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Post by robertf on Jun 12, 2018 1:47:32 GMT
I've been reading through my copy of The Realm of Sommerlund published by Cubicle 7 and found only a few tantalizing details about the Sunken Forest and the nearby ruins of a Shianti Temple:
"The crater-like area occupied by the Sunken Forest is the result of a devastating explosion that occurred in the subterranean levels of an ancient Shianti Temple in the Durncrag Range more than two thousand years ago. The explosion caused some of the underground levels to collapse and, as a consequence, the whole area dropped. With the passage of years, a dense pine forest has established itself in the collapsed area."
Did Joe Dever provide more information about the origins of the "explosion"? I'm guessing the inhabitants were evil renegade Shianti - perhaps they were dabbling in forbidden magic and there was an accident which destroyed the temple? At any rate I'm thinking this the remains of the temple, plus the bronin mine & Rockstarn, would make for an exciting old-style dungeon crawl adventure setting.
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Post by Nym90 on Jun 12, 2018 16:53:29 GMT
Your guess seems reasonable. This would be similar to how the renegade Shianti Shasarak destroyed Taklakot and Gyanima (aka The Forbidden City) as per book 2 of the Grey Star series.
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Post by wisestrider on Jul 23, 2018 1:26:23 GMT
It's the setting for the Lone Wolf game that came out a few years ago on I-pad, Android (I think?), Steam and PS4 (recently on Switch too).
It's been a while since I played it but from memory the area is part of the land granted to Lone Wolf when he becomes a noble and I think a fair amount of additional lore is included in the adventure - well there are unlockable lore entries added to an index as you progress through the game but as I haven't read the Cubicle 7 book I can't be sure how much "extra" information there is - I just remember as I was playing it it felt more fleshed out than some of the locations visited in the actual game books.
The Shianti were indeed experimenting in the tower and surrounding area and had created a type of power gem you can learn to use (and also learn how to overload - resulting in explosions) these are ultimately believed to have caused the sunken valley - I vaguely recollect it may have been some kind of Shianti research facility but not 100% sure about that - there are certainly other unusual / forbidden magics lingering in the region and the tower itself that you encounter during the adventure.
The gems can be used in the adventure to power various contraptions / unlock portals and there's also an inventor character living in the nearby town / village who's been experimenting with the gems in hopes of giving Sommerlund an edge against the Darklords now the Kai are lost (the adventure is set before Shadow on the Sand so no Book of the Magnakai to bring the order back should anything happen to Lone Wolf).
Needless to say rumour of this inventor "working to unlock the secrets of the weapon of the ancients" attracts various interested parties (Haarkon and other, more scholarly persons) to begin showing an interest in the Tower and the surrounding valley.
I'd highly recommend the game if you haven't played it (there's another topic on here from another user that sets out some good gameplay hints & tips - in the Auxiliary Creations board) - at its core it's a gamebook but with touch screen based combat & puzzles and the gamebook parts are pure Lone Wolf (in fact I prefer it to Book 29 and the Collectors Edition of Book 1 if we're looking at Joe's post series works because this adventure stars Lone Wolf during the Kai era - which was always my favourite series and this adventure fits into that series perfectly).
There's probably more info I (or someone else who's played the app) can share about the region but I'd need to read through the lore index again as it's over a year since I payed it. I do remember thinking it was an interesting setting.
The game is in 4 chapters and each made me think of other Lone Wolf books:
The very start / set up for the story and parts of Chapter 2 are straight out of Chasm of Doom.
Other parts of Chapters 1 & 2 had me thinking of Flight from the Dark.
Other parts felt like Caverns of Kalte / the underground city part of Cauldron of Fear (I think this must have been Chapter 3).
Most of Chapter 4 felt like pure Castle Death / Plague Lords of Ruel type "infiltrate enemy citadel and end their evil scheme".
So it's maybe more mixed than your suggestion of a Dungeon Crawl (although it does have that element to the last couple of chapters and it builds up to it nicely).
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