Jula

Spreading out from a temple founded centuries ago, Jula was once a bustling trade city built among the steep river valleys in northwestern Garund. Its position along the region’s safest highland road made the city an ideal waypoint between northern Yamasa and the agrarian nation’s southern markets. Alas, at the dawn of the Age of Lost Omens, an everlasting hurricane formed in the Gulf of Abendego and consumed everything in its path, including Jula’s lowlands—only those on the cliff tops survived.

The few surviving Julans, storm-lashed and grieving, nevertheless rebuilt. They fought back aquatic menaces and learned the ways of the sea, converting their infrastructure from mercantile to maritime. The stalwart settlement endures, divided by water and elevation, but united against whatever the Eye of Abendego throws its way.

Ajbal Kimon and his fellow Norgorberite raiders, the Knights of Abendego, are a challenge Jula hasn’t managed to overcome. The Knights began occupying Jula in 4699 and use the town as a base for their banditry and pillaging. They drain the town’s resources and siphon off the profits from what little trade still trickles through the desperate community, using this leverage to bend the populace to their will. However, like the unconquerable rivers that cut through Jula, the spirit of this hardy community can’t be constrained for long.

History

Jula served mainly as a stopping point between the nation of Yamasa and what is now the Shackles. Travelers could take advantage of the fresh water provided by the waterfall pool from the Green and Blue Flows. They also frequently encountered a curiously protective ibex with bronze horns, an animal they associated with the noble god of the hunt, Erastil. The ibex died defending an Erastilian priest, who went on to build the Hall of the Watchful Ibex over the waterfall pool to honor the animal. The lush valleys filled with homes and farms over time, and Jula soon became a center of prosperity. But when the Eye of Abendego opened in 4606 ar, the hungry sea rushed in to devour Jula’s lowland districts. The town’s lush valleys became trenches at the bottom of the sea, and the prospering valley communities became mausoleums for the drowned dead.

Jula’s survivors, those on the cliff tops, did their best to repair the fractured city, but within months, an immense elasmosaurus thundered into Jula’s bay. This obeondo, a western Mwangi leviathan, completely trampled the few docks and boats the Julans had built. The townsfolk scrambled to defend the city, turning a cracked beam from the roof of Jula Alehouse into a makeshift harpoon, which they sent down a repair gantry into the creature’s skull. They feasted on the defeated beast’s flesh and preserved its skeleton—named the Obeondo Coil—which became a symbol of the newly remade town’s resilience and defiance.

Life would never be easy, though. In 4661 ar, four Chelaxian ships—the Henderthanian Mace, Ironclad Terms, Scent of Sulfur, and Might of the Pit—invaded Jula, crashing down on the town like a grim wave. The defending Julans rallied around the Hall of the Watchful Ibex, where they weathered assailments of conjured fire, hellhounds, and Thrune warriors for two days. On the third day, the Chelaxians summoned a barbazu that shattered a young Father Heveril’s faith and nearly spelled the end for Jula, but the fortuitous arrival of Dasen’s Dazzling Dozen, an itinerant halfling “bill-band” (a cross between a club and a sporting gang) joined Jula’s efforts and tipped the scales in the town’s favor. Together they drove the Chelaxian invaders back to the shore, who praised Asmodeus as they met their fate in the form of the sharks swirling in the water. The battle became known as the Devils’ Gifts or, informally, the Donation, as the salvage from the Chelaxian ships heralded a veritable revitalization for the beleaguered economy, and Jula experienced a golden age of growth and prosperity. The halflings bill-band decided that the village was an interesting place to settle down.

The arrival of a wicked man named Ajbal Kimon and his Norgorber-worshipping Knights of Abendego—a glorified gang—heralded the end of Jula’s fortunes. The brigands slunk into town under cover of a raging storm, rounded up local leaders, and demanded they comply with their demands. Ajbal proceeded to bend Jula to his desires. The Knights hoard the best of the town’s crops and goods, and they force the forge to run around the clock to keep the Norgorberites armed. The community’s leaders resolved that a town that had survived so much would somehow survive this, too.

There’s recent talk of uprising, but it remains to be seen if the fish-patterned armor of the Knights of Abendego will join the Obeondo Coil and Cheliax’s masts as symbols of the town’s success against all odds.

Notable Personalities

Jula’s small population is compassionate and welcoming, inviting newcomers to share a bit of grilled fish or simply some shelter from the endless rain. The Knights of Abendego have been exploiting the village for over two decades now, and many in Jula’s youngest generation instead trend toward attitudes of bitter nihilism and pragmatic self-preservation. Though each of Jula’s residents has a story to tell, the following individuals are especially noteworthy.

AJBAL KIMON

Ajbal Kimon (NE male human gang leader 13) has led the Knights of Abendego’s occupation of Jula for over 20 years. He uses the town as a base of operations to fuel his ambitions of apotheosis. He steals from the citizenry, visits sadistic punishments on any who defy him, and trawls Old Town for lost secrets that might help further his goals. He also enjoys petty torments and acts of revenge, but Ajbal steers clear of bullying straight-spined Imara and Father Heveril to avoid riling the townsfolk.

