Veils & Truth
What is this domain to mortals?
What is the theme to mortals?
Would a vice, virtue or keyword help describe a ward or domain?
greed & lies, gluttony & wealth, fortitude and sloth, lust and gluttony
What is this domain to Kindred?
What is the theme to Kindred?
How does the Clan or Covenant influence the theme or feel of this domain to Kindred
Who Rules
How does the Elder influence the theme or feel of this domain to Kindred?
What is the clan or covenants charge to the prince or council for their ward?
Veins
What are the major streets
What are the major intersection
Sewers?
Sanctuary
What places are safe for the Kindred?
What places are important to the Kindred?
What are the Cacophony Whispers?
Where to Dance & Eat
Dance & Eat
Dance = Vampire Socialize
Eat = Vampire Feeding
Where to feed
Any unusual restrictions here
what are feeding restrictions and rights for other clans and covenants
Where to Avoid
If Ptolus has a heart (though most people would say that it doesn’t), it is Midtown. This is the crossroads of Ptolus, where common folks rub shoulders with the not-so-common, where everyone goes in order to get anywhere else, and where all newcomers to the city inevitably end up first. Midtown is the most cosmopolitan area of what is almost certainly the most cosmopolitan city in the world.
The largest district in the city, Midtown is bounded by the King’s River on the north. But where the river dips south (at Carver Lane), the border veers north to Golden Elm Way to run along the Necropolis wall. Farther east, Midtown continues right up to the Cliffs of Lost Wishes and the Warrens, and to the south the district ends at Iron Street. The boundary between Midtown and the South Market is rather vague—it amounts to a diagonal line drawn between the north end of Carriage Row and the ramp up to Oldtown. The western border then runs north up along Dalen’s Cliffs.
Ptolus 5e (pg186)
Mortal Ward
Domain Sanctum
Domain Lord
Cacophony Whisper
North & Important
Crossing the King's River north places you in the Elysium
Highlights
From the Ptolus Book
“Everything passes through Midtown,” the saying goes.
Any kind of person—from beggar to noble, from thief to priestess, from powerful mage to savage barbarian—can be found here, if only just passing through.
Nonplayer characters in Midtown are more likely to be nonhuman than those encountered in other sections of the city. They are also far more likely to be adventurers, or to have an adventuring or PC-type background—although such characters are still the exception, even here. People in Midtown seem even more jaded to the supernatural, the monstrous, and the strange than the standard residents of Ptolus.
(a note to be cautious of extreme non-human when feeding.
Communities
DELVER’S SQUARE: center of midtown and entrance to the under-city market
EMERALD HILL greenery and elves (careful feeding with dominate or presence)
FAIRBRIAR (gnomes, halfling, humans, elves - smallerfolk are more common, again careful as they have tighter communities)
THE MANE (large park, Litorians - lion folk - not a good idea for refuge or feeding)
KATTERWOOD (clannish halflings almost gypsy like)
LONGBOTTOM (rough area, mix of warehouses and residential, almost an extention of the guildmans ward, some abadoned buildings - good feeding)
NARRED (aram or centaurs - not good feeding)
Buildings / Businesses
The Black Swan (tavern - heavily used by dwarves)
CLOUD THEATER (good use to see custom and humans in their element)
Danbury's (tavern & art gallery frequented by mages)
GHOSTLY MINSTREL (An inn, a pub, and a restaurant all in one, It has earned a reputation as the central feature of Delver’s Square and the focal point in the world of the delvers who plumb the depths below the city.
GRIFFON (Another mainstay of Tavern Row, the Griffon is both a tavern and an inn.)
THE WIND’S MYSTERY The Wind’s Mystery is a large, rather lavish tavern and inn set back from the main gate. The ceiling creates a grand vaulted chamber, the centerpiece of the two-story building.
NORTH POINT RESTAURANT Located in the Fairbriar neighborhood, the North Point is a typical eatery serving mostly gnomish dishes.
THE ONYX SPIDER Notorious for its nefarious patrons, the Onyx Spider isn’t a rough bar—it’s a dangerous one. That is to say, it’s not likely that a patron will find themselves in the middle of a brawl there.
ROW BATHHOUSE (The proprietors, Eltan and Derron Polon (male and female humans), charge 8 cp for a simple bath at the Row Bathhouse. They offer many other services as well, including laundry (2 cp to clean one outfit), clothes mending (3 cp per article), delousing (2 cp), haircuts (1 sp), and shaves (6 cp). As interest in Dungeon exploration increases, so does business at the Bathhouse.
Keywords
hub
quicker pace
largest ward
melting pot
variety races, customs
services
arts
club and dance
south of the Elysium
As the name implies, this is the oldest part of the city. Today Oldtown serves as the center for all local administrative needs. You’ll find the fortress of Dalenguard here, as well as the Administration Building, the Imperial University, and the City Library. Other intriguing features include Kadmiel, a tower that exists only within its own shadow, and the Inverted Pyramid, the invisible floating headquarters of the most powerful arcanists in the world.
