Sharn

THE SHAPE OF SHARN

I've been here a week, and it's still hard not to feel overwhelmed by the city. The towers rise up until they disappear into the clouds. Lights gleam in a thousand windows. Skycoaches work their way through the maze of bridges connecting the towers, and up above I can see the burning ring of an elemental airship.

Distracted by the sights in the sky, I nearly walk into a warforged as it brushes past me. It's my first time seeing one, but then there are so many things I've never seen in this place. Over there, a tattooed elf haggles with a masked ha I.fling, arguing about the price of lizard meat. Beyond them, a gargoyle watches from a high perch. I gather my senses and keep moving. It's not until I reach the lift that I realize the warforged stole my purse.

-A newcomer to the big city

Sham is the largest city in Khorvaire, with a population of half a million people. Humans make up about a third of that number, and dwarves are a sixth of it; the rest is a blend of every race found across Khorvaire. Halflings, elves, and gnomes all have a significant presence in the city, but even kalashtar and changelings have communities in Sham. Beyond the permanent population, tens of thousands of people pass through Sham every day. Refugees from the war still find their way to the city, along with tourists, spies, merchants, and folk hoping to find their fortune in the grandest city in Eberron.

Sham stands above the Dagger River and its eastern tributary, the Hilt. It's an important port for anyone dealing with Aerenal, Xen'drik, or Sarlona. Mountains line the shores of the Dagger, and Sham can't spread out. So instead it has grown ever upward. The city is primarily made up of these quarters:

• Central Plateau
• Dura
• Menthis Plateau
• Northedge
• Tavick's Landing

At the hub of each of these quarters is a cluster of enormous core towers. A web of bridges and platforms connects many of these vast spires, and smaller turrets sprout from the edges of the core towers. The district of Skyway floats above the highest towers, while the tunnels of the Cogs stretch out below the lower city. In between those extremes, each of the quarters is divided into an upper ward, a middle ward, and a lower ward. Each ward is made up of a number of districts, so that the location of a place in Sham can be expressed with a combination of a ward name and a district name. More information about each of the wards and the districts in them appears later in this chapter.

AFTERMATH OF WAR

Far from the front lines, Sham never fell under siege during the Last War. Regardless, the war's impacts affected the city's citizens and continue to even today.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE

Although Sham was never subjected to a sustained assault, it didn't avoid damage. On many occasions, commandos and saboteurs launched significant attacks inside Sham. The most infamous of these was the Aundairian attack that brought down the floating Glass Tower, devastating the district now known as Fallen. In any of the lower or middle wards, you might encounter evidence of the conflict in the form of a shattered bridge, a building collapsed by an arcane explosion, or an area some say is haunted because of the large number of people killed there during the war.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SCARS

There are places in the city that house people who suffered because of the actions of other nations. For example, many of the residents of Dura hold all Aundairians responsible for the destruction of Fallen. In another district, folk could hate the Karrns for an undead attack that occurred during the war, and a different group could blame Thrane for the siege ofVathirond. These kinds of sentiments can shape the feelings of an entire district, but in the city as a whole there are far more people who have personal burdens to carry than those who feel resentment toward particular nations. For instance, on an individual level, most members of the Sharn Watch might not care about a gnoll being seen in a neighborhood, but a guard who fought on the Droaam front during the war might be out for revenge. Warforged are sometimes also the targets of this sort of prejudice; a person whose friends were killed by warforged soldiers might resent all such creatures.

Shortages

Because the ink is barely dry on the Treaty of Thronehold and relationships between the signatories are still being normalized, Sharn doesn't currently benefit from a lot of commerce with other nations. Problems could arise from a short supply of any imported goods, whether this manifests as inflated prices, the need for rationing, or certain items being simply unavailable. The factors of supply and demand also play into smuggling and the black market; some desirable goods might be available only through the Boromar Clan.

REFUGEES AND VICTIMS

Cyran refugees have filled the district of High Walls in Lower Tavick's Landing beyond capacity, and Sharn is also home to a significant number of refugees from elsewhere in Breland-people whose homes and villages were destroyed during the war, and who have come to Sharn in search of new lives. The city also has its share of other people harmed during the war, soldiers and civilians with severe physical or psychological injuries. All these folk are most likely to be found in the lower wards. They aren't just poor; they're suffering-and they might seek vengeance against those they blame for their pain.

Type

Metropolis