Outposts

"Every outpost is a promise. A promise that we will not yield. A promise that even in the darkest lands, the light of resistance burns."

• Commander Lyris Dawnshield

The Dominion Outposts are forward bases established by the resistance deep within enemy territory. Each outpost represents a hard-won foothold - carved from hostile ground through blood, sacrifice, and unwavering determination.

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The Outpost Network

When the resistance realized that Valoryn alone could not sustain campaigns into the deeper Dominions, a bold plan was conceived: establish permanent safe zones within each Dominion itself. These outposts serve as rest points, resupply stations, and rallying points for warriors pushing toward the Dominion Generals.

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Dreadmar Frontier: Ember's Rest

Located at Molten Passage

Overview

Ember's Rest is a resistance camp built within a natural cave system where the volcanic heat is bearable. Discovered by Darkan scouts during the first Dreadmar campaign, the caves were once used by fire spirits as a cooling retreat. The cave walls are lined with cooled obsidian that Darkan engineers have reinforced with iron supports.

The Story

When the first wave of resistance fighters pushed into Dreadmar, casualties from environmental hazards exceeded those from combat. Warriors were dying from heat exhaustion and lava burns before they even reached Vharun. A Darkan mining team discovered the cave network - a rare pocket where underground springs cooled the volcanic stone. They named it Ember's Rest for the ember-lit lanterns that now guide exhausted survivors to safety.

Description

The main chamber opens into a natural cavern where obsidian walls reflect the soft glow of controlled ember-flames. A small underground spring provides the only clean water in the Frontier, collected in stone basins carved by the original occupants. The air is warm but breathable - a stark contrast to the toxic fumes outside.

Sleeping quarters are carved into alcoves along the walls, each with thick volcanic glass windows that look out into the lava flows - beautiful but sobering reminders of the danger beyond the sanctuary.

Services

Key NPCs

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Mire of Whispers: Silence Hold

Located at Weeping Depths

Overview

Silence Hold is built on a rare solid island where Saelistra's psychic whispers cannot penetrate. Ancient runestones - remnants of a pre-Dominion civilization - create a ward that blocks the Mire's grief-inducing fog. Those who reach it describe the sudden silence as both profound relief and deeply unnerving.

The Story

The island was discovered by a Lilin ranger named Thessaly who noticed that her companions' grief-madness symptoms ceased the moment they stepped onto its shores. Investigation revealed the runestones - weathered but still functional - arranged in a precise pattern around the island's perimeter. Lilin scholars believe these stones predate even the First Forest, remnants of a people who understood how to ward against psychic corruption.

The resistance fortified the island immediately. It remains the only place in the Mire where warriors can sleep without nightmares.

Description

Silence Hold is eerily quiet. The constant whispers that pervade every other inch of the Mire simply stop at the island's edge. The runestones glow faintly with pale blue light, their ancient carvings depicting scenes of protection and sanctuary.

The camp itself is modest - wooden structures built on the solid ground, surrounded by the ever-present fog that laps at the island's shores like a malevolent tide. Warriors often stand at the edge, watching the fog swirl, grateful for the barrier between them and the voices within.

Services

Key NPCs

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Stonegrave Expanse: Bonehaven

Located at Ravenous Wastes

Overview

Bonehaven is a camp constructed within the massive ribcage of a fallen Titan. The bones are so ancient and impossibly large that Kharagul's spawn cannot gnaw through them. The hollow interior provides shelter from the wasteland winds, and the Titan's residual essence - even in death - repels lesser creatures.

The Story

The Titan whose bones form Bonehaven has no name that mortals remember. It fell during the Primordial Wars, long before the gods shaped the mortal races. When resistance scouts discovered that creatures avoided the skeleton, they realized the Titan's very essence persisted - not alive, but not entirely gone. Something in those ancient bones whispers of power too great for Kharagul's hunger to consume.

