The City

## Description

There was once a name to The City. However, over a long period of isolation, caused by its rather dangerous surroundings, The City lost its name and is now only referred to as such. The City is a large city containing approximately 5,000 people within. It is home to the largest population of Tieflings, Aasimars, and other celestial and infernal beings in the world. It is knowns as a place where the Planar Boundry is weak, creating minor links between the Celestial and Infernal planes.

### The Walls

The city is marked by two large walls. The first is taller, and surrounds its border. It is built to defend against large scale attacks, as well as fend off beasts and the various outsiders. The second is within the city, forming a ring around its wealthier district known as the inner circle, a much smaller, but still significant part of the city. One side of the outer wall was destroyed by the Red Riders, during the Battle of the City.

### The Crypts

Beneath the city, there is a large system of Crypts. There is one entrance, in the outer circle, which consists of a tall opening and a flight of stairs. There is a series of circular crypts connected by long tunnel like catacombs. The crypts are of major significance in the Quest "A City". It then, for some years, contained the the Mind Stones, embedded in the floor. It has now been caved in by Moryr. The Crypts are also of significance in the quest "Armageddon's War", during the Battle of The City. This is also where the Wraith King's mantle was, and where he was killed.

### The Balance Born

WIth the recent rise of Chaos born within the city, their presence has become more prominent among social discussion. The union infernal and celestial is even more frowned upon within the society than the union between Infernal and non-planar beings. In response to this, several Chaos born created a society known as The Balance Born, which is a group of Chaos born who create a support network for other Chaos born, and advocated for the reduction of anti-Chaos born actions within society. They also reject the name Chaos born, and its negative connotation. They refer to themselves and other Chaos born exclusively as Balance born, implying that they find a middle ground between Infernal, Celestial and non-planar, rather than a confused mix.

### Cult of The Dancer

An up and coming religion for an up and coming Goddess. Armageddons war left many great hero's and new demi-gods in its wake. The most relevant to The City is The Dancer. Patron of Goddess of The City, her domains are Death and Travel, and is known as a patron of Artifact Research and Dance. She is Chaotic Neutral in nature.

She is known as the The Dancer, The Many Faced Goddess, The Silent Crow, and other names.

Patronage is often given to her in the form of performances, traditionally dances, but many say that if she likes a bards tune she will dance an accompaniment to the piece! Devoted followers carry black feathers to contrast their bright multicolored outfits. While no true temples are devoted to The Dancer, her followers would say that the stage is her shrine, and the applause is her sermon!

It is said that she still walks the streets of The City disguised as a local seeking out interesting artifacts to add to her collection.

## Political System

Though The City claims to be a monarchy, the ruler is so insignificant to the actual political structure that they have not even been named yet. It is possible he doesn't even actually exist. The true political structure of The City is an oligarchy consisting of the wealthiest families live within the inner circle. Powerful families send their heads of house, or representative of choice, to the assembly. The assembly, which is supposedly run by the monarch, decides the laws of the city. Aasimars and other celestial beings are often able to bypass the wealth barrier and enter the assembly, due to their tendency towards high charisma. However, since the war, Tieflings and other demonic beings have also joined the ranks of the wealthy in The City.

### Major Families/ Important Figures

* Riviali
* House Firstland
* House Levilan
* House Hallowgrim

### The City Guard

Armed in full plate, and decorated in purple and white, the city guard is not connected to the political system. Lead by Ser Wilya, they act to protect the people of the city, and to protect the law. There have been several instance of corruption within the City Guard, most notably during near coup of Mistress Valdia. However, Ser Wilya is very strict with her Guard, and regains control and weeds out corruption very quickly. The guard also serves as the army of the City in the case of attacks.

## History

### The Rift

Arguably the most important thing to happen within the boundaries of The City, occurred before it existed. The area which now spans from the Forest above, to the desert below The City was affected by the largest planar rift known on the Ninth Realm. The rift pulled together the Celestial plane, the Infernal plane, and the Ninth Realm. This allowed through beings, artifacts, and essence from the Celestial and Infernal planes to pass into the Ninth Realm, scattered around this land area. Some of these beings went through willingly, some were forced through by nature of the rift. It also changed the nature of the land, the multitudes of terrains surrounding a large plain, all essentially pointing to the center, where The City itself is located now. The entire area is filled with the magic of planar essence.

### Creating The City

Through necessity, due to the dangerous new terrain, or spite, from being forced through the rift, or from some strange combination of the two, the planar beings began to settle in the plain left by the rift. They also began to mingle with the non planar beings which lived in and around the area. Together, they created a very diverse settlement which was the beginnings of The City. Over time, through interbreeding, murder and accidents, the amount of pure blooded planars reduced significantly within the area. The majority of the population became infernal blooded tieflings, and those within that lineage. Celestial beings were fewer to begin with, and their Aasimar descendants, while more prominent in The City, than anywhere in the world, are a minority to the non-planar and diluted planar-blooded beings.

Over ages, the city began to take shape. First the surrounding plains were entirely converted to farmland to feed the rising population. Then the first wall, what is now the inner wall, was created around the main city. as the population began to grow, another wall was created around a larger area. This wall was destroyed. They rebuilt it! It lasted 100 years, before it was once again destroyed. One more wall was built, and that wall has been maintained since. As the city grew, as did the tension between infernal beings, who were perceived as , and often were evil beings (though as the purity of their blood weakened, so did their tendency towards evil, but the perception did not). Over time this lead to the tension within the city at present.

