Kalazart

Lying along the primary lightning rail through Cyre, many inhabitants of Kalazart were lucky enough to be able to escape on a train. However, the proud, patriotic upper crust of the city stubbornly stayed, instead gathering at the house of Count ir’Hatim for one final party to await the coming cataclysm.

The attendees of the party miraculously survived–but were transformed into Strigoi (Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft Chapter 5). Their faces extended, with noses transformed into blood-sucking proboscises. Many grew leathery or insectile wings, allowing them to take flight. And all saw physical transformation–bloating, stretching, warping–into hideous monstrosities, often developing insectile legs and engorged bottoms. 

Overcome with an unquenchable thirst, the partiers ventured out and found a city filled with lifeless corpses and the living remnants of its warforged workforce. After gorging themselves, the transformed courtiers set the warforged to the task of gathering up all the bodies in the city for future consumption and disposing of those that had been drained. 

The constant churn of moneyed individuals – from both the gentry and the Dragonmarked Houses – created opportunities for a thriving middle class in Kalazart.

Fireweave Bazaar

Like most locations in Kalazart, the Fireweave Bazaar served two purposes. During the day, it was the beating economic heart of the city, home to the hottest trends in artifice and fashion. At night, the bazaar transformed into a bustling black market, knowing that the authorities would look the other way so long as certain fees were paid.

Kalazart Station

The second largest Orien enclave in Cyre, Kalazart Station was a microcosm of the larger city. Arcane slot machines, private shows, and ready access to drugs and alcohol were enabled by the station’s long pauses and layovers, allowing patrons to enjoy themselves before stumbling back to continue their journey.

Rose Theater

While Kalazart often struggled in the shadow of Metrol, the Rose Theater was where House Phiarlan truly innovated its productions, unlike the stagnant highbrow works showcased in Metrol. Daring feats of acrobatics, astounding works of shadow magic, and racy musicals all graced the Rose Theater’s ever-full stage.

Temple of Olladra

While most of the Five Nations worshipped the Sovereign Host as a pantheon, temples to individual deities still existed in fitting locations throughout the kingdom of Galifar. Kalazart was home to the greatest temple of Olladra, the sovereign of luck and plenty. While the priests generally lacked political power even within the city, the shrines were nonetheless popular and credited with turning many a life around. Pilgrims were greeted with a chance to play a game of dominos, the holy symbol of the deity, with the resident monks upon their arrival.

Traveler's Rest

One of the few stable changeling communities in Khorvaire, Traveler’s Rest was a commune of changelings who lived openly in their natural forms. This exclusive group rarely allowed non-changelings into their community, maintaining a separate bastion of culture from the rest of the city.

While the city survived the direct effects of the day of Mourning, it hasn’t been so lucky in the four years since–its current inhabitants have ransacked the place.

The Hive

Count ir’Hatim’s palace has undergone a gruesome transformation into a living nest for the survivors. The Mournland’s mists have twisted the blood-drained bodies of the dead to create fleshy walls, floors, and ceilings for the creatures to nest in. The former palace reeks of death and decay, a stench abhorrent even to the warforged servants. The Count has closed off several rooms at the center of the hive to all but a few of his closest confidantes, begging the question of what he’s hiding.

While the party never ended in Kalazart, some participants stood above and beyond the others.

Viceroy Hammad Vown d’Cannith

The highest-ranking member of the house in Kalazart, Viceroy Hammad (he/him) ostensibly only ran a basic fabricator’s guild operation. In truth, the Cannith operations in Kalazart went far deeper, with extensive laboratories dedicated to projects that needed the aid and support of a primary lightning rail and urban work force but were considered too dangerous to keep under Metrol.

Fahima Tayyib

Owner of the hottest attraction in Kalazart, Fahima (she/her) runs the Aetherling. The club’s patrons live by the motto “Live fast, die young, leave a pretty corpse.” Parties often spilled out from the Aetherling, taking over the city in a riotous affair of color, flesh, and magic. Fahima took an influential role in the city’s politics, fighting for the basic safety of the people enjoying the nightlife. Her independence often put her in conflict with the Dragonmarked Houses, especially House Phiarlan and Ghallanda which each sought to buy out her operations.

