This note is found in the Gates of Necropolis.
I have been commissioned to construct a grand mausoleum that will house the thousands of dead from the great battle with the west. This will be my Magnum Opus. The project will take many decades and at my age it is unlikely that I will live to see its completion.
I have begun drafting the plans in my head. The main tomb will be centered around a vast well, which will house most of the fallen. The quantity of earth we will need to move is staggering, but it will serve as a foundation for the rest of the city of the dead. While this is being done, a small army of civil servants will be carefully collecting the bodies, crafting notices of identification, and preparing them for temporary burial. It will be many years before the fallen receive their proper burial.
We have started construction of temporary mass grave structures to hold them. Some of the families have insisted that they take the remains to which I have no objection but I cannot imagine why they would not want their loved ones to be honored here, at the site of their glorious victory. I should note that the bodies of the enemy will be shipped back to their border and left for them to do with as they please. I mean no disrespect to their fallen but, quite frankly, they are not our problem.
There are thousands of workers being commissioned for the digging, hauling and carving of the stone. Where Erulan found so many able-bodied and willing workers so quickly is obvious. Slaves. Brought from the imperial prison mines, or enemy soldiers from the war. Distasteful, but there is too much work to get done to be timid about this.
So many things to consider and prepare. I am eager to get started. I can only hope that my wife and son will be happy here. It won't be much more than a mining town for a few years, but the work is too important to leave to any other.
The Grand Architect, Hemal Listari
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