EIGHT BRIAR SUNSETS

Eight Briar Sunsets

The leader of Jula’s patchwork village watch, Eight Briar Sunsets (LN male human guard captain 7), is professional and courteous. He prioritizes results over appearances, and so no one begrudges Captain Briar his ragged armor. The captain reluctantly respects Lex, to whom he owes a life debt for saving him from a flash flood. Lex hasn’t had a chance to needle Briar for weeks, however; when Briar defied Ajbal Kimon recently, the Knight’s vicious reprisal left Briar with an intense fear of the rain, so much so that he’s now terrified of going outdoors. If it weren’t for Father Heveril leaving food, Captain Briar would no doubt be on death’s doorstep from dehydration.

GRINNING LEX

Lex (CN agender human thief 4) is known for their curse-peppered language and unique grin: they replaced their upper left teeth with shark teeth, and their lower left are a fish-bone ridge. The thief is the de facto leader of the Third River, Jula’s thieves’ guild, now that Barrister Indeg is dead by Ajbal’s hand. Lex has the guild laying low while they plan revenge; their morals are guided by a system of favors, and they’re indebted to the former leader, dead or not.

HEVERIL DAGAMBI

Father Heveril Dagambi (LN male human ex-paladin 7) trained under his mother Iboda, the former priest of the Hall of the Watchful Ibex, and a religious leader who helped a post-flood Jula thrive in accordance with Erastil’s principles. For many years, young Heveril was a thoughtful and dedicated defender of Jula’s physical and spiritual well-being, but his faith was tested when his mother passed and Chelaxians besieged Jula in the span of a single year. Heveril’s courage, already strained by grief, broke during the Devils’ Gifts, and he fled his community during that time of need. Erastil abandoned Heveril in turn. The fallen paladin wandered the Sodden Lands for decades before hearing that violent scavengers had taken over his childhood village. Heveril returned to Jula, but his faith has remained shattered. Each day the priest barely overcomes enough self-doubt and melancholy to perform his duties and he’s made no progress at all leading a rebellion against Ajbal Kimon’s band of bullies. Every few nights, Heveril secretly visits his mother’s grave on the Green Flow’s waterfall island to mourn both her and the life he left behind.

IMARA HIGH-HEARTH

A stocky woman with a colorful full-arm tattoo of the Julan shoreline, Imara High-Hearth (NG female human tavern keeper 8) is the latest High-Hearth to operate the Jula Alehouse. Imara grew up in the establishment with her mother Miria, her maternal grandparent Janje, and her father Egarius, a Chelaxian defector from the Donation. Imara’s parents disappeared shortly after the Knights of Abendego began their occupation, yet as much as it pains her, she won’t risk the peace and safety of the Alehouse by taking action against them. Imara truly loves Jula, and she handles the town’s recent troubles by making the Alehouse a place of refuge and comfort. She cooks hearty meals (her father’s recipe for Kintargan silvered fish is a favorite), her presence is strong, and her Fireday marimba performances lift her fellow villagers’ spirits.

NOURISHING GULL

A diminutive, white-spotted gnoll, Nourishing Gull (CN female gnoll prognosticator 4) is affectionately called “Gully” by the Larderside community. She arrived at the Trader’s Gate about a decade ago, without any pack mates. She has taken the Claw’s regulars as her new family and supplies them with reasonably accurate predictions about weather and fishing prospects. Imara High-Hearth is used to daily visits with Gully, who sits in the Alehouse crunching on animal bones to fuel her occult divinations. What Gully really wants is a taste of the Obeondo Coil and the powerful visions it will certainly grant, but someone always manages to dissuade her out of such cultural insensitivity.

THE STEELTALE FAMILY

The living members of Jula’s venerable smithing family include the married couple Zihara Steeltale (CG female elf armorer 6) and U’kuyo (NG female human blacksmith 3) and their two adult children. U’kuyo handles the forge’s orders and deliveries along with her daughter Oribzi (N female half-elf apprentice 2), who will soon take over her aging human mother’s end of the business. Oribzi’s younger brother Maluril (NG male half-elf artist 1) can barely manage making nails, though he has a talent for sculpture. The family has little spare time; the Knights of Abendego keep the smiths busy repairing the company’s arms.

Jula Gazetteer

Julans use a network of ropes and pulleys to connect important buildings and limit the need to traverse dangerous coastal waters or muddy hillsides. Broad, sturdy awnings cover many streets and public spaces, woven from the same local rainfan hemp used by the town’s sailmakers. Most buildings are wooden affairs with broad eaves and dormered windows, and many homes are converted merchant houses or silos from Jula’s distant past. Companion-planted farm plots outside the city supplement the town’s seafood diet, and rainfan grows along the eastern forest’s edge. Two rivers separate Jula into three informal neighborhoods.

