Scorval Blight
| Scorval Blight | |
|---|---|
| Capital | Blackstandard Hold |
| Located in | Southern Interior, Western Continent |
| Population | 4,600,000 |
| Landmarks | Blackstandard Hold; The Unending Line; Graves of the Ninth Advance; The Broken Banner Fields |
| Settlements | Holdfast Grey; Lastwatch; Cinderline; Mercy’s End |
| Factions |
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| Coordinates | -50.5140,121.4048 |
| Campaigns | The Echo Below |
Scorval Blight
Overview
Scorval Blight is a land where the war ended, but the decisions did not. The banners were lowered, treaties signed, and armies disbanded, yet the ground itself continues to argue over what should have happened. Here, resonance binds not to time or ancestry, but to command. Orders given under fear, pride, or desperation replay endlessly, shaping terrain, Echoes, and lives.
Unlike Sunlash, where emotion loops time, Scorval locks moments of choice in place. The land does not repeat battles. It repeats decisions. Every trench, hill, and ruined fortification remembers the moment someone chose to advance, retreat, hold, or sacrifice others.
Geography
Scorval Blight spans vast plains interrupted by trench networks, shell craters, and half-reclaimed fortresses. Grasses grow in regimented lines following former troop formations. Rivers bend unnaturally around old supply routes, as if still obeying logistics maps.
During longbright, the land appears bleak but stable. During deepglow, moonlight reveals spectral formations: ghostly ranks, flickering command flags, and invisible front lines that still exert force on the terrain.
People & Culture
Life in Scorval is shaped by inherited command.
Humans — Former officers, strategists, and civilian survivors.
Orcs — Disciplined veterans and unit leaders with strong honor codes.
Earthkin — Engineers maintaining unstable fortifications and memorial works.
Halflings — Medics, couriers, and morale-keepers.
Elves — Chroniclers and memory-wardens documenting unresolved orders.
Communities organize around watches, shifts, and preparedness drills. Memorials are functional structures, doubling as shelters or supply caches.
Governance & Postwar Authority
Scorval has no central ruler in the traditional sense. Authority is distributed among councils of veterans, engineers, and caretakers.
Capital — Blackstandard Hold
Blackstandard Hold was once the primary command fortress during the war. Now partially ruined and partially inhabited, it serves as Scorval’s administrative center and moral anchor. Its halls are lined with sealed orders that were never carried out, each inscribed in griefglass to prevent reactivation.
Major decisions affecting the Blight are debated here, often with the explicit question: Will this choice echo?
Hazards & Lingering War Threats
The Blight’s dangers are tactical and psychological:
Command Echoes — Spectral officers issuing compulsive orders.
Battlefield Loops — Zones where tactical decisions replay endlessly.
Griefglass Shrapnel Fields — Crystalline debris inducing combat flashbacks.
Trench Collapse — Sudden ground failure along old fortifications.
Tactical Possession — Echoes temporarily seizing control of individuals.
Morale Drain — Environmental despair sapping resolve and Hope.
Economy & Recovery
Scorval’s economy centers on salvage, reconstruction, and remembrance. Griefglass fragments, battlefield relics, and stabilized fortification designs are traded cautiously. Many residents work as guides, caretakers, or Echo containment specialists.
Relations & Reputation
Aeterron — Shared expertise in Echo containment and hazardous terrain.
The Bastion of Aurex — Tense cooperation over sealed orders and suppression ethics.
Tarkhos Dominion — Mutual respect between oath-bound warriors.
Lexharrow — Ongoing disputes over the interpretation of wartime decisions.
Scorval is respected for endurance, pitied for its burden, and feared for what its land can still command.
Ancestry Distribution
Predominant
Humans, Orcs
Significant Minorities
Earthkin, Halflings, Elves
Transient Populations
Echohunters, historians, military scholars, and pilgrims
Fauna & Echoes of Scorval
Banner Wraiths — Echoes bound to fallen standards.
Trench Hounds — Beasts adapted to cratered terrain.
Griefglass Scarabs — Insects feeding on emotional residue.
Command Shades — Manifestations of unresolved leadership decisions.
Ironroot Stags — Creatures grown around embedded shrapnel.
Decision, Duty, and Aftermath
In Scorval Blight, choice is the true weapon. The land remembers not who won, but who decided and who paid the price. To live here is to accept that victory does not end responsibility, and that some wars only conclude when their decisions are finally answered, amended, or forgiven.
