Life in the City

So finally, without much more ado, let's talk about Ptolus, the city, itself. The following is a brief summary of some of the more important aspects of the city. Refer to previous articles in the archive for information about the Empire, the races, and the history of the area.

~Monte

Rules

The town is ostensibly ruled by a council, and at its head is the Commissar, a representative of the Tarsisian Empire. The other main council members are the Prince of the Church and the Mother Superior of the Sisterhood of Silence. The other council members (with less influence) include guildmasters, the heads of the noble houses, and a few wealthy merchants. People of the town often refer to this body as the "Council of Coin," because money is a powerful and influential force among them.

Population and Districts

The population of Ptolus is thought to be around 20,000 people. Two-thirds of the population is human, with the remaining third being (in order): Shoal elves, Stonelost dwarves, Grailwarden dwarves, Quickling faen, Loresong faen, centaurs, half-elves, half-orcs, and others (lizardmen, litorians, orcs, githyanki, githzerai, etc.)

The districts of the city include the following:

The Noble's District is located on the city's highest cliff and is nearest the Spire. This is where the noble estates lie, as well as the homes of the wealthy (and the services that cater to them), and the Holy Palace where the Prince of the Church lives -- as well as the Emperor of the Church, who's currently staying with his son the Prince. The Grand Opera is here, as well as the Academy of Music.

Oldtown is built around Dalenguard, a fortress erected after the fall of Ghul. The Commissar still lives within Dalenguard, and the district houses most of the municipal buildings of the city as well as a number of homes. This is where you go to get licenses (like those needed to carry a firearm). It's where the city courts are located, and where the council meets. Both the Delver's Guild library (and Guildhouse) and the City Library are here. Oldtown has a fair number of parks, theaters, and other touches of class and beauty. The Coliseum provides a spot for tournaments and sporting games of all sorts.

Rivergate is a mostly residential district near the chasm on the north end of town.

The Market is also known as the North Market. An older market (older than the South Market), this area has mostly retail shops. While some craftsmen and tradesmen work here, there are far fewer of them in the North Market than in the South. There is a good bakery (Widow Rohl's), a good clothier (Endle's Finery), and a fair weaponshop (Mitoren's), although Rastor's in Delver's Square is probably better.

Midtown is the district with which adventurers are most familiar. Midtown is home to both Delver's Square and Tavern Row, but it also has a few shops and plenty of residential neighborhoods (such as Emerald Hill, where a lot of elves choose to live, and Fairbriar, a centaur neighborhood). Besides the Delver's Square shops (Rastor's weapons, the Bull and Bear armory, Ebbert's Supplies, and Myreth's Oddities), the current crop of PCs has also come to appreciate Saches on Yeoman Street, a clothier, and of course the Row Bathhouse. The wise are leery of both the Diamond Spider tavern (on Tavern Row) and the Skull and Sword (on Iron Street). Danbury's, in Delver's Square, caters to spellcasters. A representative of the Dreaming Apothecary, a mysterious group that makes magic items to order based on transactions carried out in the dreaming minds of their customers, maintains a permanent presence in Danbury's.

The Temple District, not surprisingly, is the area of town devoted to religion. The main focus of the district is the Street of a Million Gods, but the district stretches out from there, including the St. Valien's Cathedral and the Priory of Introspection, where the Sisterhood of Silence is based. Although clerics represent their gods in the greatest numbers, a number of temples also appear to support monks and paladins as well. The Temple District has a single bar, Taggert's, which is also a temple to Ollom, god of the keg.

The Guildsman District is where one is most likely to find large industrial and storage centers -- foundries, textile mills, grain mills, paper mills, brickmakers, bookmakers, tanneries, woodworkers, coalhouses, granaries, and warehouses, to name a few. It has a rough reputation, actually, and most people don't frequent the area at night. The people that live there often join a guild for protection. A few of the guilds in this district include:

• Bankers Guild
  
• Cobblers Guild
  
• Drapers Guild
  
• Goldsmiths Guild
  
• Herbalists Guild
  
• Ironworkers Guild
  
• Masons Guild
  
• Merchants Guild
  
• Silversmiths Guild
  
• Tanners Guild
  
• Textile Dyers Guild
  
• Weaponsmiths Guild

(The Sages Guild, Shipwrights Guild, Warriors Guild, and a few others are headquartered elsewhere in the city.)

The Warrens is a terrible hive of poverty and crime. Rumors say that even the city guards don't go down into the Warrens. The streets here have no names, and most of the buildings aren't marked -- it's not friendly to outsiders. Some think the headquarters of the Vai lies within the Warrens.

The Necropolis is the city's burial spot and home to some of Ptolus' most frightening denizens: the Forsaken and the Fallen. It's full of undead, and everyone knows it. That's why there's a wall around it patrolled by guards. Although common sense seems to say, "Quit burying your dead in the Necropolis," the real truth is that it wouldn't matter. There's literally thousands buried there now, and most of them (people assume) have not become undead. It's also believed that those properly buried by the "right" religion (i.e., the speaker's own) won't rise again. It's somebody else's problem. (In fact, the similarities between the undead problem in Ptolus and hazardous waste problems in the real world are pretty interesting....)

The South Market is newer than the North Market. The South Market also boasts more artisans and industry than its counterpart. You're more likely to get something made to order in the South Market, because the store selling leather goods generally is also a leatherworker's shop (such as Donnel's, a friendly dealer in leather goods).

The Docks is a fairly rough district full of warehouses, shipyards, hostels, and taverns, all catering to sailors and merchants who use the docks extensively. Isolated from the rest of the city by the cliffs, sometimes it seems as though the Docks area is its own little community. Many Ptolus residents live their whole lives without going there (of course, they probably haven't been to the Noble's District, either.)

