Revision as of 16:45, 22 May 2014

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of The Patron who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

Iskandar

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

Manses and Demenses of Iskandar

Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar for further information.

History

Prehistory

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the Dragons Kings. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the Primordial War with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

The First Age

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of The Unconquered Sun and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

The Ocher Fountain Era

During the beginning of the First Age when Queen Merela ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of Rathess Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

The First Deliberative Era

By the time of the founding of the Deliberative the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies Angus the Wirehair was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as Chiaroscuro and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

Unfurling Horizon Era

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of Red Jade near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when Angus the Wirehair returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)

• (The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

The Aftershock War

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of Golden Janissary Style practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, Angus the Wirehair went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

Shining Reflection Era

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two: 1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And; 2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

Thousand Struggles Era

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is Angus the Wirehair 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to Meru at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the Golden Hero Vassals so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate Levian of the Gilded Staff begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city wall as well.

Time of Cascading Years

The Shogunate

The Fall

The Rebirth

Government

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: The Patron. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

The Adeptus Millitate

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by Fist of the Land a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Arbitiese

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is Steel Garden who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

=== The Departmento Queastorum === This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

The Officio Homicide

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. Laural the Axe is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

The Officio Servus Aucupes

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

The Officio Vitium

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

The Officio Interioribus

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

The Officio Fraude Aucupes

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

The Ofiicio Fures

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

The Officio Pax Patronum

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

The Officio Correctionibus

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

The Adeptus Judicate

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is Molly McBride a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally The Patron himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

The Adeptus Sororitatus

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is Unrepentant Emerald. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of Iskandar Seline.

The Adeptus Frateris

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by Wauli the Wolf, who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

The Adeptus Mechanicus

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by Adamant Sprocket, an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter Gears of Fate, this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

The Adeptus Diolougus

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both The Guild and foreign powers such as the Realm.

The Adeptus Medicae

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, Seven Bounties Paste, or Age Staving Cordial, to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for The Patron's approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by Simon Baker, a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

The Adeptus Fabricae

The Adeptus Adminstradum

The Adeptus Aeronauticus

The Adeptus Vectigalia

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by Manifold Gemstone a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

Religion

Imacualtes

The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy

Ancestor Cultists

Led by Sharima of the Three Disciplines and her ghostly lover Aruna the Defiant this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the Salaru.

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small Shadowlands across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of The Patron's injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth he is a martial artist in service to The Mask of Winters who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of Autochthonian Soulsteel, held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the Underworld. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of Autochthonian Soulsteel can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

Xufuwne Onuke

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerfull but realtively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battleing the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and weilding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivilent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

Aruna the Defiant

Hialing from Charoscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children togther. They were manuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Appostacy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not belive the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and aluring for all her ghostly translucence and palor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

Emerald Lotus

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experinced enough to realy do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the chalenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is nither atractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect choping sword for close fighting. Emirald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experince with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

Monkey of the City

Dressed in lamilar and weildeing a shock pike monkey of the city is not realy suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any panthion and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult panthion's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill

Wearing a Red Jade rinforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predicatbly killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisited as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very inteligent man, who is knowlidageble about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intilect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.

• (Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

Cult of the Illuminated

Geography

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named Sabris of the Two Spears convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

Ethnicity

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to The Patron's zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, Virangia and The Delazen Empire.

The Salaru

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

The White Scars

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

The Golden Bulls

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

The Get of Vexan

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

The Iron Raptors

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

The Kelderkin

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

The Chosen of Flame =

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

The Iconigraphers

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

The Eisil

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

The Mantis Tribe

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

The Broad

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands. The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

The Western Salaru

The Northern Salaru

The Eastern Salaru

The Djala

Verangians

The Delazen

Deep Southerners