Overview
Shroudvale is the desolate shaper domain in Valrindor that grew from the ruins of the Malverand Empire. Its capital is Maraveth, the old Malverand capital, and its people are the essence shapers created through essence-core transformation as darkness closed on Malverand.
Shroudvale is both a land and a political threat. Under Zharrek, it expands beyond its borders until Skarnheim, Thundermarch, Shaoying, Linsothar, and other human nations defeat the shapers and seal the survivors behind a massive wall after the Great Shaper War. Centuries later, the shapers break through and devastate parts of Shaoying, Linsothar, Hengvaris, Thundermarch, and the lands around Rimvold.
Geography
Shroudvale lies in central or western Valrindor around ruined Maraveth. Blackcrag and Morindel watch nearby borderlands. Shaoying, Linsothar, and Hengvaris belong to the surrounding human lands that originally built the wall around it.
The land is barren, gray, brittle, and drained dry by centuries of essence depletion. Its landscape includes sparse forests, empty fields, cracked earth, scarce fresh water, dead trees, crude settlements, and the massive wall separating Shroudvale from the rest of the continent. At its center, ruined Maraveth holds a black tower and the hidden Malverand vault beneath the old capital.
History
Shroudvale begins after Malverand's collapse. As darkness closes on the old empire, Malcairn, Zharrek, Zal'therak, and Malverand's scholars develop a procedure that binds essence into the body. Zharrek and allied scholars later imprison Zal'therak, use his essence to transform the remaining population, and shape the survivors into essence shapers. The people who refuse the procedure leave for other nations. The ones who stay inherit Shroudvale's altered bodies and damaged land.
Under Zharrek, Shroudvale expands beyond its borders and seizes surrounding lands. Human nations including Skarnheim, Thundermarch, Shaoying, Linsothar, and additional human nations unite against the shapers once the darkness recedes from their own lands. Their victory breaks Shroudvale's expansion and kills most of the shapers. The victors build massive walls around Shroudvale and confine the surviving shapers inside.
Behind the wall, Shroudvale remains a standing fear across Valrindor. Blackcrag monitors the northern border, fortifies against Shroudvale, and maintains a defensive alliance with Morindel against any Shroudvale attack. If Blackcrag fell, Thiravos and Theryssa would be in immediate danger. Elsewhere, Shaoying, Linsothar, and Hengvaris retain the memory of the old anti-Shroudvale alliance.
After the later shaper breakout, Zharrek's forces attack Hengvaris and Thundermarch, push toward Raindawn and Rimvold, and draw a Kaldaryn-led force under Garrik, Thundermarch mages gathered in Laizhou, northern city-state troops, Skarnheim resistance around Rimvold, and Blackcrag forces under Eremion. After Zharrek's defeat, Garrik's coalition moves on Shroudvale and Maraveth to eliminate the remaining shaper threat. The few remaining shapers abandon Maraveth before Garrik's army and Eremion's Blackcrag forces converge near the black tower. The Maraveth War then becomes a struggle over ruined Maraveth and the vault beneath it.