Somathys

Ruler: Soroleider (planar/male elf/HD 1/Sensates/CG) is ancient even by elven standards. Despite his advanced age, he is apparently the greatest ruler Somathys has ever had. His record of winning battles to the death proves this claim. Vengeful and petty, he loves to hector opponents until they agree to face him in the Arena. It was his tales of the place that encouraged the current inhabitants of Sonathys to come here and they hang on his every word as if he were a prophet.

Behind the throne: The current remote burg of Somathys isn't close to being the oldest place on the plane of Olympus, being only a few decades old. It was supposedly the realm of an unknown power of truth that was killed by an undead god some time ago in some sort of mad quest.

Soroleider stumbled onto the site and somehow managed to find out its darks and history. He returned to civilization long enough to gain a following and has been in charge ever since. Whether something of the killed god remains in the place or if proxies are skulking in the shadows is a matter of contention, but no one has enough evidence about it to want to risk the Arena.

Special Conditions: In Somathys' Arena of Truth, the truth is made physical. This means that two people who disagree can battle to see who is right, and whoever is right always wins, often at the cost of the other's life. Combat is popular enough on this layer, but at least here it leads to truth instead of merely bloodshed. The actual physical condition and training of the opponents has nothing to do with the outcome. Wizened old philosophers typically make mincemeat out of burly young fighters in hand-to-hand combat.

Description: The ruins of a city with vaguely Greek architecture surround a pristine arena. In the arena, known as the Arena of Truth, truth is determined not by words but by actions; opponents must physically combat one another to determine who speaks the truth, and the victor is always right. Anyone who wants to face off in the Arena can, but the adversaries must have good reasons for their beliefs and believe strongly in what they fight for. The Arena is not for those blindly trying to find truth!

Word of the site has spread throughout Arborea, but graybeards haven't been flocking here to face off against each other. Somathys has attracted many visitors. This is probably due to a general distrust of the place and some fear of having one's beliefs shown to be false. A large factor is because the loser of the conflict is always dead at the end of it, no matter what the intention of the winner was at the outset.

Surrounding this focus of attention, a tiny settlement of no more than a hundred live a subsistence lifestyle, sheltering them selves in the ruins as best they can. Some elves live in the area, but they mostly stay in the woods and only rarely have anything to do with the inhabitants, who they see as extremely strange fanatics.

Militia: The community is too small to really be able to defend itself, but the elves that live around the burg would be more than enough to fight off a small incursion.

Services: The Arena of Truth is the burg's only claim to fame and pretty much the only reason anyone would go so far out of their way to get here.

Current Chant: Soroleider's power over the burg is going to his head. He's convinced that his destiny is to take his rightful place as the power of the place. He's waiting for someone, possibly a top shelf high-up, to show up that disagrees with him enough to take the matter into the Arena.