Marquet



Marquet is one of the continents on the world of Exandria, located southwest of Tal'Dorei. It is where Campaign Three will start.

History
During the the Age of Arcanum, Marquet was the lush home of a prominent civilization. During the early years of the Calamity, warring nations on the continent turned the verdant landscape into ash and desert.

Three to four centuries after the Divergence, Marquesian explorers and traders had a seminal influence on other continents. Over on Tal'Dorei, a legendary spicemonger from Marquet named Abdar helped to fund the construction of Emon in the fourth or maybe fifth century PD, and a major district of the city still bears his name. Around 400 PD, an exploration vessel from Marquet reached the Swavain Islands and first established trade with the Ki'Nau. The Marquesians soon returned and established a colonial outpost called Damali on the Menagerie Coast, the beginning of what would eventually expand into the independent Clovis Concord. A secret sect of Marquesian worshipers of Zehir brought about the banishment of Uk'otoa, who had been a guardian of the Ki'Nau, and an influx of Marquesian travelers to the Menagerie Coast soon followed, including elves who helped found Gwardan.

At that time in the fifth century PD, the great city of Ank'Harel had just been founded under the rule of J'mon Sa Ord. At the time, the red dragon Thordak tyrannically ruled over half of the continent from his base in the Scaldwind Sands. Thordak, with his feral armies of kobolds and other serpentine followers, attacked the city when it was perhaps 100 or 150 years old, but after a two-week battle, his armies were defeated and Thordak was wounded, and as he fled north over the ocean he was struck down and fell into the sea. He was presumed dead for nearly two centuries before his confrontation with Emon's forces in 794 or 795 PD.

Geography
Centuries after the Calamity, Marquet is a continent of deserts and mountains. To the north, the city of Shamal lies on the pebble-beached Bay of Gifts. Beyond the port, the Aggrad Mountains spread for hundreds of miles before giving way to the immense Marquesian Desert that covers approximately 70% of the overall land area of the continent. To the far south is scrubland and marshes leading to the mountains surrounding the Suuthan Volcano. There are few bastions of civilization to be found.

Shumas is a region in Marquet. It's unclear what relation this has to the Vault of Shumas, a hidden temple in the Aggrad Mountains that belonged to one religion from the beginning of the Age of Arcanum until just before the Calamity, when it was brutally taken over by another religion's adherents.

Notable Places

 * Aggrad Mountains
 * The Vault of Shumas was a religious sanctuary from the beginning of the Age of Arcanum to just before the Calamity, when the people there were wiped out by followers of another god, Zehir. It was here that Arkhan found the Wreath of the Prism.
 * Ank'Harel is a large, central oasis city in the center of the Marquesian Desert.
 * The Scaldwind Sands were once the domain of Thordak and his armies.
 * Shandal is a small village south of Ank'Harel where Shaun Gilmore's parents live.
 * Shamal is a bustling port city on the northern coast on the Bay of Gifts, and is home to the Dalen's Closet beach resort
 * The Smouldercrown Mountains is a volcanic range approximately 250 miles south of Ank’Harel where a hidden ziggurat served as a second portal for members of the Remnants to get into the Shadowfell. It is not yet completely clear whether the Suuthan Volcano is part of the Smouldercrown Mountains or whether it is in a different southerly direction from Ank'Harel.

Demographics
Individuals native to the continent of Marquet tend to have darker hair and skin.

Culture

 * Merchants of import, such as those present for the Harvest Close Festival Victory Pit tournament in Zadash, wore outfits consisting of very light linens of a dull egg-shell white, with trims of gold and purple, paired with deep blue pants.

Behind the scenes

 * The culture and architecture of Marquet's cities is broadly inspired by 12th-century Turkey, and its outlying villages are reminiscent of early Palestine.