It is, indeed, a cropped up fragment of a very old screenshot 
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Well put. The running theme in Howard’s Hyborian and Thurian Age stories (ie. Conan and King Kull) was the rise and fall of eras. When Atlantis and Valusia were young, other, older civilizations had already fallen and been forgotten - and when those had flourished, they had done so upon the ruins of other, even older, civilizations. And indeed many Conan stories take place in the ruined remains of peoples and races that had long ago fallen into oblivion. Your perspective into these ruined places of the Exiled Lands is acute.
My personal preference reflects the character I’ve chosen. Kat is a Zamorian thief, so she thrives in an urban environment. Sepermeru offers walls for a second-story-girl to climb, treasures to loot, merchants to cheat and bars for pickpocketing (much of which is, of course, my head-canon, as the game engine itself doesn’t let me do all the bad things I’d like). It has a feeling of an actual city where not everyone is a bloodthirsty berserker trying to kill me.
My previous character, Gloria, was an adventuring archaeologist, sort of a parody of Indiana Jones who’s actually somewhat dim-witted and clumsy, but incredibly lucky, she just thinks she’s really, really competent. Alas, I lost her save due to an exploding computer and the false notion that my game would be saved in the Steam Cloud. Were she still my active character, I’d probably have picked Xel-ha, the Summoning Place or the Unnamed City as my favorite. (Yes, I sort of feel the game through the personality of the character I play. It’s weird, but I guess that’s what almost three decades of tabletop role-playing games does.)
I’d love to love the Mounds of the Dead, but the locals simply have no manners.
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Black Galleon because of soundtrack 
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You mean the non battle sound track? I always thought thats a soundtrack for any desert…
If you build near the Galleon, you often get to listen to the track " Adrift on an Ocean of Sand", which is probably my favourite. Never gets old
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Yes!!! This is also the one I wrote about. Thx for the name.
Mounds- because i can still be killed there if im not paying attention or solo.
Sepermeru - but in specific, the brief period of time before the Warmaker patch on 25-06-2019.
Making the thugs, prowlers, plunderers, and bandit leaders immune to knock-out, and the addition of the Wine Cellar’s abundance of superior but more boring RHTS really doesn’t make sense to me.
The bandits made it possible to follow-through on treating the city as friendly, revisiting for replay and only pressing antagonists into service.
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Volcano, Just such a neat place to find hidden sections…
But since its not listed, Summon Place for sounds and drums.
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I have a love/hate with the summoning place. The drums are awesome (I want minstrel thralls please to go with the drums I can craft) but the darkness always irritates me. I think I raid that place more often than anywhere else. It is therefore my favorite…
Sinners refuge, it’s a one stop shop which really is “too” good I think. I didn’t realize how easy you can bag all those T4s so early. Also I think the asura’s chosen is a neat sub faction alongside of it.
I do love the unnamed city but they are basically a dead civilization for all we know unless I’m mistaken.
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It was even easier (at least I was told) in New Asgarath before the Chieftain nerf. Because this chieftains could be every working faction and respawned every 15mins.
I’m surprised sinners refuge houses that many T4s. Maybe they think no one will stick around long in that area since it’s a starter zone?
Shhhh, they’ll nerf the crap out of it if we keep talking about it 
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Haha, oh right 
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Sepermeru tops the list for multiple reasons:
DUNGEONS
Sepermeru has 1 dungeon (wine cellar), 2 nearby dungeons (silver mine & warmakers) and 1 related dungeon (Jhebbal Sag) - and all are worth revisiting often.
- The one that maybe competes is Xel-Ha - but neither of the 2 dungeons (Witch Queen & Sunken City) have content that need repeat visits (and I say this despite loving Sunken City - maybe if us cooks could go fishing or pearl diving
).
WEATHER
Sepermeru has the best view of the sandstorm as it engulfs the streets - and the only capital where locals won’t always try to kill you while you admire it. I wish other biomes had unique environmentals.
- The one that maybe competes is Mounds of the Dead - when meteors hit, it’s stunning. BUT sometimes it happens faster than one can notice - and it’s (understandably) so destructive, no sane player will build within the impact zone to admire it.
GREAT THRALLS
I’m hoping the thrall-update will actually fix this one. Sepermeru is a “keystone” location for thrall farming because they’re both easy & strong - Asagarth and Mounds are also pretty good, but both are denser (and thus more dangerous) with fewer escapes if things go badly.
