Kar-Thal

Kar-Thal
Type	Capital City
Location	Citadel Mountains, Central Terasil
Realm	Terasil
Inhabitants	Duranthi
Significance	Ancient capital and spiritual heart of Terasil
Controlled by	Council of Stone

Kar-Thal is the ancient capital and spiritual heart of Terasil. Carved into the core of the Citadel Mountains, it is the largest and oldest city in Terasil and serves as the center of Duranthi civilization. Revered as both a city and a living embodiment of the earth, Kar-Thal reflects the values of endurance, patience, and unity with the land. Kar-Thal reflects the values of endurance, patience, and unity with the land. Among the Duranthi, the density of one's stone-skin is most recognized here, and often associated with ancestral proximity to Oras."

Geography

Kar-Thal is located deep within the Citadel Mountains, a rugged and sacred range that shelters the remnants of the original primordial realm. The city itself is vertically structured, with multi-tiered districts built into the natural contours of the mountain. Its architecture is entirely integrated with the mountain stone, avoiding external alteration and embracing the natural flow of the rock.

History

Founded soon after Duranthi arrived in the Sanctuary Vale, Kar-Thal emerged as the first permanent settlement in the Terasil. It has served as a continuous center of governance, tradition, and spiritual practice since the earliest days of modern Terasil.

Districts

Darak-Kel

Darak-Kel is the political and ceremonial heart of Kar-Thal. Built around the Grand Hall of Oras, it houses the chambers of the Council of Stone, ancestral relic vaults, and the oath-steppes where major decrees are recorded. Public access is limited; citizens gather in outer halls to hear announcements of council proceedings.

The Veins

The Veins are a residential and market district. A living web of tunnels and grotto-homes, where daily commerce and family life unfold. This district pulses with Kar-Thal’s economic and communal heartbeat.

Kel-Siruun

Kel-Siruun hosts the Archives and Stonecraft Guilds. A tiered arc of carved vaults surrounding the Ashlar Vaults. Home to Lorewardens, record-keepers, and artisans. Every wall here is etched with law-stones, genealogical records, and geological treatises. Entrance to inner archives requires express permission of the Lorewardens.

Surn's Refuge

Inside Kar-Thal

Surn's Refuge is a district focused on contemplation and public ceremony A cavernous sanctuary filled with mineral chimes and natural spires. The city's most sacred public rituals take place here.

The Stonesteps

The Stonesteps are the place for trials and Initiations. A dangerous spiraling stair carved from obsidian-glass along a vertical chasm wall. Used for trials of endurance and rites of passage. Only those seeking to join the ranks of Stonewardens are permitted to ascend.

Tarsu-un

Tarsu-un is the district with quarry access and miner guilds. This district lies closest to the city’s outer quarry networks and is inhabited by stonecutters and Minthari tunnelers. The dwellings here are more utilitarian. Known for its practical dialect and unadorned architecture.

Stone's Hold

Stone's Hold is a defensive stronghold and logistics hub. Located around the Lithic Gate, this fortified district houses the city’s Stonewarden barracks, storehouses, and defense infrastructure.

Varen-Kelun

Varen-Kelun houses the diplomatic and external relations A relatively newer addition to Kar-Thal, Varen-Kelun was built to house visitors, traders, and emissaries from beyond Terasil.

Notable Locations

The Gates of Origin

The Gates of Origin are the sole known entrance to inner Terasil and the Basiton of Oras, thought to be the home of Oras himself. This sacred land had been sealed off by Orasians centuries before the city was built, after the Orasians left the Vale following the end of the Erosion Wars

The Grand Hall of Oras

The Grand Hall of Oras is the central chamber of governance and ritual. Its basalt columns and echoing stone acoustics are said to resonate with the voice of Oras himself. Here, the Council of Stone deliberates under the watch of ancient statues carved from the mountain's heart.

Tarrakul Arhun ("The Rooted Temple")

Tarrakul Arhun is a sanctuary built around a massive column of uncarved stone, considered a raw conduit of Oras’s essence. Silent ceremonies are conducted in its shadow, with worshipers pressing their foreheads to the stone to receive visions.

The Ashlar Vaults

The Ashlar Vaults is a tiered archive of knowledge and law, composed of memory-stones and carved tablets. The Vaults are maintained by the Lorewardens, who chisel updated records and guard ancient civic decrees dating back to the city's founding.

Hall of Binding Echoes

The Hall of Binding Echoes is a secluded chamber where oaths are sworn and ancestral pacts sealed. The acoustics preserve and repeat vows whispered into the stone, allowing them to echo across generations.

