Saulden struggles to call Majula, original name Madula, (マデューラ) a settlement in its current state, but there is no denying that these ruins once belonged to a thriving village on the western corner of Drangleic. According to the description for the House Key, Majula was around when every “abominable” thing imaginable was being dumped down the Pit at its center, prompting their peculiar practice of throwing stone dolls along with it. In fact, even before it was used as a dump site, this little hamlet was the perfect location for a community during the Kingdom of Drangleic’s heyday. Situated between the Heide ruins and the seaside fort, one can easily see that plot of land attracting both warriors and scholars alike. Indeed, we have evidence that such figures did find their way to these outskirts overlooking the sea.
This place is called Madula. I suppose you can call it a settlement… It is barely a place with human activity. Even that seems to have become hard to come by in this country, though…
The largest of the four houses comprising the area comes complete with its own private well. Inside, the two-story domicile includes a study room replete with reading material as well as an excavation site for a basement. Evidently, the owner of this manor was someone of considerable status as well as interested in the history and culture of the Heiden ruins readily accessed from the village. One known characters matches that criteria, namely Aldia. The sage brother of the king was far and away from many of these places in the Lost Bastille and his later manor. Having something like a vacation home in Majula — the nexus to the Pit, Shaded Woods, and Heide’s Tower of Flame — would have allowed him to research the civilization extensively without constant transit. And even ignoring this, we can verify a sorcerer’s presence from the Great Magic Weapon spell rewarded to members of the local covenant.
The Company of Champions is defined by the stone monument hidden behind the ring temple. Similar to the “graves” found in Things Betwixt, this stone stands in memory of great heroes who challenged adversity and perished. The description for the ring provided upon establishing the covenant affirms that our pact is made with what remains of these old warriors’ souls. The Champion’s Tablet rewarded to more advanced members is likewise a piece of the larger monument etched with the names of the most impressive new champions, which the description equates to their tombstone. Without a doubt, the Champion’s Stone is the ancient heroes’ own grave marker, which has attracted their souls hungry for glory to become one with it. This isn’t too surprising given that Majula’s defining landmark is a similar monument, which mainly serves to record total player deaths — in other words, it is a memorial to the fallen. Warriors were honored in the settlement, the bravest of them receiving their own small shrine apart from the rest.
Ring of covenantors of the Champions. Greatly boosts attack power with bare hands.
Vestiges of the souls of old brave warriors who fell halfway bless the brave fools who dare to challenge hardship.
They enhance the enemies existing in the worlds of those who have confirmed the covenant.
Item for playing online. Engraved with the names of the more excellent champions among those who have confirmed the covenant of the Champions.
This tablet carved from the Champion’s Stone is engraved with the names of brave warriors who offered up many powerstones. As if it were their grave marker.
However, these dead warriors don’t wish to hog the glory for themselves. Champions are measured by the number of awestones offered to the monument, which subsequently absorbs them. The description makes a point of its incredible weight for its small size, implying that it is dense with power; hence the name “powerstone”. (力石) From this, we can infer that these stones are the crystallized souls of more heroes similar to lifegems, or “lifestones”. (雫石) Whereas lifegems slowly form in corpses over a long time, awestones seem to form within the bodies of the strong enemies who presumably killed the warriors and thus drew in their powerful souls. Whatever the reason for Disparity taking on this solid mineral form, the souls embedded in the Champion’s Stone constantly seek more like them to become part of the whole. Perhaps the dead’s shared will is to simply increase their power, becoming greater and greater with each individual soul added to the collective. Regardless, it highlights a desire to see more heroes develop, which they recognize through the conquering of adversity.
Weighty stone that cannot be thought of as a pebble. Offer it to the Champion’s Stone Monument to deepen the bonds of the covenant.
The Champion’s Stone that absorbed the souls of brave warriors who fell halfway continually seeks this powerstone as if it was part of its own body.
Pebble where the soul was crystallized. Slowly recovers HP in just small amounts.
Many are often found near abandoned corpses, and this stone is also said to be the corpse of a soul.
