#kendor

As you enter Aurengard, the air seems to take on a more fresh and clear quality. The stone buildings are highly decorative, and nobles live in 2- or 3-story manor-houses that loom over the scenic boulevards. Pretty, decorative trees line the sidewalk, and people generally seem to be happy. This is the wealthy part of the city.

Meanwhile, 30 meters beneath the earth, someone is being sacrificed to create a god.

It will take hundreds, if not thousands, of such sacrifices to create a body for the god. Once these have been completed, another 666 brains need to be extracted to create the god’s mind. Tivazeth’s cult is patient.

Their current body count is about 300. Most of their victims have been tourists. This is why the district is covered in magnificent architecture and pretty landmarks. It is, in a literal sense, a tourist trap.

This project is spearheaded by Galadesh, the cult’s charismatic, genius leader who invented Tivazeth (in her native tongue, “Tivazeth” means “child god”). She is a thin, dark-skinned woman of about 25 years, constantly covered in the viscera of her sacrificed victims. She wears her hair in thick braids and works wearing a bloodstained apron. She doesn’t get out much.

Local Inn: The Owl Feather. A warm glow emanates from the inn’s windows at all hours, and there are usually at least a few patrons, even in the middle of the night. Many of these patrons are cultists. If they are certain there is no one in the tavern from outside the cult, all pretenses of merriment abruptly drop as they plan their grisly work.

The inn sits on the edge of Vangloe Park, a serene tract of about 8 acres of land. The park is almost impossibly picturesque. The trees sway pleasantly, and the animals are not fearful of people.

Noble House: House Panthera. Lady Devada Panthera belongs to the cult, and so does her family. The manor-house often serves as a meeting place for cultists. The lady’s tea parties are famously extravagant, and being invited to one is a sign of high social status (or that you’re about to be the next part of the body of Tivazeth).

Guild: The Masons’ Guild. The Mason’s Guild unknowingly works for the cult of Tivazeth, who hire them to create fabulously ornate engravings and architecture, most notably the temple.

Temple: The Sun Temple. Actual gold and silver are incorporated into the architecture of this fabulously extravagant temple. It was once consecrated to Saint Sundarata, but no one remembers that. The cult wants it that way.

This is the first in a series of districts of the City of Steel. There will be, at minimum, 2 other entries before I move on.

Hammers clang and fire pits crackle, the heat of the flame carrying throughout the whole district. Pedestrians shed their cloaks. Urchins scamper through the cool alleyways as workers haul logs and stoke fires. Faint, red dust forms a thin layer of smog that blankets the streets. Ironholm is home to Glyffor’s iron mines, forges, and smelters, as well as the homes of their workers. The steel wrought here gives the city its nickname.

As miners bring their hauls up from the mines, an efficient, mechanical system begins the process of converting the ore into workable steel. The steel is then sent to the forges to be worked into nails, tools, mechanical parts, horseshoes, and other metal implements.

The Belly (this is its colloquial name; legal documents call it the Lohjan Mine) is an amazingly deep mine. The charted portion alone stretches over 10 miles under the surface of the land, and all its entrances are located either inside the city’s walls or just outside.

There’s no denying that the richness of iron in the mines seems to increase at a slow, predictable rate as miners travel deeper. Equally indubitable is the number of mining accidents and attacks from monsters in the dark, most notably grues. Rumors are circulating that if one goes deep enough into the mine, they will discover the underworld. Other rumors say that there is gold and silver deep in the mines.

City guards were called to protect the miners from the dangers below. When the danger got to be more than mere guards could handle, the owners of the mine hired elite mercenaries. Success has been mixed. Nobody knows what’s really down there, past the next unexplored cavern. Some truly bizarre discoveries have been made down there.

Most people prefer not to imagine the terrors that lurk in the dark mines. Typical visitors to the district know it for the delightful, crackling bonfires in guardrailed pits in market squares. The bonfires keep the district warm, and people use the to cook skewered meats. Pork sausages are a staple.

Local Inn: The Pick and Spade. Most of the patrons here are miners or lumberjacks who have come here after a hard day of work. The innkeeper, Von Anders, is from across the sea, and has wild red hair and very light skin.

Noble House: House Lohjan. Almost 50% of the iron ore processed in this district goes through this noble house, and this number only seems to be increasing. Lord Lohjan, the tall, hauty man who heads the house, thinks of himself as the owner of the whole district.

Guild: Miner’s Guild. Most of their political clout is spent on pressuring House Lohjan and other mine owners to increase safety standards for the miners (the mine owners are loath to do so, as that would be expensive).

Local Temple: Temple to St. Kaang, Patron Saint of Labor. Once a week, the temple has mass. Ysa attends in full battle regalia. She’s not a priest, but the people respect her as such. Most of them, anyway.

On the hubward edge of the Bay of Dolor, at the mouth of the River Nadir, sits Glyffor, the City of Steel.

Ships’ bells herald the arrival of dual-hulled whaling vessels coming in to the harbor. Crude submarines cast off, ready to plumb the frigid depths of the sea for sunken treasure. Sea captains barking orders drown out the clamor of hammers banging on anvils downtown. A light coating of snow covers the cobblestone roads.

Glyffor is in the middle of an intersection between an industrial revolution and a golden age of sailing. The Wake is upon us, its enlightening influence wrapped around the minds of the people like manacles.

Powering the industrial revolution is the whale-oil that whalers bring in from the Ivory Sea. There is a fortune to be made in whaling, and capitalist shipmasters seem intent on extracting every bit of whale from that sea. Not just the whale-oil, but also the ambergris, ivory, bone, leather, and meat of the whales. Practically no part is wasted.

Meanwhile, inventors think up what many see as insane contraptions. Metalworkers never go hungry in Glyffor; there is always some crazed scientist or eccentric miser who will commission steel parts for their latest machine.

Glyffor is also notable for being the seat of the Irtonic Church, the dominant religion of the local region. The church is responsible for governing Glyffor, a duty which includes levying tithes, maintaining the Silverglow Temple, and keeping the Militia fed and equipped.

Possible future posts:

The more fantastical elements (merfolk, alchemists, miracles)

Inventions of Glyffor(the marine chronometer, the difference engine)

The Irtonic Church

Overseas cities for trading

Surrounding settlements

Culture

District: Iron Mines

District: Residential

District: Ports with temple