- I actually hope thrall-stats will offer a chance to equalize their potential value - so instead of everyone farming Mounds/Sepermeru/Volcano for the same guards - people could find value to build their own “all Darfari fortress” or whatever. It feels silly to live in Xel-ha and ignore the Lemurians because the Volcano is always superior.
UNIQUE LOCAL FEATS & INGREDIENTS
Not Sepermeru. I wanted to add this because it’s something other areas do well.
The Summoning Place has the best with the Witch Doctor Feat - it (a) encourages/justifies revisiting it and (b) creates a distinct “local” feeling when nearby clans field the most zombies (while some distant clans have sometimes never even seen an undead pet).
- This feat actually saved me once. Vanir-themed raiders saw me as easy prey - until they saw my undead pet - and they were so surprised to see it (especially in the far north) that they established trade instead. Since I travel the map, focusing on obscure ingredients and alchemy, I became the “wisewoman” they visited for potions and “magic”.
Mounds of the Dead recently added those poisons that damage undead - not as “flashy” as zombies, but certainly a nice, subtle touch (and a cool thing to trade in distant lands if you have a stockpile). If undead suffered some visual while affected, it’d be a super-dope thing for locals wanting to stand out.
Flotsams recent recipes are both cool yet confusing.
- Argossean Dream Dust and Underwater Breathing Masks both feel legitimately “local” - I could see a sea-side clan who can dive longer (so more alchemical base) and enjoy night-vision (in the pitchblack jungle night).
- BUT Black Hand Clothing recipes are all cold resist; the Rare Spices are for warming foods (yet you need to be local to really farm it in bulk); and Stygian Alchemy has 1 recipe whose main ingredients are Crimson & Frost Lotus (from the NW/N) and whose chief function is temperature extremes (even further N). So I guess it gives coastal clans a way to prepare if they want to occasionally farm Starmetal? Useful - but odd that such a distinct outfit is actually less likely to be worn where the pirates live.
So one capital (Darfari) has a really visually unique reward for visiting it - two (Cimmerians & Black Hand) have more subtle rewards - and the rest we can sort of abandon once we acquire whatever thralls we wanted.
THE DEN
I’m guessing The Den ranks where it does because it’s incredibly far from an Obelisk and resources (I’ve rarely seen clans build in that region). There’s no “this is super unique” anything to justify living nearby or even visiting often. It’s a nice looking place but easily avoided.
Tangent - Regional Pets/Potions
Asagarth has that rare-drop frost giant pet from the Chieftain - and Hanuman’s Grotto received that update (where you can sacrifice Valis the Loyal for potions or gorilla-pets). I wonder how cities would shake-up if they had minor shrines (similar to the monkey-god statue).
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Zamorans worshipped Bel, The Masked God (of chaos/trickery/death). What if the Black Galleon had a lesser shrine to offer sacrifices - and a potion to “trade appearances” with your last kill. Imagine then killing an Asagarth guard and being able to peacefully scout the area with his face for X seconds.
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Xel-Ha features Derkheto - but Dagon is also right there. What if we could sacrifice the first boss at his own altar (maybe gain a fish-skin potion to temporarily boost swim speed). Or some kind of squid-ink orb (throw it into any body of water… dive in within X seconds to awaken in the Sunken City).
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What if the Den had an Obsidian-Forge style public craft station - but instead it’s an altar where we deposit animal hides, horns, etc (or even human skulls & hero’s hearts)? Such tribute would reward visiting periodically in exchange for…
Bunch of “what ifs” - but yeah - independent of aesthetic, some capitals have “more rewards” than others. It need not be raw power or weapons - just something (even frivolous) that motivates us to make the trek periodically or live nearby.
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I am in total agreement, nice post with very valid points IMO. Lets hope after the major mount and thrall update Funcom continues to flesh out all these areas.
I mean, I agree with you, mostly. But it’s worth noting that there’s a really nice unique drop in the Den. If you’ve ever wondered why there’s no Black Blood Cleaver, it’s because of the Maw of the Hyena 
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While Sepermeru is more immersive, I had to vote for New Asgarth. I love the wooden fence and log cabin designs, and find it tranquil and immersive. Well except for when the Heirs are trying to bury Swords in my characters back. Not only that, but I have always liked Norse mythology and the Viking theme.
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I voted for Sepermeru because I’m fond of not being attacked, but Xel-ha is a close second on account of I am also fond of overgrown jungle ruins.
I can’t be bothered to rank the others, but dead last on my list is New Asga…agarth…d. Because I swear to god that place’s name is spelled three different ways in the game,* MAKE UP YOUR MIND.
*Unless they’ve gone through and made it all consistent since I was up there last and I just look stupid.
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