Veins

Veins
City	Kar-Thal
Realm	Terasil
Function	Residential and Market District

The Veins is the residential and commercial heart of Kar-Thal, located in the central tiers of the mountain-city. Structured as a network of interwoven tunnels, open plazas, and family niches carved from living stone, it is both the most densely populated and acoustically vibrant district in the city. The name derives from the branching, capillary-like layout of its chambers, which pulse with daily life and ritual resonance.

Function

The Veins serves as Kar-Thal’s primary space for habitation, trade, and informal communal gatherings. While its civic functions are limited compared to governance or ceremonial districts, it plays a critical role in sustaining the rhythm of everyday Orasian life—housing stone-tender families, artisan guilds, and market keepers who maintain the city's essential material and spiritual flow.

History

Originally carved as a cluster of tunnel-dwellings during the city's expansion in the Era of Isolation, the Veins grew organically outward from central stone wells and mineral springs. Its layout was never imposed from above, but shaped by resonance-guided carving and community-led extension. During the Great Erosion, the Veins sheltered incoming families displaced from outer ranges, solidifying its role as a communal anchor within the city.

Notable Locations

• Heartplaza – A large, circular plaza lit by glowstone lanterns where traders, stone-tellers, and echo-singers gather. Functions as the district’s central meeting point.
• Resonance Well – A shallow mineral basin used for daily harmonic cleansing and echo practice. The acoustics are tuned to amplify communal chants and affirmations.
• Grovehalls – Residential niches built around ancient mineral pillars. These dwellings are passed through stone-oaths and often contain ancestral chime-altars.
• Echo Market – A multi-chambered trade zone arranged by tonal pitch, where vendors call out in rhythmic resonance to mark time and location.

Cultural Practices

Residents of the Veins maintain a strong tradition of echo-rhythmic speech, using chantlike cadences for market exchanges, announcements, and inter-household communication. Many families maintain their own tonal signatures, identifiable by trained resonance-keepers.

The Veins also hosts informal ceremonies such as stone-feeding, where offerings of finely crushed minerals are placed in wall hollows to honor the daily labor of the city. During Cycle Days, many residents gather at the Resonance Well to share meditative tones, believed to keep the district in harmonic alignment with the city’s deeper layers.