The souls “bless” the “fools” who join the covenant by empowering the enemies they face, effectively increasing the game’s difficulty. In short, if you dare challenge such difficulty and collect the awestones, you too can be accepted as a hero. Hardship is the test of courage laid out by those whose valor was proven in their generation. Even the covenant ring encourages this prospect, boosting attack power only when we fight barehanded; anything to make the chances of defeat that much more daunting and thereby make achieving victory that much more invigorating. Whether or not the past champions’ challenges were comparable, their recruits would be honed into fighters until death inevitably took them, at which point they too might join the heroes’ ranks — represented in the covenant symbol as a shining pinnacle. Even if lack of cowardice means a fool’s end, the neophytes’ skill and will to climb to the top will still decide their fate.
This, of course, begs the question of who covenantors will be joining in the Champion’s Stone. Rewards like Great Magic Weapon do provide a glimpse into their ability and style, affirming that at least one studied under a sorcerer. But the only individual we can name is Raulmond. Another reward is the First Dragon Ring associated with the knight. Whatever the man’s interest in dragons, he certainly loved Drangleic. The text details his lifelong service as “guardian” of the fortress in the Forest of Fallen Giants. Combined with the similarity between “Roumond” (ロウモンド) and “Drummond”, (ドラモンド) and he is undoubtedly one of the past generations for the latter’s clan — most likely the grandfather given that he alone served from the kingdom’s inception to destruction. Housing families of soldiers stationed at the fort nearby is most sensible, so Raulmond’s legacy in Majula isn’t surprising. Warriors and sorcerers both settled this remote corner, for their own reasons but to each other’s benefit.
Ring with the wax seal of a dragon applied to it. Grants the dragon’s divine protection if worn. Increases HP, stamina, and equipment weight in general but awfully easy to break.
The knight of Drangleig Roumond, who once used this ring, served the king for life as guardian of the fortress.
Of course, this radically changed in the final years of the village’s history. Aldia became persona non grata along with any sorcerer associated with him, and Raulmond, his son, his grandson, and all the other soldiers were killed or ended up Hollow; their families and friends presumably met with the same fate. Soon, Majula was a ghost town, a war-torn ruin like so much else in the kingdom. But then, Undead from every corner of the world began drifting into this mere shell of a village. Much like the Undead Burg in the original Dark Souls, (DS1) Majula became the final destination for the countless exiled from the world of man for manifesting the Darksign. No matter the direction from which they traveled to Drangleic, all of them ended up filtering into the one place devoid of danger — add in the Fire Keeper, and it was the one place they had left to go. And in reclaiming the ruined homes for themselves, the village did see a brief revival.
Key to the ruined house of Madula. Thing handed over by the cartographer Cale.
Madula has long been a land for throwing away abominable things, and now it is the end point where people with nowhere to go go.
The old houses within it were the dwellings of those who made this place their final land, right?
This here’s called Majula. The place isn’t anything special. Those with no place to go simply drift in, though. Heeheehee…
But as Saulden elucidates, that didn’t last. Many went off on their own adventures, never to return again. Majula was soon all but abandoned once more even as more Undead continued to drift in. By the time we arrive, the village is home to only Maughlin, Lenigrast, Saulden, and Shanalotte. Only through our efforts can we revitalize this place by finding old and new potential residents while out on our journey. In doing so, Saulden at least expresses appreciation for returning that nostalgic peace of mind to a now bustling community. Nothing makes this dangerous world feel more safe than having companions to challenge it alongside. This knight of the Way of Blue forgot that fact, succumbing to despair much like the Crestfallen Warrior in DS1 and just awaiting his inevitable hollowing; his overwhelming fear of dying evident by the Ring of Steel Protection in his possession. But Majula is proof that there is always a chance to start over and become a shining beacon to others.
Key for the blacksmith Lenigatts of Madula.
In the land of exile Madula, the old houses are abandoned, and Lenigatts makes one of them his workplace.
Lokey Lore 