The History of Etria and its State at the Time of Echelon’s Institution
This report provides a basic description of Etria and the events following the discovery of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. It is not intended as a complete history or record but merely serves as a backdrop to the establishment of Guild Echelon and its subsequent adventures.
Etria is a peaceful municipality that historically has functioned as a small but healthy market hub despite its relative isolation. The governing Radha mostly keep to themselves, but they always seem to act in the town’s best interest. Several months ago, the sudden discovery of a wide fissure in the floor of an outlying forest completely altered the town’s role, the lives of its citizens, and the fates of the many curious seekers and adventurous explorers who have been drawn from the farthest edges of the continent by its mystery.
This hole, apparently opened by the unusual geological tremors recently experienced by the area, reveals a perplexing Labyrinth of wooded ruins beneath the forest. Its origin, purpose, and size are all completely unknown. Since the discovery, the Radha have taken a much more active role in Etria’s functioning, rapidly assembling a modest but capable guard to map the maze and uncover its secrets. However, their unexpected encounters with powerful and aggressive wildlife seemingly alien to the known ecosystem have prevented most progress. In an unusual show of determination, the Radha have opened the town coffers and issued an official proclamation inviting unaffiliated adventurers to spearhead the soldiers’ efforts and lead the investigation of what is today known as the Yggdrasil Labyrinth.
It is uncommon for Etria’s governors to so openly rely upon outsiders for help, leading to varied speculation that the ruins represent a direct threat to the townspeople or that the Radha see this discovery as an economic opportunity to be exploited. It may be that both are true: more than one citizen of Etria has disappeared into the underground maze since its discovery, and the influx of adventurers has brought a radical surge of energy to the marketplace. Not only do these foreigners pay well for housing, sustenance, and goods, but they also retrieve previously unseen materials from the Labyrinth, in turn introducing new products and fostering the interest of collectors, exotic merchants, and the fashion elite, who all represent new markets for the town’s previously mundane economy.
To date, according to the judgment of the Etrian Guildmaster, no party has yet adequately conquered the Labyrinth; its significance and full depth remain largely unexplored, and the various guilds and individual adventurers who have answered the Radha’s call are unrenowned, regardless of scattered reputations of veterancy. In only a short time, it seems that most have given up on the greater goal, content to live off of trifling economic fruits readily picked within the safest clearings of the underground forest’s most shallow levels. No major exploration has occurred since the first weeks of these travelers’ arrival. Newcomers, too late to establish financial footing, continue enthusiastically to arrive but, finding no guilds interested in their services, leave without even knowing defeat.
One such new arrival, a young mercenary calling herself V, intends to upturn this situation by organizing a new guild for other ambitious adventurers who have been shut out by the emerging oligarchy. She will find no shortage of recruits, and, while yet inexperienced, they will endeavor together to wrest Etria’s mystery from the hands of the complacent and carve out their own fame and fortune.
