Tharras
Tharras, on the other hand, had its own beauties and wonders, despite its climate and geography being unfavorable to the creation of the rich city-states so often found on Enerith, with magnificent works of architecture.
In the north-eastern tip of the continent, where the heart of the Zhilar Empire beat, huge city monsters, home to tens or even hundreds of thousands of people, real metropolises were created, which simultaneously served as the military centers of the empire's unsurpassed military power, as well as the largest strongholds of science and advanced magic too.
These city giants, full of sizable stone and steel buildings and a multitude of towers reaching into the sky, were equally not lacking in beauty, although perhaps to the eyes accustomed to the luxury of Enerith, everything here might have seemed too simple and practical. Countless statues and monuments proclaimed the glory of human greatness, and although the Zhilar were slowly forced to abandon the cities, as the inexhaustible mana they used made the countryside around the cities more and more unlivable, even today they could be worthy counterparts of the magnificent cities of Enerith.
However, the most incredible and magnificent legacies of the Zhilar Empire were undoubtedly the cloud cities modeled after their first cities, raised far above the surface of the earth with the help of the most powerful and complex magic. Built on massive steel plinths, these settlements are glorious reminders of the mighty Zhilar Empire, and although these as well stand uninhabited now, the giant mana collectors still power the deep lords' intricate levitation magic that keeps the cities aloft.
Most cloud cities are still patiently waiting for the return of their former builders, though they had been waiting for a century. The graceful towers made of dark steel, the multitude of bridges stretching between them, and the architectural creations masterfully mixing angular and streamlined forms with their cold beauty, silently look down on the battered lands of Tharras, and the central areas of the empire. It is no coincidence that Tharrasians often refer to these ruins as the Ghost Cities.
In ancient times – and still today – it is true that when moving south on Tharras, the character of the typically gloomy countryside begins to change suddenly, and as if the travelers would suddenly fall into another world. Nature is becoming more and more alive and abundant here, and the barren landscapes are slowly giving way to lush vegetation and wild rainforests. This apparently rich and lively region is the "stain of shame" of Tharras". Here existed the only country that the Zhilars could not subdue.
For many centuries, the Guayara rainforests and the people living here with the same name have been nettling the empire and their deep-dwelling masters. It is said that the Guayaras are all "favored by the gods", and since the Zhilars absolutely rejected all contact with the Immortals of the Upper Plains, their relationship has been poisoned by this strong ideological contrast from the beginning.
There are many theories as to why the Zhilars did not just wipe out the Guayaras despite their obvious military and magical superiority. The most widely accepted of these is that the empire simply wasn't interested enough in the fate of the Guayaras to waste valuable resources on breaking them, since they lived in isolation. Also, by then, the idea of a much bigger and holier plan had been implanted in the heads of their leaders by the Abyss Lords' continuous whisper. Whatever is the truth, to this day, this southern region is the real gem of Tharras, although it is no less dangerous or mysterious than the rest of the continent.