[City] Zycoraith, the Ivory Legend Home (love me!)

[Wukei]

This spot right here is reserved for pictures, maps, music, etc.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/Wukei/MCC/Zmap01.jpg

[Wukei]

Zycoraith is based off of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, but names may be changed to make it playable in any system.

Those of the Material Plane rarely get to see Zycoraith. It is on the elemental plane of air. It is a flying city. The city has no gates to the outside on the plane of air. The only way to reach it is either to fly there, or to find they gate on the Material Plane. Once you step through the door, however, a marvelous sight lay before you.

The walls are not ordinary, but either blankets of air, silver, or crystal. The southeast wall of the city is the entrance from the material plane. And once you step out of there, the temple of Aerdrie Faenya immediately greets you. The glorious temple is completely crystal, with the symbol of Aerdrie Faenya over the arched door and two elven statues on either side of the entrance. Further into the metropolis, you will see all of the glory that is Zycoraith.

Zycoraith (Metropolis, 27, 959 Adult Residents)
100,000 GP limit on single item
91% Avariel, 5% Aasimar, 2% Air Genasi/Air Elemental, 2% Other

Anyone is welcome in the city, but it is rather hard to reach unless you live on the plane or have wings. Therefore, mostly races with wings or the ability to fly are the only ones that reside there.

Physical Description: Zycoraith is made up of precious metals, glass, gems, and walls of air. It is not uncommon to see several large precious stones imbedded into the walls of the city. Entering the city, you are greeted by the temple of Aerdrie Faenya. After that are the winding streets of the city. The complete city is a chaotic maze of streets that dead end, suddenly veer off to the side, or ramp up into the sky. The beauty of the streets in its chaos does make it fun to travel, however. Those who cannot fly or climb metal walls, however, cannot reach the exact center of town. This is where the most precious enchanted items are found. Inns and bars dot the streets randomly, as does any building. The only easily found structures are:

The Tower of Selvain: The Tower of Selvain is the home of the leader and counsel of Zycoraith. Aelual created the tower out of silver, with windows of different colored thinned gems. The tower is located in the Northeast corner of Zycoraith.

The Temple of Aerdrie Faenya: The temple of Aerdrie Faenya is second in size only to the Tower of Selvain. It is completely made of crystal, even the altars. It is located at the gate to the Material Plane.

The Temple of Corellon Larethian: The temple of Corellon Larethian is located in the southwest square of the city. It is easily spotted; it is the third largest building in the city.

The Jail: The jail rarely has actual criminals in it, as crime is minimal in Zycoraith. However, it also houses the poor and orphaned. Though their cells are left open so that they can come and go as they please. It is simply a place to rest and eat.

The Graveyard: Located in the northwest corner of Zycoraith is the graveyard. It is the largest covered area of what little land there is in the plane of air.

Government: Zycoraith is lead by a Divine Agent of Aerdrie Faenya, with counselors that also travel the planes on a regular basis. Aelual Selvain, Zycoraith’s local Divine Agent, is also very respectful of every temple in Zycoraith, and frequently approaches the high priests of each temple for advice.


Aelual Selvain, Avariel, CG
Cleric (7)/Divine Agent (10), 17th level

Mylihn Syliat, Aasimar, CG
Sorcerer (9)/Planeshifter (5), 14th Level

Gordek Goldhammer, Gold Dwarf, CG
Fighter (8 )/Planar Champion (6), 14th level

Duvia La’ali, Air Genasi, CN
Rogue (10)/Gatecrasher (4), 14th Level

The Arts: Elves are naturally prone to sing. As such, a lot of the avariels of the city become bards or at least joins one of the choirs of one of the temples. Smiths are also very welcome in the city, as great portions of the buildings are metalwork. A great number of sorcerers and smiths work together to create magical weapons and jewelry to ship back to the material plane to be sold.

Economics:

Imports: There is no natural food on the plane of air for beings that eat vegetables and meats. As such, Zycoraith depends upon the imports of food and drink to sustain themselves. All buildings are made out of precious metals harvested from the plane of earth or the material plane as well.

Exports: Zycoraith crafts special weaponry and jewelry. These raises enough money that they can import more precious jewels and metal, to export more crafts. It is a never-ending cycle that continues throughout the ages.

Religion: The biggest faction of worshippers is—of course—the group that worships Aerdrie Faenya. The next largest is of the temple of Corellon Larethian. However, there are a few dwarf and human gods as well. The largest faction of human worshipers worship Akadi, the goddess of air.

Crime: As stated before, there is no true crime. There is the occasional pickpocket or theft from a bar or smithy, but Zycoraith is—for the most part—a peaceful metropolis.

