The Land of the Dead Outpost Writing Challenge

[Tethys 13]

Osiris Land of the Dead
December Writing Contest

This December we are focusing on our regional roleplay, the Land of the Dead. Citizens can find the description and how to apply here!
For this challenge, after joining the map, write a description of your nation's outpost, and how it came to be! There will be regular prompts to help you as Questions of the Day on the Regional Message Board, so post here and feel free to edit it over the month!
Rules:
- Submissions to be made as reply to this thread.
- Citizens only, requiring addition to the Land of the Dead map.
- Submissions close at the end of the year.

[Guhrayen]

Note: this is definitely going to be heavily edited throughout the Contest prior to the deadline. It's just starting off with responses built on Tethys's QOTDs!

Without a doubt, the first response of the Triple-Seat to such a fascinating discovery as an ancient ruin such as this is to call upon the local-most representative reporting to the Āsrōīh (priestly council) to examine its architectural trappings for signs of divine connections to the Vestige or to the heresies of yesteryear. Regardless of the results, a team would quickly be put together to explore the ancient building led by one or more of the Vestigal Theurgists. Depending on the size of the ruin and its location within the territories of the empires, it may be quickly brought to the notice of the highest echelons of the Āsrōīh and Musalu the Thrice-Hallowed.

Upon deciphering the murals at the site, a consultation of faith would take place among those on the exploration team. The lead theurgist would, after magickal communion with a Voice of the Āsrōīh, go through the strange doorway, protected as best they could be by their invocations and those spared to them by the Voice, with a simple mission to investigate and report back the immediate surroundings past the threshold.

Once discovering the vast desert and its many riches and returning unharmed, the expedition would be extensively questioned on the extent of their travels in this newly realized realm by an Extraordinary Session of the Āsrōīh; indeed, as soon as word began to spread to the priestly council, a larger expeditionary force of even finer theurgists than those perhaps available at the strictly local level would be raised and sent forth to secure the ruin in the name of the Triple-Seat against any local political tribalists or adventurists. The Tripartite Golem himself, deeply intrigued and claiming the newly discovered realm's reveal as a divine revelation of the Vestige and gift upon the peoples of Guhrayen, would personally appoint a Voice to lead the Āsrōīh while he departed to lead the outpost's establishment.

In the early days of the outpost's construction, Musalu would lead hosts of gemshapers, craftspeople, architects, theurgists, merchants, and scribes into this promising new realm in order to identify a site for construction. Simple tents and caravans would meander throughout the first claimed territories as feats of divine magick would slowly transform a portion of the desert into a sacred domain of the Vestige. The sands would become glassy and take on shades of colour-pink beneath and between the first residential workshops, horticultural gardens, and clerical pavillions, that sprouted up among the construction efforts under Musalu's oversight.

more great worldbuilding

Question of the Day:

Where we were up to, your nations had made the first steps towards building outposts in the Land of the Dead. However, not only do the sands wear away at even the toughest intruding vehicle, non-living things brought through the portal into the Land of the Dead seem to age at a rate of years every day. Only the resources found within the land seem resistant to this entropy.
What will your nation do - ignore this fact and continue constant replenishment through the portal, gather resources slowly but safely to build a solid foundation, spend the lives of workers to rapidly accelerate the mining and building process, or something completely different?

Question of the Day:

Where we were up to, your nations begun gathering resources to aid in the sustainability of your outpost in the Land of the Dead.
However, there are dangers in the desert, beyond the environment. Several of your nation's gathering teams are attacked by monsters known as Deathshroud, large mummified horrors with three avian legs, three clawed arms, three heads - one crocodile, one lion, one hippopotamus - and three tails, two of a scorpion and one from a monkey. They seem to appear from the sands at random with no nest or home colony to eliminate, and should enough of them notice your outpost, your people could be in great danger. How does your nation defend against the threat?

Question of the Day:

Where we left off, your nation's outpost in the strange desert realm was under threat from monsters and other dangers, which forced you to respond. Now, one of the agents from your nation has done something to offend the spirits of the desert, perhaps through the use of an excessively explosive weapon or the disrespecting of an ancient tomb. As you were warned on the doors to this realm, this will not stand, and that individual has been afflicted with a terrible and incurable curse. What will your nation do with this explorer, and to prevent others falling to the same fate?

Question of the Day:

We are back with our outposts in the wealth-filled but dangerous Land of the Dead. Last we left off, it was discovered that there seem to be rules of conduct to this land, and trying to dominate the landscape with excessive force and disrespect invokes severe sanctions from the watching spirits. Now, beyond the monsters and spirits, others have been spotted in this strange realm - interlopers like you, other nations seeking fortune in the sands. How will your nation interact with them?

[Tethys 13]

The Tethysi were shocked at the appearance of the ruin in one of the Grand Libraries, and it was immediately quarantined and guarded, while the logs were checked to determine how and when it appeared. However, those guards quickly found themselves having to fight off the hordes of archaeologists desperate to study it. As a result, tryouts were held to determine who could approach and begin the investigation of the ruin.
Shortly into the investigation, a small group of those archaeologists that passed the trials got together, waited until their more sensible peers left to inform the authorities of their discoveries, and rushed through the doors the moment that opportunity arose. They returned with news of the strange realm, which the Tethysi were eager to explore and learn about. Others can claim the bounties of wealth - the Tethysi are here for the bounty of knowledge, to be the first to study this realm and publish their findings for others to read.
The Tethysi brought in coral from their cities to grow into aquatic buildings, with Tentoraries (tarpaulin-like temporary abodes) to bridge the gap until their completion. It is populated by two groups - one control group of scholars and warriors, and the scouting group which activated Setting Join to adapt to the environment, in this case seemingly turning them into semi-corporeal wraiths to wander the seas and sands. Upon discovering that the Tentorary shelters will not cut it, the Tethysi instructed the Adapted Corps begin gathering local resources to reinforce the burgeoning coral houses instead, being careful not to trigger any curses and ensuring capable warriors are on guard against monsters. When monsters arise, monster fighting specialists are called in from those Orders, such as the Order of the Lucky Pig, who are used to fighting the Ur-Urchin plaguing the Kelpful farms. They are accompanied by scholars to document as much as possible about these monsters in order to work out means of deterrence. Those who fall to curses are taken to receive palliative care, and gently but firmly required to explain everything that led to it, so that it can be documented and published to warn others, while increasing oversight to both reduce recklessness and also catch curse causes quicker.
When other nations are encountered, the Tethysi leap at the chance to exchange information, and possibly other resources down the line. However, it also results in a scramble from some of the less ethical orders to infiltrate those nations and see what stories can be made there, with the more level-headed orders having to catch them in time to avoid further curses.

So, there we have the outpost of the Tethysi - a conglomeration of cultivated coral cabins collectively coming close to castlehood, considering the knightly coterie recceing and capably conquering sectors close to the coastline they cling to, while semi-spectral scouts survey substantially distant sands to secure supplies in pursuit of succouring similarly studious societies suffering isolation.