An old document I found on my PC. It'll see light in some of my fiction, albeit in a slightly different form and it's a bit scrappy here. I hope you enjoy, nonetheless.
The
City
There's
a city, old but not yet ancient, with step pyramids and stone
mansions, surrounded by lower grade buildings and mud huts. The twin
lion gods, one a lord of light and fire, the other of darkness, the
hunt and warfare, are worshipped here; appeased by human sacrifices.
Criminals are bent backwards over the altars, their hearts cut from
their chests and burnt with sweet incenses.
The
city is huge, housing half a million people and divided into three
areas, the central and highest section is the Old City, dedicated to
the temples, although most of them stand abandoned, and palaces of
the rich and powerful. This is surrounded by a wall, one built since
the Queen took over the city. Beyond that is the second part of the
city, a bustling section of the metropolis that's full of bazaars.
The outer ring of the city is composed of slums, shanty towns and
bone yards. There is no wall to protect the city from outside. A huge
aqueduct leads from the west from the city, transporting water to
farmland and to the closest of the Queen's captured cities.
The
city is built on the ruins of older metropolises, and the tunnels
under the city teem with creatures, including giant scorpions.
Places
-
The
Great Temple – Set at the highest point of the city, doubling as a
palace for the Queen, this imposing building is dedicated to the
twins, crowned by a huge ziggurat to them.
-
The
Abandoned Temples – Also filling the Inner City, these structures
have stood silent and empty for a century. Their contents are
untouched, attempts to steal from them are common and guardian
sphinxes protect the treasures within.
-
The
Arena – A great arena in the Middle City. Gladiators are often
purchased as concubines by the elite's women, under the pretext of
them being body slaves.
-
The
Slave Market – In the Middle City, where many slaves are sold.
There are many such markets in the city, but the greatest is adjunct
to the Grand Bazaar.
-
The
Grand Bazaar – The greatest of the bazaars, full of merchants from
across the World.
-
The
Gardens – Located in the Inner City, the Gardens were created at
the birth of the city and are counted as a wonder of the world
-
The
Wall – surrounding the Inner City
-
The
Plague Pits – Located to the south, this is where the dead of the
Great Plague were places. It's still believed that the dead carry
the contagion of the Plague. Lately it has become the home of ghouls
and other monsters.
-
The
Square of Gods – a place where the underground cults gather to
proselytise.
-
The
Undercity – where the old city lay, now built over countless
times.
-
The
Docks – Lining the Spine, the docks bring trade to the city.
-
The
Pumping House – where the water from the River (the spine of the
world) is pumped up into the city through great stone channels.
-
The
Wheel House – a vast waterwheel that drives some of the devices in
the Outer City.
-
The
Boiler House – a vast steam works where river water is heated to
power devices in the city. This drives devices in the Inner City.
-
The
Lizard Kin Embassy – Inner City, a strange, alien looking building
covered in brightly coloured lacquer.
-
Farms
along the banks of the river, growing food.
Languages
There
are a number of tongues spoken in the City, principally the High and
Low languages native to the metropolis. The High tongue is used for
science, ritual and government, whilst the Low is the language of the
streets, trade and warfare.
The
Lizard Kin tongue, a sibilant tongue of hissing sounds for the most
part, is also a common thing to hear.
There
is little writing, most texts are memorised by heart and passed down
orally. Writing is reserved for royalty and deities, as a way of
preserving their names eternally.
Defence
and Crime
The
City only gained its own, standing, army in the wake of the Queen's
victory. Beyond that it was guarded by a citizen's militia, which is
where most of its troops come from today. There are professional
warriors though, in the form of the Pride and the Warrior Societies
that have grown up. The societies protect the Inner City and also
perform duties that relate to military exercises other than defence.
At least one skirts the edge of heresy; its rituals are secretly
dedicated to one of the other gods.
Weaponry
tends to be spears, javelins, bows and arrows and daggers (there are
no swords). In the arena there are variations on this, new weapons
are trialled for the crowd's amusement. These vary from cat claw like
punching daggers, strapped to the backs of the wielder's hands to
modified agricultural and fishing tools (flails, nets and tridents).
