Low City (Torrune)

The Low City of Torrune is one of the two main parts of the city enclosed by its walls (the other, naturally enough, is the High City). The Low City is the larger of the two and lies on the north bank of the Helvander River, connected to the smaller High City on the south bank by the Fortress Bridge and Qorro's Bridge.

The area enclosed by the Low City's walls is mostly flat, low-lying river bottomland, unlike the High City with its several prominent hills. However, the Low City does contain one sizable area of high ground, the Syrennian Hill in its western half. This predominantly flat character partially explains the Low City's name; it also stems from the fact that most of the city's poor and working-class population lives there, as opposed to the High City's inhabitants, who are generally much wealthier and of higher social rank. Between its larger size and much more crowded living conditions, the Low City certainly contains an overwhelming majority of the people who live inside the city walls (i.e., not counting those in Fenside, the Shambles, Little Maarna, or outlying villages).

The Low City is also home to most of the commerce and shipping activity which is the lifeblood of Torrune. It's sprawling waterfront district handles a majority of all the boat traffic in and out of the city. Behind the bustling docks and jetties rise blocks of huge storehouses, packed with goods of every description awaiting shipment. The Portage Road running down from Sillport enters the Low City on its western side, via the eponymous Portage Gate, and the major boulevards connecting it to the waterfront are perpetually jammed with innumerable carts, wagons, porters, and pack animals. Huge marketplaces for livestock, meat, grain, oil, wine, leather goods, metal wares, tools, wool and cloth, and all manner of other commodities swarm with buyers from dawn til dusk. Boats and wagons are built and repaired by the hundreds; the clamor of blacksmiths, wainwrights, barrel-makers, and carpenters fills the air.

The Low City is not fully enclosed by its walls; its southern edge, along the riverfront, is unwalled. The walls surrounding the Low City to the north, east, and west have five main gates. The biggest and most important of all is the Portage Gate, also called the Portage Road Gate or Toll-Taker's gate, which is situated on the western side of town; as its name suggests, the Portage Road runs from this gate to the town of Sillport above the Helvander cataracts. All goods leaving Torrune to be portaged up-river, or coming from Sillport to enter Torrune and continue on down-river, must come and go by this gate. It opens into the interior courtyard of the Anvil, of which its massive gatehouse is a part; here the Archon's tax men assess all cargoes moving through and levy the lord's tax upon their value.

The other major gates of the Low City, moving clockwise from the Toll Gate on the west side, are:

* The Drover's Gate, facing northwest, so-named because the Low City's main livestock market lies a short distance inside it; thus great numbers of cattle, pigs, goat, sheep, etc. and their drovers and shepherds are continually coming and going here.
* The Banadyr Gate, facing north, so-named because from it runs the road that eventually reaches the city of Banadyr in northern Charagma.
* The Dog Gate, facing northeast
* Ghebul's Gate, also called the Mudlark Gate, facing east

The major quarters or districts of the Low City are:

* The Millstone Quarter
* The Wainwright's Quarter
* The Boatwright's Quarter
* The Yazhurene Quarter
* Northcoil
* The Raker's Village
* The Syrennian Hill
* Aulgu's Market
* The Tythian Quarter