Chroyane

Chroyane, once called the festival city, was the most beautiful and richest city on the Rhoyne, a place of laughter, gardens, and golden houses. Its destruction came at the hands of the Valyrian dragonlords during the Second Spice War, when the Rhoynar prince Garin led a rebellion against the Freehold. In retaliation, the dragonlords unleashed their full fury, reducing the city to a desolate ruin. Now, a thousand years later, the city lies submerged and shattered, a place of fog, stone men, and despair, known as the Sorrows.

The Drowned City

The ruins of Chroyane are a labyrinth of shattered spires, headless statues, and collapsed domes, all draped in grey moss and black vines. The river has reclaimed the city, and its streets are made of water. The Palace of Love, once a place of gardens and fountains, is now the Palace of Sorrow, a roofless, overgrown ruin where the fog conceals three-quarters of its former grandeur. The Bridge of Dream, a broken span that once connected the palace to the western bank, is now home to the stone men, the living dead afflicted by greyscale who shuffle aimlessly among the flickering lamps. The air is thick with a supernatural fog that stinks of sorcery, and the river itself seems to defy nature, with currents that can carry a boat in circles, returning it to the same bridge it had already passed.

The Festival City's Legacy

Before its fall, Chroyane was a city of festivals, where the streets were made of water and the houses of gold. It was the heart of the Rhoynar civilization, a place of music, art, and pleasure. The Rhoynar princes were said to ride giant turtles across the river, and the city's wealth was legendary. This very opulence, however, made it a target. The Valyrian Freehold, ever hungry for conquest, saw the city as a prize to be taken. The war that followed was brutal, and the city's destruction was total. The river itself was poisoned with the blood of its people, and the land was cursed. The stone men are said to be the restless spirits of those who died in the city's fall, their flesh turned to stone by the curse of Garin, the Rhoynar prince who called upon his Mother Rhoyne to destroy his enemies, only to be captured and mocked before the waters rose and drowned them all.

A Place of Despair and Danger

For those who travel the Rhoyne, the Sorrows are a place of profound danger and despair. The fog is unnatural, and the stone men are a constant threat, their touch carrying the deadly greyscale. The river itself is treacherous, with hidden currents and the remains of the city lurking just below the surface. The air is heavy with the stench of decay and the whispers of the dead. The Shrouded Lord, a legendary figure who rules the mists, is said to be the most powerful of the stone men, a corsair or a statue brought to life by a kiss from a grey woman. The very atmosphere of the place is one of hopelessness, a reminder of the fragility of civilization and the destructive power of dragons. It is a place where the past is not dead, but undead, and where the living are merely intruders in a world of ghosts and stone.