The Sites - Earth (TIP)

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A number of magnificent structures are hidden away in the plane of Earth. Although the best known of them are associated with the powers of the plane, they are certainly not the only points of interest of which a traveler should make note.
==The Aviary==
Anyone who has ever dreamed of flying through the air like a bird will love this place. The Aviary is a large pocket of air 15 miles in diameter and populated by a colony of avariel. The winged elves have built a wonderful city here so open and airy that it is easy for a visitor to forget that he is in nothing more than a giant cave.
A visitor to the Aviary can purchase or rent a pair of wings, allowing him to fly about like a bird. It takes some getting used to, but a skilled flyer can maneuver as gracefully and elegantly as any naturally feathered creature. The pressures of the plane and the pull of gravity in all directions make the Aviary, in effect, without any gravity at all.
The shad do not care for these winged creatures and their strange ways. I am told, however, that the Aviary offers an interesting diversion for outsiders weary of the "oppressive stone," as some call it. Mine is not to understand, but simply to report.
==The Caverns Under the Stars==
Geb's labyrinthine realm is known as the Caverns Under the Stars. A portal to Elysium (where his wife and sister Nut resides) stands at the center of the Caverns, but Geb has never let its location be discovered. It may be that Shu discovered and destroyed the portal long ago.
The realm is a vast pyramidal chamber, 30 miles on a side. The shape of the chamber is not apparent, however, for the upper half of the place is shrouded by the night sky. (This expanse of twinkling stars and midnight blue is a gift to Geb from his estranged wife.) A sprawling city of magnificent stone buildings and temples, similar to those found in Heliopolis, covers the bottom of the cavern. Geb's palace stands at the exact center of the realm, surrounded by a circular river of pure, sweet water.
A visitor to this place finds everything that he might want in the open-air market, although those who are not skillful bargainers may pay more than they should. However, Geb does not tolerate outright swindlers in his realm. Hospitality and friendship are the order of the day.
==The Great Dismal Delve==
All dao live within the area of the plane of Earth called the Great Dismal Delve. This region is filled with mazework citadels ruled by minor nobles, with the Great Khan-the leader of the entire realm and race-living in a mazework all his own. The dao population is unknown, but it is certainly large. Much larger, however, is the vast number of earth elementals and elemental-kin who serve them, and the nonnative slaves who toil ceaselessly to increase the size of their domains.
At the heart of the Delve is a vast center of commerce and trade-a veritable city that surrounds the palace of the Great Khan of All Dao, Kabril Ali al-Sara al-Zalazil, the Fountain of Wealth, the Perfect Compass, Atamen of the Mountain's Roots, the Stone Sultan (and so on, and so on, and so on). This place is called the Sevenfold Mazework.
Few words are majestic enough to describe the central court of the dao. In addition to being a truly immense fortress in its own right, it is said that this place connects to each and every mazework within the Great Dismal Delve. The linking tunnels allow the dao to move freely about the khanate with their slaves, who often cannot pass through the stone. In addition, pockets of every conceivable elemental, paraelemental, or quasielemental material can be found somewhere in the Delve, with connecting tunnels to the great market and fabulous forges of the Sevenfold Mazework. With all of these resources at his command, the Great Khan of the dao is one of the most powerful beings in the plane.
The Great Khan lives within the Hidden Fulcrum of the Dao, a secretive palace where the ruler of these evil people plots his twisted schemes and lusts after treasures he has not yet acquired or stolen. Rumors speak of a magical rune that secretly marks all objects in the Sevenfold Mazework, particularly gemstones, as property of the Great Khan. The dao punish thieves who try to steal from their ruler with death.
The so-called Free Market (good luck finding anything free here) offers virtually all goods that can be purchased anywhere in the multiverse, but it mostly teems with slave traders and their living wares. For the right price, one can lay hands on any manner of creature, magical or otherwise, as well as a means of commanding it to do his bidding. The dao are slavers, plain and simple. They make no bones about it and do not seem to understand why some find that to be offensive or evil. They simply cannot fathom the concept of sympathy or mercy and use others to further their own ends if they can. I have heard that some outsiders who call themselves the Fated cling to a similar belief system, but I doubt that they are so cruel.
Near the Sevenfold Mazework lies a fiery mountain of molten metal called the Iron Crucible. This place serves as a link to the Elemental Plane of Fire. The efreet and dao both use this to trade with each other, the efreet usually looking for slaves and the dao looking for precious metals, gems, or magic.