Episcin

Episcin [EP-is-sin] is a mainly ruined settlement on the east coast of Anrel, on what is now the border between Tresard and Narette. In the 1st century ME it became a retreat for wealthy nobles as well as scholars from the city of Rasia, who wished a private retreat far from the austerity and observance of the Magisteriate. It was intended as a community where artists, writers, scholars, artisans and sorcerors could meet and exchange ideas in idyllic surroundings, with the wealthy vying for their patronage.

The village was founded in a v-shaped valley with steep hills running down to a pebble beach. Like most of the east coast it is precipitous, with only treacherous tracks leading over the mountains to the lands beyond. Access was therefore primarily by sea, though later a stone stairway was cut into the hillside, connecting it to narrow hill paths west and north.

Wealthy patrons built lodges along the coast, particularly in the form of brightly painted wood and stone towers, or with columns imitating the classical period of the Rasian Academy. After the downfall of the Academy and the Long War, these impractical homes were abandoned, their once splended roofs pulled down by storms and virid weed, and eventually burned by Anretian forces.

After the war some hardy refugees built a fish villages amongst the ruins, but most of the coast remains free of human touch.