# The Gloom **The Gloom** is the common modern name for the ruined city historically called **Velmere**, once one of [Ebonmoor](/link/48)'s great trade centers. The city was deliberately sacrificed during the early spread of the [Rotmire Blight](/link/3): its ports were burned, its bridges were severed, and its population was abandoned in an attempt to stop the catastrophe from spreading farther. Smoke still rises from the ruins years later. [![image.png](https://dnd.raresnacks.net/uploads/images/gallery/2025-02/scaled-1680-/SonodJUWenHAV1FJ-image.png)](https://dnd.raresnacks.net/uploads/images/gallery/2025-02/SonodJUWenHAV1FJ-image.png) --- ### Overview Velmere's importance came from trade and from the bridges and causeways that connected its commercial network. Large construction projects were underway when the Blight reached the city, drawing laborers, merchants, sailors, and materials into crowded districts near the harbor. The ruins retain the shape of that unfinished expansion. Broken bridgeworks, burned docks, abandoned construction sites, storehouses, timber yards, and damaged streets remain cut off from the routes they were built to serve. The persistent smoke gave the ruins their current name. From elevated parts of [Vexenford](/link/11), the dark column over the Gloom remains visible across the water. --- ### History The first outbreak spread through crowded waterfront and labor districts while the scale of the Blight was still poorly understood. Once the danger became undeniable, the response was deliberate. [House Wilthorne](/link/4) and the Baronial authorities chose containment over evacuation. Ships and ports were burned, bridges linking the city to surrounding routes were destroyed, and outside assistance was withdrawn. The measures helped isolate the outbreak, but they also trapped the people who remained. Velmere did not simply collapse. It was sacrificed. --- ### Present Day No serious effort has reclaimed the city. The broken approaches and continuing presence of Blighted make ordinary travel into the ruins extremely dangerous. What remains is not merely a ruin but the physical record of a decision: bridges cut behind people, ships burned beside them, and an entire city made into the boundary of a quarantine. Stockpiled materials, tools, abandoned goods, and unfinished infrastructure continue to attract scavengers and relic-seekers despite that danger. The name **Velmere** remains the historical name of the city. **The Gloom** refers to what it became after its destruction. --- ### Notable Locations ##### **The Broken Bridges** The surviving bridge remains are the clearest evidence of the city's former role as a trade hub and of the deliberate measures used to isolate it. ##### **The Burned Harbor** Velmere's harbor was intentionally destroyed during containment. Wrecked docks, vessels, warehouses, and waterfront structures remain among the most dangerous parts of the ruin. ##### **The Construction Districts** Large sections of the city were still being expanded when the outbreak occurred. Abandoned work camps and unfinished structures remain around the ruined approaches. --- ### See Also - [Ebonmoor](/link/48) - [Ebonmere](/link/49) - [Rimewatch Keep](/link/51) - [Vexenford](/link/11) - [Rotmire Blight](/link/3)