Aestilon

Piam is a radiant oasis-city built from pure white stone in the heart of the Blankwi Basin. Founded by Calli, Sage of Sun, Wind, Loyalty, Knowledge, Darkness, and Protection, Piam represents freedom, artistic expression, wild beauty, and above all communal respect. Every soul is welcome here.

The city gleams like a beacon against the desert sands — a blank canvas the people paint with spiraling banners, colored glass ornaments, and the music carried on endless winds.

Calli, the most loyal and calm of the Seven Sages, was said to wander the desert as a sandstorm with eyes — eyes that always turned away, shielding mortals from her true form. She arrived in the Blankwi Basin guided by her close companion Guaar, Sage of Water, who revealed the underground lakes beneath the sands.

Calli vowed to create life here, just as her “elder sister” Arbia had grown forests in Iaras. She shaped the basin, drew windpaths through the stone, and with Guaar’s help opened the aquifers that would sustain her new city.

Piam grew around the oasis she revealed — a testament to endurance, beauty, and the belief that all people, no matter their origin, deserve a place to belong.

Piam’s architecture resembles a desert Santorini:

• structures carved from bright white stone
• wind-channels carved into rooftops
• domes tinted pale green
• openings everywhere to let cooling breezes flow
• minimal glass (to allow airflow), but where used, it shines with brilliant color

The city rises in tiers toward the Upper Oasis, an elevated garden fed by hidden water channels. The eight outer walls of Piam each hold a gate, forming the city’s circular protective structure.

The underground level is just as important. Below the city lie vast aquifers: cavern-lakes filled with coral, crystal, singing stone, and ancient ruins. Each aquifer has its own culture and inhabitants.

Piam’s people are known for their expressive creativity and fierce mutual respect. Racism, arrogance, and cruelty are strongly condemned. While competition is common — especially in arts, performance, and martial skill — it is always paired with communal support.

Music is a spiritual act. It is communication, memory, ritual, and magic.

Though instruments are more common than pure voice magic, the winds themselves carry song, making Piam feel alive with shifting melodies.

Worship of Calli is central:

• The sun creates the shadows — darkness is simply light’s echo
• Endurance is a virtue
• Loyalty is a sacred promise
• Knowledge is a guardian of freedom

The city welcomes all other deities, with shrines to Arbia, Ignor, Loumos, Guaar, and more.

Festival of Singing Winds (Mid Winter): A massive multi-stage concert held just outside the city walls. Artists and travelers fill the desert with music, while Piam’s galleries unveil their finest artwork.

Blessing of the Sunstone (Mid Summer): In the central plaza stands the Great Sunstone, a massive crystal absorbing sunlight year-round. Its outer layers are chipped away in ritual, distributing powerful enchanted fragments to the city, honored citizens, factions, and chosen travelers. This ritual renews the protective Sunstone Barrier, which shields Piam from elementals, Wild Colossi, and lethal sandstorms.

A unique formal greeting is intentionally left undefined for player choice.

Other customs include:

• respecting stillness during strong winds — a sacred moment to Calli
• offering water freely to those in need
• avoiding loud conflicts in public squares
• reverence for singers, defenders, and scholars

Piam has been under martial rule since a long-ago incident with the Shadows of Spefur. The Sage holds primary authority, supported by:

• The Order of the Sages — guardians of law, desert rangers, and water protectors
• The Beholders — scholars who guard ancient ruins and maintain magical security
• The Windriders — scouts and rumor-gatherers riding trained desert beasts

Sage Aleto of the Whitemane, a Katari Leonin, rules with strict discipline and great humility.

Candidates must survive the Trial of the Desert, a brutal endurance test submitted by the Beholders, the Windriders, and the Order. They traverse the desert with minimal supplies while assaulted by magic from afar. Many perish; the survivors earn the right to be Sage.

• Legendary colored glass (world-famous)
• White stone
• Desert dyes and powdered pigments
• Sunstone fragments
• Crystal from aquifer walls
• Water-brewed wines
• Desert spices and perfumed oils

• Metal (from Rudiana)
• Wood (from Iaras)
• Food (mostly from Kalzendil)
• Arcane tools (from Rurua)
• Illicit goods traded with Borunoa

Kalzendil: deeply respected, major food supplier Rudiana: close ally, imports white stone & ores Iaras: good relations; Piam attempts reforestation aid Rurua: strong arcane partnership (Beholders active in both cities) Toru: trusted maritime ally Borunoa: dangerous trading partner; careful diplomacy Tractas: welcomed when near the basin’s entrance

The Blankwi Basin is filled with ancient ruins, shattered boats from a lost lake, shifting dunes, and elemental dangers. Long ago, the basin was a massive lake at the heart of an advanced civilization using steampunk-like technology. A catastrophic explosion shattered the mountain rim, draining the lake into the sea.

Piam was built atop these ruins — some still buried and active.

• Extremely warm desert climate
• Strong, constant winds
• Cool interiors due to white stone and airflow design
• Underground areas are temperate and humid
• Elementals, Wild Colossi, scorpions, sand-spirits, and ruins litter the region
• Nomads rarely travel here except when Tractas passes the basin entrance

Travel is hazardous due to elementals, shifting sands, and ruins. Access routes include:

• Eight city gates in the outer walls
• Windrider patrol paths
• Desert runner routes
• Narrow canyon roads carved through ancient stone

The Sunstone Barrier protects Piam from the worst of the desert’s wrath.

Piam endures as a city of light, wind, song, and unity — a place where creativity and loyalty shine as brightly as the desert sun.

A headquarters for The Beholders. The tallest building in Piam.

A local inn.