Purdue Fantasy Club

Helmrest is the pride of the Neptunian church within the Rhine, featuring a rich mythos that claims Neptune himself once spent time on Jaern on this very island, in the subterranean cavern inside the cliffs near the port. Thus, the Neptunians constructed a natatorium in the cliffs, with an inner sanctum that houses an intricate coral garden supposedly started and tended by Neptune himself. It is also famed as a place of high learning, as a university attached to a Vormaxian Library and research center as well as a Tarusian Archive call the town home. Although, due to this, it is not very popular amongst adventurers. Nevertheless, it stands as the foremost authority on non-magical subjects. A map of Helmrest is provided further below, along with additional details.

Government: Joint Theocracy between Neptunians, Tarusians, and Vormaxians. Leaders: Ekvilibri Akvo’ka (Neptunian), Full Archivist Daeris Kelbelar (Tarusian), Scribewarden Aetha Quen (Vormaxian).

Equipment and weapons up to 750 gold. Elemental and Divine spells and defers up to rank 8 available. Neptunian, Tarusian, and Vormaxian spells and defers up to rank 10 available. Psionics up to rank 6 available. Incants up to rank 4 available.

Helmrest is nestled between two sheer cliffs that face the seas to the east, in a narrow valley region carved from the perhaps millions of years of erosion by the River Akvoniar. In 9964 SF, the fertile valley was first populated by the refugees of various other locales nearby as the Centralian Lords pillaged and plagued the islands in the quest for eternal youth. The river delta that has been carved out is prone to flooding due to intense seasonal rains, and the very first settlers were nicknamed the ‘Lagoon Dwellers.’ Many of these first settlers were believers in Neptune, and the climate was especially adaptable for the Lizard people of the Rhine. Legend says that Neptune himself, sensing the plight of his people that gathered here, came down from his heavenly plane to visit and tend to his followers and his coral garden, now guarded within the subterranean pools of the Cradle of the Depths. Helmrest has then since expanded into a city-state of its own, and eventually attracted more learned types, such as Tarusians and Vormaxians, who established one of the first universities of Jaern here on the cliffside.

Today, the town is split into three districts, the oldest is north of the River Akvoniar, while south of the river is split further between east and west. The northern district is called The Waterway, and is mostly populated by Neptunians and lizards. One of the oldest parts of town, it has almost a Venetian feel with canals and thin walkways that snake through the district. The River Akvoniar floods during the Akvo’alta each month, and the lizards find it humorous to watch the humans and other land races struggle with the high tides and flooded walkways.

The southeastern district is called Stromcliff, so named because a lot of rain is blown from the sea onto this section of town. Terraced into the cliffs itself, homes and villas crawl up the steep steps leading south. The weather is so much of a nuisance that a network of drainage canals were constructed that snake through the streets and alleys of this residential district of Helmrest. The neighborhoods are very much split into separate divisions between the Vormaxian populace and the Tarusian populace. Finally, the southwestern district is the Castle Ward: the main business center of Helmrest. This is where the seat of power, Providence Keep, is located, as well as where the campus of the University of Helmrest can be found.

Every faith has its holy pilgrimage site, and for the Neptunians, that site is here, within the subterranean pools beneath the sheer cliffs north of Helmrest. The waters here are said to have been graced by Neptune’s presence, as he personally visited and cultivated a great coral garden within the aquatic caverns. This garden is off limits to the public, and is reserved for priests of Neptune and those that have received the trust of Ekvilibri Akvo’ka, also the Leader of the Knights of Neptune. Within the garden is a holy artifact of Neptune, a column of stone in the middle of a cleared ring, very much like a sundial. This monolith is called Neptune’s Compass, or just The Compass by the priests here, and is a closely kept secret of the church, fearing that many would try to abuse its power. The Compass allows one to commune and ask a question directly to Neptune himself, and if it is within his knowledge of the wide seas of Jaern (and even beyond…), he sends visions and flashes of insight that show the path to what the asker seeks.

