Setting Details - Local Legends

Until next month!

For now, feast upon a couple of local legends, about the old city of the Ancients, Mahde (the site of excavation) and about the city you live in, Kopesh.

Mahde

The Haunt - According to local rumors, before the old city was uncovered, great obelisks stood tall out of the sand. These obelisks were destroyed when the city was uncovered, but before their obliteration, people used the area as a graveyard. They viewed the obelisks as a sign of some spiritual significance, and attributed the surrounding area's overgrowth of desert fauna as proof of such. Many people were buried here, but few found the eternal rest they had sought. Rumors of corpses visiting their families in the middle of the night, wrapped in reeds and cloth floated up and down the river Eryes, eventually causing most people to avoid the area entirely.
The Terror of Mahde - Upon the faces of the obelisks were engravings and reliefs that depicted an immense beast, in the shape of a hermit crap. Two great, bloodied claws and a mottled azure carapace were the most prevalent details that survived every story in local rumor. By the Ancients' canon of proportions, the creature must have stood 80 feet high. According to Efreeti texts, such creatures were fairly rare around the inner regions of the Wastes, ecnountered mostly around the coasts and on the Sand Dollar Isles. It wore a wyvern skull and was said to be a sea creature of great power and malice.
The Last Legend of Mahde - The only known myth that has survived the ages about Mahde from its glory days concerns the river it resides near. Long ago, the Wastes were not the arid lands they are today, they once were like the jungles to the north and east. During that time, the river would have been home to numerous creatures, one of which is the Spear Koi. This particular fish was revered, for it's sheer size and the durability of its scales after they were hardened. The people of Mahde were said to wear the scales of the Spear Koi into battle, which was believed to grant superior protection against the Manas of The Blissful Wind and The Torrential Water.

Kopesh

The Time to Stay Indoors - Around Kopesh, some strange things happen, albeit infrequently. Every full moon, the waters of the Eryes rise and widen. Often, this causes trouble for those next to the water, who now build their houses on stilts. However, that does little to protect them from the watery denizens that come to live in the deeper areas of the river during that time. About 3 times every year, from the end of the Last quarter to the end of the First quarter in the moon phase calendar, strange lizard-beasts nest in the reedy waters of the Eryes, unfortunately choosing spots in Kopesh more often than the city's citizens would like. Whenever the creatures choose to set up their "grounds" inside the city, groups of angry mobs try to shoo them away. Almost never works, unfortunately.
The Ghost Woman - A ghostly old woman, who, on her deathbed made a pact with the spirits of the Eryes to preserve her essence, is sometimes seen wandering the banks of the river, usually looking seaward, her visage covered in seaweed and dripping wet. The citizens prefer to avoid her, for it is said that anyone who tries to speak with her is drowned the next day.
The Moving Building - Once, about a decade ago, a merchant tried to sell a storehouse full of magical contraband to a friend. The friend, familiar with the merchant's tricks, let the Guildwatch know that something was up. Soon, however, it was discovered that the storehouse was not where it was supposed to be, much to the bewilderment of the merchant and the Guildwatch. Every now and then, a building will pop up in an area of the city where there isn't supposed to be one, such as in the middle of the river or in a public bath.

That's it for now. Figured I'd add some local flavor for the game. The doodle of the hieroglyph is on my doodle blog, ArtlessPeon.