Racedis Towers

There are small towns and villages elsewhere in the realm, but Racedis Towers is truly the only city. It is a campfire of civilization, surrounded by the vast unseen wilderness, occasionally casting off an ember of itself, sprouting a small town or even a modest keep, but no other city stands.

## History of the Towers

To discuss the history of the Towers is really to discuss the history of civilization in the world. Somewhere in the deepest parts of time, as the tribes of the world roamed, someone stood on the bank of a river, looked up, and decided to elevate themselves. They would build The First Tower, reaching high above the mortal world, into the very domain of the Gray God. That's how the story goes.

What is certain is that all the tribes that wandered found their way across the land to the place where the tower was rising, and through many conflicts and compromises, they managed to thread that impossible needle; they all joined together and worked tirelessly toward this common goal. Whether or not they succeeded, they built something important: a gathering place. A place where all of the various races and peoples of the world could live together. In harmony? Not particularly. But they never separated into the many nations one might expect. They built more towers, and MORE, and over the ages, those dozens, hundreds, thousands of towers became the city we know today. Though the wide wilderness outside this metropolis may hold space and claim for every adventurer, still all the realm calls the Towers the center of it all.

## Organization of the Towers

The city is comprised of hundreds of thousands of towers, sprawling for miles and stretching upward to the skies, like vines competing for sunlight. A truly vast city. The Towers are grouped into Districts, their most basic unit of geographical or cultural distinction. Each District may lay claim a few levels of a few different towers, or the entirety of a small number of towers; they are not consistently shaped or bordered, and the pile of provisions in the back of a wagon might give the best approximation of their distribution.

Each District has its own identity - sometimes cultural, sometimes centered around a particular industry, sometimes defined by something out of its control like a magical anomaly. There is no unified government over the entirety of the Towers -- Districts have a network of leadership called the Luminaries, who preside over their District while advising Luminaries of other Districts.

## The Churn

The movement of society and culture; constantly shifting and also upholding the norms. The Towers are in constant flux, for individual as well as Factions. This "Churn" is characterized by constant change and its paradoxical return to consistent themes and grooves. Life in the Towers is the inability to hold onto anything as permanent, while the grand movements of humanity always fall into familiar patterns.

[The Churn is in contrast to the way of life in the Frontier - they are in mirror image. Life in the Towers is the inability to hold onto anything as permanent, while the grand movements of humanity always fall into familiar patterns. Life in the Frontier is constant forward progress (exploration, founding new settlements, etc) all staked down by tradition and custom. The two ways of life feel entirely different while echoing one another incomprehensibly.]

## Daily Life in The Towers

Hustle and bustle. Shouts and stage whispers. One might live an entire lifetime never leaving the Towers - and many do! The daily grind is enough to occupy most, and the ones who live above the grind find themselves constantly occupied with the lures of politics, culture, the arts, and the creep of power. Though each district has its own identity, the speed of life in the city runs quick.

###### The Impoverished

There are many in the Towers. The Churn always leaves a few behind, and when it does, they find themselves without adequate support. All but the most gated of districts has some presence of the impoverished, and some abandoned districts or towers may be adopted by groups united in their plight.

They make what small livings they can by whatever means. Their lives crisscross with crime - some out of necessity, others as an avenue for power. There are some groups working to better the lives of the impoverished, but the Towers make more every day.

###### The Workers

A hard living can be made among those with some skill and a little luck. They rent and borrow and lean on their community, and can make their small mark on the world with hammer or chisel or broom or plow. Community is strong amidst these folk, and such communities can often heft considerable influence over their neighbors and leadership.

###### The Owners

They live very comfortable lives, directing the labors of others. They are those who own rooms and stories and towers, or land in the frontier, to serve them and keep their lives comfortable. They have access to some of the best that the Towers can offer, and they enjoy the bright side of society in the city.

###### The Weathervane

A very small collection of the super-powerful within the city. Often, this power couldn't be distilled into political, wealth, or social currency - it is an almost alchemical combination of those and others to produce true power. Those who know this power keep it quiet. Those who have seen it envy it. Those who haven't might not even grasp its influence on their lives. A few may be gods, a few may have arcane talent, but their common trait is that they have transcended the individual forms of cultural power.

*steeple, spire, column, pillar, fort, fortress, obelisk, belfry, turret, keep, cupola, pylon*