The Lithic Gate

The Lithic Gate is a fortified threshold into Kar-Thal, constructed from interlocking slabs without mortar. The gate’s architecture is designed to shift subtly with seismic vibrations, rendering it unbreachable. Guarded by Earthbound Sentinels

Culture and Society

Life in Kar-Thal is governed by a distinct rhythm—slow and deliberate. As the seat of the Council of Stone, and indeed directly ruled by the council, the city embodies the most formal and conservative expression of Duranthi values. Every civic process, from decision-making to public labor, is measured by ritual intervals and guided by ancestral precedent.

Civic identity is shaped not only by district and role, but often by geological heritage. Those with denser or more ancient stone formations are viewed—formally or not—as closer to the city’s foundational purpose."

Kar-Thal is divided into districts, each tied to a particular function and lineage. Civic identity is shaped not by family, but by district allegiance, often passed through apprenticeships, work guilds, or stone-oaths. The city’s most prestigious districts are home to elder-chambers, judges, and archive-keepers, while districts like the Veins serve as centers for commerce and daily life.

Ceremonial roles in Kar-Thal are deeply institutionalized. Stonewardens and Lorewardens maintain the city’s sacred routines.

Citizens of Kar-Thal observe Veshariin (Harmonic Days), when public life slows to a standstill and citizens descend into meditation chambers to attune themselves with subterranean vibrations. These moments of stillness are said to maintain spiritual balance and civic unity.

Artisans within Kar-Thal craft not for beauty, but for endurance and memory.

Above all, Kar-Thal is a city where time is measured by stone. Its people live embedded in their city’s material memory—literally carved into its halls—and believe that to dwell in Kar-Thal is to be shaped by it in return.

Spiritual Significance

The city is situated atop a powerful node of Oras’s essence. Earth Spirits are frequently encountered within its caverns and halls, often taking part in civic rituals. Duranthi believe Kar-Thal to be one of the few remaining places where the voice of Oras can be heard directly through stone and echo. Though Oras remains the core presence, the Ascended Spirit Varunel is also invoked in archival and legislative rites, representing continuity and recorded truth.

Economy

Kar-Thal’s economy centers on stonecraft, mineral trade, and earth-imbued artifacts. While not aggressively expansionist, it maintains deep trade ties with Minthari Settlements. The Earthheart Forge and the Veins host markets where both mundane and spiritual goods are exchanged.

Defense and Military

Kar-Thal is naturally fortified by the Citadel Mountains. In addition, its defenders—the Stonewardens—are elite warriors some capable of reshaping terrain during battle. The city’s layered structure and deep caverns make it nearly impregnable to direct assault. Defense is focused on endurance and repelling threats through terrain manipulation rather than conventional warfare.

Dangers and Threats

While isolated and well-protected, Kar-Thal faces threats from deep-earth disturbances. Seismic tremors, though rare, are sometimes seen as warnings from Oras. Additionally, friction with certain rogue Minthari mining guilds poses a cultural and ecological risk to the surrounding mountain sanctity.

Representation in Media

Art and Visual Depictions

Kar-Thal is frequently portrayed in Duranthi art, though rarely in full or literal form. Instead, artists emphasize the city’s underlying geometry, mass, and silence. Resonance painters, stone-dust muralists, and sculptors often represent Kar-Thal through abstract forms—layered arches, weight-bearing columns, and partial echoes of walls and halls.

A Gilaari sand painting of Kar-Thal.

Artists from other cultures often portray Kar-Thal with more literal detail: towering subterranean gates, vast chasm-plazas, and monolithic guardians. These depictions typically emphasize scale and mystery over ritual accuracy, blending reverence with distant speculation.

Literature and Inscription

Kar-Thal figures prominently in Duranthi civic verse and ancestral inscription. It is described not as a place, but as an experience of being shaped by stone. Short form stone-verses are commonly found on resonance posts across Terasil, many of which begin with invocations of Kar-Thal as the seated breath or “the listening vault.”

Civic records and historical chronicles, such as those preserved in the Ashlar Vaults, often reference the city as the anchor of law and spiritual continuity.

Music

Kar-Thal’s internal architecture has deeply influenced Duranthi harmonic tradition. Tonal rituals performed within its chambers.

These compositions rely on slow, breath-aligned tones and chamber reverberations, forming an auditory map of civic rhythm and ancestral presence. Outsiders attempting to recreate these patterns often miss the spatial depth, yet still produce adaptations that echo the city's sonic identity.