Originally, Oldtown was just “Ptolus.” It was a complete city in itself, built around the fortress of Dalenguard. Now the district houses most of the Imperial government buildings and a number of important organizational headquarters as well as a residential district. It covers an entire ridge of the city below the Nobles’ Quarter but above the South Market and Midtown. It lies south of the Rivergate District, just across the King’s River Gorge. The only way to get there from the east is via an earthen ramp cut into Dalen’s Cliffs on the Emperor’s Road. Visitors from the north come via the King’s River Bridge and the Old City Gate or via the Rivergate Bridge from the Rivergate District.
From the Ptolus Book
In many ways, Oldtown represents the Empire in Ptolus. Most of its buildings are Tarsisan in appearance.
Oldtown is likely second only to the Nobles’ Quarter as the safest area of Ptolus. Criminal gangs are rare here, due to the presence of the military. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no crime at all. Instead of robbers and cutpurses, criminals here run brothels, gambling dens, or extortion operations.
The people found in Oldtown are typically natives—visitors to the city rarely come here.
Buildings
THE ARENA (Combat in the Arena is never intentionally to the death; with clerics and healers on hand, it very rarely ends up that way.)
CITADEL OF MIGHT (avoid Lothian and the Order of Iron Might)
CITY LIBRARY (good source of city history and knowledge)
DALENGUARD (caution entering the noble ward though this bottleneck)
DWEOMER STREET (residential common for mages)
SHADOW THEATER (Recently Magic shadow performers)
THE WHITE HOUSE (the White House offers some gambling but is primarily a high-end brothel)
YARROW STREET FORUM (The forum serves many purposes. May be rented for a day and a night to hold meetings, parties, celebrations, costume balls, and so forth. During any normal day, the surrounding plaza (and the interior of the building when it rains) is a place for public discourse of all kinds; concerned, influential citizens may voice their opinions to members of the City Council. Philosophers and teachers instruct students, or anyone who will listen.
Good hunting, interesting variety.
Church of Lothian the Redeemer (AVOID)
BOARDING HOUSES (for quick meals)
Menasa’s House
Manathah’s Traveler’s Home (caters to Uraqis and southerners)
Keywords
lofty
arrogant
edgy new fashion
customs braver than noble ward
more reserved than the other wards
richer than other wards, but not the noble ward
Vampire: Elders
Vampire: Authority
Update Hub Article
Possible notes for the hub Domain Article
Stasis / Stuck / Isolationists
Vampires are as much masters of their domain as they are slaves to their domain. Vampires do not travel the world freely as mortal do migrating night and day, as they are by nature isolationists. Lindred are creatures of stasis and stagnation, there is a certain comfort to establishing domains and position, next enforcing them and resisting any changes to them. This makes most kindred slow to adapt to quickly changing cities or cutting edge ideas. Within a domain the lords word is law and trumped only by prince or council, and they would only place restrictions in the most dire of situations. Any kindred can make rules for their domain but they have to enforce them and balance the traditions and tenets. However it also gets interesting when court position an authority conflict with personal domain
Possible Glossary Terms
domain: (n., traditional) The physical territory claimed
by or granted to a vampire, especially when that territory is officially sanctioned by the Prince;
dominion: (n., traditional) Sovereignty, authority or control over an area, or category of areas and ideas.
fallow: (adj., traditional) Overseen or claimed by
Kindred, but exempt from interaction with mortals; especially, any domain where feeding is prohibited. Traditionally, only physical territory is said to be fallow, but in modern parlance, people and ideas may also said to be fallow. “Westbrook’s been full of fallow kine for a decade, and it don’t look likely to change.” (n., jargon) A domain where feeding from mortals is not allowed, but feeding from animals may be. “There’s a shitty fallow off the highway where I bet no one would know it was us.”
fields, the: (n., traditional) A domain where vampires without dominion over the territory may feed on the local mortals. Also, an unaware (and typically unthreatening) population of kine that are legal for feeding. Note that not all domains are “the fields” for all Kindred — one vampire’s legal feeding ground is another’s fallow (q.v.). “Hounds are patrolling the fields tonight, which means somebody’s been poaching, I’ll bet.”
grippe: (v., slang) To cause or allow a domain’s mortal population to fall sick or otherwise succumb to infirmity. To spread, or allow to spread, a disease or drug epidemic. Often paired with gutter (q.v.). “Call it what you want, but if you let the cattle grippe themselves with STDs and smack, the Prince is going to call it you been gripping them.”
gutter: (v., slang) To cause or allow a domain to fall into financial or social ruin. To drive down property values, to break up families, run stores out of business or render families homeless. “You want to let your childer run rough over the place, then you’re going to have to gutter it so it don’t look so suspicious to the police when people get cut and robbed in there.”
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