Nowhere on the jungle subcontinent of Aerenal is the distinction between life and death more blurred than in the City of the Dead. Undying soldiers stand rigid on guard duty at the city gates, the chants of the Priests of Transition echo off the stone monuments, and in the heart of the quiet city stands the inviolate Undying Court.
Travelers to Shae Mordai are invariably struck by two facts. First, the deathless mingle with the living here in a manner deeply unsettling to those not accustomed to the ways of the Aereni. Second, this is the quietest city a traveler can imagine. The hymns and chants sung by the Priests of Transition in the ubiquitous ancestral chapels are often the loudest sounds in the city streets, their voices carrying for blocks past silent pedestrians, shopkeeps, guards, and pilgrims. Even the dray beasts stifl e their whinnies. The hush of the grave is over this place.
Lands: The City of the Dead is located in the heart of Aerenal in the Jaelarthal Orioth, the Moonsword Jungle. Towering densewood, soarwood, livewood, and bronzewood trees crowd against the city’s stone walls. The city is bisected by the Tal Dolas river, which is over 100 feet deep in some places, exceedingly profound for a river at its headwaters.
Getting There: Tal Dolas fl ows from Shae Mordai west through the jungle to the Thunder Sea, and it is by way of this path in reverse that most travelers make their way to the city. In theory, a House Lyrandar airship could make the trip to Shae Mordai in shorter time than the barges that depart daily at dawn from Pylas Talaear, but in reality so little commerce is done in the City of the Dead that Lyrandar does not attempt to fl y there. It is doubtful that the Undying Court would allow such air travel even if House Lyrandar judged it profitable.
Appearance: Dense jungle—the Jaelarthal Orioth—surrounds the City of the Dead, but a 25- foot-high wall of stone and ivy holds the untamed wilderness at bay. Alabaster sentinels carved to resemble 20-foot-tall elf warriors stand atop Shae Mordai’s outer wall, facing the jungle with swords drawn. A wide moat clings to the inside of the outer wall, fed by a branch of the great Tal Dolas. A waterway weaves through the middle of the city, from the main gateway to the Palace of the Undying Court, crossed at various points by arching limestone bridges.
Shae Mordai is the only Aereni city made of stone rather than wood, and nearly every exposed surface is graven with a memorial verse, elegy, or sculpture in low relief. Walking down a sidewalk in Shae Mordai is like walking down a colossal stone scroll, a litany of the dead unfurling under one’s feet. Limestone ziggurats rise against a backdrop of jungle and mountains. Dark mosaics mark the walls at every turn, depicting in ebony, bronzewood, and dark sapphire the elf rebellion in Xen’drik or the dragon wars. Eternal fl ame memorials are also common, with purple fl ames signifying the achievements of a wizard, orange the deeds of a priest, and red the victories of a warrior. The many braziers burning with memorial fi re give the city a lurid glow.
Features of Shae Mordai
The twin stone bridges of the Sibling Kings lead over Tal Dolas to Valaes Maerenor. The Bridge of the Brother is the northern stone arch, the Bridge of the Sister is on the south. They are both consecrated to the history of the various Sibling Kings who have ruled temporal Aerenal since its inception. Hundreds of monuments to different kings line each arch.
Valaes Maerenor: Only one building, the Maeranor Irian, stands on the river island that serves as a gateway to the City of the Dead. Three clerks (NG male elf expert 5) work here, overseen by an undying councilor and backed up by a score of undying soldiers. In lowered voices, they inquire about the business of any visitors. Elves with the Right of Counsel feat are allowed into the city, with an escort of three to fi ve undying soldiers if the elf is not a native of Aerenal. All other visitors are turned away unless they can offer a compelling reason to enter. Compelling reasons include a direct missive from the Sibling Kings, a summons from an undying councilor or the Undying Court, an export or import contract with a Shae Mordai trading house, or a funeral procession for a famous elf.
The manifest zone tied to Irian that covers the City of the Dead begins here. Within the city, spells that use positive energy, including cure spells, are maximized, while spells that use negative energy, including infl ict spells, are impeded.
Walls of Shae Mordai: Scaling the walls of the City of the Dead is easy (Climb DC 10), thanks to the omnipresent bas reliefs, monument carvings, and graven elegies. Scaling the walls of the City of the Dead without being noticed, however, is surpassingly diffi cult. Alarm spells blanket the walls; there is a sonic blast glyph of warding every 5 feet and a symbol of death every 10 feet (all CL 20th). Immune to the symbols’ death effects and keyed to the glyphs, undying soldiers armed with masterwork longbows and undying wizards armed with wands of lightning bolt patrol the wall’s crenellations and bartizans. They open fi re immediately on any creature fl ying over the walls.
Jarak Saer: If Shae Mordai can be said to have a market district, this is it. No vendors hawk their wares, no wagons trundle, and no crowds bustle, but a steady stream of foot traffi c quietly fi les in and out of the lancet arches piercing the stone town houses. Any piece of mundane equipment from the Player’s Handbook or the EBERRON Campaign Setting is available here, including masterwork items. If an elf with the Right of Counsel feat shops here and succeeds on a DC 15 Diplomacy check, he can purchase masterwork weapons for only 200 gp more than the normal cost of the weapon, and masterwork armor for only 50 gp more than the normal cost of the armor. Additionally, with a DC 15 Gather Information check, any customer can locate covadish leaves, irian crystals, kieros leaves, ravar bark, and dajar mordai petals for sale. (These last two items are described below.)
