Vetalo (वेतालो) was once a great city on the northern coast of Eqos and the center of the Kingdom of Vetalo. However, darkness enveloped the coast in 1E578 and the city was consumed by the sands alongside its last ruler, Prince Alric. It is now marked by half-buried ruins around a divine oasis in the Undead Sands. In its heyday, it flourished as a centerpoint of trade between the continents of Aurial and Teer. Vetalo was often considered to be the northern tip of a triangle of great cities alongside Dibayad and Kasaaq, and was famous across the world for its artisans and shipbuilders. The city also resisted the Surya Sultanate unlike most other places in Eqos, simply via negotiation and trade. Its last ruler, Rajan Alrik IV (known as Prince Alric in Aurial) was a legendary hero known across the world until his tragic demise trying to save his city.

The city and the northern coast as a whole was subject to a miasma of darkness enveloping the land and destroying all lifeforce. There is no real consensus as to how this happened as anyone who would know is dead. There are two widely believed theories in the modern day, the first one being that the citizens of the rich city refused to honor the goddess Noshmi out of hubris and ego, which led to her releasing a dark plague from the Shadowfell upon the city which near-instantly destroyed everything. The second and less religious theory is that Prince Alric accidentally brought the darkness with him to his own city after a heroic quest in the Shadowlands, further amplifying his tragic tale. Whichever may be true, it’s said that the vampiric vetala have their origin in this darkness, having been named after the city. The ruins of Vetalo still stand underground, said to be accessible by a magically sealed elevator from the surface. Legends say that the citizens of Vetalo still roam the streets of their buried city as ghosts, having never made it to the afterlife. Many expeditions were made to the city across the eons to investigate what had happened, but none ever returned. Even the undead of al-Shhubus avoid the ruins for some reason, which unnerve even them.