The Neptunian natatorium is built into the northern cliffs near Helmrest, as an opening in the cliff leads to cavernous pools of water used as the public baths for the town. Carved into the cliff face is a large stone statue of Neptune sitting on a throne with a trident in his hand. An artificial waterfall now cascades over the statue, flowing over the body and down into the pools below. This monument is called Val’urses Plenaga, directly translated from Sel’ict to “Fountain of the Great Mentor,” referring to Neptune himself.

Tengri is the name of a mostly forgotten demigod of Zepherin featured in a myth from the Verraerians that lived in the seaside cliffs before Helmrest was settled. Legend states that the Verraerians and other bird races were at one point incredibly fearful of flight, and didn’t believe that they could accomplish such things. Their demigod, Tengri, seeing this, crafted a pair of his own divine wings to serve as an inspiration to the people, taking flight off a high cliff and giving his people the courage to take flight alongside him. As this happened, Tengri was transformed into a bird, the Tengri Kingfisher, which lays nests in cliffsides by the sea. Today, the myth has fallen to the wayside, and perhaps is only remembered by a few members of the community, but a holiday still remains. When The Freeze ends, and the River Akvoniar flows unimpeded, people build floating ‘bird nests’ and release them from the most inland bridge to the west, racing them to Tengri’s Bridge at the mouth of the river.

Providence Keep is the seat of government at Helmrest, a so-called ‘Neutral Ground’ between the three churches of the town. The keep is usually a place of discord and frequent arguments between the priesthoods, as they all have differing opinions on how to run the town, although some would argue that the permanent stalemate between the priesthoods lends itself to the people of the town itself to run it themselves.

Helmsrest has a circling board of three non-partisan judges that switch from case to case¹⁾.

• Allison Kevel
• Unknown
• Unknown

The University of Helmrest originally started as just a Tarusian Archives, which used the seclusion and natural protection offered by the cliffside to store problematic technology and items far away from the City of Adventurers on Centralia Island. This was established in 9982. After many decades, the Tarusians also began storing less dangerous information here, just out of convenience for a more central location, but understandably, it has had its ups and downs… Eventually, in 10056, ‘The Kira Institute’ was established, using the gathered documents and lore from the Tarusians to conduct Vormaxian research, while organizing with the Tarusians what information could be released to the public in a Vormaxian library. In 10063, it opened to the public as a university where Vormaxians and augers taught classes on various academic interests. The Kira Institute still exists and now operates out of the Jetro Research Center, built in 10069. The Library is now called the Lorehold, and Scribewarden Aetha presides over it. These establishments are on the southern mountains, about ⅓ of the way up the steep cliffside. The rest of the small campus contains classrooms, offices, and three dormitories. The Tarusian Archives are currently performing some repairs, as an issue with a demon caused some of the facility to collapse.

At the Jetro Research Center, a professor named Fatima Abiduan used to conduct her research on the strange phenomenon of adventurers on Jaern and beyond, a quite unique anthropological field that confounds many (although most tend to avoid the subject in discussions, proclaiming them as extreme outliers to ‘normal behavior’). However, events led to the discovery that Fatima was an infamous pirate lord of the Rhine, and her office, labratory, and several of her conspirators have taken her research and fled from the University and Helmrest.

The Vormaxian priesthood is stationed at the University, and while there is no direct hierarchy amongst the priests, there are representatives that are generally referred to as the “heads” of different branches of management, such as;

• Government: Current Head - Nivia, half-dwarf half-elf.
• Law: Current Head - Coleen, Quarter gnome rest human.
• Research: Current Head - Unknown
• Services: Current Head - Unknown
• Daily Life: Current Head - Unknown

The “Heads” of these elements earned this position by being the most influential and/or longest serving in that specific field. However, they do not wield authority over the rest of the priests, they instead act as a mentor figure. There is a slight exception for Government where they are viewed as the leader of the Vormaxian’s by those outside the priesthood due to their heavy involvement in “discussions” with the Tarusians and Neptunians²⁾.