So, you're new around here? First time out from one of the four huh? Don't ask me how I know, you pick up a sense for these things when you live in the City long enough. Suppose you'll be wanting to hear a bit about our little spire of paradise then? Well, you're currently in the Salt Quarter, the lowest area of the city. Shipping, receiving, and a free haven for just about anything.
The City maintains that this is a neutral zone, and as such none of the four can really swing much weight around here. You'll find a seedy inn or two, the Salt Market, where the merchants hawk wares from their homeland to earn the money to return home with a ship full of exotic wares, but all and all it's pretty tame.
Once you get your papers from customs or bribe a Saltguard you can head into the Obsidian and Stone Quarters, though I suggest you head straight for the Stone since the Obsidian Quarter isn't all that kind to tourists. It's the oldest part of the city, and the least pleasant, with crude spires shooting up and wild haphazardly excavated catacombs below housing the cheapest apartments money can buy. It's where the city funnels the dregs, people it'd rather forget about. Still, it's where most the dockworkers live, and they're honest hardworking folk for the most part.
The Stone Quarter is the real bread and butter of Athandros. At least the bread and butter that's available to people like you and me. It's where the middle of the road types live, artisans, smaller-scale merchants. There are some pretty good taverns and the Iron Market is a lot fairer than the Salt Market in its pricing, as it's usually foreign artisans who live here producing the goods. If you're planning on staying here longer than a week or two, I'd suggest it be here.
If you wind up getting established, and you find yourself lucky enough to have your visa upgraded, you'll gain access to the Sky Quarter. It's closest to the Sol District, and it shows. The wealthier merchants, visiting emissaries from one of the four, or higher class artisans live there. You look like someone who keeps on the straight and narrow, and that'll serve you well. The Crownsguard patrol the streets of the Sky Quarter, and they're a cut above your average Saltee.
And then there's the Sol District. Good luck getting there. Only the wealthiest of the wealthy live there, including the royal family and the Astral Palace, which you probably saw on the way in. It's that big shimmering greenish tower right in the middle of everything. Only real entrance is through the Sky Gate in the Sky Quarter, but securities tight and they don't really let anyone in unless you've got business with a noble or the royal family, which requires you to gain their attention in the first place. That's a mixed blessing, as it's awful hard to get attention from one of the noble families and not get attention from the rest of them, for better or worse.
In short, try to keep your head down and stick to the better parts of town, and you'll do fine here. Just be careful. This is an old city, and the wrong missteps with the wrong people might mean you disappear into the catacombs and don't turn up again, or far far worse. Welcome to Athandros.
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