ACONDICIONAMIENTO DEL TERRENO

Situated in a position of both economic and strategic importance—the point where the River Dynanni reaches Lake Haal—hran has long been a trade hub and the gateway between Dhar Mesh and the Highlands of Nar. From its founding in roughly 500 AR, hran was a bustling town, but it grew into a proper city when merchants and settlers from the then-Atlantean colony of Orech reached hran in 650 AR, bringing Atlantis’s culture and learning with them.

A series of unremarkable local lords ruled the city until Ghedrar the Necromancer’s mummiied army arrived in 1218 AR, seizing hran after a brief siege. When Ghedrar’s kingdom collapsed in 1673, hran threw out its undead overlords and again enjoyed inde- pendence for centuries. he peaceful years ended when the restive clans of the Nar Highlands united under a single banner in 2011 AR, that of Kal Keor the Terrible. hran was his irst major conquest, but the Jandar horde didn’t remain there long, striking out eastward within the year. Kal Keor left behind one of his sons, a petulant child named Kal Menna, and the city’s residents suf- fered greatly under his capricious, cruel rule.

No one celebrated with more fervor than hran when Kal Keor was assassinated by sorcery in 2035. (Kal Menna was thrown from the palace balconies, then resurrected speciically so he could be thrown from the balcony again). hran’s merchant princes took over the city in caretaker fashion, ruling as a council. But their dominion was short lived.

In 2040 AR, the wizard Bayod Naz revealed the existence of the Black Circle and declared the Circle rulers over hran. Caught by surprise, the merchant princes capitulated (especially after a few princes were strangled by unseen arcane hands). At irst, the people of hran were ecstatic; many assumed that the Black Circle was behind Kal Keor’s assassination. But over time, the Black Circle’s ruthless tactics and inscrutable motives have left hran’s populace as fearful as they come.

CITY DESCRIPTION

As beits its moniker, many of hran’s major buildings are constructed of black granite, pulled from the earth itself by the power of the Black Circle. Many of the city streets are laid out in a hub-and-spoke pattern,

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with a ten-story wizard tower at the center of the street network—of limits to the general populace.

Visitors to the city notice how citizens tend to scurry from place to place, and even the outdoor marketplaces have only subdued conversations, not the shouts of competing vendors. City residents make a point of not

noticing the distorted haze in the air that indicates the Black Circle is scrying on an area. Remarking on the surveillance only increases the likelihood that they’ll draw unwanted arcane attention, they igure.

Tower of the Chimerae: One of the tallest towers in

hran, this ediice is home to Yiliina Syrth, one of the more ambitious masters of the Black Circle. he upper loors are crowded with dozens of leering gargoyle-like statues, most sculpted in the image of tormented humans whose bodies have been partially replaced with animal or monster parts.

he Ebon Orb: his castle-sized marble sphere is

where the Black Circle deliberates and performs their arcane rituals. It hovers above the city and has no ob- vious entrance; the masters of the Black Circle teleport to and from the Ebon Orb.

Tower of the Helix: his tower is currently vacant;

the master who lived there went insane after an extraterrene ritual gone awry and was “put down” by the rest of the Black Circle. here’s an open invitation from the Black Circle to their promising apprentices: clear out the Tower of the Helix, and you’ll ascend to take the vacant place as a master of the Black Circle.

Highlanders’ Quarter: Originally intended as a

separate district for visitors from the Highlands of Nar (and the horse manure they left in their wake), this part of the city is the only place where visitors can con- duct business without undue scrutiny from the Black Circle—meaning magical surveillance is frequent, but not omnipresent.

Thran

City of the Black Circle, Nar’s Doorstep, Pearl of Haal (little used anymore)

Thran’s citizens live their lives in fear of the inscrutable and rarely-seen Black Circle of wiz- ards that rule the city. The Black Guard patrols the streets and ruthlessly crushes dissent, while a net- work of informants, spies, and scrying apprentices ensures that little happens in the Thran that the masters of the Black Circle don’t know about.

Authority: High Master Nefron Vir is the current

high master of the Black Circle, a position he acquired by violently usurping the last high master, and a position he’ll keep until someone violently usurps him. So far he’s proven adept at keeping would-be high masters at bay, but as he advances into his eighth decade, he knows it’s only a matter of time before he’s replaced.

NPCs: Thran’s population is overwhelmingly

human, with a small percentage of Atlanteans. A clan of hallings has some prominence in the city, serving various members of the Black Circle as

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alchemists and laboratory servants. Due to the Black Circle’s dabbling in iendish magic, a small but measurable segment of Thran’s population has demonic blood running through their veins.

Yiliina Syrth is a transmuter and the most out-

ward-looking wizard in the Black Circle. She sees the rivalries among the masters as a zero- sum game and seeks to accumulate power beyond Thran, perhaps even leaving the city someday to rule elsewhere. She keeps her ultimate ambition a secret even as she greedily seeks artifacts, rare spells, and other treasures from across Thule to increase her power.

Perek-Who-Limps is an accomplished illusionist

and high-ranking apprentice . . . though he shamefacedly admits he’s “between masters at the moment.” (It’s rare to be “between mas- ters” and still alive.) Perek’s personal charisma makes him a useful contact for adventurers seeking an audience with the Black Circle. Perek is a motivated go-between; he hopes to prove his worth to a new master by making useful introductions for adventurers who can get things done beyond Thran’s walls.

Tsammar is the guard-captain and commander of

the Black Guard. Ostensibly that means man- aging the city patrols and keeping the highland tribes and jungle barbarians at bay, but Tsam- mar spends more effort on the covert side of the ledger. The Black Circle’s spies are every- where in Thule, and while some report directly to various masters, many are part of the Black Guard hierarchy and report to Tsammar.

Trade: Thran doesn’t trade much with other city-

states . . . overtly at least. Various masters use adventurers and summoned minions to scour Thule for rare magical treasures which are then brought back to Thran, but the city neither imports nor exports much. When the ields sur- rounding the city have a bumper crop of grains or fruits, the Black Circle sends out a leet of black-sailed trade galleys across Lake Haal (using magic to protect them from kraken attacks), down the Tancreel River, and eastward along the coast to Nim.

Concerns: The Black Circle wants anything of

magical power; even a rumor is enough to get one or masters mounting an expedition to a far-off ruin or dungeon. Thran’s other concern is its own security; sitting at the border between the Highlands of Nar and the jungles of Dhar Mesh leaves it vulnerable to attacks from both jungle barbarians and highland clans. Throughout history those threats have often become a terri- fying reality for Thran, but after the Black Circle demonstrated its ability and willingness to oblit- erate massed attackers in the 2040s and 2050s, the tribes usually give Thran a wide berth.

Secrets: The Black Circle is able to present a uniied

front to the outside world, but internecine duels among the masters are not uncommon, and sometimes such conlicts spill out beyond the Ebon Orb to include each wizard’s network of apprentices, summoned minions, and servants.

Loyalty to the Black Circle isn’t as complete as Nefron Vir thinks, either. Two of the masters are thralls to Yog-Sothoth, who has promised them limitless extraterrene insights at an as-yet-un- speciied price.