Egorian
| Egorian | |
|---|---|
| |
| (City) | |
| Titles | City of Thorns |
| Nation | Cheliax |
| Region | Archduchy of the Heartlands |
| Size | Metropolis |
| Population | 82,100 |
| Demographics | 71,500 humans, 7,900 halflings, 1,350 tieflings, 1350 other |
| Government | Overlord |
| Alignment | Lawful evil |
| Ruler | Lord Mayor Grachius Alazario |
| Leader | Aspexia Rugatonn, High Priestess of Asmodeus |
| PNJs Notables | |
| Advisor Contessa Lrilatha (LE female erinyes inquisitorAPG 13) Duxotar Marcellano Ratarion (LE male human fghter 8) | |
| Market Place | |
| Base Value 20,800 gp; Purchase Limit 150,000 gp; Spellcasting 9th Minor Items all available; Medium Items 4d4; Major Items 3d4 | |
| Special Qualities | |
| Decadent Art Egorians enjoy decadent art and brutal stagecraft, including the Theater of the Real, which features the gruesome onstage deaths of the principal actors. This lends an ominous yet cosmopolitan air to the city. (Society +4) Infernal Laws Egorian’s laws and legal system are based on the byzantine Asmodean Disciplines, which are expansive and attempt to regulate all aspects of public and private life. Many laws go unenforced, however, particularly if bribes are involved. The system allows the government to remove undesirables on a whim and gives citizens an incentive to spy on one another. (Corruption +2; Law +4) | |
Source: Cheliax, Empire of Devils, pg(s). 14-15 | |
- EGORIAN CITY OF THORNS : Few remain who can remember the red and white roses surrounding Egorian. My mother described them so vividly that—although I was born years after Aroden’s death turned the white roses black—I sometimes fancy that I saw them with my own eyes. This nostalgia for our parents’ memories is a kind of ephemeral chronicle, one we are obliged to pass along to succeeding generations.
- “Long before the Thrune Ascendancy, Egorian was the grand dame of the empire. She has witnessed the rise and fall of monarchs, national triumphs and catastrophes, the visitation and death of a god. And although mortal hands may alter the city’s offcial chronicles, so long as her children recall the memories of their parents, her legend shall endure.”
- —Count Varian Jeggare to a meeting of the Historical Society [1]
Introduction
Egorian once provided Chelish aristocrats— and the artists their wealth supported— with a refuge from the political strife of the former capital, Westcrown. Since Abrogail I moved the empire’s seat of power, Egorian has transformed into a bastion of law and bureaucracy without entirely losing its former charms, so the lakeside city remains a favorite destination for travelers. Despite the empire’s formal alliance with Hell, much in the city remains ungoverned. Criminal gangs, secret societies, subversive movements, and even demon cults infest Egorian and its subterranean shadow-city.
The City of Thorns is not only the capital of Cheliax, but also the nation’s largest political subdivision, the Archduchy of the Heartlands. Its own municipal government, overseen by Lord-Mayor Grachius Alazario, struggles to balance the needs of Egorian and its citizens with the demands of House Thrune and the Chelish Throne. Thus, the upper echelons of Egorian society are ever mired in bureaucratic gridlock, leaving much of the city’s lower classes and less prominent districts to fend for themselves; Duxotar Marcellano Ratarion and his city watch and the local Hellknight Order of the Scourge can be in only so many places at once.[1]
APPEARANCE
When seen from Lake Sorrow to its north, Egorian frst appears to be a picturesque community with winding lanes following the course of streams and hills. The wharves of the Adivian River curl around to the lake shore, dispatching fshing vessels at dawn and receiving them again near dusk. Along the eastern shore, fner homes and manor houses (or “vaneos”) nestle among the rolling hills of the districts collectively known as the Old City. Many of the area’s residents have resisted the politically advised, if not ofcially mandated, Egorianstyle architecture, but the frst signs of the black-andred marble and gothic ornaments appear here. The city rises toward the southeast, and from the center to the southern walls, spires and gargoyles dominate the skyline above increasingly regular thoroughfares. The most prominent buildings in the city core include the Grand Opera House, with its domes and classical pillars contrasting sharply with the prevailing Egorian style; the pentagonal Midnight Temple to Asmodeus, with sulfurous fumes perpetually rising from its vents; the enormous Imperial Stadium; and the towering Imperial Palace, which dwarfs the government buildings cowering at its feet.
