Overview

Torrica was the capital of Kildar, once a gleaming city of towers, bridges, and canals. Today it lies in ruins, a perilous land where the weave of magic has been torn, unleashing wild surges and unstable planar rifts. The terrain itself shifts and writhes, making survival difficult.

The Eldritch Inquisition has declared the entire region the Torrica Exlusion Zone, ringed with watchtowers and patrols. Strangely, they will not stop those reckless enough to enter. Leaving, however, is another matter—for the Inquisition fears what horrors might escape alongside you.

Those few who survive Torrica's shifting wastes speak in hushed tones of a city at its heart, rising from the ruins of the old capital. Twisted and dark, it is no longer called Torrica, but Umbra, named by the cursed souls who dwell within.

History

Before the Crimson Dusk

Over eighty years ago, Torrica stood as the gleaming capital of Kildar. Its skyline was crowned with slender towers, its districts linked by sweeping bridges and winding canals. Markets rang with laughter and the clang of smiths’ hammers, while the scent of spices and fresh bread drifted through streets alive with color and song.

The city’s crest—a golden sunburst over a tranquil river—fluttered proudly on banners above lush gardens and cascading vines. At the heart of Torrica stood a grand citadel, seat of the Kildarian monarchy and a symbol of the realm’s strength.

The city was divided into many districts: an Elven quarter filled with greenery and parks, a religious and military precinct, bustling financial and industrial centers, and sprawling neighborhoods ranging from opulent estates to shadowed streets of crime. Its harbor teemed with ships from distant lands, and its waterways bustled with trade and travel. Torrica was a city of culture, commerce, and wonder—until the Crimson Dusk.

The Crimson Dusk (November, 523)

Beneath Torrica, sealed by rune-carved pillars and watched over by the Eldritch Inquisition, a slumbering Horror lay hidden. On November 8th, as the Red Star drew near, the Horror awoke. With a cataclysmic force, it tore free from its prison, ascending into the skies to join Hadar. In its wake it left only devastation—a vast crater where the proud city once stood.

Refugees poured from the ruin, and lawlessness gripped the camps forming around the crater’s edge. When rescue parties and builders descended to reclaim the site, a second disaster struck: the crater became the central battlefield in the war against the Red Star.

The destruction of Torrica killed the Kildarian royal family and shattered the kingdom’s central government. In June 524, a massive battle was fought amid the crater’s ruins against Hadar’s forces, unleashing magical energies so immense they tore the weave itself. According to the Eldritch Inquisition, this event cursed the land with wild magic surges and planar instability.

Survivors fled downriver, many finding refuge in Stormhaven, whose rapid growth reshaped the region’s balance of power. Rebuilding Torrica was attempted many times across the decades, but every effort ended in failure. Builders vanished, minds cracked with nightmares, and strange horrors stalked the ruins by night. By 604, Torrica was remembered only as a haunted graveyard of stone and shadow.