Curst
| Gate-Town | |
|---|---|
| Population: | 15,000 |
| Gate To: | Carceri |
| Primary Faction: | Revolutionary League |
Curst is a near-circular walled city, with the Gate to Carceri right at the center of town. Four main streets are lead straight out from the gate to exits in the wall. Within its wall, though, Curst is split into separate districts by five ring roads. Like ripples from a stone dropped in a pool, the five roads spread out from the center of the town, each one larger than the last.
In the middle of town, a body'll find the government offices, the treasury, and the jail. In addition to the gate. This area's called the Gate Square by the locals, and it's surrounded by the first ring road. (Most primes are annoyed by the fact that it's not called the Gate Circle, but they usually get over it pretty fast.) Beyond the first ring are the best homes in Curst, built for the folks with the most jink in their pockets. Beyond the second ring are the merchants and warehouses, beyond the third are craftsmen and their workshops, and beyond the fourth are the stables, taverns, and kips of laboring sods. Beyond the fifth ring road is the wall around the city.
The inside of the wall's covered with razorvine and patrolled by the Wall Watch. The bashers in the Watch don't seem to worry about letting visitors into Curst, but they cast a peery eye on anyone trying to leave. Unless they see proof of legitimate business elsewhere, the standing order is to keep folks in - an order that's backed up by the razorvine.
It doesn't take an addle-cove to see that the natives are basically prisoners in their own burg. But, instead, they look at it as locking out the rest of the multiverse.
The Gate
The Gate to Carceri is a foul-pillared arch made entirely of black razorvine, its center glowing with a ruddy hue. Cutters who step into the arch are consumed by the hue, finding themselves on Othrys, the uppermost level of Carceri.
Despite being in the middle of town, the gate doesn't see much use to or from the plane. It could be due to chant that marks Carceri a plane of imprisonment, making Outlanders unwilling to go in, and Carcerians unable to come out.
The Populace
Few people in Carceri are true natives. Most of them have come - or been sent from - somewhere else. They're refugees, escapees, and exiles, all driven by hatred and a desire for revenge against the bashers who sent them packing in the first place. Many of these poor sods think of Curst as just a base of operations. They're always trying to raise this or that army, so they can return and make their enemies pay the music - after capturing Curst itself, of course. Plans like that usually end up as drunken complaints in the bars. But the berks keep at it, and "politics" in Curst often means large-scale massacres, with blood running in the gutters.
Most residents are so busy whining, complaining, and plotting that they never actually leave the walled city. Humans, githzerai, creatures of the Lower Planes, and evil humanoids are common, and most'll let a body be (unless said body has something they need for their plans.) However, they take slights easily, and they hold a mean grudge, often as long as they can draw breath.
The Revolutionary League is extremely strong in Curst, and often acts to stop those seeking power. Fact is, their goal is to smash all structures of power. But the League's been broken up into quarrelling sub-factions, all claiming to be true Anarchists, each seeking the destruction of the others.
| Gate-Towns |
|
Automata . Fortitude . Excelsior . Tradegate . Ecstasy . Faunel . Sylvania . Glorium . Xaos
|