Nensa (pronounced NEN-sah) is an aerolith that crashed sometime in the late eighth millennium. Though it once traveled the world widely, since that time it has remained in the tropical forests of Brightmarch between the north and south tributaries of the Ikena River, where it has slowly become overgrown by vegetation. While it remained almost entirely without visitors since its landing, owing in large part to the cultural prohibitions of the surrounding tribes towards venturing into ancient elven ruins, in Y9976* Nensa and the relics it contained attracted the attentions of two groups of adventurers, one working with a local Idrimi tribe and the other for the monarchy of Sharruma.
Description
In its size, layout, and architecture, Nensa is a fairly typical aerolith. Four large boulevards that converge in the middle form the primary thoroughfares of the city, with smaller, well-planned roads branching off from these. Nearly all buildings are constructed of refined ansharite mined from the asteroid itself. A large central spire in the very center of the aerolith served as the site of the council's chambers, surrounded by four somewhat smaller spires where the city's colossi protectors were kept.
History
The details of Nensa's creation and first flight have been lost to history. Based on certain aspects of its design, particularly the concealed yet unfortified entrances to its sub-levels, it was most likely built in the middle period of aerolith construction, sometime between Y2780* and Y2900*. Information about its travels and inhabitants are known to exist in the form of memory shards stored in its council chambers, yet these have yet to be recovered or cataloged.
By the final years of its time in the air, significant tensions had developed on Nensa between two factions, one that wished to maintain their cloistered lives in the sky and one that sought to reestablish contact with the ground. This eventually reached the point of outright rebellion, with minor skirmishes between the two sides escalating to the point of a full-blown battle in the master aerotheurge's chambers. Unwilling to allow the rebels, including his own apprentice, to gain control of Nensa, he destroyed the locus of flight, dooming the city to a rapid descent.
These final details of Nensa's history are only known due to the efforts of a group of adventurers who traveled to the aerolith in search of the precept tablets and memory shards necessary to awaken a colossus thought to have left the city when it crashed. This colossus turned out to be Apru, Nensa's last apprentice aerotheurge, who had his consciousness transferred to the construct in order to preserve his knowledge of the magical art,