Margatubast, the Sunken City & The Accursed Bayou
Few places in Warlderia are surrounded by more mystery than the drowned ruins of Margatubast, a city whose builders had already passed into legend before the arrival of the Higher Races. Situated at the mouth of the mighty Gurchogol Delta, upon the northern coast beyond the mountains, Margatubast stood for countless centuries as one of the most isolated and enigmatic cities in the known world. Even the oldest Elven records make little mention of its inhabitants, whilst the Dwarven chronicles simply describe it as "the city that was already ancient." Many scholars believe it was founded around the time of The Coming of the Others, though a handful of surviving texts claim the entire city appeared in a single day through the work of magic beyond modern understanding. From the very beginning the rulers of Margatubast maintained an almost complete separation from the outside world. Foreign merchants were permitted to trade only within a vast harbour district constructed beyond the city walls, overlooked by elegant domed towers from which silent watchers observed all who entered. The inhabitants of the city itself were never seen. Every aspect of trade was conducted through Human and Bullywug slaves overseen by trusted foremen bound by powerful enchantments that prevented them from revealing anything of their hidden masters. Although commerce flourished, no foreign visitor is known to have passed through the great gates of Margatubast and returned.
The city's remote location and strict isolation allowed it to avoid the conflicts that consumed much of the continent during the Higher Wars. Whilst kingdoms rose and fell around them, the rulers of Margatubast remained detached from the struggles of the outside world. When news reached the city of Kaegor the Great's campaigns, an unexpected proclamation was issued. Every Human slave within the city was granted their freedom and driven from its walls, left to establish new lives amongst the surrounding wilderness. With no obvious wealth to tempt conquest and no hostile armies gathering upon its borders, Kaegor's forces simply marched elsewhere. Margatubast remained independent throughout the rise and fall of the Kaegorian Empire, continuing its mysterious existence behind closed gates for almost two further centuries. Its fate changed with the emergence of the northern Successor State of Zinkst. Seeking direct trade with the lands of Helltenen, the merchants of Zinkst negotiated regular access to Margatubast's magnificent deep-water harbour through the same silent intermediaries that had dealt with outsiders for generations. From this port their ships established colonies across the northern seas, and for a brief period Margatubast appeared destined to become one of the great centres of maritime commerce. Then, without warning, the city vanished.
In a single catastrophic day the ground beneath Margatubast subsided. The entire city tilted towards the sea as if some unimaginable force had pulled the earth itself downward. Great sections of the harbour disappeared beneath the waves, whilst the surrounding lands collapsed into the waters of the delta. Witnesses spoke of earthquakes, unnatural tides and strange lights beneath the sea, though none agreed upon precisely what they had seen. Whether the destruction was caused by divine judgement, ancient magic, a slumbering leviathan or some forgotten experiment of the city's own rulers remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in Warlderia. Whatever the cause, the inhabitants were never seen again. The catastrophe transformed the surrounding countryside almost overnight. Where fertile plains had once bordered the delta, stagnant waters spread across the lowlands to form the vast marshes now known as the Accursed Bayou. Dense mangrove forests, reed beds and black-water channels swallowed roads and villages alike. The descendants of the freed Human slaves and the surviving Bullywug tribes adapted to their transformed homeland, whilst darker creatures gradually claimed the deeper swamps. Lizardfolk, giant reptiles, swamp hags and stranger things now inhabit the tangled waterways, making the Bayou one of the most dangerous wildernesses in eastern Warlderia.
The drowned ruins of Margatubast still lie somewhere beneath the waters beyond the delta, their domes and towers occasionally glimpsed beneath unusually clear tides. Numerous expeditions have attempted to locate the city, drawn by rumours of unimaginable wealth and magical treasures preserved beneath the sea. Wizards hope to uncover the secrets of its mysterious builders, whilst treasure hunters dream of recovering artefacts from a civilisation untouched by the Higher Wars. Few expeditions have returned. Those that have speak only of impossible architecture visible beneath dark waters, unnatural currents that seem almost alive, and shadowy figures moving through the drowned streets where no living creature should survive. To this day no one can say with certainty who built Margatubast, why its rulers chose such complete isolation, or what terrible power dragged one of the oldest cities in Warlderia beneath the sea.
Amongst the fisherfolk of the northern coast there is an old warning, passed from one generation to the next: "The Bayou swallowed the land... but the city still waits beneath the tide."
Few sailors are willing to discover whether those words are merely legend.
Created by M. Ellard