To the southeast, Thrune Manor sits perched on the city’s highest hill. By virtue of the manor’s lofy base, the peaked roofs of its towers rise almost as high as those of the Imperial Palace—a constant reminder of the royal family’s house and orig Egorian is known for its iconic plazas, from the open squares at nearly every major intersection to the more extravagant and spacious Thrune Square and Ascension Plaza near the city’s heart. Many of the lesser but more ancient plazas include marble statues of war heroes and the occasional famous composer. Others center on sculpted fountains from which residents draw their water, and where struggling artists offer to sketch visitors. Plazas in the wealthier districts host symphonic and choral concerts, events patrolled by dottari to ensure that the riffraff do not mar the occasion.[1]
HISTORY
Egorian began as a small fshing village. It grew with the successive empires of Taldor and Cheliax until its geography made it a critical trading hub second only to Westcrown. Perfectly situated beside Lake Sorrow and the Adivian River, Egorian provided a critical juncture for shipping (and enforcing taxation) from western and north-central Cheliax.
With their wealth and hedonistic tastes, the aristocratic residents of the city soon made Egorian a center of art and culture. Rather than envying the political importance of their southern neighbors, Egorians considered themselves fortunate to escape the drudgery of governance. They tended their estates (or “viras”) in summer and wintered in their vaneos to enjoy the pleasures of the opera, the symphony, and myriad other arts.
Then Abrogail I seized power and declared Egorian the nation’s new capital.
The queen’s agents seized 20 acres of private land in the center of Egorian to form Thrune Square. From that focal point, the royal engineers paved the Prospects, four enormous boulevards striking out in the four cardinal directions, cutting through hills and obliterating buildings. Casualties included the original outer wall, through which four great gatehouses were established. The unintended consequence of this enforced order is increased chaos where the new gridded boulevards intersect with the city’s original streets.[1]
SOCIETY
Egorian’s principal sources of commerce include shipping (especially wine, produce, meat, and lumber), slave trading, stonecutting, copper and iron smelting, weapon production, and martial training. Noble houses from all over Cheliax send their soldiers to train with the archers of House Narikopolus, and several of the fnest teachers of swordplay and unarmed combat have schools within the city.
While most slaves sold in Egorian endure menial labor, those with a knack for letters, bookkeeping, painting, music, or dance fetch the highest bids. Masters assume the glory of their slaves’ talents for themselves, boasting of their property’s accomplishments as if having achieved it all on their own. Some employ their slaves as a political weapon. More than one noted diva has lef the stage in disgrace afer an adversary arranged for a more talented slave to perform her most famous songs in public. Egorian justice has three long arms, each more feared and incorruptible than the one before: the dottari, the Order of the Scourge, and the Infernal Inquisition.
The dottari police the city streets and investigate all crimes that neither Paralictor Elliendo nor Grand High Priestess Aspexia Rugatonn claims jurisdiction over. While the dottari have a reputation for accepting bribes, Duxotar Ratarion has made it his mission to police his own rather than suffer the humiliation of interference by the Order of the Scourge or the Infernal Inquisition. The dottari also have a reputation for doing little to help the lower classes while turning a blind eye to the crimes of the powerful.
The Hellknight Order of the Scourge focuses its efforts on corruption and organized crime. What constitutes “organized” depends in part on the personal interest of Paralictor Ivo Elliendo, who ofen oversteps his mandate to investigate high-profle cases personally. Members of the Order of the Scourge take special pride in arresting those who deem themselves above the law. The Order of the Scourge is headquartered in nearby Citadel Demain. While the Hellknights don’t answer to Queen Abrogail, the throne counts on the order’s cooperation in matters of criminal investigation and civil order. Lictor Toulon Vidoc (LN male human rogue 2/fghter 4/HellknightISWG 7) seldom visits Egorian, entrusting the order’s supervision to the local paralictor.
While the Infernal Inquisition ofen acts in concert with agents of House Thrune, it remains independent of the ruling family and serves the Prince of Law frst and foremost. Inquisitors focus on crimes against Asmodeus and any subversive activity that undermines the Infernal Compact or Hell’s grip on Cheliax. Ultimately, the Inquisition trumps the Hellknights, who outrank the dottari, but clever ofcers sometimes fnd ways to outmaneuver their rivals.
The Midnight Temple is the greatest cathedral in all of Cheliax, and Grand High Priestess Rugatonn means to keep it that way. While no Chelaxian is required to worship Asmodeus, it is a capital offense to disparage the ofcial religion. No one advances in public life without at least a modest display of reverence for the Prince of Law. Any hint of worship directed at a devil other than Asmodeus or worse, of any god of chaos, is sure to attract the attention of the Inquisition.