Armour
is non existent for many combatants, the professional warriors wear
leather tunics covered with riveted bronze and copper plates but the
majority of soldiers fight either clad in a loincloth or naked.
For
the most part cavalry is unheard of (there are exceptions but the
lack of stirrups limits the use of such troops), but war chariots are
coming into their own, thanks to the development of 'chariot armour'
that protects both driver and warrior.
Out
on the streets, the citizenry are policed by the City Guards, a newly
created group which has evolved from the old Citizen's Watch. This
Watch is usually armed with long cudgels and large shields.
The
criminal underworld is not controlled by a thieves guild, but instead
several gangs work against each other to try and control parts of the
city. Bandits and river pirates operate outside the city, preying on
trade caravans and ships on the Spine.
The
Queen
The
city is ruled by a queen priest, a conquering heroine, whose horde of
soldiers swept into the city and put all the opposition to the sword
a century ago. She claims to be the daughter of one of the twin gods,
or of both of them. She brought the deities with her and gave the
city to them after her conquest. She makes regular appearances in the
city, but nobody alive has ever seen her face; she hides it behind a
beautiful mask of pure gold. She is guarded at all times by her
Pride, her personal guard who are rumoured to be her lovers as well.
She is certainly a keen supporter of the city's tradition of
polyandry, going so far as to bless multiple weddings in the great
square in front of the great temple.
She
is a cruel, but fair ruler, sustained by the sacrifices offered to
the gods but willing to share her power with her followers, granting
divine powers to her priests and champions in times of need,
encouraging learning. All it takes is acceptance of her divinity:
entry into her fathers' cult. The nobility, who have traditionally
been members of the Council of Advisers that support the King Priest
are all members of the cult; those that refused to join were put
aside, and about half the Council is composed of the Twin Gods' high
priests. The majority of the city's bureaucracy is handled by the
Queen's cult, noble families who once shared power have been ousted
and isolated, which breeds resentment in their ranks. It is only fear
of the Queen that keeps them in check.
No
other cults are tolerated, they have been driven underground, to lurk
in the ghettos of the outer city; their temples stand empty,
gathering dust. Their gods have grown smaller, quieter. Perhaps in
another century they will have fallen silent: in the meantime they
find their worshippers where they may. In the outer city a square has
been co-opted by the cults, their priests proselytise here, operating
from tiny, makeshift shrines. There are regular raids, with harsh
punishments meted out for the rebel priests.
Other
Gods
Despite
the interdict on the worship of other gods, or Yazadi (meaning
'worthy of worship'), their cults blossom underground, either
surviving amongst the poor or hidden in the ranks of aspirational
classes. For instance the Anack the Builder God's worshippers are
enmeshed in the Mason's Guild, hidden from the gaze of the outside
world.
The
First Goddess:
A Creatrix and river Goddess, she is the deity that was first
worshipped in the city. She is depicted in many ways, usually as a
composite of woman and reptile. In older depictions she is shown as
having the hind quarters of a dragon, in more modern versions she
often has wings and a tail.
Her
provinces are Creation, Water and Motherhood
Mattaki
The War Dancer:
Originating from a city to the south and east, he is a deity of fire,
fertility, dance and war. Depicted as a youth with fiery hair,
usually clad in bronze armour but barefoot either holding a large
horn or a pair of spears, his cult has a strong tradition of
performance and athletics.
Anack
the Building God:
A stone skinned giant, often shown as crouching amidst a huge palace.
Anack is seen as the father of mathematics and geometry. His cult
does not preach in the Square of Gods, and of all the old faiths it
stands the closest to being accepted if only because the knowledge he
specialises in is so vital. It is said that the stone skinned demons
that occasionally make their way into the world are Anack's creation,
his labourers who rebelled and were cast out into the Howling
Darkness.
Anushka
The Storm Goddess:
Shown with a drum and with her ankles and wrists girded with
bracelets and anklets that make sound, Anushka's cult grew up in the
north in a mountain city. Another dancing deity, her rhythms and
dance is meant to conjure storms and other weather. Only women may
enter her cult.