### The Tale of a Hero ("A City")

For a long time, there had been tell of a prophecy of a great hero, who would one day save The City, and the world from destruction.The beetle and the ocelot have been the subjects of many a child story book and tall tale. The prophecy was fulfilled when the Valkyr wizard Caelan, who is referred to now as both "The Ocelot" and "The Hero" came to the city. After traveling for months with an assembled group of friends, they used the extreme power of The Mind Stones to stop Mistress Valdia from taking over The City. Had Caelan not been there, the Gloves of Beetle Mind would slowly have taken Valdia's dominating desires to new heights. She would not only have destroyed The City, by way of dragon fire, but she would have continued to grow in power, and mania, until she destroyed the entire world. Or, so the story goes. The Hero Caelan has become a folk hero, and some believe that they have passed to become an angel or a god, and thus some pray to the Ocelot visage.

### The Great Plague

Set in motion by a pair of evil rings, the daughter of house Levlian set forth an ancient and evil spell within the city. This created a plague, which corrupted those with infernal or demonic blood, namely tieflings and other infernals, and turned them into murderous, bleeding, soulless beings. Those who would go on to begin the Guild of Champions, with the help of Doriel, Jihn, and the librarian of Monto, Forti, found the spell to reverse the curse, and broke the spell over The City, saving all of those who had not already been killed. The lady Levlian was executed by the City Guard for crimes against The City. This plague caused a massive drop in population, especially in tiefling populations. It is often accredited with the modern rise in Chaos Born population.

### Battle of The City

Just prior to Armageddon's War, there was a great battle within the city on two fronts. Firstly, the City Guard fought with the Red Riders who destroyed part of the outer wall and threatened to raid and pillage the city. City Guard Captain Ser Wilya squared off against the leader of the Red Riders in a Jousting match, but ultimately the One-On-One duel was compromised and the Guard, aided considerably by the dancing prowess of Briliee managed to fend off the Riders.

Secondly, Asriel and Jaymiff fought in the Crypts while Moyrir tormented them and others from above.

The first victim of the Battle was Doriel, the celestial healer who was killed by Asriel during the night prior to the main events of the battle. With the death of Doriel, for some time this limited the quality of healing you could get for free in the city.

### The Time Incident

During Armageddon's War, The City was the battleground for two gods, Nayali, from the North, and Saint Cuthbert from the South. Nayali used her godly powers to create a time warping situation within The City where the closer you got to the center, the slower you went through time. So time got very messy here. The heroes who went to the City lost 2 years during their time spent. However, different parts of the city were in different levels of Time Fucked. It is hard to say how long everyone was unconscious for because of this.

The people in the center of The City in ring five felt as though no time had passed, when in reality, they missed two whole years. Those within the fourth ring (still within the inner wall) would have felt 5.4 months pass, and would have been 1 year and 9.6 months out of sync with the rest of the Ninth Realm. Those within ring three (now in the outer ring of The City) would have felt 10.8 months pass and been 1 year and 4.2 months out of sync. Citizens within the second ring would have experienced 1 year and 4.2 months pass and been 10.8 months out of sync with the rest of the world. And finally, those within the first ring of time fuckery would have experienced 1 year and 9.6 months and would have only been 5.4 month out of sync with those just outside the walls of The City. Most people in the City were unconscious and would not have noticed time passing anyways.

The time disruption was in place for approximately 2 years and 3 months to those who had an outside perspective.

However, it also brought Doriel back to partial life.

## Surrounding Areas

### Wilwaren Forest

Fae Pond: Wilwaren forest is dominated by two groups of Fae: Pixies and Sprites. The Sprites are aggressive warriors who use sleeping magic to remove hostile travelers from the forest. The pixies are more inviting, but only if you are good at heart. The two groups of Fae are linked by the Lady Peleides and Lord Anisopfera. Once you are deemed acceptable, the fae are very hospitable, offering food and drink and shelter. They are quick to trade favors for favors, and they are powerful. This was one of the few ways to access the northern continent before the war, as the Fae have a long distance fairy portal.

### The Mountains

Inner Mountain River: The river which runs in the mountains is populated by a species of Bug, called the River Rock Bugs. They are named for their uncanny camouflage as they look just like rocks. The largest of them is very large. This River Valley is also notable, as there are faces in the wall who give cryptic and sarcastic answers to questions you didn't ask. They are kind of assholes.

Gargoyle spires: There is a region of the mountains, closer to the desert, which is inhabited by Gargoyles and a shape shifting races called Hoo-Doos. Hoo-doos operate by picking off travelers one by one and replacing them in their group with a member of their tribe. In their natural state, hoo-doos look much like the canyon rock around them, Pale orange and pale red striped. The gargoyles are not malicious, and are likely to help travelers who are preyed upon by the hoo-doos.

### The Desert

Snake Canyon: There is a canyon, which aside from being inhabited by tiny Rock Eaters, a bug type which does as the name suggests, is the home of a very large snake skeleton. The Skeleton looks as though it used to have something in its forehead.

There is an Adult Brass dragon, Entrai who lives in the Desert. She is often in long term hibernation, nestled under the sand and easily confused for a dune or spire. Her son, a Wyrmling named Vitzi, roams around getting into trouble. Both are rather friendly, and Entrai will have her son help those that do her favors.

## Notable NPC's

* Jihnsiobir
* Ser Wilya Cloakborn
* Doriel