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.

Cities In-Depth: Kor's Geode, Ashdar

Map

Given the unique nature of the place, I've decided to map Kor's Geode in profile.

Location

Kor's Geode is a minor city located in Ashdar's Broken Teeth mountain range. It is built almost entirely within an enormous geode lined with building-sized amethyst crystals inside of a dead volcano. There is no other place like it in the world.

The city was founded to harvest the geode's amethysts, and this remains a major part of its industry. These crystals are cut from the geode's walls and broken up by master gemsmiths for export. The largest chunks are prized for their ability to bind elementals in the cores of airships. Smaller pieces are turned into powerstones or simply used as jewels.

Several years after the city's founding, entreprising elvish shipwrights established the Skyperch Shipyard in the dead volcano's caldera. This arrangement has allowed the dwarves of the Geode to export the largest crystals without having to transport them by road.

Architecture

The city on the geode's floor is built of local reddish-brown volcanic stone in a squat, angular style similar to that of the Plains Dwarves of Koldar. Most of the buildings have 2-3 floors and no roofs. The lack of weather also means that the buildings' windows have no glass or shutters. Simple curtains suffice. Low-level window sills often have sharp metal to prevent climbing inside. Some buildings extend underground into the sandy dirt on the geode's floor.

A prominent feature of Kor's Geode is The Citadel. Suspended on chains high above the city, the Citadel is the home of the CEO of the Kor's Geode Crystal Co. and ruler of the city, Kor Andesite III. The citadel is built of timber and lightweight stone panels, making it appear similar to buildings below but much lighter. It's chained to the geode's outer shell at eight points with heavy steel chains. A wooden bridge connects the citadel to the lift shaft that runs up one side of the geode.

Powerful lights on the the citadel illuminate the entire geode with purple light shining through the amethysts on the cavern's walls, casting the city in permanent twilight.

Culture

Kor's Geode is a blue-collar company town. Only employees of the Kor's Geode Crystal Co. and their families may reside permanently within the city. The population living inside the geode is almost entirely Mountain Dwarves with a few Duergar.

The culture of the geode revolves entirely around the work of harvesting and exporting crystals. Work is hard, hours are long, and many of the inhabitants live in near-poverty while the CEO and company executives live lavishly in the palatial Citadel. 

The Crystal Co. employs some townspeople as a city watch and small defensive force. Larger-scale defense is provided by Skyperch's airship fleet.

Politics

The entire mountain containing Kor's Geode is owned by the Kor's Geode Crystal Co. All properties on and inside the mountain are leased from the company. The CEO of the company is the city's despotic ruler. Succession is handled by the company's executive board but since the city's founding it has always been ruled by a member of House Andesite.

To date there has been one strike in the city's history. Striking workers protesting long working hours and their lack of say in the city's governance were violently rounded up and exiled from the city. Thirty-six died. This short of "trouble-making" is now heavily frowned upon.

Stat Block (Pathfinder)

Kor's Geode, The Broken Teeth, Ashdar

LN Large Town
Corruption +4; Crime +1; Economy +2; Law +4; Lore +0; Society -4
Qualities defensible, racial enclave, insular
Disadvantages impoverished
Danger 5

Demographics

Government Overlord (CEO)
Population 3,800 (90% Mountain Dwarves, 8% Syldarri Elves, 1% Duergar, 1% Other Races)

Notable NPCs

CEO of Kor's Geode Crystal Co. Kor Andesite III (mountain dwarf, male, LN, Aristocrat 6 / Expert 3, age 179)
Watch Commander Halite MacMorag (mountain dwarf, male, LE, Fighter 7, age 130)
Anarchist Brazz (duergar, male, CG, Psion 5, age 96)

Marketplace

Base Value 2,000 gp; Purchase Limit 10,000 gp; Spellcasting 5th
Minor/Medium/Major items: 3d4 / 2d4 / 1d4

Next Time

Next week's article will be a Elvish Engineering article covering airships, how they operate, and their role in the world of Teredahar.

Cities In-Depth: Dolvan Keep, Din

Another new article series! Cities In-Depth will profile a specific major settlement and provide details about its architecture, culture, politics, and history. I'll also include a complete city stat block for use with Pathfinder.