The Shadowbroker

One of Kalazart’s more enigmatic persons, the Shadowbroker was always the center of its illicit trade and services. While other kingpins would rise and fall, the Shadowbroker (they/them) was a constant. Despite this, the actual identity of the Shadowbroker was a deep secret. Rumors said the Shadowbroker was a free warforged, a secret identity used by one of their alleged intermediaries, or even an identity passed from one criminal to another.

Plenty of nobles have found themselves victim of the curse of Kalazart–presented are some of the leaders.

Count Abad ir’Hatim

The lord of Kalazart and its surrounding lands, Count Abad ir’Hatim (he/him) had always been envious of the status held by the Metrol royalty. Perpetually the lesser of the two cities, the count of Kalazart learned bitterness from the generations that came before him. Kalazart was fun, but Metrol had a permanent dignity and was the true center of activity for most Cyran nobility. Now, the Count has a large, distended body with dozens of legs, arms, and wings. He now seeks to grotesquely mimic the fineries of royalty that he lived in the shadow of, staging court dramas in the ruins of his ancestral fiefdom.

Viscountess Zahra ir’Mansur

The right hand of the Count, Viscountess Zahra ir’Mansur (she/her) was responsible for implementing the details of the Count’s vision for Kalazart. Her verbal tirades were feared throughout the city, and that fear was reinforced by the knowledge that she would keep long grudges against those who displeased her. In her transformed state, she’s gained hooked claws that allow her to pin and rend still-living prey, something she’s begun to enjoy deeply.

Crown Reeve Karim ir’Abbar

One of many crown reeves to rule over the lands adjacent to Kalazart, Crown Reeve Karim (he/him) was best known for his over-the-top gluttony at parties. That trait has persevered through his transformation, exacerbated by his loss of access to transmutation and illusion magics. Now, the Crown Reeve is a creature so bloated he is unable to even fly. His enthusiasm for food has grown perverted, as the Crown Reeve gladly ingests flesh too rancid or necrotized to be enjoyed by anyone else.

Hammer

Hammer (he/him) is the leader of a nascent labor solidarity movement in the city. While the warforged are not prey for the corrupted nobility of the city, that does not mean that they are free. Hammer has been contacted by an emissary of the Lord of Blades, who has promised to help overthrow the bloodsucking monsters if Hammer can recover an important artifact from a secret Cannith vault.

Kalazart was a lively city with a heavy emphasis on tourism. Here are some character ideas.

Guild Merchant. For many, the city’s festivities are something that can be enjoyed on occasion, but only as a treat. How do you feel about the open class differences celebrated by the city’s vices? Did you work to provide any? How do you feel about nobles who covertly enjoyed the city’s life?

Noble. Almost anyone of means in Cyre has attended a Kalazart party at least once in their life. Are you a regular, or were you dragged into it? What’s something scandalous you witnessed?

Criminal. Safe legalization only goes so far for the debauchery of people of means. During the war, Kalazart was a hotbed of smuggled goods. Who did you have dirt on? Who had dirt on you?

Four years later, the endless thirst of the rabid partiers has substantially depleted the reserves of bodies in the city. As such, they’ve begun to look elsewhere for other sources–and fresher prey. The transformed are almost strictly nocturnal, relying on their warforged servants to keep watch during the day. Even with the mists blocking out most of the sun, transformed courtiers have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks during the day as the ambient light overwhelms their senses.

Lost Knowledge. Despite popular belief, not all the nobles who participated in the hedonistic excesses of Kalazart were completely divorced from the actualities of history and governance. As some of the highest ranking survivors of the Mourning, any number of the transformed courtiers might have essential knowledge… but negotiating a price won’t be pretty.

Missing Treasures. The seedy black market of Kalazart was thriving up until the Day of Mourning. Enterprises seeking to recover high value lost goods could finance a recovery team to head into the Fireweave Bazaar.

Vengeance. The mass deaths of Cyre have left little room for grudges, but news of surviving nobility, however twisted, might be a prompt to bring a bloody end to an old feud.