High City (Torrune)

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

Within the walls of the High City lie four of Torrune's five sizable hills: The Hill of Okhtar upon which stands the Archon's palace, the Temple Hill upon which stands the city's tessaraon, the Hart's Hill, and the Eirrenhill (the fifth, the Syrennian Hill, is situated in the Low City). This elevated terrain is one reason for the High City's name; the other is the fact that, besides the Archon's own residence and the holy precincts of the tessaraon, the High City contains the grand houses of most of Torrune's richest mercantile clans. It is also home to the marketplaces for luxury goods such as slaves, silk and brocades, perfumes and incense, fine porcelains, lacquer wares, spices, and gold. Although it does have its poorer areas, on the whole the High City is much wealthier, cleaner, and more orderly than the Low City (as well as less crowded and noisy at all hours).

The High City is fully enclosed by its walls, unlike the Low City, whose long stretch of riverfront is unwalled. Six major gates penetrate the High City walls; three on the northern side, two on the south, and one on the eastern side. Starting with the most westerly of the north gates and proceeding clockwise, they are:

* The Qorro's Bridge Gate (often abridged to Qorrasgate), which opens directly onto that bridge and whose gatehouse adjoins its abutment.
* The Griffin's Gate, which similarly opens directly onto the south end of the Fortress Bridge. It is so-named for the huge figures of griffins, carved from two solid blocks of red porphyry thirty feet high, which flank the gate's main arch.
* The Market Gate, which opens out into Bywater (the High City's main riverfront neighborhood); so named because entering the High City proper from Bywater via this gate, one comes very shortly to the Jhovan Market in the Tirasval between Okhtar's Hill and the Hart's Hill. Also sometimes called the River Gate or the Bywater Gate.
* The Water-Porter's Gate, so named because Aothon's Pool is located just inside it, and each morning large numbers of water-carriers congregate at the major intersection between the gate and the pool as they wait to fill their goatskins from the latter.
* The Huareb Gate, so-named because the road running from it goes south to the boundary between Torrune's domain and the principality of Huareb.
* The Temple Gate, also called the Gate of the Gods or Kothaur's Gate, since it is close to the Temple Hill and in fact is connected to the Kothaurite citadel on that hill's western flank by a fortified stone bridge that crosses the intervening distance on high stone arches (in this sense, its gatehouse is really a barbican or outwork of the citadel). South of the Temple Gate and outside the city walls spreads the encampment-turned-slum of Little Maarna.

The major quarters or districts of the High City are:

* The Temple Quarter or Holy Quarter
* The Dwarven Quarter
* The Silk-Seller's Quarter
* The Serrapine Quarter