Ygg (eeg)

Ygg is the name of the capital of Vengeance and of the massive tree that welcomes it. It is a tree so massive that its branches fade into the sky when looked at from the bottom. The city of Ygg is woven in between the many branches of said tree, and a clever system of ladders, pulleys, and rope bridges allows people to move in between this vertical city. A part of it is also inside the tree itself.

Structure

Ygg is a 10km high tree (6 miles), while being roughly 5km wide at the widest points in the trunk. Though it is measured as being 10 kilometers high, the branches of the tree actually reach to about 20km at their highest, but the longest ones are also the thinnest ones, and they are often deemed too dangerous to live on.
Ygg is divided into Rings, and each Ring serves a different purpose.

• Root Ring: The Root Ring includes the bottom of the trunk, as well as the complex infrastructure composed of Ygg's roots. It is said that those roots are so massive that they cover the entirety of Vengeance. While they can be used by enterprising Vengeful who wish to move from one place to another without having to deal with the dangers of Vengeance itself, there are no existing maps of this underground maze, and so many avoid using it lest they end up within Ako's Tears by accident.
• Lower Trunk Ring: The Lower Trunk Ring contains most buildings that are meant to cater to tourists and foreigners: inns, taverns, and specialty shops such as magic item shops.
• Upper Trunk Ring: The Upper Trunk Ring serves as the "barracks" for all of the Troopers that protect Ygg. They always stand ready to act at any time should the city come under attack.
• Branch Rings: The Branch Rings are built into the branches of Ygg. They are actually divided into four sub-rings, depending on their geographical location.
  • Northern Branch Ring: This Ring is mostly used for the storage of Husks in specialized buildings. There are very few Fleshcrafters in Vengeance, but those that do exist can generally be found here.
  • Eastern Branch Ring: This Ring serves as the residence for the Roglaws of Rastlin, who are considered to carry Rastlin's will while he is absent.
  • Southern Branch Ring: This Ring serves as the residence of the tribes of Vengeance who choose to live within Ygg itself. The dangerous conditions of living in a tree make only the bravest or most devout tribes willing to take the risk.
  • Western Branch Ring: This Ring serves as to contain most of the more esoteric buildings of Vengeance. For instance, there are observatories in this Ring, meant to look for Ako.
• Crown Ring: The Crown Ring is the ring at the very top of Ygg - within the topmost branches of the tree. It is only possible to reach this ring by walking. Rastlin has a palace within his ring. It is seldom used these days, because of the two wars that Rastlin is waging, but petitioners always attempt to gain his attention there anyway.

Transport

In order to move through Ygg, there exists a system of ladders, elevators using pulleys, and rope bridges. More than 90% of all such systems are built out of wood, and though some are mechanical, some seemingly run purely thanks to Rastlin's will.

• Ladders: Ladders are mostly used to enter particularly high buildings. Such buildings are often built that way because of the particularities of a branch or to avoid a damaged part of the tree.
• Pulleys: There are a total of four pulleys operated around Ygg, and they always go from the Root Ring to one of the Branch Rings, briefly stopping at every ring on the way there. The pulleys are operated by special Troopers, made to be hardy but completely useless in a fight, and in a pinch, they could be operated by four Emberi. It takes a pulley fifteen minutes to reach the top of the tree from the bottom.
• Rope bridges: Because a good part of Ygg is actually built within the branches of the tree, there is a definite need for rope bridges that connect the different branches.

Commerce

It is possible to trade in gold and precious metals within the city of Ygg, which is very much unlike the rest of Vengeance. While Vengeance's trade network is the worst out of all the nations, they understand that foreigners will sometimes make their way there (mostly for diplomatic reasons), and that an unified system of trading is perhaps more beneficial for all parties involved. This explains why most traders in the city have past lives as traders and merchants of other nations.
While trading in gold is possible, Rastlin's vengeful nature and dislike for diplomacy sometimes manifests in the pettiest of ways. Prices are legendarily high within Ygg. Foreigners report markups that can go up to 1000% in comparison to standardized market prices. Popular merchants nonetheless thrive on such trade.