Vesuva

Map of Vesuva as reckoned by Omen, Master Battlemage of the Adventurer's Guild

Vesuva at dusk looking to the west at The Spear

Vesuva Grand Palisades, at the North End of the Grand Bazaar

The North Residences, including the Prefect's Mansion

Looking from the rooftops at the edge of the Spear's orchards at the canal. The lowest courtyards loom in the background, towering over the outlying buildings. The Sentinels Of The Spear ward the bridges and control the instant demolition of the bridges from devices created long ago for the defenses of the main fortress.

Looking across the southern canal of Vesuva as it is joined by the southwest canal, heading out to the Yana and the Dockyards. Squatting in the very lower right edge of this view is Clayton's Wharf Tavern, wharf-side view. The Smokehouse lies in the background, with its commanding view of the entire lower wharf. On the left lies the eastern half of the sourthern tip of Vesuva. The structure in the foreground is the Temple to Peitho, a river goddess whose skills of persuasion and seduction match the call of the river ways.

The Center Temple at dawn, under the effect of the Vesuvan Aurora.

Overview

The crown jewel of Sarapadia is Vesuva, the Citadel of Light. It was from this point that the Ulon-Zirak was won, a city unassailable by the forces of darkness, here untouched by the ancient evils and standing for over a millennium. Vesuva sits in the central bowl of the Karthus Plains.

Vesuva is a dense city of 50,000 residents in the greater outlying areas inclusive. The Yana River is split into a square canal system, with the points on the compass, and a central route through the city with bridges at all major intersections, and water drawn from the river and from underground springs, in the case where the water supply could be threatened. Each city sector is a separate neighborhood, filled with its own denizens as laid out by the city plats as Vesuva grew.

Temples and harrows, stalls, and grottoes dot the city for spiritual or magical gatherings. Nearly every deity is represented somewhere in the city, and adherents can be see wandering around the city. Since the abolishment of evil temples and ways in the last millennium, there is relative religious and even racial peace generally among the populace as a whole. This isn’t to suggest that all is well in Vesuva – each craft has a guild centers and areas of operation in the city, and in certain areas of town, in hushed voices, you may overhear mention of even guilds for thieves and assassins. Every race and class can be found in the city, but some are less accepted in certain areas than others. Obviousness isn’t a useful trait for the average citizen, where unwanted attention can inconvenience even the most well prepared individual. The experience of each area of town will vary with the individual, as everyone really has their own story to tell…

Notable Places

The Grand Bazaar

In the center of the city is the Grand Bazaar, an arcade nearly a mile wide and a mile long, with every sort of commerce, product, and item for sale. It is an open-air market, and the evening and morning sunlight reveals the arcade and entwined pergolas following the streets and alleyways between temporary and permanent structures as it climbs to the hours of operation for vendors in each area. Semi-commercial properties line the Bazaar reaching two to three stories around it, typically housing the owners in the upper floors and the businesses on the ground floors – silversmiths, clothing retailers, haute cuisine restaurants, inns, pubs, and taverns all intermixed with residences radiating outward to the center of each sector.

The Spear

The entire northwest quadrant is the location of The Spear, the main walled citadel situated in a large moat system of canals, which houses the main palace, a keep, and a lower and upper garrison. There is enough room to house the city Administration officials in the Lower Yard, intermingled with the barracks of the elite soldiers. The Upper Yard houses the citadel sages and wizards, clerics and druids, all of whom commune with the magical and spiritual as well as historic and archaeological. This feature climbs up some three stories to the base of The Spear, a wedge-shaped eight-story arching tower constructed ages ago of solid limestone clad in polished steel, plated in ancient magicked silver. The sentries at the tip of the Spear can see for nearly 100 miles around on a clear day, and can espy the looming Skyrend to the west, the fading Sarapadian Seas to the east, the verdant crest of the Greenwood to the north, and the dark olive of the Greybark to the south.

The Northeast Quadrant

The northeast quadrant is largely farmers and livestock merchants, and contains most of the banks. It is also home to the city's aristocracy. In the past it had also contained the base of operations for the city's Assassin's Guild under the control of Virius Mercer and Kral Zagan. With the dissolution of the guild's leadership the quadrant is now seeing the return of some of its more prominent former residents such as the Ackerman clan.

The Southeast Quadrant

The southeast contains all the tack and harness, stables, smithies, forges, armorers and weaponsmiths as well as those workers.

The Southwest Quadrant

The southwest is home to the butchers, fishmongers, granaries, and river commerce docks between the southeast and southwest.

The Center Temple

The Center Temple sits in the very heart of Vesuva. It contains one of the powerful Portals that are scattered around Sarapadia.

Clayton's Wharf

Clayton's Wharf is a large warf and the southernmost point in the city. It is owned by Bill Clayton. Probably the most recognizable place on the wharf is Clayton's Wharf Tavern and Inn. Besides being a popular tavern it is also the home to Jarek's Adventurer's Guild.