🕯️ Ruined Abbey of St. Tulsa
"Let roots remember what fire could not cleanse."
Once a hopeful cradle for mercy and renewal, the Abbey of St. Tulsa now festers behind walls no mortal can pass. Its gardens are overgrown, its courtyards silent save for wind in charred stone and thorn-wreathed statues. None are permitted to enter. None who remember dare speak too long of what happened there.
🛕 History
After the collapse of the Sterling Dominion, the realm staggered with displaced souls—soldiers, warlocks, servants of broken causes, and prisoners without chains. The world needed healing. And in a rare moment of compassion, Ashkarin sanctioned a grand experiment in mercy.
The Abbey of Tulsa, under the guidance of Tulsa the Witness of Ildavir, was one of the first post-Dominion institutions dedicated not to war, but to reclamation. Constructed using salvaged materials and grown stone beneath the druidic blessing of Ildavir, the Abbey welcomed former inmates from Stonehell's dungeons. They were offered something unheard of—life after chains.
Rehabilitation meant tilling the earth, mending fences, healing animals, and crafting tools. When deemed ready, a former inmate would depart the Abbey with a purse of silver, a set of worn leathers, and the name of a hamlet that would accept them. For a time, it worked. For a time, it was good.
Until the Unnamed arrived.
It was no man, though it wore a man's face. It came shackled and docile, like the others. It said little. It smiled. And one night, it moved.
By dawn, the halls were red. The fields ran black. The dormitories were silenced. It spoke blasphemies in root-tongue, and its laughter split stone.
Tulsa confronted it in the Stone Chapel beneath the Abbey, where the first vine of the sanctuary had once been planted. Their duel burned through the soul of the abbey. The Witness of Ildavir fell, and the creature—wounded, cackling—escaped into the wilds. Some say it still speaks with Tulsa’s stolen tongue.
🕯️ Legacy
Tulsa was canonized posthumously by the Order of the Shaded Bough as Saint Tulsa the Evergreen, or Tulsa the Living Root. His name is invoked in oaths of forgiveness and in pleas for justice that do not cost a life.
But the Abbey… was lost.
What began as an act of grace turned to ash. The Abbey was sealed, a Wall of Force woven and anchored by three archmages, encircling its perimeter in a shimmering dome of magic that nothing may pass.
Warden-Captain Alder Brandt, commander of Ember Bastion, is the only mortal entrusted with access—a key woven into the badge he wears on a leather thong, never removed.
⚠️ Current Status
-
Entry Forbidden: Violation of the seal is punishable by exile or death.
-
Monitored: Ember Bastion patrols near the dome. Arcane pulses are recorded monthly.
-
Rumored: Some say they’ve heard voices beyond the Wall. Weeping. Praying. Laughing.
🗺️ Structure Within (as known from old records)
-
The Stone Chapel: Fire-blackened. Where Tulsa died. The altar is cracked, the root beneath it said to still pulse.
-
The Garden Cells: Each inmate once had a personal planting bed. Now twisted trees sprout bones.
-
The Hall of Return: A ceremonial passage where each reformed inmate stepped through the “Gate of Green” to claim freedom. The gate is now shrouded in brambles.
-
The Cloister of Ashes: Where staff and inmates fell together. The bodies were never retrieved.