Cities In-Depth: Sylridian, Syldar

Sylridian is the wealthiest and most influential city in Teredahar. It is a bustling metropolis of over 85,000 people; the second most populous city after Kivan Torrat, Kurudar. It is the capitol of Syldar, the home of the Ashram Academy, and the main staging area for armies heading to fight on the shards.

Location

Sylridian sits on the North bank of the Stone River where it meets the Sea of Rime. The area is overwhelmingly flat and mostly consists of dried marshes and flood plains. A scant 60 miles North of the city the flat terrain is abruptly broken by the Tannock Shield Mountains and the Tannock Glacier beyond.

Being so close to the sea, the climate of Sylridian is much more hospitable than surrounding areas. Much of northern Syldar is cold and dry grasslands and desert verging on tundra. The area around Sylridian, however, is cold and temperate (rather like central parts of Canada). Winter in the city is long and snowy, and summers are cool and short. Spring flooding affects much of the surrounding countryside but is kept in check within the city by an extensive network of underground cisterns and waterways.

Layout

Sylridian has been sacked, flooded, expanded, invaded, and rebuilt several times and by several different cultures throughout its long history. This evolution has given the city a very disjointed layout, but some district lines are clearly identifiable:

• Commerce and trade are focused in the city's southeast, near the main gate and the harbour and around the Old Castle. 
• The Ashram Academy's Sylridian campus (sometimes called the "Civilian Campus") occupies several blocks in the northeast, and many of the blocks around that house its staff and students. 
• Sylridian's capitol building, The Hall of Voices, stands in the centre of the city's eastern half. It's surrounded by various guild offices, embassies, and international banks. 
• Several large places of worship are clustered together on a small rise called Temple Hill in the central north district. 
• The city's former western wall divides the city into "old" and "new" halves. Many of the city's poorer inhabitants live in the new half. 
• On the city's extreme western edge stands a modest army base.
• Finally, outside of the city's northwestern gate is a large field used for parking airships and occasionally as a carnival ground. 

Sylridian, Syldar

Architecture

Due to the city's long history, several architectural styles tend to overlap within the city. Three main styles are common: Late imperial elvish tower-houses, modern half-timber, and monolithic burtalism.

Elvish Tower-Houses

These are easily spotted on the map where they look like collections of linked circles. Elvish tower-houses are groups of tall, thin spires linked by bridges. Often these towers are 4 or 5 stories tall and built from stone blocks and timber. Each floor of each tower is often a single room. Rooms are connected by curves stairs or bridges between towers. Usually the lowest floors are used for storage and living quarters are on the upper floors. Supposedly these abodes were designed in Tan'Rar to be built in spaces between trees so that the inhabitants could live in a modern structure while still enjoying nature. Commonly houses of this style will have 2 or 3 towers, while the largest mansions may have 7 towers or more. Living in a tower-house is a sign of status only upper-class Elves can afford.

Half-Timber

Much of the common building stock in Sylridian is of this style: a stone lower floor supporting a timber-framed upper floor with masonry filling in-between. Older buildings in this style have cobblestone for their lower floors while newer ones use fitted blocks of stone brought from other regions.

Monolithic Britalism

Many of the Ashram Academy's buildings and the government's offices (including the Hall of Voices itself) are built in this style. These buildings are often enormous edifices built of fine imported stone. Their shape is chosen to reflect their function. A fine example is the five-towered library building on the Academy campus. Each of the five towers houses a library focused on a different discipline. The building's odd shape has led students to name it "the pipe organ".

Politics

Sylridian is home to the government of Syldar but the city itself is governed by a ruling council with 20 elected members. Law and order is maintained by the City Guard, a civilian policing force. Sylridian's City Guard has more mages in its ranks than any other city's defense force.

Stat Block (Pathfinder)

Sylridian, Syldar

NG Metropolis
Corruption +3; Crime +4; Economy +7, Law +3, Lore +5, Society +8
Qualities magical, academic, well-educated, financial centre, guilds, magically attuned
Danger +10

Demographics

Government Council
Population 86,000 (52% Syldarri(Elves), 25% Humans, 8% Drakoni, 6% Plains Dwarves, 4% Kurudari(Halflings), 5% Other Races)

Notable NPCs

The Lords Magisters, rulers of Syldar
Alar Therassan, King of Syldar (male, elf (highborn), NG, Wizard 10 / Aristocrat 5, age 311)
Valasir Amastatica, Regend-in-Exile of Tan’Rar (male, elf (highborn), CG, Aristocrat 6, age 116)
Hasan Al-Fadir, Prime Minister of Guilds (male, elf (syldarri), NG, Expert 8 / Aristocrat 5, age 202)
Ashelia Valar, Headmistress of the Ashram Academy (female, elf (highborn), LN, Warmage 12 / Aristocrat 4, age 271)
Soveliss Oaken, Supreme Commander of Syldar’s Army (male, half-elf, LG, Fighter 13, age 70)
Other Notable NPCs
Owner of The Copper Roof Tavern Lia Stonepenny (female, half-elf, NG, Expert 6, age 79)
Guard Commander Akshay Al-Kord (male, elf (syldarri), LG, Fighter 9, age 57)

Marketplace

Base Value 19,200 gp; Purchase Limit 120,000 gp; Spellcasting divine 9th
Minor/Medium/Major items: any / 4d4 / 3d4

Next Time

Next week's article will be a History & Mythology article covering the Drakoni invasion of Tan’Rar’s holdings in Teredahar, a time known as The Conquest.