IceAndWave/Whitewall

Whitewall

A cold city ruled, by colder god-kings, Whitewall nestles against the lower ranges of the Black Crag Mountains, facing the great frozen desolation of the Northern plains. Whitewall is also a city under siege, the forces of the Underworld and the Wyld eternally set against the pale stone walls from which the city takes its name, and this has caused the populace to be almost as cold as their home to strangers and visitors. Once a stranger has proved themselves to the people of the city they warm up tremendously, the threat of death or worse that lurks ever outside the city has led to a culture that tries to live life, rather than just endure it – not always successfully.

Strictly bounded by its huge walls, Whitewall is a city of tenements and apartment blocks, with buildings often reaching four stories and basements becoming more commonplace every day. It is a city of smoke, thin grey trails rising from ten thousand chimneys at all times of the day or night, except for the all-too-brief summer, fireplaces burning coal that is mined at great human expense. It is a city of shadows, with tall buildings conspiring to bathe the narrow streets in shade for all but a few minutes a day, and the only light that many of them see for the remainder of the day is the smoky yellow of whale fat lanterns. And it is a city of death, for despite the wards, guards and deep cultural taboos against letting things from outside the walls in, every year such things do happen, and the trail of carnage and destruction that inevitably follows such creatures can last for days or weeks before they are captured or killed.

The city’s very limited space also means that its rich inhabitants cannot show their wealth with large estates as is the case elsewhere in Creation, and so they are forced to build upwards, creating homes that tower over their neighbours. These buildings, while usually bare and sparse on the outside, are filled to opulence within, with the wealth of their owners expressed in the variety and quantity of their interior. The Palace of the Syndics, the trio of gods that rule the city, is one such building, easily visible across most of the city, although very few of its inhabitants are ever called to go inside.

The Old Road

Arguably the most famous feature of Whitewall, the Old Road is an ancient construction of powerful artifice, so strong that its effects can even be felt in the Underworld. Impervious to the strongest sorceries that the Dead have been able to hurl at it, and just as impenetrable to the glamour of the Fae, the Old Road travels several thousand miles across the North, beginning close to the kingdom of Tideholme, then sweeping along the coast before heading north through the western reaches of Marama’s Fell and thence to Whitewall and Gethamane beyond.

The magic of the Old Road goes beyond providing protection against supernatural predations, since traffic along the Road travels at a greatly increased rate compared to normal road traffic, and a yeddim-drawn wagon can make the journey from the southern coast to the mountain fastness of Gethamane in two-thirds the time one would expect. Its constructors are a mystery, and while records from the Shogunate suggest that it may date from the earliest days of that government, many savants believe that it is still older than that, having been built in the mythical times of the First Age. There are fragments of other, older roads to be found in Marama’s Fell, but the shadowland is dangerous enough that few scholars have ever made the trip to the remnants and returned.

Five Peaks

A small mining town huddled in the heights of the Black Crag Mountains, Five Peaks has been producing gemstones and precious metals of great quality for many years, and its proximity to Whitewall means that the cold city is the primary market for its goods. The relationship goes both ways and Whitewall has been known to send emissaries or soldiers to help deal with the problems that a mountain-top town can have occur – most recently a feud between two of the mountains from which the town gets its name.