermen and sailors, their blood is a valuable pigment. Lizardmen bleed lazuli-blue, and it serves as both a precious ingredient in artistic paints, as well as a mild anti-toxin against grave poisons like poppy or nightshade– able to weaken their effects, although it is not a cure. Such a product is well sought and sold pricy to the noble class, making it a worthy risk for Anor's small fleet of six ships.
Beyond the granite walls built into the mountain faces, Anor was a city of clay roofs and brick roads. Houses clustered together to form narrow alleys and were split across a few broad boulevards turning through the city proper. It lay itself spanning the point and along the base of Mount Ariel– the tallest peak of the Anor Mountains. Higher still was a tower built into the mountain near the summit. Its highest point was an upward spire atop a brass roofdome that disappeared into the clouds above. The Tower of Ariel, where the first master wizard of the city had ruled long ago. Now the seat of Saint Ramnicus, Duke of Sumelo and protector of the southernlands.
Across from the city's eastern entrance– where Aia and Trenewynn approached, at the west end was the Black Keep– standing thrice the height of the city baileys along its curtain wall. The Black Keep was the primary barrier protecting the city from the Dark Mists. A donjon attached to the curtain wall served as the only west end gate to the city via a portcullis door running underneath to the other side of the wall. A training hall at the south end and barbican at the north end leading back into the city proper. The keep's east end was occupied by the garrison, completing the city's keep and main barracks.
The bricks of the Black Keep were made of granite, yet some unnatural darkness occupied the stones, turning them black as pitch and worn by queer growths that should not form naturally. Some of the bricks– particularly along the curtain wall exterior, have silvery fish-scale growths along its surface. But over the years it became a relic instead, for Ramnicus' globe of invulnerability warded the city from all dark influences. Though it could not stave off the Kar'kashan invaders, the Dark Mists remained inert so long as the prismatic dome held firm.
To enter the cities of Helios– including Anor, was typically procedural. Cities were overcrowded as it stood. So entry often required fees unless on some official business. But Trenewynn's case was special. As an old friend of Ramnicus, he and Aia were allowed to pass the gates unbarred.
The two walked on East Street, one of the seven great boulevards that occupied the city between rows of clustered homes and alleyways. East Street ended at the intersection of northwestern Ariel Street and the winding southern Harbor Street. Each of which was wide enough for two carriages on either side.
Harbor Street led to the lower end of the city, where two more barracks were built to occupy the southern baileys and protect the fortress city from Kar'kasha across the straight. But Trenewynn and Aia proceeded along Ariel Street, leading into the luxurious Jasper Borough– where the officers and small noble community made its home.
A guide accompanied them, an elf named Cardëlassë. As a humble village priestess, uninformed of the greater world of Terra, Aia was especially fascinated by the fair elf. She took to conversation with him quickly as Trenewynn recovered his fatigue behind them.
"If I may ask, sir Cardëlassë, how does an elf find themselves here in Anor?"
"We are not overly fond of crowded places, true. But Minas Ariel is older than even I am. Its timeless beauty is admirable in its own right. If ever there was a place to study the old ages, it would be there."
Cardëlassë rode on horseback and gestured to the great tower of Ariel in the distance. Vermillion eyes beset his calm profile. Yet within stirred something else as well– unnoticed by Aia.
He glanced into the west for a moment, staring at the Black Keep.
"Are you interested in the old histories, sir Cardëlassë?"
The elf nodded, "many things have been forgotten with the passing of ages. Even the Dark Mists themselves were not always a part of life here. Anor began as a place of prosperity and beauty."
"A time before the Dark Mists, I can scarcely imagine such a thing…"
As Cardëlassë had said, they were not always present. In the first age the lands west of the point of Ariel were once an entire region of Jania, the core territories of the Effinitian's empire. Their capital resided here, and they called the land Tarshith– The land where silver grows on trees. Yet here were sins legalized.