The worship of Abadar is not only tolerated but almost encouraged, given how highly the regime values commerce and fnancial stability. And while frowned upon, the worship of Iomedae remains an irrevocable element of national pride, since Cheliax has long claimed the herald of Aroden as its particular saint. [1]
RELATIONS
As the empire’s capital, Egorian houses permanent diplomats from virtually every nation in the Inner Sea region. The city also sometimes welcomes special envoys from distant Vudra or Tian Xia, occasions heralded with great fanfare and a none-too-subtle message that such visits represent the expansion of imperial influence.
In the decades since Abrogail I relocated the capital, residents of Egorian and Westcrown have nurtured an increasing rivalry. Government and mercantile organizations continue to generally cooperate, both to avoid irritating the queen and because their river-bound commerce remains mutually dependent. On the other hand, visiting Wiscrani endure being overcharged by local merchants (who mark up prices for them even more than for halflings and tieflings), targeted by roving street thugs, and pounced on by the local dottari for even the slightest misdemeanor.[1]
DISTRICTS
Residents of Egorian identify more strongly with their neighborhoods than with their city as a whole, leading to such stereotypes as “snobby Sorrowsiders,” “muddull Miresiders,” or “ambitious Hellhounds.” The city’s upper class residents ofen refer to less refned districts collectively as “Cheapside.” This catch-all designation can include such neighborhoods as Bilgetown, Devil’s Dance, Dice End, Riverside, and Trick Alley districts. Nobility from particularly old or established families might also include such upper-middle-class neighborhoods as Briarpatch, Parley Circle, and Triumph under this pejorative descriptor. The city’s lower classes, for their part, have no such conglomerate name for wealthier districts.
Aspex Garden: This district on the eastern side of the city contains luxurious shops and vaneos interspersed with dozens of small gardens featuring exquisite fountains and statues, mostly images of great artists and performers. It is also home to Demibaroness Helia Belunne (LG female human paladin of Iomedae 6), who many suspect provides secret support for the Glorious Reclamation. In fact, the paladin, while a devout Iomedaean, is staunchly loyal to Cheliax, and she sees her duty to the people as something to be worked out within the system rather than through violent opposition. Nevertheless, House Thrune has her manor under constant surveillance, and visitors meeting her about other business are likely to pick up their own tails as a result of their association with her.
Bilgetown: The northern district of Bilgetown is home to prosperous working-class families, including most of the city’s fshers. Nobles from neighboring districts had the more noisome elements of the fshing industry removed to Bridgeside and the Vice, but they love the view of sailing vessels too much to remove the docks. The city’s most frequently breached sewer grates are found here. Briarpatch: Residents of this district on the city’s southern edge have tried to adopt the Egorian style of architecture, but can afford only black and red paint and cheap gargoyles and spikes on their roofs. They are among the frst to mass in any celebration or demonstration in support of the crown.
Bridgeside: The northwestern district of Bridgeside, known for its market, gained its name from a nowcollapsed bridge whose giant pilings serve as anchors for shanties and wharves. Bunyip Dock is notorious as a spot for assignations and the disposal of corpses. Devil’s Dance: The southwestern district of Devil’s Dance is popular among diabolists drawn to the pentagram-shaped arrangement of its streets in hopes that it will strengthen their spells. The local taverns are popular among young patriots, and the roofops are crawling with escaped imps who hide during the day lest they be recaptured or sent back to Hell. They tell each other marvelous stories about distant Korvosa, where imps rule the skies and feast on the city’s abundant house drakes.
Dice End: This district is full of gambling dens and other iniquitous establishments. The local tipsters can arrange an invitation to underground clubs beyond the watchful eyes of Hellknights. This district also provides the headquarters for two of the more enduring crime gangs, the Lashers (all women except for a few bruisers, and known for blackmail and gambling) and the Bedlam Boys (not exclusively male, and specializing in extortion and kidnapping).
Five Favors: This northern district is home to many of the city’s fner shops, wine houses, and inns—some of which host Egorian’s upper-class brothels and gambling dens. A gang of burglars known as the Prowlers ofen squats in unoccupied vaneos, hiding from the servants lef behind as a test of its members’ skill.
