Let’s learn all about the location and history of the heart of Takhisis’ empire in Krynn, the evil city of Neraka. You can buy the Dragonlance Campaign Setting here: https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/28592/dragonlance-campaign-setting-3-5?affiliate_id=50797

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Transcript

Cold Open

In the shadowed heart of the Khalkist Mountains… where the land cracks open like wounds in the earth… lies a city whispered in fear across all Ansalon.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about Neraka. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga YouTube members and Patreon patrons, and invite you to consider becoming a member or patron by following the links in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance media using my affiliate links. I am referencing DL14 Dragons of Triumph, The Atlas of the Dragonlance World, Tales of the Lance boxed set, War of the Lance, and Dragonlance Campaign Setting sourcebooks for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

Neraka lies cradled in a high valley of the Khalkist Mountains, a region infamous for its barren peaks, volcanic scars, and broken, fissured plains. The Plains of Neraka stretch outward like a scar, a yellow-brown wasteland cracked with hundreds of crevasses. Some belch sulfurous smoke or even pillars of flame. Others simply yawn open into darkness.

Even the roads leading to Neraka were carved by slaves—fine stone highways that bridge fissures and cut through the hostile terrain toward three major destinations: Sanction to the south, Estwilde to the north, and the scattered mountain tracks to the east and west. The mountains around the city are harsh and dry. Streams vanish into dust, thunderstorms turn the proud roads into rivers of mud, and the volcanic peaks sometimes smoke with an ominous glow. Travelers claim the very land seems hostile… almost alive.

It’s here—amid harsh rock and sulfur—where Takhisis chose to plant the seed of her empire. The name Neraka is older than the Cataclysm. Long before humans settled the valley, the High Ogres ruled a northern city called Narakid. Humans took the land long before 1300 PC… but when the fiery mountain fell during the Cataclysm, that early Neraka vanished beneath destruction.

Centuries later—after the world was broken—settlers found something strange in an isolated glade: a twisted root of stone, all that remained of the Kingpriest’s temple from Istar. When they built a settlement around it, they believed that they had rediscovered the original Neraka. But they were wrong. That root had been planted there—intentionally—by Takhisis. In the second century after the Cataclysm, the Dark Queen chose this glade as the birthplace of her return. From the stone root grew the Temple of Darkness, a sprawling, organic, unnatural structure that would become the beating heart of her new empire. And around that temple grew a new Neraka… the Neraka the world would come to fear.

Neraka is divided like rings around a wound: 1. The Outer Bailey. The outermost ring is a maze of chaos—dense streets jammed with brothels, slave pens, ramshackle huts, open markets, foul-smelling alleys, and mobs of desperate or dangerous people. Goblins haggle with ogres. Human criminals brush shoulders with mercenaries. And the Dark Knights’ barracks stand neatly just beyond the squalor, an unsettling reminder that order here comes only from fear.

2. The Inner Bailey. Inside the first walls, buildings press tightly together under the shadow of watchtowers. Smithies, supply stores, military workshops, and housing for the Dragonarmies fill these cramped quarters. Each army maintains its own heavily guarded district. Rivalries run hot, and even in the city’s prime, fights between soldiers were so common that Takhisis’s personal troops often had to break them up.

3. The Heart of the City. At the center once stood the terrible Temple of Darkness—a massive, living fortress where the Dragon Highlords met under the watchful gaze of the Queen of Darkness. After the War of the Lance, the temple collapsed inward, disappearing into a vast sinkhole. Its blackened stones litter the southern valley, poisonous to life even centuries later. Nothing grows where the temple fell—just bleeding rock and sulfurous fumes, a wound on Krynn that refuses to heal.

Beneath all three layers lies the Undercity: a spiderweb of caves, tunnels, sewers, and catacombs. It connects the outer districts, inner quarters, and even the forgotten dungeons beneath the Temple. Many use the Undercity to avoid guards—but horrors lurk below, remnants of experiments, monsters, and things twisted by the temple’s dark magic.

During the Age of Despair, Neraka became the shining—if grotesque—capital of Takhisis’s Dragon Empire. Criminals, mercenaries, cultists, and the desperate flocked there. Under Ariakas, the Dragon Highlord, the first Dragonarmies took shape here. By 348 AC, the city pulsed with soldiers, draconians, ogres, goblins, spies, and slaves. Riches from early victories in the War of the Lance poured in. Streets overflowed. Crime flourished. Rival armies brawled openly. And yet—strict order remained whenever the Highlords commanded.

This was the heart of the Queen of Darkness herself. The center of evil on Ansalon. And it all came crashing down in 352 AC. When the Whitestone Army closed in, the Heroes of the Lance infiltrated the city. They reached the Temple of Darkness… and destroyed it from within, triggering chaos. The Dragonarmies turned on one another in a frenzy for control, shattering the city in the process. Neraka burned. Its armies scattered. Its goddess vanished. After Takhisis’s defeat, Neraka remained a haven for evil—but without unity. The Dark Knights, newly formed and led from Storm’s Keep, mostly ignored the broken city.

A Lord Mayor ruled for a time… until the rise of Mirielle Abrena. After the Chaos War, she seized Neraka by force, executed the mayor, and declared herself Governor-General. Under Abrena, Neraka again rose in power—until her assassination. Morham Targonne then moved the Knight’s capital to Jelek, sending Neraka into decline. But after the War of Souls, the Dark Knights returned once more. Neraka is—once again—their seat of power, grim as ever.

Neraka teems with factions: The Nerakan Guard, led by Captain Joras Gelt, maintains harsh order outside the temple grounds. The Red Watch, Blue Watch, Green Regiment, and Black Guard—elite units of sivaks, kapaks, and bozaks—defend the Dragonarmies’ interests. The Hidden Light, an underground resistance led by Talent Orren and Lute the Pawnbroker, fights quietly against the influence of darkness.

The population is a volatile mix: humans, draconians, ogres, goblins, dwarves, minotaurs, and even the occasional giant. Trade is thriving but grim—slaves, mercenaries, weapons, stolen goods, and black-market items flowing between Sanction, Khur, and Zhakar. Neraka remains a symbol of tyranny and ambition. Its streets are dangerous. Its politics are ruthless. Its shadow stretches across all of Taman Busuk. And yet… it is alive. A boiling cauldron of power, violence, and fear—waiting for history to turn once more. Where darkness gathers, Neraka stands.

Outro

And that is all I have to say about Neraka. What do you think of this center of evil? Have you ever played the War of the Lance campaign and invaded Neraka? And do you think the town will ever rise again as a center of evil might in the Age of Mortals? Leave a comment below.

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It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important.