The Effinitians violated every law of nature in their pursuit of supremacy– and crossed a line when their magics penetrated the Firmament, becoming a beacon for dark forces. Aezelioth the Blue– Greater God of Knowledge and of Magic, hastily took notice and cast the lands of Tarshith into subspace. In the process he doomed all the archons that resided there to corruption.
But even this could not abate the Dragon God's temper. For the Effinitian's transgressions, Aezelioth wove a spell into being that transmuted the essence of the arcane into a plague. The archon's silver skin turned black, their eyes became pits leaking dark liquids, and each who bore the infection was driven mad by it.
Many Arch-Mágëa and Mágëa-Kings attempted to unravel the plague only to become rapidly infected. They thought at first, that with the power of their greatest magicians, perhaps they could stave off the effects for a while at least. But it was the opposite, in fact. The great mages of Effinitia became quickly infected more than did a common man. For the Black Plague reproduced itself through magic. Thus, the presence of greater magic brought only greater proliferation.
They tried everything: repentance, quarantines, hiding away… many tried to flee, but distance was no matter to a god. Even to the bitter end the Effinitians kept researching– seeking if not a cure, then at least a way to pass on their legacy. The modern wizards and sorcerers of society believe themselves to be the continuation of that legacy. Though, with more humility now than their ancestors bore.
In any case, it was because of these Effinitians that the Dark Mists came to be, a boundary line separating the land of Tarshith from the physical world. Only demons roam there now, trapped and seething with their dark desires.
Anor is not a place of art any longer… Since the beginning of the second age, it has remained a de facto vigil against the Dark Mists.
This, Cardëlassë explained to Aia and Trenewynn as they turned off East Street into Ariel Street and then proceeded all the way to the Tower of Ariel. At the gates Cardëlassë spied Artorius Drakkennide– youngest heir of house Drakkennide.
Cardëlassë addressed the noble scion with appropriate formality, "hail, young lord Drakkennide."
"And hail to you, sir Cardëlassë. How fares the eastern front?"
"Quiet, mostly. Although seven riders were spied this morning across the Aregashi River."
The boreal eyes of Artorius shifted to Trenewynn and Aia, "witnesses, I may presume?"
Trenewynn bowed, "I am a humble traveller. I came to the city to see my friend, but was accosted by those riders. Fortunately, the heavy rain last night had swept down the river and washed away my pursuers."
"Quite fortunate indeed, and this one?"
The young scion glanced at Aia.
"She is a village priestess from Faelenshire, she accompanied me through the mountain pass."
There were rumors about the youngest child of house Drakkennide. His voice was deep but marked still by a tinge of pubescence, for he was not yet of age.
"Well," he said, "I must return to the Black Keep, prithee be respectful in the tower. Tis a place of essence to Anor."
From his departure only then did Trenewynn inquire to Cardëlassë.
"Sir Cardëlassë, what was that about?"
"Caution is natural when regarding strangers, dark forces often try to infiltrate through foreign travellers."
"Not that, the young lord of Drakkennide. Why is he here? Surely Drakkennide need not send their spare heir here– to a place so dangerous as this?"
Cardëlassë was reluctant to share details, "it is not my place to speak on behalf of sir Artorius' family matters. Know however, that it was not his grace Duke Drakkennide that sent him here."
At last they entered the tower proper. Aia waited with Cardëlassë at the entrance, who turned to Trenewynn to say:
"The tower master awaits, sir Vaelor. He knows why you have come, you should speak to him in private– at the top of the tower."
Then Cardëlassë stepped back, and an arcane wheel beneath Trenewynn's feet began to glow. Light enveloped him, and as a beam he ascended the tower to its peak.
When his vision returned to him, Trenewynn stood beneath a colonnade-held dome, clear waterfalls trickling down the gaps betwixt pillars and forming natural windows to the outside world. Trenewynn glanced out one and beheld the entire city of Anor below, and beside that view was a man in white robes– hands clasped behind his back.
"So you have come, Vaelor."
"Ramnicus…"
The white mage turned to face his old friend. With his left hand came a gesture to the great span of the point, "welcome to the eternal city. Welcome to Anor."