Fort Adivian: This largely residential district stands outside Egorian’s walls on the western shore of the Adivian River. The fort itself rises from the shallow waters of Lake Sorrow and houses a garrison of Chelish marines, who patrol the waters of both the lake and the upper reaches of the Adivian River. The soldiers and their families live in the fort’s shadow, but typically cross the river for their entertainment and shopping needs.
The Grid: The Grid is the informal name for those streets already “corrected” by the royal engineers. Many other names have been proposed, but none have endured. The district’s upper class residents have fled the constant construction, but canny business owners have bought up more properties in the expectation of higher trafc (and thus higher sales) in the future.
Hellhound Hill: This district, where the wealthiest of the patriotic nobility live near Thrune Manor, rises above the city’s southeastern corner. Thus, “hellhound” has come to mean one who will do anything to win favor with the ruling regime. Nonetheless, the region is also home to the Temple of Iomedae, and those who attend services there do so knowing that those in the vaneos they pass on the way to and from services are noting their identities and questioning their loyalty.
Long Market: This district is home to an eclectic and noisy array of shops and market stalls. Along with Whipcrack, it is also one of the two centers of the city’s slave trade. Long Market has a somewhat undeserved reputation for being a place where one can buy anything. Street performers ofen make their start here before moving along to more prosperous districts.
Mireside: This district along Egorian’s southern wall is mildly prosperous but considered unfashionable. “Gone Mireside” means “turned respectable and boring.” It is full of inexpensive playhouses and musical reviews presenting family-oriented material scorned by the more haughty theatrical connoisseurs.
Netman’s Rest: This scenic, middle-class district overlooks the Promenade, and earned its name as a home to retired seafarers, though it has been gradually gentrifed over the decades. Buskers and painters frequently work these streets.
Parley Circle: Named for its role as the site of a conciliatory meeting between Lictor DiLavos of the Order of the Thorn and Agahman Thrune afer a disastrous previous attempt resulted in a massacre, Parley Circle is one of the city’s up-and-coming neighborhoods. Among the superstitious and the elegant, it is considered an auspicious place to discuss matters before signing a contract or treaty.
Promenade: The series of docks known as the Promenade holds the “adels” (personal barges) of the nobility. While nothing ofcially prohibits working boats such as ferries, fshing vessels, and cargo barges from mooring here, the docking fees are exorbitant enough to keep lower-class sailors and stevedores to nearby Cheapside docks. Visitors rent boats or hire local sailors to take them on tours of the surrounding shoreline.
Riverside: This western district along the Adivian River includes the most active portion of the waterfront. While the warehouses are well patrolled and guarded, the district remains notorious for robbery and murder. Eel Street is home to the squalid lair of one of the city’s most despicable gangs, the Goatherds. The Goatherds are led by the cursed but charismatic Zandros the Fair, who is known for collecting trophies from those who cannot pay their ends of bargains they strike with the gang.
The Sewers and Shadow City: While the sewers and Shadow City are not formal districts of Egorian, both harbor surprisingly large populations. The sewers and storm drains have long served as a refuge of last resort for the criminal and indigent populations. A recent infestation of wererats is incorrectly believed to have been exterminated by the dottari. Egorian’s subterranean passages delve much deeper than most imagine and include the headquarters of at least two criminal gangs, the caches of half-a-dozen smugglers, the shrine of at least one demonic cult, the lairs of several bands of escaped slaves, one rapidly growing colony of now-fendish wererats, and—deep below all of that—an increasingly bold colony of derros. Those seeking to expand the network of secret doors and passages would do well to note the weeping walls and muddy floors that warn of dangerous proximity to the lake and river.
Sorrowgate and Sorrowside: These districts are collectively known as the Old City because they most closely resemble pre-Thrune Egorian. The Old City holds the largest number of shrines to gods other than Asmodeus. Because it is popular among emissaries from other nations, it also boasts the widest variety of foreign shops and restaurants.
Southgate: Named for the great gate in the stretch of wall that marks the city’s southern edge, Southgate is a bustling center of overland shipping and holds the homes and businesses of the rising merchant class. The haughty aristocracy consider it embarrassing to be seen there. It is also the hub of message couriers, bounty hunters, and a band of former Gray Maidens known as the Erinyes who now serve Queen Abrogail.
