Sokkar

Sokkar, the City of Eternity, was a ruined necropolis found in the Haunted Lands of Zakhara in 1367 DR.

Geography
Sokkar rested at the base of the Furrowed Mountains along the northern fringes of the Weeping Desert.

Description
As of 1367 DR, Sokkar had been completely surrounded by Al-Amzija, a black cloud of vengeance, for centuries which shielded it from the prying eyes of Zakhara.

Within the tempest, the city of Sokkar stretched for miles in every direction. Impressive pyramids dominated the center of the city, stretching upward into the storm-filled sky.

Defenses
The undead rulers of the city summoned a black cloud of vengeance, called Al-Amzija, to surround the city upon the death of Sokkar's last citizen. Al-Amzija could not enter the city nor could it stray more than a few miles from it, enraging the black cloud of vengeance while it sought a way to escape. Al-Amzija's rage meant anyone attempting to enter the city needed to pass through a lethal barrier of sand and wind.

History
Sokkar was founded by giants long ago when lush jungles covered the Land of Fate. The giants governed with wisdom and the human residents of the city prospered under their rule. Over time the female giants began to only produce male offspring, resulting in the gradual decline of the giant population in Sokkar. The remaining males renounced their rulership and constructed large cairns for themselves in a necropolis along the periphery of the city. Eventually only a trio of males remained. The passion these giants held for their dying culture was so strong that even death could not claim them. They became the undying rom. Their names were Noq the Inspired, Arun the Ever-Vigilant, and Merodach the Deprived.

The human rulers of Sokkar deferred to the wisdom of the three rom, travelling to the necropolis on a yearly basis to receive their wisdom.

Eventually the rom were viewed as demigods. The rom reveled in this treatment, allowing worthy citizens to be buried near their mausoleum when the died. Eventually even their towering tombs were surround by lesser structures, creating a veritable city of tombs.

As time passed the climate of the region became more arid, causing the jungles to give way to deserts. The human population of Sokkar, perhaps distracted by their construction of elaborate tombs, neglected the city as a whole. As Fate would have it, the population was stuck by the same curse that befell the giants in that only male offspring were being born, eventually leaving the city in ruin when the inhabitants died out.

Traditions
The population of Sokkar revered their dead, believing that their status in the afterlife was determined by how they were buried. Thus, based on their beliefs, someone buried in a pauper's crypt was doomed to wander eternity in poverty. This belief led the nobility and other wealthy citizens to spend their fortunes on constructing elaborate tombs in preparation for the afterlife, perhaps aiding the downfall of the city as other civic projects were ignored.

Every Sokkarn tomb contained a ka figure, or spirit statue, and a stele.