Taphezel

Category	Cities
Continent	Straiden
Region	Weretopia
Government	Republic
Owner	independent city-state
Population	190,000+
Races	Aarakocra 25% other 75%
Founded	1 Brightstar 2312 DE
Map	Piwûth

The fortifications of Taphezel, once built by the Nawirrûs Covenant, controlled the Murk River. A Covenant bastion during the Creation War (1486 DE - 8777 DE), Taphezel's towering flood gates, dams, and canals were used to inundate the countryside and support the Covenant cordon around the Regadnîn battlefields. After the war, Taphezel was left to a small community of Aarakocra - former Covenant soldiers and their flock. Favoring the Skyhook's towering trees and floating islands, most departed, leaving the old, infirm, and war-wounded to carry on. Despite their diminished numbers, they transformed the sprawling bastion into a thriving trading post that steadily expanded.

Taphezel's populace reached its apex during the Horgon Era, numbering nearly half a million. A prosperous and affluent nation, they were then, and on numerous occasions thereafter, the object of envy for the tribal Aarakocra states of Skyhook.

Laden with ornate trappings, the Taphezel have lost sight of the raptor's path. Satiated by constant indulgence, they shall succumb in the days to come.

Sergin, Chieftain of the Wingspear

The Wingspear and six other tribes of Skyhook conquered Taphezel in the initial stages of the Raptor Wars. For the Aarakocra, these conflicts represent a period of culling and rebalancing, pillage and plunder, and the reconstruction of tribes that have strayed from their path.

The waterworks of Taphezel are a magnificent spectacle, with cascading waterfalls plummeting two hundred feet from dam walls, purportedly constructed using the remains of earth elementals vanquished in the desolate regions of Regadnîn.