my setting notes

Home Turf Advantage

I still have no idea what to name this ancient city, but I think it'll be on the largest continent of the mortal plane.

A massive city built out of stone and metal, on the edge of an extinct/dormant volcano. The people here are a mix of tiefling, half elves, and humans, with a rough population ratio of 20%-15%-65%-5% with 5 being any other race like beastfolk or even Genasi. Like many other civilizations the people here live in a symbiotic relationship with dwarves who live in the old volcano. These dwarves depend on the city for trade and food, and the city depends on the dwarves for their expert architecture designs, beautiful metalwork, and more importantly keeping this volcano far from eruption.

The outer city is a metropolis built intentionally like a maze. This was an idea from the dwarves who use a similar tactic with their inner tunnels. Each small section of stone and metal between the paths is in fact a building. In the marketplace the buildings are two tiered, with the second level being accented with wooden walkways. The walkways are thin, only fit for one person or two children across, so there are two on either side of the original paths to offer a little sunlight to the first level. Underneath the walkways are colourful banners and silks, or tapestries embroidered with patterns of the particular shop. The owners of these shops tend to live in the upper level, just above their business.

The city itself has served as a safe Haven for struggling tribes in a war where their territories were treated as nothing more than battlegrounds and collateral damage. Occasionally the city was attacked for it's strategic defensive purposes, but no one is ever effective at taking the city. A group called The Sentinel Order keep the city well defended from the many shadowy nooks and crannies. The Order act by the will of Otyx, the goddess of justice who believes that working from the shadows can unveil even darker truths. It's this religious oath for justice that keeps The Order safe from corruption. Even the Varied Trades (totally stole the name (for criminal underground) from Dael Kingsmill) rarely dare to infultrate a religious cult or organization.

      Besides the Order, who work exclusively in secrecy from everyone but the Chief, there is another force of justice who work very publicly. This force is called the Alloys. They believe in bravery, valor, honesty and strength. They serve the Chief as personal guards and serve the people as a general police force they can go to for everyday disputes. There are different rank of Alloy soldiers, based on currency, Coppers handle lower level issues like petty theft, silver handle larger things like light violent crimes (non-lethal riot, bar fight, the like), and Golds handle more sensitive things like Noble Drama or homicide(issues that more often than not are one in the same). The Platinum Regime is an especially elite force who exclusively work under the Chief like second hands. They guard the Palace, they protect her presence, and they train her children (mostly daughters) to be just as lethal in a fight as their mother.

     Now the Chief herself, nothing unlike Gorudos, she rules with tough love and an iron fist. Her deeds extend from valiant defense of her city to an expert effort to preserve a number of wild species that migrate into her savanna for mating seasons. It is due to this rule that many indigenous tribes who live in her territory are able to maintain their lifestyles with little change.

     To go into detail, an ivory and hide trade started to endanger a species of elephant who are like a natural protection from small but lethal predators for the tribes during the Moving and Mating seasons. When their numbers got too low and the problem loomed, the tribe asked for help from the chief. She established fake travel routes for "nobles" to be escorted regularly as tours of the Savanna. These were actually hunting parties for the poachers who were illegally hunting on her land. A few well placed spies and grotesque displays and the poachers wouldn't dare set another foot in her territory.

      Obviously I have not named this chief, but in appearance she is decorated like a Gorudos Chief but has that strict vibe that Lady Medarda in Arcane has.

     She also has a wife, who was once a studious, shy, timid scholar from the metropolitan Utopia that I also haven't named. Now she is still all those things but she handles business and overseas all the trade that goes on in this city. Her and her advisors keep the money flow from staggering and they handle any issues with shops not paying their taxes, over marketing, ignoring boundaries, or partaking in the black market. Despite her outward air of a  clumsy, timid student, she quite enjoys and is extremely proficient at organizing the business affairs of the city and keeping all the logistics in check. Some call her Chief in Second, but she prefers to just be called Mrs. (name).

So yeah I liked this idea, would put the Dwarf kingdom in a separate chap cause dwarves tend to have a very different vibe and inspiration than my surface cities.

   Speaking of, the inspiration for this Maze of a city (prob gonna literally name it something meaning Maze) was how the recreation of Babylon was laid out. The ancient city that stands today was a recreation by Nebekenezder, and stamped with his name. Anyway, I just really liked how sections of the city looked like a literal maze of streets and paths and then imagining the blocks in between being little shops or housing. Then I got the idea of there being multiple levels, and bridges overtop so the maze had a layers effect. That's totally gonna be a more perfected thing in the Utopian City, but I've never even decided what this continent looks like so imma pass on going into that. (It'll definitely have a Piltover and Zaun vibe tho)