The elven mania for monuments and ancestorworship is at its peak here. Many street signs bear three or four names. Each name honors a different ancestor who accomplished a mighty feat; when an elf in Shae Mordai gives directions, he mentions every one of the street’s names so that he can avoid showing disrespect to one of the honored dead. Many visitors to Shae Mordai wryly remark that the elves are long-lived only so that they can endure each other’s travel directions.
Ravar Bark: This unusually rough bark peels from its tree in long, pulpy strips like cypress bark. If a character uses the bark to sharpen a slashing weapon’s edge and succeeds on a DC 20 Craft (weaponsmithing) check, there is a 50% chance that the weapon gains the keen special ability for 1d4 hours. (The character cannot take 20 on this check, but he can take 10.) The ravar bark is consumed in the attempt to sharpen the weapon. Price 250 gp.
Dajar Mordai Petals: These cylindrical lavender fl ower petals resemble dagger blades (“dajar mordai” means “dagger of the dead”). When a healer uses the petals in conjunction with a Heal check to provide long-term care or to treat a wound, poison, or disease, there is a 30% chance that the healer gains a +4 enhancement bonus on her check. If used as part of a Heal check made to stabilize a dying creature, the petals automatically provide a +4 enhancement bonus on the Heal check. Price 10 gp.
Jaelarthal Barracks: The troops of the City of Dead’s army billet themselves in the mausoleums and stone ziggurats of this quarter. Any random encounters in this area are always with undying soldiers or undying wizards.
Fane of the Ascendant Councilors: The true deity of the elves is the unifi ed essence of the ascendant councilors (EBERRON Campaign Setting page 218), and this is the sanctum sanctorum of their faith. At noon each day, the Priests of Transition chant a mass to honor the most recently ascended councilors. At noon on the thirteenth day of each month, the priests begin the Long Mass, honoring all the ascendant councilors over a period of several days.
An elf with the Right of Counsel feat meets his undying councilor in the Fane. The councilor speaks in hushed tones over the chanting of the priests, his desiccated face lit by the lurid glow of the memorial fires. If the petitioning elf desires a spell to which the undying councilor does not have access, the elf can petition the council for additional assistance, accompanied by an offering of at least 100 gp per level of the spell desired along with a DC 15 Charisma check (with a +1 bonus for every 100 gold donated over the minimum). Success means that the undying councilor commands a Priest of Transition to prepare and cast the spell for the elf, provided that the priest is capable of casting the spell.
Roll of Heroes: This ziggurat is the second tallest in Shae Mordai, surpassed only by the jet, obsidian, and limestone ziggurat rising like a mountain in the center of the Undying Court. The Roll of Heroes ziggurat has three pairs of eternal fl ames in silver basins, burning in a row on either side of the entry to the ziggurat: one purple, one orange, and one red. The connection to the past is particularly strong here. Any elf who worships the Undying Court casts divination spells at +2 caster level when on the steps of the Roll of Heroes.
Undying Court: No thief, dragon, cultist, or assassin has ever breached the walls of the Undying Court. Walls trapped and guarded in the same manner as the city’s outer walls surround the court, but in addition to the sonic blast glyphs and the symbols of death, a wall of force effect extends above the court in a dome. Most sages agree that this effect is created by one of the Xen’drik artifacts kept in the court vaults. Whatever its source, it also renders the court proof against all forms of dimensional, magical, and psionic travel, including teleportation, shadow walk, ethereal jaunt, and similar spells and abilities.
Memorial Garden: This serene open area forms the only public garden in Shae Mordai, and elves can be found wandering and meditating here regularly. Eternal fl ames burn in decorated braziers and basins throughout the park, fi lling the grove and lawn with an unearthly beauty. In the center of the park is a sunken amphitheater, with limestone steps descending to a fl at area in the center. Memorial rites are often performed here, including elven lays commemorating the heroes of the past.
Adventure Ideas
—The high priests of the Blood of Vol cult reserve their deepest hatred for the elves of Aerenal. In an effort to sow chaos in the Undying Court, a bold agent (female changeling necromancer 10) has approached the PCs disguised as an male elf on a pilgrimage to Shae Mordai, asking them to escort him there. After the PCs arrive in Shae Mordai, the necromancer assumes the appearance of one of the PCs and desecrates a part of the memorial garden, extinguishing fi res and blighting plants. When the crime is discovered, the PCs are immediately blamed while the necromancer takes advantage of the distraction and tries to fi nd a way inside the Undying Court. Can the characters prove their innocence and stop the necromancer before she can infi ltrate the court and carry out her plan of assassination?
—One of the PCs acquires a wasting curse in Xen’drik. Divinations reveal that the only way to reverse the process is to bathe in a thousand-year-old fl ame. The eternal fl ames of the City of the Dead have been burning for longer than that—but how can the PC get into the city?