Temple-City

Upon entering the dark beneath the canopies of Lustria, it is impossible to see more than a few dozen yards ahead, much less view more distant features. Only the most towering of creatures, or those gifted with flight, will ever witness the hidden continent’s most glorious spectacles. Rising proud above the canopy and gleaming in the bright sunlight stand the great temple-cities of the Lizardmen.

Overview
Amongst the eldest structures in the world, the temple-cities were raised during the age of the Old Ones. For their size and simple grandeur, they have never been equalled by the constructions of any younger race. Monolithic structures and vast pyramids still stand, breathtaking in their scope, unrivalled in their enormity. In their time, each one teemed with thriving activity; the Slann Mage-Priests and their viziers were kept busy supervising the nurturing of the various races created by the Old Ones, the Skinks ensured daily operations ran smoothly and, from under the decorative arches, the Saurus legions marched on their wars of extinction. Dozens of saurians from the jungle were captured and trained for domestic uses — Stegadons hauled forwards building materials for the Kroxigor, Pliodons acted as living ferries across the wide canals, and Voxosaurs emitted their piercing screams to sound alarms. The Old Ones themselves would come and go, their star-sailing ships landing in the wide plazas.

Each of the temple-cities was constructed to be different in its own way, although all have been carefully positioned to relate to a specific celestial body or astral phenomena. In this manner, the structures sit atop and serve as pivotal nexus points in the geomantic web, the source of much of the Slann’s power and of energy vital to the maintenance of the Great Warding. Since the coming of Chaos, and the deviations from the Great Plan, some of the alignments have drifted apart. Much that once was has been lost, as many temple-cities were destroyed. Where possible, their ruins are still guarded, for they are still circuits that make up the greater whole. Yet over the ages, some sites have been left permanently neglected, their power and population lost to the Lizardmen forever.

At the heart of every city are the pyramid-temples. Large and majestic, these stepped ziggurats loom over everything. At each of their summits, far above the world, sit the most ancient of the city’s Slann Mage-Priests. Each apex is known as a Star Chamber and within this sacred space a Slann can align his thoughts and engage in conversations with others of his kind, though they be far distant over the horizon. From his seat of power, a Slann can turn his attentions to the constellations above, seeking signs of the return of the Old Ones. The taller the pyramid, the more powerful the Mage-Priest; the surrounding smaller structures are for lesser priests. This is done so that the elder generation can keep their mental pathways clear - undisturbed by the naive questions and less weighty thoughts of younger Slann or, worse still, the impertinent and impatient Skink Priests.

Deep within each pyramid are many vaults, crypts and chambers, each accessible only through secret and well-guarded passages. These vaults may contain the mummified remains of venerated Slann, mirror-like pools for observing distant locations, ancient devices left behind by the Old Ones or other relics, such as a temple-city’s sacred plaques.

Four major temple-cities currently stand intact, although this has not always been the case. In the ages since the Great Catastrophe, the fortunes of the temple-cites have risen and fallen according to the unknowable will of the Old Ones. Some cities have been inexplicably abandoned, their populations marching in long columns to rebuild an ancient ruin many miles distant. Sometimes a Slann Mage-Priest will set out to refound some other location — temporarily re-establishing a dwelling amidst the overgrown ruins so that he can meditate in peace upon deep matters that require thoughts from that particular alignment.

A legacy in ruins
The majority of the temple-cities of Lustria are now in ruins, choked and overgrown by the jungle, although not necessarily deserted. There are many different reasons why these wonders have been reduced to such decrepit states. Most were ravaged during the Great Catastrophe, overrun by daemonic hordes. Over the ages, other Lizardmen cities have fallen to disasters, plagues, the invasions of warmbloods, shifting tectonics instigated by the Slann themselves, and other reasons unknown.

Those temple-cities that were destroyed during the Great Catastrophe are often haunted by their past, such as what remains of Tlax, which is now known as the City of Ghosts. So momentous were the calamities suffered there that unspeakable things were etched into the air itself. To this day, when the alignments of the stars are right, the past replays itself and spectral forms battle once more for possession of the city. Many other temple-cities have similar tales, such as Xahutec, which was destroyed when the Daemons entered within its protective barrier through a rift; a portal that allowed troops from the nether-realm to bypass the Slann’s protective wards. Like a wound that will never fully heal, that self-same hole in reality has re-opened several times, causing major incursions that have destroyed each of the attempts to resetde the ruins. Now called the City of Echoes, the Lizardmen have since vacated Xahutec’s cursed ruins, but post a strong guard around its perimeter to raise the alarm when the Daemons return in force yet again.

Chupayotl, now called the Sunken City, toppled into the sea, while Chaqua, the City of Gold, fell to the plagues of the Skaven — the contamination within its walls remains so potent that its overgrown ruins still cannot be repopulated, even after so many years. Axlotl, the Star City, fell first during the Great Catastrophe and again in the Skaven rising. Since those days it has been partially reconsecrated, although it stands empty - or it appears so, as it is nearly impossible to pick out the Chameleon Skinks that keep silent vigil in the treeline outside the tumbledown city. Quetza, the birthplace of the Skaven Clan Pestilens, has remained defiled and unfit for Lizardmen to return; however, its labyrinthine undertunnels are now haven to serpents beyond count, and Sotek’s Children have not allowed any of the ratmen to return.

Not all of the ruins stand empty, however, for some, such as the temple-city of Huatl, are in the process of being refounded. Hundreds of Kroxigor work to replace stone blocks in alignment, and the jungle has been beaten back. Already the Great Temple has been rebuilt and its Star Chamber houses a Mage-Priest for the first time in an age. Oyxl, the Eternal City, was ruined by Daemons, but its Great Pyramid is still attended by Skink Priests and it is said that the Skinks of that city have almost mastered the carnivorous, flightless birds that roam the surrounding plains. Pahuax, the City of Ash, has been abandoned and refounded no fewer than six times; through it all, the pyramids have stood tall, a weathered but defiant testament to the powers of the ancients.

Intact cities

 * Itza, the First City.


 * Hexoatl, the City of the Sun.


 * Tlaxtlan, the City of the Moon.


 * Xlanhuapec, the City of Mists.

Ruined cities

 * Pahuax, the City of Ash.


 * Tlanxla, the City of Heaven.


 * Xahutec, the City of Echoes.


 * Tlax, the City of Ghosts.


 * Chaqua, the City of Gold.


 * Huatl, the City of Awakening.


 * Quetza, the Defiled City.


 * Axlotl, the Star City.


 * Xhotl, the City of Fate.


 * Oyxl, the Eternal City.


 * Chupayotl, the Sunken City.

Southlands

 * Zlatlan.


 * Tlaqua.


 * Teotiqua.


 * Nahuontl.


 * Cuexotl.


 * Enxilada.

Albion

 * Konquata, the City of Resistance.