The Old One is among the most
powerful druids in the Tyr region. Born nearly 100 years
ago as a peasant villager in a distant city-state, he left the
civilized world and took up the study of nature. In time he
came to the Silt Archipelago and inherited the guarded
lands from the ancient druid who preceded him. For more
than 70 years he has guarded the fragile Archipelago
against the careless abuses of intelligent creatures and the
ruin of defilers. The time is coming when the Old One
will lay down his guardianship and select another to carry
on the never-ending fight.
The Old One knows of the Valley of Dust and Fire,
having traveled there once on his journeys. He counsels
against visiting it, especially the Dragon's sanctum in the
center of the city. But he may impart his knowledge to
those that help him.
One of the largest bodies of water in the Tyr Region, Vanishing Lake is a vast mudflat south and east of the Estuary of the Forked Tongue. It stretches more than twenty miles in length and five in width. The precise size is difficult to judge, for the silty muck that surrounds the lake is easily mistaken for more of the mudflat. Extended periods of drought cause the lake to evaporate, which means that during the months of High Sun there is less water and more mud. Eventually the open water disappears entirely, and the lake seems to vanish, leaving behind a thin, watery mire. When the sun beats less fiercely during the months of Sun Descending, the water's source wells up once more, and the lake becomes obvious to the eye again. Old silt sailors claim that the periods of open water grow shorter and farther apart as the years pass. Someday the lake might disappear and never return. Vanishing Lake is home to one or more aggressive water drakes, and silt runners, floating mantles, cha'thrangs, and other dangerous creatures live in tjie surrounding mudflat. The area is protected by a powerful, ancient druid known as the Old One. Most folk never encounter him, although occasionally a lost traveler, half dead from thirst and sun sickness, claims to have been set on the right path and given a waterskin by a mysterious old druid who disappeared into the silt.