Map

This is a basic map showing only major avenues and landmarks. Fill in details as needed.
Map download (Google Docs / PDF)

Location

Dolvan Keep is a large city located the United Republic of Din's northeast, approximately 10 miles south of the Crimson Marsh and 70 miles from the coast, where Copper River empties out into the Dinwash River. This region of Din is mostly forested hills and rolling farmland. The city's namesake keep is located at the northern terminus of an escarpment that runs for several miles southwards towards the foothills of the Torran Spine, roughly following the course of the Copper River. The region's climate is temperate, experiencing all four seasons and the occasional coastal storm that wracks the region with rain or snow.

Architecture

The city of Dolvan Keep grew organically around its eponymous fortress. Most houses and businesses are built of river stones and timber with steeply pitched, shingled roofs. In the lower districts they are built very close together with numerous dark, narrow alleys running between them. The largest buildings outside of the keep and church are three stories tall including their roofs.

Boxtown district gets its name for the large, flat-roofed factories and warehouses built from quarried stone and heavy timber. Many of these buildings have blank, windowless facades giving the district the dull appearance of rows of boxes. Mill street is similarly industrial, with several prominent factories along the copper river's waterfront using water-wheels driven by the river. 

Highwatch and Iron Hill are upper-class districts with several very large houses and numerous small parks. Bywater and Westridge are working-class neighbourhoods of small-but-orderly houses along small-but-orderly streets. The Lower Ward and Keeptown are both low-class districts. These districts are densely built, heavily populated, tight and dark. These districts are considered to be an extreme fire-hazard.

The keep is built from quarried stone blocks and river stones. It was built by mountain dwarves after the The Occupation. It has seen battle only once (during The Revolution when Din's citizenry overthrew the ruling vampire cult) and was relatively undamaged during that conflict. Most of the original dwarven stonework remains in good condition.

Culture

There are three prominent cultural centres: Temple Square in Bywater, the Central Market at the foot of iron hill, and The Keep. Dolvan Keep's culture is a mixing-pot of human and dwarven traditions that revolves around these centres. Social stratification is very prominent outside of the centres, with various classes keeping to their own districts.

Piety plays a big role in Dolvan Keep's culture. It was paladins in the service of The Dawnbringer led by local legend Aurus Pyrite who freed the area the grasp of an immortal cult of vampires. Now The Church of The Dawnbringer stands as the second-largest building in the city and its bells ring across the city at dawn every morning.

Unlike many cities on Teredahar, Dolvan Keep actually has a civilian police force separate from the city's guard.

Politics

Dolvan Keep is the seat of the parliament of the United Republic of Din. Political leaders and party members from around the nation mostly live in Highwatch and keep to themselves. The city itself is run by an elected autocrat with the purely-traditional title of Prince and a council of advisors. The populace are generally satisfied with this leadership.

Stat Block (Pathfinder)

Dolvan Keep, United Republic of Din

NG Large City
Corruption +0; Crime +3; Economy +3, Law +1, Lore +3, Society +3
Qualities holy site, notorious, racist, strategic location, pious
Danger +20

Demographics

Government Autocracy (Prince-Elect)
Population 19,500 (50% humans, 20% mountain dwarves, 10% syldarri(elves), 8% plains dwarves, 4% kurudari(halflings), 8% assorted other races)

Notable NPCs

Prince-Elect Ado Augite (mountain dwarf, male, NG, Aristocrat 7, age 161)
Lord Deacon Aurus Pyrite (mountain dwarf, male, LG, Paladin of The Dawnbringer 14, age 128)
Crime Boss "Red Hand" Anders (human male, NE, Rogue 8, age 31)

Marketplace

Base Value 11,200 gp; Purchase Limit 75,000 gp; Spellcasting divine 9th / arcane 7th
Minor/Medium/Major items: 4d4 / 3d4 / 2d4
Racism cost +150% if not human or dwarf, +150% if openly not Good-aligned, merchants refuse to deal with undead necromancers of any kind or obvious necromancers.

Next Time

Next week's article will be a Factions article covering The Ashram Academy, Teredahar's largest mage school and paramilitary force.