Helias Undercity

elow the Grand Temple of the Peddler in the centre of Helias, far from the docks lies the Undercity.
This tangle of shopfronts, alleyways and backstreets is alive with colour and excitement - there is always something happening here. Whether it be a rooftop soirée hosted by a prolific merchant, a shady back-alley deal or a street urchin running from The Shimmering Legion with arms full of fruit and bread, the Undercity is the beating heart of Helias's spirit.
To outsiders the cacophony and business is wild and untamed, but to locals it feels like home. The writer Zalene, an elven merchant who lived some 200 years ago and who's writing has become almost sacred scripture to the people here, penned;

"To see and live within the City below is to understand what it is to live in this world.
I walk outside my home and my neighbour hails me, her 3 children clawing at her skirts and screaming. The wine merchant between our homes says a prayer to The Peddler as he always does, begging for his ears to be spared as he insists that the price for his wineskin is fair. The buyer, a young Unioner with a beau draped from his arm does his best to haggle him down without appearing cheap in front of his woman. All the while she flirts and giggles, never taking her hands from his pockets from which she deftly plucks his gold pouch.
Not a step I have taken from my door, and I am reminded that I am but one story amongst the thousands which orbit around me everyday, each as messy and silly and unique as mine. That is what I love about this place, which only a true Helian can understand."

It was here, some 300 years ago, where the Weaver's and Spinner's guilds united in Union, to form the powerful organization seen running the city and wider Nissien Coast today. Today, all manner of goods, luxuries, services and people can be found here, each available to a buyer for the right price.