The camp was built within the ribcage, using the curved bones as natural walls. It is perhaps the strangest outpost in the network - a sanctuary of death that protects the living.

Description

The ribcage rises from the wasteland like a cathedral of bone. Each rib is wider than a house, curving overhead to form a natural dome. The ground within is bare stone - nothing grows here, but nothing attacks either.

Tents and structures cluster around the spine, which serves as a central thoroughfare. At night, the bones seem to glow faintly with residual Titan energy, casting the camp in an otherworldly pale light. Warriors speak in hushed tones here, respectful of the ancient dead that shelters them.

Services

Key NPCs

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Eclipse Barrens: Dawnkeeper Outpost

Located at Abyssal Wastes

Overview

Dawnkeeper Outpost is a desperate fortification maintained by Luminar volunteers who channel their light to create a permanent sanctuary bubble. The light-ward requires constant rotation of keepers, and many Luminar have sacrificed their lives to maintain it. The outpost is both a tactical necessity and a powerful symbol of defiance against the eternal dark.

The Story

When the resistance first entered the Eclipse Barrens, no safe zone existed. The eternal darkness drove warriors mad, and the shadow creatures hunted without pause. A Luminar priestess named Solara proposed a radical solution: create an artificial day.

Twenty Luminar volunteers formed the first circle, channeling their inner light into a ward that pushed back the darkness. Solara was the first to fall - her light exhausted, her life force drained. But the ward held. It has been maintained ever since through an unbroken chain of sacrifice.

The Dawnkeepers - as the Luminar volunteers are called - serve in shifts, knowing that their light may one day be the price of others' survival.

Description

The outpost exists within a bubble of golden light approximately one hundred meters in diameter. Outside, the eternal darkness of the Eclipse Barrens presses against the ward like a living thing. Inside, it is perpetual dawn - the light warm and comforting, though tinged with the sadness of its cost.

At the center stands the Keeper's Circle - a ring of Luminar channeling their light into the ward. Their faces are serene but strained, their glow slowly diminishing as they give of themselves. Memorial stones ring the circle, bearing the names of every Dawnkeeper who has given their life for the sanctuary.

Services

Key NPCs

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Hall of Fallen: The Last Hearth

Located at Gallery of Sorrow

Overview

The Last Hearth is established in the old servants' quarters of the Eterna Citadel - the only section that escaped Cassian's corruption. Some say the servants' humble devotion to their duties protected these halls when grander chambers fell. A warm fire burns perpetually in the central hearth, maintained by survivors who refuse to let the flame die.

The Story

When Cassian's grief corrupted the Eterna Citadel, the transformation spread outward from the throne room. Grand halls, warrior barracks, the galleries of history - all fell to the emptiness. But the servants' quarters, tucked away in a modest corner of the citadel, remained untouched.

Scholars theorize that the servants' lack of ambition or glory made them invisible to Cassian's corruption. They sought nothing but to serve; they grieved nothing but their duties undone. The Anguish Stone's power, which feeds on lost dreams and broken hopes, found nothing to corrupt in those who never dreamed of more.

The fire that burns in the hearth was lit by the last servant to flee the citadel. She said it would burn until someone returned to tend it. Centuries later, the resistance found the fire still burning. They named the outpost in her honor.

Description

The Last Hearth is modest compared to the ruined grandeur surrounding it. Simple stone walls, worn wooden furniture, and a hearth that dominates the main chamber. The fire within burns with a steady, warm light that seems to push back the emptiness that pervades the rest of the Hall.

Warriors often sit by the fire in silence, finding comfort in its warmth. Some say they can hear echoes of the servants' songs in the crackling flames - old melodies from before the Fall, when the citadel was a place of life instead of death.

Services

Key NPCs

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Outpost Mechanics

Accessing Outposts

Outposts become accessible after clearing the preceding areas of their Dominion. Once discovered, warriors can fast-travel between any unlocked outpost and Valoryn.

Progression