The Silent City
A world is dead beneath feet that treadIn all of creation, only one artifact remains of the World Before--an empty, eerie ruin of a metropolis heaped up upon itself like a mountain of stone columns and empty temples. Completely devoid of all color, it stands alone at the center of an infinite plain of dust and ashes. No paths are meant to lead to it, and only those who delve into dream or walk the way of shadows can find it. This is the Silent City, and it lies at the heart of the greatest mysteries of Anacra.
Beyond the Seventh Gate
Demographics
Empty
Government
Ungoverned
Defences
The city is isolated from most of reality, built on a narrow mountain, surrounded by a wall, and protected by seven gates.
Industry & Trade
None.
Infrastructure
The city is a nonsensical heap of buildings. The temples have no statues, the homes have empty rooms. Stone, empty air, metal and dust are all that remain. All of it is sized for giants, creatures at least twenty feet tall.
Standing out above all other features, however, are the Seven Gates. One massive staircase runs all the way up the city in a straight line from the ground to the peak. Set over this staircase are seven gates, each one enormous--40 feet tall or higher--sealed shut, with enormous dragons carved in the archways above them. Walls extend from either side of the gates, dividing the city into seven concentric sections rising up the height of the city.
The Seventh Gate leads into a structure at the pinnacle of the Silent City. What lies beyond it, is unknown.
Districts
Divided by the Seven Gates and Seven Walls, there are seven distinct districts of the city. If they have names, they are unknown. If they originally served different purposes, they are forgotten. If they once housed different ranks or kinds of people, they are now empty.
Guilds and Factions
None.
History
The first historical account of the Silent City comes from the legends of the Dawn. When the Infernals devoured the light of Luminias and all hope seemed lost, The Laughing God went to the Silent City and threw open its seven gates. From each one emerged a terrible Dragon of the World Before, and before their fury the Infernals themselves recoiled and fled. The breath of the Seven Dragons wiped out millions of fiends, their will scorched the Dawn of Infernal influence, their unleashed wrath brought the invasion to a halt. When all was done, the Laughing God returned them to their prison, locking each one behind its appropriate gate.
The wisest sages and unknowable alien intelligences of the Hungry Dark whisper that the Silent City is all that remains of the World Before, the existence that preceded Anacra itself. Its prisoners were sealed there for crimes against creation, betraying the Gods of Before to The Silence.
When the Dawn came to an end and the world was divided into Four Kingdoms, the Silent City vanished. It had no place in the Underworld, Mortal World, Otherworld or Overworld. It did not belong, the Emerald Tablets had no writ or rune of its existence. The way to its Seven Gates was lost.
But as the Silent City was unintended, so too were the winding ways of Dream. Practitioners of the mysteries of Oneiromancy have seen its heights off the distance of their deepest dreams or nightmares, and secretive sects who dare channel the power of the Hungry Dark whisper of its existence. The Dragons, created by the Elemental Sovereigns in the image of the Seven, know that behind the Gates lie the mold used to sculpt them, and in the time of the Demonic Imperium there are those amongst the people of Okarthel who tell the tales of a time when Dragons scoured the world of Infernals...
Architecture
Each ring of the Silent City features different architecture. There is no wood used anywhere in the settlement--everything is made of stone or metal. Numerous arches, gates and temples are featured throughout. All of it is sized for giants, twenty feet tall at least.
Geography
The city is build on a hill in the middle of a featureless plain. The mountain is made entirely of stone, without soil, features seven terraced slopes of varying severity, and rises to a peak ensconced by a single massive, sealed gate.
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