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
Kael Drakkel is 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 both hate the Coldain and the dragons of Skyshrine. The cousins do not entirely trust each other: Yetarr of the Kromzek doubts the Kromrif can guard Kael against “the tiny savages,” and warns that if the Coldain are left to breed, they will one day swarm over the city.
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.
The jungle at the walls
To the west lie the Wakening Lands, the only lush land on Velious, and the jungle presses against the walls as if it were alive and the city a parasite it wanted to be rid of. Tormax keeps his most seasoned troops on that side.
A city of war
Every road in Kael is made from the crushed bones of the giants’ enemies; the rest of the bodies are thrown into a pit in the town square. The city has five districts. The Kromrif live to the east, in the most primitive part, among buildings of ice and stone; their leader keeps 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.
Porlos and the dragon throne
At the north end a statue of Rallos Zek towers over the arena of Porlos, flanked by the temples of Tallon Zek and Vallon Zek. Porlos killed Hsagra, mate of the dragon lord Yelinak, and his victory is embossed on the arena floor with her head in his hand. On the south side stands King Tormax’s keep of stone and steel, its walls hung with tapestries of the Warlord’s battles, and Tormax sits on a throne carved from a fallen dragon’s skull, which Yelinak calls a disgrace to all Veeshan’s children.
A gate between two halves
To outsiders Kael is “an inhospitable, subterranean maze,” but it has 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 no use to them, since the training halls are built for giants and nobody will alter them.
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.
Sources
[1] Library of Erudin: Kael Drakkel (EverQuest RPG) · [2] Library of Erudin: Kromzek (Player’s Handbook — Cities of Velious; Tiny Savages dialogue)
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Retold in our own words from the sources listed on this page; short quotes are marked and sourced. The illustration is an original AI-generated painting made for this page alone, not from the game.