Tarnwick

= Tarnick: a note from a travelers journal =

note
I am not and never was a citizen of Tarnwick. I was not even alive when the great city fell. I simply gathered what information i could from the ruins and from other people. These observations are after the fact, and i reccomend you take these with a grain of salt.

The founding of the city
The race of Savonne, a scaly humanoid, settled in Tarnwick after many years of nomadic-type behavior in the Bophan Mountains. Rhodos became a notable member of the tribe by bringing them together and founding the city of Tarnwick, and establishing the house of Rhodes.

Theodore Rhodes
Born into a time when Tarnwick was a secretive state, which kept its existence a secret to all outsiders. When Theodore's father accedentally poisoned himself, His son took over as head of the city. He also became the duke of the Duchy of Lynnmore, and prepared to open the city to the public so they could have economic growth. He was also made a host of the Sporeborn fungus, changing his species part way through his life. He also had several military campaigns, one called the war for sovereignty, which was a loss on their side. Afterwards the land of tarnwick became part of Theios-Essukdal. Theodore Rhodes was slain in battle by bardonians, ending his rule at the age of 51.

Ardamine Rhodes
Ardamine Rhodes assumed the position of her father as the duke of lynnmore and the leader of Tarnwick after his death. She was involved in several political feuds around rathnir. Near the end of what we know of her, she ordered all citizens of the duchy to strictly follow the religion of Isidoranism, which may have had a drastic effect on the politics of the whole nation.

The Struggle for Autonomy
It seems that throughout its existence, Tarnwick had searched for a level of autonomy and/or rulership of the area it was in. The city is in an area on the current northern border of yimmu-audal, a region that was heavily contested in the past. They have fought, organized, and signed treatys with some of the biggest nations in rathnir so that they could rule themselves. In the end, it seems that the line of Rhodes was doomed to fall, and along wiht it, the city there grandfathers had started.

The Fall of Tarnwick
If you go to Tarnwick today, everything is in ruins. no people whatsoever. The nearby mountains. A few broken walls. And the university surrounded by a few destroyed shops. And the whole entire city, where there used to be grass, trees, and hills, is completely covered in netherack. There is not much information on how this happened, but i have heard and founded two theories on what happened.

The Failed Ritual
One of these theories is that some people in the city decided to hold a sacrifice, or a prayer of some kind, to a god that was pagan to the isidoran religion. I believe that maybe their god became furious, and sent destruction and ruin to the city. This theory is supported by the many rumors i have heard from people who were around then.

The Evolving Fungi
By the time this event took place, most of the people either were sporeborn, or had sporeborn neighbors. A possible reason of the destruction may because the fungi evolved to take a liking to netherack, before they took over the brains of the people of the city and used their bodies as hosts to get the netherack. This, however, begs the question of why didn't this happen anywhere else the sporeborn live, and where did they all go.

The Creation of Thera
Today, a new city has been founded in the ruins of Tarnwick called Thera. Their goal is to fix the city, clean it up, and re-establish the university. Currently, progress is mostly of those three things, and it will most likely continue to be those things as they try to uncover the real answer to the mystery that is Tarnwick.

Final Statement
Today, if you walk through Tarnwick just like i have many times, you will most likely feel two feelings. A very ominous and slightly unsettling feeling of ruin and destruction, and a real curiousity of what really happened. Most if not all of the major people of Tarnwick are simply gone. No trace. For this reason we may never know the whole story of Tarnwick. But hopefully, someday, we uncover a book, or locate a person, who can tell us what really happened, and how to make sure we never repeat this again.