WORLD SETUP – KERNATH
The Valley of Kernath
The valley of Kernath lies between cliffs and a dying river — a forgotten scar of the northern borderlands. Once, the Abbey of Saint Kernath stood proud at its heart, where monks promised healing to a dying world.
They made the Golden Blood — an alchemical experiment, not a magical one — said to cure disease and strengthen men for war.
It worked, for a time. Then soldiers began to burn from within, their eyes shining like coins. The King blamed the monks, the Church called it heresy, and the valley burned.
The ruins stand — black stone, golden dust in the cracks, and no clear truth about what really happened.
Both the Crown and the Church claim the place as sacred ground, yet neither truly knows why. The air still hums with ash and rumor. The people who stayed behind learned to live between the lies.
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The Three Powers of Kernath
The Crown’s Hand
Veterans and mercenaries led by Captain Velan.
They claim to restore order but mostly search for what’s left of the Golden Blood.
Velan fights for the King, or maybe just for something that still makes sense.
His soldiers speak of loyalty like it’s a sickness they can’t cure.
The Church of the Flame
Fanatics under Father Lethar, who believes only fire can cleanse the world.
His voice is calm and cruel, his sermons short.
The Church’s men burn what they fear and call it mercy.
One young priest, Eno, still hides the names of the dead instead of lighting them.
The Locals’ Circle
Hunters, healers, and outcasts who serve no King and fear no priest.
They follow Old Mira, a blind woman who tends herbs among the standing stones of Keldras.
She says dirt tells the truth better than priests ever could.
When strangers ask for hope, she offers smoke and silence.
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People of Kernath
Edrin Hale still guards the bridge, an old soldier forgotten by every army.
He believes duty outlives kings, though his armor has rusted to his bones.
Some say he waits for a letter that never came.
Others think he just forgot how to go home.
Orren lives upriver from the hamlet, the last monk who didn’t burn.
He writes, drinks, and whispers that gold was never meant for blood.
Travelers find him half-drunk but sharp enough to remember every sin.
Captain Velan commands what’s left of the Crown’s soldiers.
His camp near the Abbey smells of steel and mud.
He keeps a ledger of every man he’s lost and every order he regrets following.
Father Lethar leads the Church of the Flame.
His robes are blackened by ash, his hands steady on the torch.
He has never spoken to Old Mira — and never would.
He believes the valley itself must be purified before it poisons the rest of the kingdom.
Eno, his young acolyte, still believes in mercy.
He writes the names of the dead on scraps of parchment and hides them from the fire.
He prays each night, but his god never answers.
Old Mira lives among the stones of Keldras.
She is blind, her hands smell of sage and smoke.
People come to her for cures, confessions, or silence.
She listens, then tells them to live as if no one is coming to save them.
Hunter Rask carries herbs and rumors between Mira and the river folk.
Unlike the soldier Edrin Hale, Rask never served the King — only the valley.
He was the one who carried the sick child up the hill.
Maren lives in the river hamlet, her hands cracked from washing and her eyes hollow from sleepless nights.
Her son’s veins shimmer faintly gold, poisoned by the Abbey’s dust.
She would trade her soul for one more breath from him.
Some villagers still bear the fire’s scars.
One sits by the river, half his face burned, whispering,
> “We were clean. The fire didn’t care.”
They call him the Ash-left. No one knows his name anymore.
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Places of Kernath
Bridge of Kernath
An old stone bridge over the river, guarded by Edrin Hale.
His shack leans into the mist, filled with old letters and broken armor.
He asks travelers where they’re coming from, but never where they’re going.
Orren’s House by the River
A crooked hut with a chimney that always smokes.
Inside are papers, bottles, and regret.
Orren speaks like a man arguing with ghosts that no one else can see.
Abbey Ruins
Charred arches and broken bells, still glimmering with gold dust in the cracks.
The wind sighs through the holes in the roof.
Both the Crown and the Church call it sacred, but it feels more like a grave.
Lower Abbey (The Undercroft)
The tunnels beneath the ruins smell of rust and mold.
Lanterns flicker over shattered glass.
Some say the monks’ final experiment still stains the walls, but no one stays long enough to find out.
Stone Circle of Keldras
A quiet ring of standing stones west of the Abbey.
Old Mira lives here, tending her herbs and fires.
It often becomes important to those who turn away from war.
People come here when the world outside grows too loud.
River Hamlet
A small cluster of huts between the Abbey and the bridge.
The hamlet has seen both peace and fire.
Some huts stand empty, others still smoke.
Fishermen and trappers live quietly, trading food for herbs from the forest.
They speak of the Abbey’s fall as if it happened yesterday.
Old Watchtower
A leaning tower by the river, its roof caved in and its stairs broken.
Inside, on a moldy table, lies a letter sealed with the King’s mark —
addressed to Edrin Hale, telling him the war is over.
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The Valley as It Stands
Everything in the valley happens now.
The Abbey smokes, the bridge still stands, the river carries rumors instead of fish.
There is no before or after — only Kernath, still breathing.
Some travelers ignore Old Mira until the conflicts in the valley grow.
Others seek Father Lethar’s fire to feel clean again.
And between them, people like Edrin, Rask, and Maren simply live, trying not to vanish.
The valley remembers them all.
It does not forgive, and it does not wait.
It only endures.
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