Oathbound Plains Of Penance

The vast red desert of Arena sprawls south and westward from the nurturing plains of Penance. Spurred onward by the ancient promise of gold buried beneath the sands, massive armies of brutal warriors rumble across the scarred and wasted terrain. For the fortunate few, the ultimate dream of Arena still comes true - immeasurable riches, supreme command, and decades of extravagant and luxurious living atop the Queen's pedestal of pleasure. For most however, whatever dreams they may harbor are soundly crushed under years of backbreaking labor, constant battle, exhausting marches, gruesome butchery, and an infinity of accursed crimson sand.For the prospective Warlord, a sea of troubled choices and impossible trials awaits. Can you lead your army to victory against the savage legions of Minos Spar, the terrible war golems of Asheanna, or the unnatural technology of Ossian? Will your hidden mine escape the attention of the flying navies of the Grand Asherake? Strategy, fortune, alliances, and leadership are your only weapons in this endless and unforgiving struggle for wealth, power, and glory.Oathbound: Arena provides a new entry point into the world of the Forge. This is the Domain of Barbello, the Mask of Fury, the invincible mistress of rage, pain, warfare, and death. Who amongst you can withstand her test?

The great City of Penance is the oldest settlement on the Forge, literally containing millions of years of history in its deep hulking mass. Though nearly forty million souls call the city home, less than half of one percent of the city's locations are inhabited. The bulk of the Pedestal is a madly stacked and sprawling ruin, only superficially explored by the relentless rafters and treasure-seekers of the surface world. Every home in the city has a hundred others lost beneath it, and every city street stands atop an incredible three-dimensional maze of corridors, alleyways, and crawlspaces - a maze where time has left nothing unchanged, eroding and distorting the framework of magic and even the laws of physics themselves.Long past the grasp of any human control, the ruins of Penance have become a true landscape, vast, beautiful, and unforgiving, with their own unique ecosystem and their own set of hazards and comforts. Strange plants and creatures have evolved in the eternally darkened streets below the city, and prey upon those foolish enough to step out of the city's gilded cage of civilization.Wrack and Ruin is an essential guidebook for anyone intoxicated by the forgotten secrets of the past, or by the potential power lost within the great city's crumbling majesty. Don't leave your Bloodhold without it!

For visitors to the Forge, arriving has always been far easier than returning home. But the moment Lyrien Vestiral is ripped unwillingly from his homelandfrom the woman he has pledged to protectand deposited in this strange, rich tapestry of a world, he intends to escape. The only problem is, someone in the Forge has other plans for him.Seeking both a means of escape and the identity of those who would prevent it, Lyrien quickly finds himself a pawn in the plots of some of the Forges most conniving schemers. As he struggles to disentangle himself from their subtle games, Vestiral becomes torn between a need to fulfill his duty back home and a growing bond with the mysterious, effusive world that is reshaping his very being, tempering him for a role that just might transform the land itself.Forged is the first novel for the Oathbound setting, unveiling a tableau of the domains of the Forge that is rich as well as vast. Discover this unique setting and its enigmatic inhabitants through the eyes of a traveler struggling to find both himself and his way homeand being forever changed by it.