For millennia, the White City of Zerzura remained hidden, deep within the Sahara Desert as it was meant to be. Zerzura was an ethnic amalgamation of cultures and beliefs brought about by the settlers and merchants who built the city. Be it Arabian, Berber, Egyptian, Persian, Israeli, or even Greek, the many men who braved the desert set out to construct the massive white city. Initially built as a great trading port, Zerzura was erected within a desert oasis, one of the few places where rain and water were plentiful, and foliage grew rich and dense.
Each of the cultures brought their own beliefs and practices, many of which were at odds with each other but would eventually homogenize into a singular belief system built upon the tenets of each belief system brought about. With this new belief system, relative peace was brought about to the oasis city, which served as an excellent trading tool. Each person was deemed equal, man, woman, or child, and each had a say in the decisions the city made, creating for the world’s first democracy. The people would elect the leaders, and no king would ever rule over them. This peace lasted for a long time, but eventually, the town of Zerzura heard tell of a series of crusades attempting to reclaim many Arabic nations, and, to preserve themselves from siege or invasion, they closed their borders, building a sizeable siege-resistant wall. This wouldn’t be enough, but eventually, an all-powerful sorcerer wandered up to the city, asking for shelter, and, in turn, he would protect the city from an attack by foreign invaders.
The city agreed, but the sorcerer had tricked them all, casting a massive sandstorm that constructed ravines around the city and sunk it into the ground. He then created golems out of obsidian and had them patrol the city’s walls, keeping anyone who came away. The sorcerer then declared himself King of Zerzura, forcing the merchants of the once great and peaceful city to become laborers and construct his palace atop the city’s former meeting house. He turned the oasis into his private gardens and invited merchants worldwide to bring him birds as a token of peace. Soon, he constructed a massive aviary for his bird collection, a menagerie he determined was fit for a king. Soon, the sorcerer had complete control over all of the people of Zerzura and crushed any insurgencies easily with his magic. Between his powers and his golems, the city was under his thumb when he declared one of the city’s women to become his queen.
The two ruled the city with an iron fist until a traveling merchant eventually stumbled across the sandy ravines and the city’s gates. He asked for passage, granting the gift of a white dove to the king, and was let in. Once in the city’s walls, this merchant began his work, revealing that he too was a sorcerer, one more powerful than the king, who had gotten lazy in his comfort and thus lost his grip on his powers. This new sorcerer could not undo the curse the king had put onto the city to sink it into the desert ravines, but he could put a curse on the king and the queen, one that would put them into a deep and eternal slumber. The king attempted to fight, but the challenge was met with a display of powers never seen by the king, and he was soon defeated, put into an eternal sleep alongside his queen. The people of the city constructed an underground tomb and buried the two tyrants within it. The sorcerer enchanted the two’s coffins with a spell that could only be broken if they were touched by diamond. If diamond ever touched the casket, the king and queen would awaken from their slumber. To prevent this, the tombs were then placed in a chamber of endless catacombs, making it near-impossible to reach without a map of the catacombs, which, for safety, was never produced. The sorcerer was offered a place on the city’s council, but just as quickly as he appeared, he vanished. Inscriptions on the former palace walls, now once again the city meeting house, tell of the great sorcerer who saved the city.
The city became self-reliant, turning the golems into their defenders, and decided to remain hidden to prevent another tyrant from taking over. Every so often, explorers and rangers from the city would wander out into the desert to save those lost, but rarely would people find the city of their own accord. The only known time was when famed explorer Dr. Elrond Pearson discovered it, leaving a piece of his enchanted map for his mentee Dr. Everett Erie. For millennia the city of Zerzura remained hidden, until now...
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