Almasad

**Almasad** is Ibal's grand port city and home to the largest fleet in the realm.

## General Information

Almasad is a bustling port city fanning out on either side of the Ziron River. Though it isn't Ibal's capital, it is marvelous anyway, filled with sandstone monuments and gleaming pillars of limestone. The river is too wide for bridges, so barges cross it instead. The city's cothon is even greather than the one in Ascal. The circular docks for the navy is a city itself, walled and patrolled by sailors. Almasad can easily dock one hundred war ships.

Raised causeways ridge the city, carrying both freshwater and travelers through the many sectors of Almasad. The limestone gleams white under the sun. Palatial compounds, citadels, and paved plazas run along either side of the riverbank, patterned in soft yellow, green, and bright blue. A royal palace sits on the only hill, surrounded by sandstone walls and towers tipped in winking silver. Its many windows and balconies look down on the Ziron. Statues of ancient Ibalet kings flank the river, taller than a cathedral spire, their faces worn by the ages and each sitting astride a fine stallion.

The docks are bunched together, needling out from the banks. An old brick wall surrounds the docklands that's centuries old and set with a dozen open gates. By the time one reaches a few streets inland, the city relaxes, stretching out in wider arcs and less crowded lanes. Many homes and buildings are walled, islanded by palm and cypress gardens. The great avenues are wide as canals and pass beneath the causeways. The streets are clearly designed to minimized the southern heat. Unlike Ascal, Almasad is a balm. Flowers bloom from every window and empty corner and low stone pots of sweet-smelling oil and fat candles combat the horrid smells of a city. The air is sweet and perfumed by the lotus gardens adorning the Ziron. Music drifts through the streets from performers in their plazas or private homes. The water runs clean unlike the fetid canals of Ascal. The buildings are made of clay and stone. The Almasad streets are kept remarkably clean, both by sweepers and roving patrols of soldiers. Almasad borders the Great Sands and thus has no use for walls beyond the port. As one gets closer to the desert, the buildings grow increasingly sparse, the causeway overhead slopes downward, and its arches become lower until it runs into an avenue of paved stone. The roads and streets simply disappear as they are swallowed by the ever-shifting dunes.

The Red Pillar, the *takhan*, is an impossibly tall obelisk rising from the city skyline half a mile away from the docks. It stands in the center of a plaza, carved from a single block of rust-colored granite. It's more than one hundred feet high, a square column that tapers to a point like a pyramid. A carved face of Lasreen stars out from each side. It's a bit of a way station for the underbelly of Almasad.

Haroun's Eye is a ruin from before the Cor Empire. It was once a lighthouse, except it wasn't for sailors but to guide caravans across the Great Sands. The Eye was Spindletouched and worked like an enchanted mirror. It glowed without flame, bright as a second sun. Priests of Lasreen found it in the desert at an oasis named Nezri. The ruins of Haroun's Eye are located on the outskirts of the city. It's a massive tower that's fallen like a tree broken in half. The only parts left are a hollow column and a single spiral star. The crown of the tower is missing. It was stolen before the tower fell when the Cors defeated ancient Ibal. The bronze cap was cut up piece by piece and melted down.

The city has three prisons. One is located on the water, where the cells half flood at high tide and crocodiles tear at the bars. The second prison is located on the outskirts, between the city and the dunes. The cells are open to the sun so that prisoners burn and blister within hours of captivity. The third prison is called Taltora. It is buried beneath the citadel fortress of the city's central garrison. Its cells are dark, cool, sepulchral, and secure as a tomb. Sorasa describes the first two prisons as "unpleasant but manageable," having swum and climbed her way out of both. Taltora is much more difficult to escape from. Taltora is a labyrinth beneath a fortress with cells forty feet underground. Besides the cells, there's also guardrooms, the soldiers' mess, the warden's office, the vaults, and the antechamber. The only exit is also the only entrance. It's located in the courtyard of the barracks and garrison offices.

## Known Locations

* The Red Pillar
* Taltora
* Haroun's Eye
* The Royal Palace
* The Moon Gate
* City Garrison