Sunday, October 21, 2012

Paragam, the City

Spelheim: The First Magewar

In a realm of magic, war rages. Will the continent be consumed by strife, or will the people unite against the greater danger?

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Paragam, the City

While other smaller cities exist in Id-Heren, in Spelheim, Paragam has monopolized the word. Scholars occasionally still use the traditional name, but not many Citians know it, and it is not uncommon for them to mistake Paragam as a Northern word for the Spelheim capital.

Architecture
When approaching the City from the outside, one can only see the pure-white Wall, with the Council Spire just barely topping it in height. The Wall surrounds the City with a circle of stone, created out of what appears to be seamless white marble. It is high enough that no man could possibly sling a scaling hook across its parapeted battlements. The Wall existed before the City grew to fill it.

To enter the city, one must pass through one of the heavily-guarded checkpoints at the base of the wall. Without proof of prior residence, any visitor is turned away. The sole exceptions to this are awakened countryside magicians, who must enter the City by law. Close family is allowed to come as well. The passageways through the Wall let in light through numerous murder-holes, and are narrow enough for two men to stand their ground against an army.

Though some overlap exists, the City has three distinct districts.

The Housing is where the commoners live and work. Most buildings here have a uniform look to them ? people live in row houses made out of red brick, and workshops and stores may only differ in the sign boards hanging from their walls. Small, magical aqueducts run through the middle of some of the streets, sometimes ending (or beginning) in fountains. They provide the people with water for drinking and washing, with enchantments keeping the water clean. The stone-paved streets are kept free from filth, but not to the extent as is done in the High.

The High is where the nobility makes its home, and it houses most schools and other institutes for higher education. The more affluent nobles may own multiple estates within the City. The mansions they build are often a competitive show of wealth ? wildly decorated, expensively furnished, and staffed by a small army of servants. Plant life is more common here, and some nobles maintain enchanted greenhouses. The High?s mechanical and magical defenses are always at odds with thieves from the Old.

The Old is the most ancient part of the City. The streets are filthy with human waste, and the buildings decayed in their antiquity. All manner of constructions exist here in close proximity: decayed, regal mansions go back-to-back with rat-infested shacks. Parents warn their children to stay away from the Old City. The impoverished and the criminal form gangs here, hiding from the Council?s constables.

In the very center of the City, a perfectly circular lake exists. The waters are clear and clean, and in summer, many Citians can be found swimming in these waters. Children dare each other to swim to the center, where a small patch of land holds the Council Spire. In actuality, the lake is not so much a lake as it is a gigantic moat. The Spire is an abnormally high tower made from the same marble as the City Wall, where supposedly, the Council gathers to govern the country. In the Old, a persistent superstition says that, when you can see the spire, the spire can see you.

People
The people living within the City have no particular ethnic differences with the people living outside of the Wall. However, the majority has never left the City, and possess a learned, yet limited world view. Many believe Northerners call themselves Northerners, for example.

Magicians wear no special clothes, though magicians-in-training at the academy wear robed uniforms. Out in the streets, mages can only be told apart by a ring they wear, set with a colored jewel that signifies their Domain. Magicians of both genders often have short hair, however. This isn?t a requirement ? it is simply common for magicians to, at some point in their education, catch on fire.

Government and politics
The City is governed by the Council, which is in charge of legislation, and keeps the law through its constables and military. It is made up of leaders of prominent noble houses. Council seats are passed on to an appropriate heir, or can be relinquished to another house, or even sold. Considerable competition and blackmail exists between houses to attain a seat on the Council.

It is virtually impossible for an outsider to gain entry into the City. The reverse is not true ? commoners and nobles are welcome to leave, but the former group may have difficulty getting back in once they?re out, depending on the admission guard?s humour. Bribing one?s way in is complicated by multiple checkpoints with randomized guards.

For a magician, the situation is the exact opposite. They are legally obligated to live in the City, unless given leave to live at the island academy off the western coast. City magicians may not pass the Wall without military escort to a battlefield. While magic is considered divine, magic users are said to be servants of the Maker, and therefore servants of the City. Those with useful Talents are worked hard, while those with less useful Talents are put to recharging enchantments set by other mages in the same magical Domain.

For a noble-born magician, it is possible to pay a fee and waive this duty. They may still not leave the City, however, and magicians have not been allowed to hold a Council seat since the Void Witch incident ? a gruesome event in the history of the City, in which a magician with strange magic murdered thousands in a few hours. Concealing one?s magic is considered high treason.

Religion
To the Council, the Church of the Maker is a tool before it is a power, and it does not occupy itself much with those living beyond the walls of the City. The Writ of the Maker, the holy scripture, has been actively simplified and tailored to the Council's needs. While blasphemous, someone within the Council has good reason to believe the City's origin had nothing divine in it.

The Writ states the Maker created the world, and the City as its focal point. Magic and the military superiority of Spelheim are considered proof of this. The Maker is said to be all-knowing, weighing sin and tallying prayer. Church services are every morning, and it is customary to go at least every other day. With the Veil gone, the Church has been rallying people under the banner of human superiority.

The Church of the Maker only has a single festivity: Starless Night, celebrated on the winter solstice. Magicians produce such fire spectacles in the sky over the City, the light completely blots out the stars.

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