Pahuax, the City of Ash is a Temple-City of the Lizardmen on the northern border of Lustria, south of the Temple-City of Hexoatl, which was destroyed during the Great Catastrophe. In spite of the devastation it endured, its pyramids stand to this day, a defiant testament to the powers of the ancients.[1a][2a]
History[]
Pahuax was attacked shortly after the fall of the Polar Gates, during the Great Catastrophe. During this time, the temple-city was the only location in Lustria where Chameleon Skinks were spawned.[1c][2b] These mounted bold ambushes against the daemon hordes, but were forced to retreat within the sacred walls of the temple-city, a host of Greater Daemons nearly catching them before they could duck within the protection of the magical barriers created by the Slann. Yet that barrier soon crumbled before the Chaos onslaught, until the Daemons stalked the plazas and the Lizardmen defence shrank back into the pyramid district.[1d]
In a last effort for victory, Mage-Priest Lord Pocaxaln attempted to summon forth a nova-blast of energy to banish the foes.He needed time to conjure the mystic forces to power the spell, however, and called upon his last surviving Saurus, and Oxyotl and his Chameleon Skinks to protect him, buying precious moments while the ritual was completed. But alas, the fickle powers of Chaos tricked Pocaxalan, and he tapped too deeply into the howling Winds of Magic — colossal energies spiraled out of control, ripping holes in the fabric of reality. The Slann and his last protectors were sucked into the Realm of Chaos. Pahuax aged millennia in scant seconds; large portions of the city, along with all its inhabitants, crumbling to dust[1d], yet its pyramids survived.[2a]
Pahuax has since 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.[1a] One such instance of reconstruction of Pahuax occured in 1890 when the Great Pyramid of Pahuax was rebuilt. During excavation, workers discovered an egg from a Quango, a creature not seen since the time of the Old Ones. The egg was given to Lord Mazdamundi who declared that its hatching may be of great import.[1b]
Pahuax was once the exclusive place in which Chameleon Skinks were spawned. Following the loss of the temple-city and the battle of Blood Ravine, where the last of their kind was thought to be slain, the sub-breed was considered to be extinct.[1c][2b] However, beginning in the Age of Strife, a few haphazard spawnings occured across Lustria.[1c] When the Chameleon Skink Oxyotl returned from the Realm of Chaos in 2517 IC, his return coincided with the spontaneous and unheralded spawning of Chameleon Skinks in that long ruined temple-city, and many other temple-cities as well.[1b]
Notable Locations[]
Great Pyramid of Pahuax[]
In 1809 IC the Great Pyramid of Pahuax was rebuilt. During excavation, workers discover an egg from a Quango, a creature not seen since the time of the Old Ones. The egg was given to Lord Mazdamundi who declares that its hatching may be of great import and that it will only hatch when the Old Ones have returned.[2c] The contents of this egg could be anything from a withered, aged creature on the verge of death to the thunderous peals and radiant hues of a Quango in its full glory.[1e]
Sources[]
Gallery[]
