The town now known as Moonlit Junction is built upon the remains of Cloudreaver Keep, the great fort that once marked the eastern edge of the Grand Duchy of Alkenstar's holdings. When the Alchemist wiped Alkenstar off the map, the Mana Wastes became even more dangerous and unpredictable. Many of the smaller settlements in the Wastes became untenable, either from the loss of Alkenstar's economic support or because the desert simply became too inhospitable. Cloudreaver Keep, a defensible settlement on the edge of the desert with ready access to the Ustradi River and the means to purify its magical runoff, became a refuge for survivors from villages like Mercy, Gitna, and especially Martel.
Though resources were scarce, everyone who chose to hold out against the Age of Collapse in Cloudreaver Keep came together to help each other survive. And the keep soon grew into a small town, far from abundant but hardy and resilient all the same. The nomadic communities that still travelled the desert, ever wary of its dangers, recognized the town as a safe haven and trading outpost, and the traders that set up shop in the former keep's courtyard earned it the name Cloudreaver Market.
The ravages of time took their toll. Cloudreaver Keep became too difficult to maintain with little labor or materials to spare, and over the years the fort fell into ruin, with only pieces of the walls standing the test of time. But the town continued, bolstered by growing farming efforts along a gradually-recovering Ustradi River and the discovery of nearby deposits of gold and silver that brought work as miners and new trading opportunities for its residents.
Cloudreaver Market experienced its true boom in the aftermath of the Alchemist's defeat. Nomads had always found the occasional trinket of old Alkenstar out in the desert, but the relative safety and prosperity enjoyed in the Age of Renewal meant more people could afford to go hunting for those artifacts for its own sake—and there were more buyers interested in acquiring them. The relics of Alkenstar demonstrated bizarre magical properties, thought to be caused by a millenia of exposure to the magic-warping properties of both the Worldweep and the Mana Wastes, and they became highly desirable as objects of research or even simple trophies in the reawakened nations of Nex and Geb. This popularity gave Cloudreaver Market a new reputation as a place for explorers to make their fortune and lead to the creation of the Relic Seekers' Union, an organization that protects eager treasure hunters from unscrupulous merchants and each other.
Of course, things changed once again with the return of Alkenstar and the beginning of the shardstorms. The Relic Seekers' business has become more important on the world stage than they ever could have imagined, and only the rare hunters who have become Shardbound have a shot at the most valuable prizes. When Adrian and Arlo showed up talking about a new adventurer's guild for the Shardbound, the Relic Seekers had no choice but to fall in line and support their efforts if they wanted to hold on to any influence in the market. They even endorsed Adrian's bid to rename Cloudreaver Market to Moonlit Junction, despite the grumblings of some life-long residents. Now the town stands at the precipice of a new influx of adventurers from around the world and an explosion of interest and activity that promises to grow the once-humble trading outpost beyond any of its wildest dreams. Many people are excited to welcome newcomers to the town they love, but some aren't so enthusiastic. They see a wave about to crash down upon them, and they fear what the rising tide will do to anyone who can't find a boat.
Languages: Moonlit Junction is a border town and a trading hub for communities across the Mana Wastes. The town's primary language is Taldane, like the Alkenstari refugees who fled there after the city's disappearance, but its residents speak a variety of languages common to the Mana Wastes and old Alkenstar including Dwarven, Iruxi, Kelish, Kholo, and Osiriani.