Suitor’s Cross: This district just south of the Grid gained its name either because of the many inns frequented by petitioners to the court, or else because of its many florists, confectioners, and jewelers. Many jokes in Egorian wine houses concern a cuckold or jilted lover, and the punchline is always “Suitor’s Cross.” Thorntown: Located southeast of the Imperial Palace, Thorntown is the iconic wealthy district of Egorian, with gargoyles peering down from a thorny skyline of spires, towers, and minarets. Residents conspicuously display their afuence via private menageries, extravagant carriages, and gated gardens. One of its most prominent residents is Lord Kassar Elazarin (LE male human aristocrat 6), whose burned face terrifes local children and serves as a reminder that one must never mention his disowned son, Velmarius. Thumbtown: Thumbtown is home to many of the city’s skilled crafers, from cobblers to cabinetmakers, pigment grinders to herbalists, and locksmiths to alchemists. A substantial number of freed slaves make their homes here, at last collecting wages for their labor. They have formed their own vigilance committee to protect themselves, as the dottari all too ofen look the other way.
Trick Alley: The twists, turns, and tunnels of this Cheapside district are where people fnd most of Egorian’s brothels, bordellos, and flophouses. The lowest of pickpockets and robbers prey on the poor who cannot afford to live elsewhere.
Triumph: Among the most recently defned (and redefned) districts, Triumph is home to the patriotic middle class. The central square, known as Ascension Plaza, features a giant bronze statue of Queen Abrogail I climbing a stairway composed of adoring humans and devils to reach the throne. The district teems with Thrune agents and informers, and for that reason it is common to see whole families evicted from their homes afer one or both parents have been taken by the Inquisition.
The Vice: This district lies outside the city walls and is centered around a repugnant pond full of industrial waste. It was originally intended to be a home to criminals and peddlers of contraband beyond the city proper, but such industries are no longer banished from Egorian. Rather, more noisome businesses like tanneries and butcher shops, deemed too obnoxious to be located within the city, now occupy the handful of buildings that make up this remote neighborhood.
Whipcrack: The district of Whipcrack, along with Long Market, is one of Egorian’s two centers of the slave trade. It is also home to the Imperial Stadium, where spectacles and blood sports are held. The public houses surrounding the stadium are among the most proftable in the city.[1]
NOTABLE LOCATIONS
Egorian is known for a number of famous locations, including the following.
1. Athenaeum: One of the most prestigious museums in Cheliax, Egorian’s Athenaeum has stood for millennia, and boasts a library of texts collected during Cheliax’s period of expansion known as the Everwar. As part of House Thrune’s efforts to place itself more prominently in Chelish history, records of this site’s founding and independent operation have been redacted, replaced with accounts of House Thrune establishing the archive, overseeing its collection, and gifing it to the people in the wake of the Thrune Ascendancy.
2. Blackrose Gardens: The place to see and be seen, this garden boasts many topiaries and hedge mazes that provide ample cover for private assignations. The site remains popular despite rumors of invisible spies listening for treasonous whispers or compromising information for blackmail. Common folk are allowed to visit the gardens on only four days of each month; aferward, the custodians spend a full day “restoring” the gravel paths and lawns to aristocratic standards.
The garden gained its name when all the rich, red roses within turned black in response to Aroden’s death a century ago. Local herbologists have proposed many times since to investigate the strange occurrence, but the government has adamantly forbidden any ofcial efforts to restore the roses.
3. Dottari Headquarters: The dottari headquarters is in the Grid, only a block west of Thrune Square, with the city’s prison across the street. Every formal district within the city walls features at least one and as many as three local dottari stations, each housing up to six jail cells. Perhaps the most important ofcer at each site is the fnes clerk who manages the collection and reporting of fnes, as well as the distribution of a cut of all bribes to senior ofcers.
4. Egorian Academy of the Magical Arts: Unlike the Korvosan Acadamae, the capital’s school of magic does not require students to specialize. Almost half of its students remain generalist wizards, taking pride in their versatility while secretly envying the fame of their colonial rivals. Several of the school’s most prominent instructors are members of House Leroung, renowned for academic achievement in all felds, not only the arcane.
5. Grand Opera House: Despite pressure from loyalists and three substantial renovations since the Thrune Ascendancy, the Grand Opera House retains its original appearance. Thus, it is the most prominent edifce in Egorian not in the Egorian architectural style. Welldressed visitors can pay a token fee for a tour of the house during the day. Any visitor can pay a somewhat larger fee to the night watchman for a lantern tour focusing on the site’s many historical murders, scandals, and ghosts—a few of whom may be more fact than fction.