The Monument:

Those that visit Zycoraith never forget it, but the most well known building, and the monument of the whole city, is the temple of Aerdrie Faenya. This crystal temple was made to commemorate the occasion in which Selvain spoke to Faenya. Sitting on each side of the high-arced entrance to the temple are two elves. One, male, meant to symbolize Corellon Larethian. The other, female, meant to symbolize Faenya. Larethian stands, proudly, in a pose of perfect straightness and a longsword stands at the center of his feet, his hands resting on the top of the pommel. Aerdrie Faenya, on the left side of the door, stands in a crouch, a smile on her face and her hair forever waving in the breeze. She seems to be picking up a quarterstaff, her favored weapon, the Thunderbolt. Between the two, on the highest point of the arc, is Aerdrie Faenya’s symbol: a cloud with a bird silhouette, expertly carved out of crystal.

Inside, the building has a silver floor, with seats made of silver with silk and down for the cushions. The altar is made of crystal, with a large sapphire symbol of Faenya hanging in midair over it. The high priest of Aerdrie Faenya is Aeluael Silvain, the Divine Agent of Faenya. He leaves most of the preaching to another priest, however, so that he may attend to affairs of state.

Power Struggles: Unbeknownst to Silvain, the High Priest of Corellon Larethian looks down upon the fact that Aerdrie Faenya is worshipped over Corellon Larethian, creator of the gods. The High Priest, Throess N’esalia has gathered together a large group to storm the Tower of Silvain to perform a coup. Gordek Goldhammer takes it upon himself to squash this bug, himself, before N’esalia reaches Silvain.


Throess N’esalia, Avariel, CN;
Cleric, 15th level

Adventure Hooks:

Thrown into Crazy Town: A young woman haunts your dreams. (This was originally created to have her tempt you to go to Myth Drannor for the Festival of Mystra, but you can use this plot anywhere. It is best done in a big crowd so that Ahzara can disappear and reappear at will, however.) As you approach her, she suddenly disappears. You find that she is considered a sorceress of some strength, known as Ahzara Sylihar. As you search the city for her tower, she finally appears after her ferret plays around your feet for a bit. She claims to be a divine agent of the elven pantheon, and is being chased by minions of members of the drow pantheon. Her companion, Duvia La’ali, leads you into Zycoraith, but soon has to leave to handle some ‘business.’ You are left to your own devices, and soon find out that there is no way out of the town. Throess N’esalia, thinking that La’ali aided Goldhammer and brought you to Zycoraith to help in his campaign to squash N’esalia, tries to destroy you first. You find several assassins trailing you. And soon, some thugs approach you without trying to hide. After the fights, Goldhammer appears and apologizes for La’ali’s behavior, he then asks if you will help in their fight, or if you want to go home to the material plane.


Ahzara Sylihar, Avariel, CN
Sorcerer (10) / Planeshifter (6), 16th level
Ferret familiar (10th level, 3 lb. [most ferrets are 1 lb.]): Appa

Barroom Brawl: While in a brawl in a bar on the Material Plane, a strange elf with an unnatural look about him gangs up on you and your group with several others. They tackle you into a completely different dimension (through a door set up behind you.) They laugh and then disappear, leaving you to your own devices to find your way back to the material plane. If you look into information on how you got to the plane, occasionally you hear talk of an elf similar to the one encountered. Ivellios N’esalia is the name of the boy. He is the son of the high priest of Corellon Larethian, and is known to start fights and trick people into the portals that lead to Zycoraith simply to watch them squirm and worry as they try to find their way back to their own world. There is a simple way: find a Gatecrasher. The only well known gatecrasher of the city is Duvia La’ali, one of the high counselors of Zycoraith. The only way to reach her is to be granted an appointment in the Tower of Selvain. Another choice is to hunt throughout the city to find another Gatecrasher, or perhaps a Planeshifter.


Ivellios N’esalia, Avariel, CN;
Rogue (10), 10th level

(Comments are very welcome. I hope you like it.)

[Wukei]

Okay, well, I'll be adding a few more pictures later. But I think, for the most part, it's finished.

What do you guys think?

[bingo_bob]

Nice... you'll give Glyphstone a run for his money. I personally like it a lot. But shouldn't there be air elementals living there?

[Wukei]

Maybe in the four percent ;)
That's mostly reserved for air genasi and air elementals, though there are a few other races as well. It's a metropolis, it's a big place.

[Winged One]

Well, it should be explictly stated that they are there, IMHO, rather than merely implied. It is nice though, I'd vote for it in a lot of categorys(why can I not spell that correctly?).

[Wukei]

Unimplied. Simply stated.

[The Glyphstone]

Cool...Fire-themed city vs. Air-themed city...

one question, though...what's a Gatecrasher? Your adventure hooks mention it, but don't tell what they are.

[Wukei]

It's a prestige class in the Manual of the Planes. Do you think I should mention it more?

[Winged One]

What do they do, break Gate spells?

{insert the usual subliminal message here}

[Wukei]

It's in the Manual of the Planes, under Prestige Classes. According to some people, I'm not allowed to say much more than that, or I'd break some copyright rules. ;)

[Pop Goes the Weasel]

That place is a nightmare to navigate!

[Wukei]

It took 3 hours to draw, when it took me 30 minutes to draw the other map. So, heh, yea.

[Kulatu]

Oooh, I like.