Overview
Cloudrift is a city of Thundermarch in Valrindor dedicated to Tianlei. Cloudrift Temple trains dragon arts disciples in fire, lightning, air, and related elemental disciplines under Tianlei's storm-god tradition. Cloudrift stands far from Stormpeak; after the city is attacked, a capital guard dismisses it as a far-off city.
Geography
The route to Cloudrift passes villages, busy roads, merchants, and travelers before reaching a sprawling city. Cloudrift has river-lined streets, bridges, inns, timber and stone buildings, and a massive river with docks, boats, and fishermen. Fertile plains and isolated approaches around the city become battlefields during the Shaoying-Thundermarch War.
History
During Jin's temple years, the Shaoying-Thundermarch War begins with cold-war pressure between Thundermarch and Shaoying and includes a minor attack near Cloudrift. Jin later travels there with Rhalyn and briefly rests in the city. Mages in green and crimson attack Cloudrift at night. Jin and Rhalyn try to protect civilians, then flee to Stormpeak when the attackers overwhelm them. Emperor Feng later sends what forces he can.
Shaoying's Green Emperor later orders an assault on Thundermarch, instructing the army to seize Cloudrift and force the nation to submit. Shaoying's assault devastates the fertile plains outside the city, and Shaoying reaches the outskirts before Thundermarch's defenders and Ren Wuye confront them. Shaoying overruns Cloudrift during the Shaoying-Thundermarch War. Decades afterward, Khoradyn's army defends Cloudrift during a later Shaoying-Linsothar attack, then forces Shaoying and Linsothar into a tense peace. The city is peaceful again after that settlement.