Bastion of Aurex

Bastion of Aurex
Capital	Helior Vault
Located in	Western Continent
Population	2,400,000
Landmarks	The Helior Vault; The Sunwall Array; The Deep Locks; The Null Courts
Settlements	Dawnward Bastion; Lockspire; Emberless Reach; Stillmark
Factions	The Echohunters (Type: Mercenary) The Glass Market Syndicates (Type: Criminal) The Luminous Archive (Type: Religious) The Pale Accord (Type: Religious) The Stormcall Circles (Type: Religious) The Unsealers (Type: Criminal) The Vigilant Concord (Type: Political)
Coordinates	-17.7092,-90.3446
Campaigns

Bastion of Aurex

Overview

The Bastion of Aurex is not a nation born of culture or conquest, but of refusal. Where much of Velthuryn adapted to the resonance unleashed by the Aethergrave, Aurex was built to deny it. The state exists to contain, suppress, and delay consequences deemed too dangerous to confront directly. Its walls are not symbolic. They are functional responses to a world that remembers too much.

Aurex presents itself as order incarnate. Yet beneath its rigid symmetry lies constant strain. Resonance does not vanish here. It is compressed. Memory does not fade. It is sealed. The Bastion stands as both shield and pressure vessel, holding back truths that other states have chosen, wisely or foolishly, to live with.

Geography

Aurex’s geography is almost entirely engineered. Natural hills have been leveled, valleys filled, and fault-lines bound with layered griefglass struts and resonance baffles. The land does not drift here. It is pinned in place by design.

Beneath the surface stretches a vast network of vaults and lock-chambers, some descending far enough that deepglow light never reaches them. These subterranean structures house sealed Echoes, forbidden artifacts, suppressed histories, and experimental containment systems. During longbright, the surface gleams with reflected Solivar-light from polished stone and heliographic arrays. During deepglow, the land is eerily uniform, illuminated only by controlled luminescence.

People & Culture

Life in Aurex demands discipline above all else.

Humans — Administrators, sentinels, engineers, and archivists trained from youth for containment duty.

Earthkin — Structural specialists responsible for maintaining vault integrity and resonance dampeners.

Orcs — Elite shock troops and breach-response units valued for endurance and clarity under pressure.

Elves — Scholars and observers, permitted limited residence under strict memory protocols.

Aurex culture suppresses overt emotion. Public grief is discouraged. Personal memories of resonance events are often extracted and archived for the “greater stability.” Many citizens measure virtue not by compassion, but by restraint.

Governance & Authority

Aurex is governed by a rigid hierarchy centered on containment responsibility.

Capital — Helior Vault

Helior Vault is both capital and keystone. Built around a massive, sun-lit core chamber, it houses the highest councils, the Sunvault Covenant, and the deepest public-access locks. Entire districts are modular, capable of isolation or collapse to prevent resonance spread.

The Vigilant Concord operates from Helior Vault, coordinating suppression across the state.

Hazards & Containment Failures

Despite its design, Aurex is never fully safe:

Resonance Pressure Zones — Areas where suppressed energy causes physical stress and hallucinations.

Containment Breaches — Sudden releases of sealed Echoes or artifacts.

Memory Ossification — A condition where individuals lose emotional flexibility, becoming fanatically rigid.

Griefglass Feedback — Structural resonance loops that amplify suppressed memories explosively.

Echo Compression Events — Manifestations created when multiple sealed Echoes merge.

Silence Cascades — Sudden nullification of sound, magic, and emotional response.

Vault Collapse — Catastrophic structural failures releasing layered threats.

Economy & Function

Aurex produces little by way of traditional goods. Its value lies in what it prevents. Exports include stabilized griefglass components, containment schematics, and trained specialists. The state is heavily subsidized by others who rely on it to hold what they cannot face.

Relations & Reputation

Aeterron — Necessary collaborators on resonance containment, despite philosophical opposition.

Lexharrow — Provides legal and theoretical frameworks for suppression authority.

Velkar Spires — Frequent ideological conflict over engagement versus restraint.

Thirasil — Cooperative but wary, especially regarding memory extraction practices.

Aurex is respected, feared, and quietly resented across Velthuryn.

Ancestry Distribution

Predominant

Humans, Earthkin

Significant Minorities

Orcs, Elves

Restricted or Temporary Presence

Scholars, inspectors, foreign envoys, and Unsealer infiltrators

Fauna & Constructs of Aurex

Null Hounds — Resonance-sensing sentry beasts bred for containment patrols.

Griefglass Sentinels — Semi-autonomous constructs embedded with suppression runes.

Echo Wraiths — Rare manifestations formed entirely within sealed environments.

Vault Crawlers — Adapted scavengers thriving in deep lock-chambers.

Memory, Silence, and Sacrifice

In the Bastion of Aurex, memory is dangerous. Silence is safety. Sacrifice is policy. The state stands so that others may forget, adapt, or dream without consequence. Whether Aurex is saving the world or merely delaying its reckoning remains an open question. The Bastion does not ask to be loved. It only insists on holding.