| Category | Cities | ||||||||||||||||
| Continent | Brucrumus | ||||||||||||||||
| Region | Drarthiel | ||||||||||||||||
| Alias | Curatoch | ||||||||||||||||
| Owner | independent city-state | ||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||
| Races |
|
||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 9 War March 106 GE | ||||||||||||||||
| Map | Ufthag |
When the demonic forces under Athroond breached Bal-Kriav, they emerged through a rift located beneath the future site of this city. This rift, known as the Arioch Cloud, serves as an interdimensional bridge connecting two realms - one plagued by demons, the other destined to be categorized as part of the Mortal Systems within a few centuries' time.
Called Curatoch in the Demon Spawn War, it was constructed to fortify the area surrounding the rift. This was more to contain the demons emerging through the rift, rather than defend against Covenant attack. Containing and controlling the demons was a significant challenge for all of Abyss's nascent demon lords; for if given the chance, lesser demons would escape into the wild. Covenant commanders did not press the invasion rift. After they discovered they were primarily fighting water-borne demons, their tactics in Ufthag shifted to a defensive approach, controlling the tunnels adjacent to the Green Nebulous and its feeder rivers.
Curatoch faced flooding issues from the outset, stemming from the rift's opening on the Abyssal side. The rift was situated near a swamp that snaked across the entire world, and the eerie swamp's water seeped through the rift. Fortunately for Athroond, the majority of the demons under his command were amphibious, swift in the water but sluggish on the surface. His aboleth laborers constructed most of the city, with demons building the areas above water. Curatoch served as the base of operations for demons invading the world Bal-Kriav from the Abyssal world Arioch.
In the Lith-Crillion Era, kuo-toans ventured upriver from Cthorgo's Toadoolp Twist. They constructed their settlement atop the partially submerged ruin, renaming it Shoglomph. The kuo-toans drained a substantial portion of the water flooding the lower levels. Through commerce and conquest, Shoglomph evolved into an unparalleled Underdark metropolis for hundreds of miles. Adhering to the architectural foundations beneath, the city embodied a sense of grandeur, otherworldly design, and dichotomy. Its layout blended elements of chaos and order, both influenced by the emanations rising from the Arioch Cloud.
In 1445, the kuo-toan ruler Lagdú Gúrkúlub hired a band of adventurers. They were tasked with uncovering the reason behind the swelling of Negative Entropy and entropic energies from beneath the city. These unsettling energies had long plagued the population, causing erratic shifts in the way the city was governed - periods of strict order followed by spells of lawlessness that the rulers seemed to encourage. After exploring an area 500' beneath the city, the adventurers returned with their findings. The Marching Twenty hypothesized that an angel had made a noble sacrifice to close the Arioch Cloud. They believed the alternating periods of law and chaos reflected the emotions of the trapped angel, as well as those of an entire world of demons frozen in time - the world of Arioch, which remains frozen in time even to this day.
Shoglomph has a substantial slave population, comprising 60% of the city's residents. This diverse populace includes individuals from the Drarthiel regions, as well as surface races like wood elves from Gwaeldior and Nermaneans abducted from Bathor. Powerful forces of law and chaos are trapped in the city's deepest labyrinths. The city's slave revolts and riots intensify when the Arioch Cloud's emanations shift towards chaos.
The only faction on amicable terms with Shoglomph is Yastorogg. By mutual treaty, the two powers restrict their raids on one another. Shoglomph's predations typically target those utilizing or residing adjacent to the Green Nebulous. Any individual within a twenty-mile radius of the unsettling waters of this Underdark sea risks assault and potential subjugation by the kuo-toans.
The kuo-toans employ the emanations of the Arioch Cloud to craft items imbued with chaotic or lawful properties. Presently, the city is undergoing an era of pronounced law and order, so the Arioch Forge can only manufacture items necessitating Negative Entropy.