The Buried Streets | Fantasy Building Generated by CharGen

Overview

The Buried Streets is the name locals give to the working edge of Moradinar's Old City, where a few repaired buildings and cleared avenues serve as a land port for sand-skiffs and desert caravans. Warehouses and repair yards cluster around the moorings, with enclosed pens where nomads and merchants rest their animals. Beyond the maintained ground, the old streets disappear under dunes and broken stone, leading toward the ruined royal palace and the Old Necropolis.

Atmosphere

A busy, wary outpost perched over a dead city. Skiff rigging creaks beside camel bells, wind scrapes grit across the paving, and the shade beneath old arches is crowded with porters, guards, and merchants. At dusk, watchfires reveal the silhouettes of abandoned towers beyond the pens.

Style

The surviving Old City is built of broad sandstone blocks, with carved lintels and paved streets designed for shade and foot traffic. Later repairs use rough brick, timber awnings, and salvaged stone. The working buildings have been raised on packed-earth platforms as the dunes creep higher.

What stands out

A cleared avenue with old paving stones that leads from the sand-skiff moorings into the ruins.

Raised warehouses built from reused Old City stone, with loading ramps above the drifting sand.

Repair yards where crews patch skiffs, mend sails, and replace worn runners.

Enclosed animal pens with guarded gates, water troughs, and shade roofs.

Surviving guard towers overlooking the land port, with abandoned towers visible farther into the ruins.

History

Locals say the district got its name after a sandstorm buried a royal procession in the main avenue. Outsiders repeat the tale as a story of a whole city swallowed overnight. In fact, the name recalls one street that vanished under a single dune after the procession passed through; the rest of the city had already been abandoned for generations. Merchants later cleared the avenue and reused the nearby ruins as a stopping place for skiffs and caravans.

Land-port traffic
Sand-skiffs tie up at stone mooring rings set into a sloped, half-buried avenue. Their crews unload goods into raised warehouses, while merchants hire local porters and arrange guards before crossing the desert. Caravaners pay by the animal and night; the pens have separate enclosures for mounts, pack beasts, and anything likely to bite.
Security and hazards
The maintained yards are watched by Moradinar soldiers from the surviving guard towers. Their patrols concentrate on the warehouses and pens, not the deeper Old City. Abandoned towers offer raiders and scavengers clear views of the approaches, so arriving parties are advised not to mistake a silent tower for an empty one.
Routes beneath the sand
Below the working yards, old streets vanish beneath shifting sand. Broken stairways, roofless courtyards, and sealed cellars lead toward the royal palace of Nâzâgrûkâl Khazâd-ulûk and the Old Necropolis. The lower routes are unstable, and some apparently solid paving covers rooms that have been buried for centuries.

People

4 people

Keeper of the animal pens and steward of the maintained yardsHaddad Dune-Stayer
Practical, observant, and protective of the people and animals under his care. He dislikes boasting and expects visitors to respect the rules of the pens.
Keeper of the animal pensHaddad Dune-Stayer
A broad-shouldered caravan worker with a quiet manner. Locals say his family took the name after an ancestor stayed behind to free a mule buried in the famous storm. He keeps the pens orderly and knows which animals belong to nervous or dishonest travelers.
Skiff repairer and unofficial lookoutShessa
A sharp-eyed skiff rigger who speaks softly and rarely turns her back on the open dunes. Her byname recalls the night she cut a trapped crew free while sand covered the old mooring street. She can spot a failing runner or a concealed weapon at a glance.
Warehouse quartermasterOruva
A patient, silver-haired quartermaster who records every sack and saddle brought into the yards. Her given name is said to come from a family story about a lost child found beneath a pomegranate tree after the great storm. She trades fairly, but refuses credit to anyone who cannot name a local guarantor.

Rumours

1A guard tower has begun showing a lantern signal that no current watch captain recognizes.

2A collapsed cellar beneath one of the warehouses opens onto an older street that runs toward the royal palace.

3Something has been dragging water skins out of the pens at night, but leaving no tracks in the sand.

4A caravan claims its guide found a paved route to the Old Necropolis that stays above the dunes, though the guide refuses to lead anyone back.

Secret

The secret · GM only

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