Our Game Setting: Iskandar, City of Spires

Here are five quick things to know about Iskandar.

A Mighty Metropolis
With over sixty thousand people, Iskandar is indisputably the largest city in the known world, and arguably the oldest. It is a thriving metropolis at the center of world trade, and is especially famous for its marketplace, the Grand Bazaar.



City of Intrigue
This is a city where merchants are masters and coin is king, but thieves and assassins rule the night. Where gods and priests walk side by side even as unspeakable wealth peers down upon crushing poverty. Where guilds and great houses spar for political supremacy while fiendish hordes muster just over the horizon. There is intrigue around every corner of Iskandar.



Throbbing with Sacred Energy
In the world of Iskandar, everything possesses a spirit, a mystical energy that contains its essence and animates its being. Objects, places, creatures—even emotions and ideas— all have their own spirit. The whole world throbs with sacred energy, and so the people of Iskandar recognize many gods.



In the Wake of an Empire
For much of its history, Iskandar was ruled by the powerful Vendian Empire, which collapsed in a violent civil war. However, the imperial customs, laws, and traditions of Vendia are still evident throughout the city.



Facing a Fiendish Threat
Just a few days march from Iskandar is a great, glowing Abyss that opens onto a fiery underworld, far beneath the surface. Fiends from this nightmare pit frequently ravage the surrounding countryside. Twenty years ago, they attacked the city in force, and there are fears they will do so again.

Iskandar is divided into six districts, each with its own character.

Harborside.
The nine great wharves of Harborside connect Iskandar to the outside world. Seagulls wheel in the sky above, while stevedore cries fill the salt-tanged air. Warehouses of every size and shape proliferate, as sailors, merchants, and peddlers crowd the bustling streets.

Market Square.
This is the mercantile heart of Iskandar; it is the source of the city’s prosperity and the magnet that draws tens of thousands of visitors every year. The district is filled with shops, marketplaces, emporiums, and arcades.

Old Town.
The oldest district in the city and also the poorest. Old Town is riddled with narrow, dirty alleys and lanes, and is home to paupers, laborers, artisans, and shopkeepers, as well as mercenaries, adventurers, and other disreputable folk.

The Rise. This small district probably contains a greater concentration of wealth and magic than any other place in the known world. All the great families have opulent mansions here, alongside a veritable forest of glittering wizard towers.

Southward.
Southward is home to Iskandar’s trades and crafts. Workshops, studios, smithies, and foundries are common here. Large houses and mansions abound, it being the preferred residence for affluent artisans and merchants.

Templegate.
The smallest district in the city, Templegate contains myriad shrines, abbeys, chapels, temples, sanctums, chantries, and fanes. At least a thousand gods are honored here via everything from a simple park shrine right up to the enormous Basilica of the Long Night.

A List of Nouns

In any fantasy game, the list of names of places and people tends to grow long. This post will help us keep track of these things!

Factions

House Bartoz: A new house that bought their way into the nobility with gold earned from nefarious deeds, or so the broadsheets say. They have been associated with a rumour that they planned to profit on a plague that was growing in Old Town. Their coat of arms features a cockatrice on a shield. The Nightwatch: The men and women of The Nightwatch enforce Iskandar's laws.

The Pickling Guild: An association of elite gourmands who pay top coin for rare ingredients.

The Rat Catcher's Guild: An association of pest control operatives.

The Tribunal: A mysterious organization with unknown motives. You have learned that they currently seek the Seals of Astaroth, and have hired mercenaries for the search see: Falfyr, the Dashing.

Places

The Bargewright Inn: A popular inn and taproom in the Harbour District.

The Seal of Astaroth: This arcane seal was found in cockatrice-infested caverns that Tilma found while hunting vermin in the sewers. Berry discovered the seal obscures any access points to some ancient ruins upon which Iskandar was built. The Seals also obscure themselves. There are supposedly five such seals. Great fissures have opened up across the city tracing a pentagram with a Seal located at each vertex.

People

Astaroth: An ancient archmajier who banished the ruins upon which the city was built. See: Seal of Astaroth.

Jabbo: A member of the Rat Catcher's guild that specializes in the rumour and information trade.

Jasera Dil'Sul: An elven ranger who has come to Iskandar in search of an elven noble that has gone missing. Generally hates cities, but is willing to make due for the sake of the job.

Norran Dusksong: An eleven barbarian from distant lands. He seeks souls to fill up his amulet, and he will one day return to his village and offer these souls to help defend his people from war.

Ulfgar Durthane: A dwarven smith who runs Durthane's Cutlery, an armorer shop. House Bartoz imprisoned him near a Seal of Astaroth where he was perpetually turned to stone by a family of cockatrices.

Falfyr, the Dashing: The flamboyant half-elven leader of a band of mercenaries currently in The Tribunal's employ. See: The Tribunal.

Nat, Jenks, and Squiddly: A gang of urchins you met in the Night Market.

Hettie: Halfling merchant at the Night Market. She has lent Tilma her driftglobe to go searching for her pet fish, Maude.

Sablefrimbiddle: A gnome scrivener who scribes magic scrolls in exchange for secrets.

Things

Silphium: There was a terrible plague that was spreading through Old Town, and rumours have it Bartoz bought up every last dose of the wild herb silphium, the only known cure. He was price gouging silphium but somebody raided his warehouses and liberated the cure for free distribution.

Iskandar's Callander System