Lands of Parsantium – Rezana, City of Ruins

With the Labyrinth Worldbook coming soon from Kobold Press, I thought I would publish a few posts and share some more information about my campaign setting, the Lands of Parsantium, one of the core worlds featured in the book. This all-new post describes the city of Rezana, former capital of the Bathuran Empire.

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Rezana, City of Ruins

Founded 1545 years ago on the banks of the River Erano, the city of Rezana is the birthplace of the Bathuran Empire. Over the course of seven centuries the borders of this  mighty empire grew to encompass all of the Sunset Lands. Then, in the year 685, the great general and emperor Corandias the Magnificent conquered Parsantium. 

Corandias’s preference for Parsantium over Rezana as the seat of his power was the start of the imperial capital’s decline. This was exacerbated by the construction of Parsantium’s magnificent Holy Basilica, resulting in the leadership of the Church of Helion transferring from the Archbishop of Rezana to the Archbishop of Parsantium. 

When Corandias died, the Bathuran Empire was divided up by his ambitious generals, and Rezana was relegated to capital of the western Empire. For the next eighty years, the Wars of the Successors weakened both Rezana and Parsantium as their armies fought over imperial lands. But while Parsantium recovered in the next few centuries, Rezana’s influence continued to wane as its northern rival, the Most Serene City of Loranto, grew ever more wealthy.

Disaster struck in 1122 when Rezana was sacked by orcish armies, leaving large areas of the city in ruins and leading to the collapse of the western Bathuran Empire. Loranto took advantage of Rezana’s weakness and declared itself a free city, appointing their great military commander Lord Admiral Valentinus Piramo as Duke, and abandoning the empire. In the years that followed, the rest of the empire’s territory was lost to marauding hordes of humanoids.

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Today, Rezana is but a shadow of its former self, with a population of less than 30,000. Only a third of the city is now inhabited, while the rest – the “Old City” – lies abandoned in ruins beyond the “New City” walls. Despite this, Rezana’s position at the end of the Via Bathura ensures the city continues to benefit from vital trade with its rivals. 

Rezana is ruled by the elderly Imperator Vicentius Lorencin. Once a great general of immense tactical awareness and strategic skills, Vincentius’s powers are fading fast with the onset of old age and his behaviour is becoming more and more erratic and paranoid, if not downright insane. In recent months he has had his five favourite concubines blinded and sent into exile, arranged the death of his only legitimate son and heir in a hunting “accident”, and had his chief minister and advisor (a childhood friend) executed on trumped-up charges of treason. 

At the urging of His Radiance Archbishop Frumentius, who is desperate to regain some of Rezana’s (and his own) lost status, Vicentius has borrowed a small fortune from Loranto’s bankers to restore the Golden Basilica of Helion, hiring four of Parsantium’s most celebrated mosaicists to decorate the interior of the dome. At the grand unveiling on Helion’s last holy day, Vincentius sat in his place of honour in the basilica, rocking backwards and forwards, reciting nonsense throughout the whole ceremony. His aides managed to attribute this incident to a fever but it is growing harder and harder to cover up the Imperator’s eccentricity. 

Vincentius’s wife Theodora, the one person he trusts implicitly, is plotting with Malcutio, one of the Imperator’s young bastards with whom she is having an affair, to remove him from power. Theodora is moving very carefully due to the army’s ongoing loyalty to their beloved former commander, but the time for her to act is near. If her plan backfires, more violence and instability are sure to follow.

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The sprawling ruins of Rezana’s Old City are overgrown and inhabited by bandits, warlike humanoid tribes, and dangerous monsters who pose an ever-present threat to Rezana’s populace. Worse still, the ancient catacombs that lie beneath the ruins are infested with ghouls, wights, and other undead, and these foul creatures sometimes find a way to enter the city proper through its sewers.

Two knightly orders, both originally founded in Rezana – the Platinum Knights of Themecia and the Crusading Brothers of the Sword – patrol the Old City, accompanied by mages from the Esoteric Order of the Blue Lotus, in an attempt to keep the city safe. Their numbers are few and the ruins are vast, so city officials have reluctantly agreed to grant Imperial Charters of Exploration to adventurers “in good standing”. 

Chartered adventuring bands are permitted to plunder the abandoned buildings of the Old City in exchange for dealing with its undesirable inhabitants. Unsurprisingly, the chance to loot the ancient ruins has proved popular, and dozens of adventuring groups have flocked to Rezana. A twenty percent tariff is payable on any treasure recovered, so many adventurers try to smuggle the most valuable items past the imperial inspectors when they return through the gates. 

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Adventure Hook. Feral packs of wolves are roaming the streets of the Old City surrounding a ruined temple to Hekebet, dark goddess of the moon. Whispers of a bloodthirsty new moon cult led by werewolf priestesses are circulating in the taverns near the gates, and city officials are offering a reward to anyone brave enough to investigate.

Adventure Hook. The bronze helmet, breastplate, and spear of the legendary gladiator Calidia Gloryseeker are said to lie among the treasure hoard of a fearsome chimera lairing beneath the ruins of the Grand Circus. The Editor of the Games wants his star gladiator to appear with Calidia’s arms and armour at her next performance, and is hiring adventurers to retrieve them. 

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You can download a free preview of Parsantium: City at the Crossroads to find out more about the setting, or, better still, buy Parsantium from Drivethrurpg. 

If you’ve enjoyed reading these posts, please do join my mailing list. There’s a sign up form below and subscribers receive a free Parsantium supplement. 

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Lands of Parsantium map by Jared Blando