6. Greensteeples: One of the city’s eldest aristocrats, the half-elven Count Varian Jeggare, resides in one of the oldest remaining vaneos in Sorrowside, an ivy-smothered manor of four stories with an unknown number of secret passages and subterranean levels. On the roof between four tapering steeples stands the famous hothouse in which the half-elven count cultivates exotic flora, some of which are rumored to hold magical properties. The count himself is ofen absent from the city, pursuing the life of a gentleman adventurer as a member of the Pathfnder Society. At these times, he entrusts Greensteeples to the care of a close relative whose family moves in until the count returns.
7. Imperial Palace: A city within a city, the royal residence also acts as the seat of government for the nation, archduchy, and Egorian itself. In addition to the queen and her family (whom she monitors closely as much for her convenience as to keep an eye on them), countless bureaucrats, sycophants, and servants occupy the palace day and night. Here more than anywhere else in Cheliax is one most likely to encounter denizens of Hell, from the queen’s advisors (the pit fend Gorthoklek and the erinyes Contessa Lrilatha) to the menial imps who serve as familiars and messengers for the government’s many agents.
8. Imperial Stadium: This large arena houses events ranging from gladiatorial combat to pageants displaying the unique cultures of the various nations Cheliax has conquered, fought, or befriended. The most popular events are reenactments of Chelish victories over Taldor, Sargava, and other enemy armies—seldom historically accurate, but always spectacular.
9. Midnight Temple: The center of Asmodeus’s Golarion-bound faith, this pentagram-shaped temple towers prominently over Thrune Square opposite the Imperial Palace. In addition to holding multiple services to the Prince of Lies each day, the temple provides legal services to not only Asmodeus’s faithful but anyone who comes seeking guidance and the support of the law. Grand High Priestess Aspexia Rugatonn, while formally the head of the temple, is generally occupied with political and administrative matters, leaving the daily operation of the cathedral’s business to a highly structured hierarchy of clerics, acolytes, and lay bureaucrats.
10. Order of the Scourge Garrison: Answering to Lictor Vidoc at Citadel Demain, Paralictor Ivo Elliendo commands the local contingent of Hellknights. Before a family scandal tarnished the paralictor’s reputation, he had free rein over the local Hellknights. These days, he fles weekly rather than monthly reports, and the rumor among his subordinates is that Lictor Vidoc has placed spies among their ranks. The Order of the Scourge maintains satellite stations throughout the city, concentrating on the more crime-ridden districts. Most of these are small jails with several interrogation rooms.
11. Plaza of Flowers: Once known for having cascades of blossoms hanging from its window gardens, this plaza south of Thrune Square along the Imperial Promenade is now home to the Judgment Day ceremonies. Once a month, all laborers are released from their duties for 2 hours so that they can witness the torment and execution of those convicted of and unable to bribe themselves out of charges of sedition, forgery, breach of contract, and all manner of violent and property crimes. While the implements of punishment— gallows; the giant-sized, two-pronged “tines” upon which criminals are skewered; and other torture devices—can be broken down and removed from the plaza when not needed, they stand more ofen than they are absent. The screaming convicts and crow-picked corpses adorning their spikes say much about the current political climate in the city.
12. Thrune Manor: Larger than any residence but the Imperial Palace, the ruling family’s vaneo houses more than half-a-dozen branches of the family tree, each on its own floor of a different wing. The rest of the spacious manor includes multiple ballrooms, salons, summoning chambers, proving grounds for those blessed or cursed with sorcery, and forbidden vaults reserved for infernal allies.
13. Thrune Square: The greatest of Egorian’s many plazas, Thrune Square is the 20-acre open area lying at the intersection of the Prospects, four great boulevards extending in the cardinal directions. The most notable landmarks of this vast public square are the Imperial Palace to the east and the Midnight Temple to the northwest. Like in most of the city’s plazas, statues of military heroes and prominent members of House Thrune decorate the space. While the Chelish government holds executions and excruciations in the Plaza of Flowers, the Church of Asmodeus deals publicly with heretics and blasphemers in Thrune Square, before the towering spires of the Midnight Temple. Eight times daily, the Infernal Guard perform a grandiose changing of the guard, meant to prevent fatigue, and make a show of force in the city’s heart.
14. University of Egorian: Even before the Thrune Ascendancy, the city’s college of law was the most prominent at the university. The colleges of arts and letters are almost as popular and famous for the many composers, poets, and historians they produce— the latter including both the ofcially sanctioned lackeys who serve the crown and those rebels who publish accurate accounts of Chelish history—preferably afer establishing themselves as expatriates in countries without extradition treaties. [1]