Velkaris

“Velkaris was not abandoned because something entered the city. It was abandoned because something beneath it woke.”

Velkaris was once one of the greatest settlements hidden within the mountains, its people carving their city deeper into the stone with every generation. What began as Old Velkaris eventually expanded upward, creating the immense bridges, towers and districts that filled the ravine.

Then, without warning, Velkaris fell silent.

No records describe a war, plague or evacuation. Homes were abandoned with possessions still inside, workshops left unfinished and gates remained open. Stranger still, no mass graves or remains of its population have ever been found. It is as though the inhabitants simply disappeared.

The oldest surviving writings suggest that shortly before the disappearance, excavations beneath Old Velkaris had reached something deep within the mountain. Work continued downward into passages now known as The Depths, but every record concerning what was discovered there has vanished.

Centuries later, Velkaris remains empty. Yet travelers occasionally find doors open that were closed before, hear footsteps crossing distant bridges, or see movement in windows high above the ravine.

Whatever happened to Velkaris, its answer is believed to lie somewhere beneath the city.