Tammuz
The Agriculture
God:
A consort of the First Goddess (one of the many), the God of Corn is
eternally wounded. His blood is said to give life.
Syssallar
The Lizard
God:
Father of the Lizard Kin and another of the First Goddess' lovers.
His cult is open only to the Lizard Kin.
Marris
The
Goddess of
Arts:
Shown as a young woman with an army of lovers each of whom has an
artistic tool, she is shown as the ultimate muse full of beauty and
character. Of all the human gods she attracts the most worshippers
from the non human races.
The
Cat Lord:
A cat headed deity from the far south, he is lord of many things,
most especially cleanliness, protection and medicine. A household
deity for the most part, he is invoked to keep rats away from home,
to keep disease at bay and heal the sick. He is often shown sat under
a pair of trees, which are considered to be the bearers of the fruit
that can cure any illness.
The
World At Large
The
queen's reign is good for trade, mercenaries escort ships, both human
and lizard kin, from up and down the great river that forms the spine
of the world. Across the plains that lead eastward to where the ocean
lies come spices, silks and gold, whilst south and west the jungles
that the queen hails from, a tribute of sacred leopards is brought
every year, to prowl the wondrous gardens at the city's heart. The
Sons of the Sky, savants who keep secrets that men must never know,
who travel from their mountain fastnesses to the north in search of
things that they will not speak of.
This
does not mean that all is tranquil, or safe. There are noble families
who remember the days when their station meant something, before the
priesthood snatched their power away. There are guilds that will do
anything if the price is right and in the bazaars and the temples
there are treasures worth stealing, worth killing for. Strangers seek
the city out, in vengeance for the queen's latest war or for the
purposes of trade, or politics; other cities still keep their eyes
fixed here, waiting for the twin gods, or their daughter to decide
that she must be an empress no a queen. Still others come because
dreams and visions guide them, because they have no choice but to do
otherwise.
The
Queen's Reach
The
Queen has conquered four other city states, holding them in thrall.
This generally means that she takes tribute from them, but otherwise
they are left to run their own affairs, still it is an empire in all
but name. Two border the river, one lies westward and the other lies
south, on an island in the gulf where the Spine spills out into the
sea.
A
tribe of raiders from the deserts, where the women ride horses –
they use javelins and bows and arrows.
Ruins
of an old city, one built by demons at the behest of a Sorcerer King.
It became ruins when he tried to corral the Demon Queen. She cursed
the King and his acolytes, transforming them into monsters. Today the
place is rumoured to be haunted by the old king, now transformed into
a manticore. The other monsters are believed to scattered across the
World.
Other
Races
The
Sky Sons are a race of giants, standing ten feet tall. They dwell in
the mountains to the north and seem to have no real interest in the
world beyond the acquisition of knowledge. Most never leave their
homes, but a trickle head south to the city, usually seeking
something. They seem to view much of the world with amusement and
will trade knowledge for food, though they are often more interested
in a like for like exchange. Their sole weakness seems to be for
human women, there are stories of how one gave up all his learning
for a night with a beautiful woman and it is as a result of their
lust that the Nephilim came to be.
The
Nephilim are barbarous creatures, huge giants with either great
strength or intellect, coupled with a terrible hunger that mars their
approach to everything. They are cursed with low willpower, said to
be a mark of the disfavour of the Sky Sons, and often will stop what
they are doing to pursue their vice. Most are mules, sterile, but
there are rumours of some that can procreate and that they are
breeding huge armies in the mountains to the north. Rumours say that
Nephilim are stealing out of their camps to abduct women and carry
them back to the mountains.
The
Lizard Kin are a race of brightly coloured beings, covered in
patterned scales. Their cities lie to the south but they're a common
sight in the city, though it is mostly males that venture north.
Females tend to be larger than males and can be extremely aggressive
in their dealings with other races (there is a rumour that they eat
humans when given the chance). Most females are marked by twin sacks
of flesh on their necks that redden when they are angry or aroused.
Few are poisonous, it is considered a great boon to have a venomous
bite, and an even greater one to be able to spit poison.
