Court of Briars

The Court of Briars

The Foundry is a place for the damned to find redemption, for the forsaken to find a purpose, or for someone who doesn’t have anything else to live for to live out their days in solitude. A society of amateur heroes, hardened doomsayers, and criminals condemned to the ranks of the divers, the Foundry is nothing less than a reminder as to what purpose Galvia is meant to serve. Even with that in mind, that purpose is still one that presses the optimism and goodwill out of any rookie recruits after their first journey into the dark.

To those who have come to understand the Foundry for what it is, there is a reverence for the grand abyss that rests underneath the city above, and statues of ancient earthen spirits are often visited on the morning of a dive, and some who do survive and return to the gloomy streets do so mutated and transformed by what they saw. Known as the Errant, these divers are seen as outcasts by those who dwell on the surface, but those of the Foundry have learned that in the dark, they make some of the most steadfast companions a hunter could ask for.

Throughout Galvia’s known histories, the Foundry has stood as a testament of the duties entrusted to mortals by the gods. There is a distinct and very clear need for the district to operate as it does, for the ruins that have sunk deep into the earth house both genuine and deadly terrors as well as dark secrets that might otherwise be best left undiscovered. It is for this reason that the ranks of the Foundry are often filled with wanted men or forgotten veterans, for as noble as their purpose may seem, it is above all else necessary for the continued survival of Galvia and perhaps Rhyst itself, and brave souls are harder to come by than the press ganged men and women on death’s row.

The Foundry is perhaps the oldest of Galvia’s districts, and many believe that renditions of it exist throughout the ruins below that belonged to ages long since forgotten. If this is true, then it would mean the depths beneath Galvia precede at least the layers that civilization has reached and that even those of the past required a vanguard against something within the shadows. The idea is not one that is notably comforting, but it is one that affirms a greater purpose entrusted to the mortals set here by Paludrex himself.

This lower district has always been the place in the city that sees the most crime, for what are laws to a person already slated to die? Despite this, the Foundry isn’t crawling with guards or lawmen, and the blind eye is turned more times than it isn’t to illegal activities in the name of a greater duty that is needed here. It’s thought that the Foundry wasn’t originally the black sheep of the districts, and that when it was first established it was a place of honor and courage. Some in the modern day still think it can achieve its former glory, while many others have taken advantage of the Foundry’s current state.