Nestled between desolate, windswept hills the village of Macrimei is home to a hard people. Dung fires warm their homes built from the ruins of an ancient buried city whose remnants can be seen in the tumbled stones scattered about and the massive red-hued obelisk looming over the settlement. The Red Obelisk, said to be home to Macrimei’s god, has attracted the attentions of a band of raiders led by an evil wizard, who dwells in a mysterious black tower and seeks to uncover the ruin’s buried secrets. Now, Macrimei’s villagers live in sullen fear as the raiders capture people from the surrounding area to dig a deep pit to intersect with the ruins below.

• Ruler: Anazturex (N male android wizard 11)

• Government: Despot

• Alignments: NG, CG, N, CN, CE

• Population: 183 (178 humans, 1 half-elf, 4 half-orcs)

• Languages: Common, Elven

• Resources & Industry: Breeding, hunting, leatherworking

Macrimei stands in a cold country of windswept hills and thick, hardy grass, amid the ancient ruins of a once magnificent city. The Macrimeians are descendants of the fallen city’s survivors, now regressed into primitive barbarism. Instead of enjoying their ancestors’ grand sorceries and marvellous technologies, the villagers eke out a living raising hardy ponies and a breed of fearsome dogs. Where once stood spiralling towers of marble and ivory, now lie tumbled rocks and ruins with cloth and leather stretched over them to create crude homes. Thick, black smoke curls up from the villagers’ dung fires, burned for warmth as wood is scarce and too valuable for burning.

Few outsiders visit Macrimei. However, each year a trickle of adventurers and curious scholars come to poke around the village and surrounding countryside; they search for caves leading down to the ancient city’s buried ruins which they believe to be filled with valuable treasure and knowledge from the elder times.

In Macrimei itself, a slender, sleek obelisk of red marble thrusts up through the ground from the city below. In the structure’s forbidden interior, village priests once conducted rites to a local god the villagers call “Soryan.” Exactly who and what Soryan is remains a mystery to most.

In recent years, a mysterious wizard, Anazturex, arrived at the village in a strange-looking tower. With him, he brought a group of outcast barbarians calling themselves the “Sons of Soryan.” They quickly took control of the village and began to excavate the buried ruins. 

Now the Sons of Soryan brutally rule the village from which they launch raids throughout the surrounding area for slaves. The Macrimeians keep to themselves, going about their normal business while attempting to avoid the notice of the Sons of Soryan. Things are grim in the village; even the only surviving village priest has been barred from the Red Obelisk and the god he’s vowed to serve.

Notable Locations

Most of the village comprises peasant homes. A few locations, however, are of interest to adventurers: 

1. Red Obelisk: The Red Obelisk is said to be the god Soryan’s home. The Sons of Sargon ruthless restrict access to the site.

2. Anazturex’s Tower: This tall, slender tower appears to be fashioned from a mysterious black metal. The android wizard Anazturex dwells within. 

3. Excavation Site: Slaves work on creaking scaffolding, digging ever deeper into the ruins below. Accidents, injury and death are common here.

4. Sons of Soryan: The Sons of Soryan control the village from their base. They have dug a fighting pit in the ruins; those that displease them are forced to fight to the death within.

5. Kulway’s House: The former priest plots against the Sons of Soryan and the reclamation of Macrimei.

6. Darlaria’s Place: Here, Darlaria sells an assortment of unusual items, mostly to visitors.

7. The Bloodied Pony: A ramshackle affair of stones and cloth forms Macrimei’s one drinking establishment.

8. Britha’s Farm: Britha breeds and trains both native dogs and ponies from her small farm.

Designer’s Note

Macrimei pays homage to classic swords and sorcery fantasy which sometimes included elements of science fiction. The nature of the ruins below Macrimei and its contents have intentionally been left vague for you to develop as you see fit. The ancient civilisation works as either one steeped in high magic or advanced technology. Anazturex, instead of an android, could be an ancient human survivor of that civilisation whose powers can easily be reflavoured as belonging to an extinct, but powerful, type of protohuman. Feel free to include bits and pieces of advanced technology as you see fit. 

Want More?

Village Backdrop: Macrimei is available in 5e, OSR, Pathfinder 1st and Pathfinder 2nd editions here at the Raging Swan Press store.