TRADER’S LANDING

Traders with goods from Yamasa, Lirgen, and beyond once made the switchback climb to Jula’s south gates, now just a hundred or so feet above sea level.

1. The Blue Flow

The Blue Flow bisects eastern Jula. Succulent daredevil fish frequent the edge of its waterfall, and townsfolk collect food and drinking water from the swift river.

2. Steeltale Forge

Zihara Steeltale built the forge between cliff and shore along the Blue Flow’s southern bank, and it has squatted there for almost three centuries. The forge conceals a basement shelter, currently stockpiled with arms and armor for a possible Julan uprising.

3. Bluespan

This bridge’s corners are marked by the masts from the four Chelaxian ships defeated during the Donation. Built atop Bluespan is the Span House, the former headquarters of the now-disbanded town guard. The Span House provides shelter from the rain, and Julans congregate there to fish, wash clothes, or socialize.

4. The Warehouses

Once the hub of Jula’s now-extinct trade economy, the Trader’s Landing central plaza still bustles with residents. Julans converted most old buildings into homes, partitioning each warehouse’s interior so that multiple families could comfortably share a single roof. Many Julans refer to buildings after their former function, such as Yam House or Weaverhome.

5. Third River Headquarters

Jula’s thieves’ guild convenes in the cellar of an abandoned alchemist’s shop. The old laboratory has long been boarded up due to supposed chemical contamination, but both Father Heveril and Captain Briar know this is a ruse.

THE GRANARIES

Many grain-laden caravans from northern Yamasa once frequented the highland road running through Jula, and the town was an important waypoint. Now, the grain silos that once held mountains of fonio and rice instead house multiple families who use the former merchants’ offices and countinghouses as their shops and studios.

6. The Green Flow

The Green Flow pours into Jula from the north, splitting around a small island before crashing into the bay below. The roiling waters have foiled two attempts to build a bridge between the Granaries and the Claw.

7. The Silos

The ground floors of these old grain silos now function as storefronts, while the upper levels are portioned into homes stacked atop one another. The bill-band Dasen’s Dazzling Dozen (which now markedly includes more than 12 members) occupies the northeastern silo and runs a few of the businesses. Colorful awnings stretch over the district to shelter a stone-tiled common area frequented by musicians and storytellers.

8. Hall of the Watchful Ibex

The Hall of the Watchful Ibex has witnessed Jula’s birth, destruction, and rebirth. Jula’s oldest building still holds the ibex-horn bow and tanned hide made from the blessed animal which inspired the town’s founding. Erastilian temples are practical structures, and the Hall provides ample space for hemp processing, weaving, healers’ work, and a dry dock for repairing larger watercraft.

9. The Wheelwright’s Widower

Currently inhabited by the Knights of Abendego, Jula’s sole inn is named after the Whistling Wheelwright, another inn now drowned in Gozreh’s Urn. A carved stone lintel depicts a man draped melodramatically over a wheel, weeping gutter-drawn “tears.”

THE CLAW

This spit of land is named for its shape, but also from a western Mwangi saying: “Leave a cat in the rain, come back to a tiger.” The phrase honors the tenacity and resourcefulness of the sodden town. Switchback ramps on the valley walls linked the Claw and the Granaries before the flood, but now the neighborhoods can be traversed only via boat or sturdy ropes.

10. Smuggler’s Cove

The northern slope of the Claw conceals a small cave mouth visible only during the lowest tide, no more than once a month. The cave system winds beneath Jula to smugglers’ caves beneath the Jula Alehouse.

11. Obeondo Coil

The preserved skeleton of Jula’s first assailant, a massive obeondo, winds up and around a cliff-top tower that overlooks Larderside. The animal’s skull is level with the top of the monument, and one can look through the orbit to stare defiantly toward the Eye of Abendego.

12. Jula Alehouse

The High-Hearth family has run the Jula Alehouse for centuries as a sanctuary offering good food and camaraderie. Many of the once-elegant inn’s imported stained glass windows were replaced with wooden panels after sustaining damage during storms and the obeondo attack. Every few months Imara has to chase off children digging holes in her yard or prying at foundation stones in search of the purportedly hidden “High-Hearth fortune.” There is, however, a true underground secret: a previous owner built a hidden subterranean passage at the center of the inn to access smugglers caverns in the cliff below. This secret was initially lost with the owner’s death—until the Knights of Abendego discovered the secret caves and put them to use. The Knights have since flocked to the alehouse, displacing several regulars and testing Imara’s perpetual cheer.

13. Larderside

Most of Jula’s nautical activities, such as fish processing and net repair, happen on the Claw’s southeast bank. Larderside’s inhabitants shelter beneath the wide eaves of incongruously elaborate, centuries-old buildings—remnants of the town’s mercantile past—and sing haunting, beautiful songs while they work.

14. Old Town

The flood-carved bay in the center of Jula is officially named Gozreh’s Urn, but most call it Old Town due to the city ruins submerged beneath its surface. The bay’s choppy waters and tempest shark population intimidate visitors, but locals have long since learned how to navigate such dangers.