The immediate loss of Keridwyn’s influence took with it the stability of economy, but instability is a form of opportunity. Tordab was born of this opportunity. Many consider Tordab to not be a true city, rather a collection of scum at the bottom of polite society’s boots. It is rumored that Tordab is the current headquarters of the infamous league of assassins known as the Night Wraiths.

The cultural landscape of Tordab is a tumult of chaos. Groups of various bonds are formed and broken faster than they can be defined. The perfect place for people who feel the culture of Crossroads to be too strict and honest. Resource poor, Tordab must import all necessities. The constant flow of goods is ensured by exporting all manner of items that are illegal in other cities.

Lacking official regulations, Tordab is held together loosely by convenience of economics and the administrative skills of Izi, one of the city’s founders. Without laws, behavior is held in check by retribution of the offended party. The keen and the formidable are the ones who survive here. The more unpredictable and violent participants to the Tordab experiment have long been eliminated by their neighbors.

Old stones of an abandoned temple rest at the heart of the city, originally a temple of the Laranis, the god of light, fire, and protection. It was planted to hold back the rampant swamp growth and the necrotic creatures who used to dwell there. The remains of the temple sport a network of flooded tunnels where it is rumored a ball of flame refuses to extinguish despite the dark, cold waters.

Outward toward the marshy plains, dubbed the ‘dry side’, the city expands in a methodical circle. Into the wooded swampland, it reaches its tendrils in an uneven growth. The ‘wet side’ is ever changing with pathways becoming unusable and buildings being overtaken in a constant struggle between structure and nature. A guide is necessary for any non-local, and even some locals, to navigate the swamp side of Tordab, but this is where the most successful plant their roots.

The population consists majorly of smaller sized species and has a high percentage of mixed species individuals. Necrotic Dragons, Seadragon Flora, and Rettocuru find it most comfortable in the terrain and serve as the most frequent guides in the lack of adequate maps.

The ‘army’ of Tordab is a disorganized thing without rank or command. It is more of an alliance of armed merchants. They defend Tordab to protect their income. They attack to stress the fractures of the alliance, profiting from the violence and chaos, for there is money in war.

It is a rare case when a Materia lacks innate magical prowess. That was the case for Izi. Even the simplest of spellcasting was a strain for her. As a Water Materia, it was expected of her to excel, which was an infinite source of frustration and disappointment from others and from herself. In her early years, her uselessness drove her to the brink of despair.

Powerlessness bottled inside her, mixed with anger. Both fueled her to self-improvement. With an almost spiritual fervor, she trained vigorously. She sacrificed her time and energy at the altar of exercise. She refused to accept her lot. Symtar drew her in, where she begged, bribed, and threatened her way to cutting the line repeatedly to challenge the tower as often as possible. Slowly, painfully, she improved. Years of life in Symtar resulted in the development of her skills until she became one of the quickest spellcasters in the realm.

Izi is not known for her people skills. Her personality can be as frosty as her icy hair. She was often dismissed once others discovered she was not as skilled at magic as they assumed she should be. Except for Yuyizi, who saw the potential in her. The little Fox recruited her into the Symtar underground. Izi was a transporter and an enforcer for criminal activity while not training. She used an abandoned temple at the edge of the swamps as a location for transporting goods and hiding from bounty hunters. The chip on her shoulder grew into a boulder when she finally attained spell mastery. Many assume her skill is innate, not earned through years of hardship.

Yuyizi left the underground, Keridwyn abandoned its subjects, and Izi had learned all she needed from the tower. With nothing left to root her, she took a group of underground merchants with her to the abandoned temple, where they founded Tordab.

The beast master of Tordab is a large Demon named Dorgul. Standing several feet taller than a Human, she can move with surprising silence and grace. She is the queen of the hunt, master of the pack, gladiator of the negotiation. Her dark red eyes can spot the weakness of any animal. She offers for sale any beast that exists, regardless of danger or rarity, for an appropriate price. Many Humans claim to be beast whisperers, causing obedience through loyalty. Dorgul finds loyalty to be a tool for the weak and she sneers at their feeble skills. She literally sneers, with the large fangs of a Balor Demon. It is a frightening sight.

It is not loyalty that makes Dorgul fight for Tordab. She applies her skills to defend the source of her income. If beasts or fellow citizens of Tordab die in the process, so be it.

Before Izi invited Dorgul to Tordab, she worked out of the islands near Orbin. She supplied exotic pets to the newly wealthy visitors of the city. Now, most of her sales are of beasts as weapons to feed the war machine, though she still hunts, captures, and sells animals of all variety, have they four legs, six, or two. She has encouraged the idea that the healthy citizens of Permatu are better sources for blood magic than any other.