Lore · Cities & Peoples
Kael Drakkel & the Kromzek
Kael was the city you either worked for or raided, and almost nothing in between. Its makers described it as a monument to war.
Children of Zek
The 2002 Game Master’s Guide calls Kael Drakkel the last known mortal stronghold of Rallos Zek’s true children. Its Kromzek storm giants and their Kromrif frost giant cousins somehow escaped the curse of the Rathe that made fools of most of Norrath’s giants. Both serve King Tormax and share a hatred of the Coldain and of the dragons of Skyshrine.
Sacrilege in the Scar
The city lies at the eastern edge of the Great Scar. The dragons hold the Scars of Veeshan as their holiest ground and see the giants there as the worst sacrilege, so for centuries the two have fought without either gaining ground. Kael’s buildings bear the marks of dragon attacks from the air.
A city of war
Every road in Kael is made from the crushed bones of the storm giants’ enemies; the rest of the bodies are thrown into a pit in the town square. Three temples honour the Zek gods. Its arena honours Porlos, who killed Hsagra, mate of the dragon lord Yelinak, and his victory is embossed on the floor with her head in his hand. Tormax sits on a throne carved from a fallen dragon’s skull, which Yelinak calls a disgrace to all Veeshan’s children.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Kael Drakkel (Maps of Myrist; KaelQuick; Lord Yelinak dialogue)
The jungle at the gate
To the west lie the Wakening Lands, the only lush land on Velious. The official description says the jungle presses against Kael’s walls as if it were alive and the city a parasite it wanted to be rid of, and Tormax keeps his most seasoned troops on that side.
Five districts
The Maps of Myrist say Kael Drakkel is divided into five districts. The Kromrif frost giants live to the east, in the most primitive part of the city, with buildings of ice and stone. Their leader has a huge mansion near the centre, while frost giant traders and mercenaries wait for their next contract in humbler quarters. The town square in the middle links every district. At the north end, a statue of Rallos Zek towers over Porlos’s arena, with the temples of Tallon Zek and Vallon Zek on either side. King Tormax’s keep, built of stone and steel, stands grimly on the south side, its walls hung with tapestries of the Warlord’s battles.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Kael Drakkel (The Maps of Myrist — Kael Drakkel)
A gate between two halves
The RPG Player’s Handbook calls Kael “an inhospitable, subterranean maze to outsiders” and notes its strategic value: it is a passage under the Great Divide, the range that splits Velious into east and west. Outsiders must prove themselves against the giants’ enemies before they are let through, and even then the guilds are useless to them, since the training halls are built for giants and nobody will alter them. In-game, the Kromzek complain about their cousins. Yetarr does not trust the Kromrif to guard Kael against “the tiny savages,” and warns that if the Coldain are left to breed, they will one day swarm over the city.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Kromzek (Player’s Handbook — Cities of Velious; Tiny Savages dialogue)
Where the sources disagree
- The Maps of Myrist place Kael at the eastern edge of the Great Scar; the RPG calls it a passage under the Great Divide. Official texts spell it both Kael Drakkel and Kael Drakkal.
- The RPG says the Kromzek escaped the Rathe’s curse “somehow.” We found no source that explains how.
Keep reading
Retold in our own words from the sources linked under each chapter; short quotes are marked and sourced. The illustration is an original AI-generated painting made for this page alone, not from the game.