The Undercity Market is certainly the place to go for most adventuring gear (although Ebbert's Supplies in Delver's Square is a handy one-stop shop with good prices). Nearby are entrances into the sewers as well as tunnels leading into the "Dungeon," as adventurers call it. The Chamber of Longing here -- a landmark with a strange statue of a huge hand -- is an occasional meeting place for adventurers (because everyone knows where it is). The equally close (but profoundly mysterious and magical) Maze of Mirrors can be accessed from the Market as well.

Because of the presence of the Delver's Guild, the Market has become a center of employment relating to Dungeon exploration. Those looking to hire adventurers frequently post bills in the Guild's meeting hall (a similar post stands in Delver's Square). A number of Undercity Market establishments hire out scouts, guides, porters, guards, and whatnot, as well as skilled people to pick locks, cast spells and perform other necessary services.

Noble Houses

The noble houses were once the seats of real power in the area, before the Empire took over. A number of them still exist and wield influence, usually through their prodigious remaining wealth. A list of the more prominent noble houses includes:

Abanar: A mercantile house, Abanar is very wealthy but not well thought of.

Dallimothan: Often said to belong to "House Dragon," the members of this house dress in dragon armor, use dragon regalia, and are whispered to truck with dragons themselves. Kirstol Dallimothan is the current head of the house.

Khatru: Famous for its military leadership and martial prowess, House Khatru is made up of arrogant boors and self-righteous warriors. Lord Dorant Khatru is the current master of the house.

Nagel: House Nagel, led by Lady Fransin Nagel, is an enemy of House Sadar.

Sadar: A foe of House Nagel, Sadar is sometimes called "House Shadow." Ren Sadar, the head of the house, was recently assassinated, and his people are looking for someone willing to perform a true resurrection. The Inverted Pyramid, a group to which Ren also belonged, seeks his slayer, an elf named Daersidian Ringsire.

Vlaadam: This is an evil house, and a very ancient one. Iristul Vlaadam is the current master of the house. They are frequent allies of House Sadar, and these two houses have declared their support of Holy Emperor Reheboth as the rightful emperor.

Organizatons

There are other important organizations besides the noble houses. In brief, these include the following:

The Delver's Guild is an organization constantly growing in power. It facilitates the exploration of the Undercity, holds a wealth of information about the Dungeon, and has even established waystations in the Undercity.

The Keepers of the Veil maintain their base on Center Street in Midtown, but they also possess a fortress, the Siege Castle, on the edge of the Necropolis. They strive to eradicate the curse of the undead from the world forever.

The Forsaken are the opposite numbers of the Keepers of the Veil. These despicable outcasts embrace death and the undead. A subgroup within their ranks, called the Licheloved, carries out the will of dark death gods in ways that -- it's said -- even the other Forsaken find difficult to stomach. It's unclear whether all the Forsaken are living people who consort with the undead, or whether some of them are actually undead themselves.

The Fallen are the allies of the Forsaken who dwell with them in the Necropolis. Not much is known of them, but they are said to be immortal demons or half-demons residing permanently in the world.

The Brotherhood of Redemption operates under the city, but maintains a surface structure in the Guildsman's District. This order of monks believes that no evil is irredeemable, and they seek to give any evil creature a chance to repent. They also pay adventurers for any evil creature captured and brought to them for redemption.

The Healers of the Sacred Heat are located in the Temple District and offer inexpensive healing. It's said to be painful, however.

The Inverted Pyramid is a mysterious and ancient guild of arcanists. The group's headquarters and membership are shrouded in mystery, but its members carry a lot of weight in the city.

Knights of the Golden Cross is a mysterious group of powerful people who oppose evil at every turn. Their tower-fortress lies in Oldtown.

The Vai is an assassins guild dedicated to death. Rumor has it that each member swears to take the life of an intelligent being each day.

Current Events

The Church Versus the Vai: An attempt was made on the life of the Prince of the Church. The would-be assassin has been discovered to be a member of the Vai, although the identity of the individual who employed their services remains magically hidden from even the most powerful of divinations. Nevertheless, the Church ordered a crackdown on the Vai. Rumor has it that the resources spent in setting up the attempt on the Prince's life coupled with enduring this new crackdown have the Vai reeling, in need of cash and resources quickly.

The New Emperor: When Holy Emperor Rehoboth fled the barbarians' invasion of Tarsis, he came to Ptolus, where his son the Prince of the Church lives. Recently, however, he has declared that Lothian wishes to see the religious and secular halves of the Empire reunited, and thus has declared himself not only Holy Emperor, but the secular emperor as well. He has officially moved the capital of the Empire to Ptolus. That makes a total of three claimants to the Lion-Guarded Throne. And the Empire takes one more step toward ruin.

A Growing Discontent: Many in Ptolus seem dissatisfied that the town's main ruler (the Commissar) is an official appointed by an Empire with only questionable local influence at best. Some people feel that the city would be better off with a mayor. The dissenting opinion is that the Commissar's been doing a great job; he and his elite military force -- imperial backing or not -- keep the town fairly safe.

Gang War: A dark and mysterious figure known as Killraven has come to town, quickly usurping control overmuch of the criminal activity normally under the jurisdiction of the city's two other crimelords: Menon Balacazar and the lesser-known Jirraith (whom no one has ever actually seen). Moreover, Killraven is said to be forming her own mages' guild, thieves' guild, and assassins' guild. Battlelines are being drawn in the city streets themselves, as the status quo gets ready to defend itself against this interloper.