Sharn
There has been a major settlement on the Hilt of the Dagger River since before recorded history. The current metropolis, Sharn, has existed since the formation of the original Five Nations, about seven hundred years after humans rose to prominence on the continent. For more than two millennia, the towers of Sharn have grown, rising thousands of feet into the sky. This vertical expansion has given the metropolis its title: The City of Towers.
The City of Towers can be as impressive as it can be oppressive. The same skyscrapers of stone can make one person laugh with excitement and another weep from the size and weight and impossible heights. Whatever emotion the city inspires, the place remains a bustle of activity at all hours of the day and night. With a tremendous array of cultural, culinary, and commercial delights to sample, and its position as the gateway to Xen’drik, Sharn attracts visitors and adventurers from around the world. It is a hotbed of activity, known in equal measures for its wonders, its crime rate, its amazing amount of corruption, and its genuinely exciting atmosphere.
Sharn rises from the cliffs overlooking the Hilt, a wide bay at the mouth of the Dagger River. This inhospitable outcropping of rock allowed the city to grow in only one direction—up. The ports at the base of the cliffs load and unload cargo and passengers from seafaring vessels, raising and lowering goods and travelers alike on massive lifts operated by ropes and pulleys that travel through the neighborhood of Cliffside. This working class region is built into and upon the steep cliffs overlooking the river and bay. At the top of the cliffs, the rock walls seamlessly blend into the earliest stonework laid in ancient times. Here, the city and its amazing towers really begin.
The City of Towers is rumored to sit atop a massive lake of molten lava. Those who work in the bowels of the city, a subterranean region known as the Cogs, claim to feel the heat rising off the lava streams, but few have ever gone below the great furnaces and foundries of the Cogs to seek for the fiery lake itself. In the Cogs, heat and magic cooperate to allow workers to process ores and other raw materials needed to sustain Sharn’s industrial machine.
Also within the depths, ancient ruins, labyrinthine sewers, vertical shafts, and forgotten chambers pile level upon level, climbing higher and higher until the inhabited regions are reached. These higher levels, made up of towers growing like trees in a forest of stone and brick, contain most of the city’s residents and visitors. Poorer members of society live in the deeper portions of the towers, while those above gain wealth and status the higher up they live. The uppermost levels feature open-arched towers, balconies, bridges, and platforms that form a strange lacework of “solid” ground high in the air. Above all of this floats the neighborhood known as Skyway, where the most affluent citizens live and play.
Sharn is situated within a manifest zone linked to the plane of Syrania, the Azure Sky. The manifest zone primarily enhances spells and magic items that permit levitation and actual flight. Outside the zone, most of these items either grow weaker or lose the ability to function altogether. Without the zone, the city’s great towers and spires would crumble, its transportation systems would collapse, and the neighborhood of Skyway would plummet to the ground.
Sky coaches slowly move from tower to tower, transporting people. Other ways to get around the city include walking (almost every tower can be reached by multiple bridges that connect the platforms and walkways at different levels), lifts that ride up and down and side to side along magical strands of light, and magebred animals trained to carry passengers within the city’s limits.
There’s a popular saying on the elevated streets of Sharn: “If it can be bought, it can be bought here.” Shops and trading stalls abound, usually gathered in trade districts, open-air markets (called “exchanges”), or merchant halls (called “tower markets,” often multileveled) found within many tower and building complexes. Some shops jut from the sides of walls and bridges, ramshackle structures of wood hastily thrown together or built around a crack in the stone. Others occupy prime space set aside for such purposes and leased from tower landlords. The tower markets present the most elaborate market exchanges, where shops selling different wares sit side by side and one atop the other inside the open cavity of a tower or multistory blockhouse. Beyond these more or less legitimate business ventures, Sharn boasts a thriving black market wheree verything from exotic fruits and animals to illegal spell components and stolen goods can be traded. Sharn’s authorities do their best to curtail this activity, if for no other reason than so proper taxes can be collected, but supply and demand make it next to impossible to really control. This leads to another popular saying: “If someone wants it, someone sells it in Sharn.”
Morgrave University, with its glass walls and roughand-tumble approach to scholarly pursuits, was founded in Sharn and to this day maintains its main campus in the City of Towers. The institute of “learning, relic hunting, and grave robbing,” as it is called by the administrators of the more respected University of Wynarn, provides many opportunities for adventurers new to the craft and calling, and it isn’t hard to get a letter of marque from Morgrave to explore ancient sites. A particularly capable group might also receive sponsorship or patronage from the university.
The City Watch enforces the Galifar Code of Justice throughout Sharn, but in practice, residents are more likely to encounter a law officer among the higher spires than in the lower bowels of the city. Constables conduct regular patrols along the higher bridges, platforms, and walkways, venturing lower only when necessity or prudence warrants. Watch towers can be found in every ward, though there aren’t really enough constables to adequately serve and protect all of Sharn’s populace. The Watch, reluctantly, calls on agents of the King’s Citadel (who maintain a presence in the city) when an incident appears to be more then they can handle. More often, however, the Watch turns to adventurers when it needs additional deputies for a short amount of time.
Many merchants and sailors who live or work in Sharn pick up some amount of the Sahuagin language due to the proximity of sahuagin settlements beyond the Straits of Shargon. While many of these tribes remain hostile to travelers, a few sahuagin settlements have made it a practice to trade with and sell their services as guides to those making the trip through Shargon’s Teeth to reach Xen’drik. It helps in dealing with these tribes if one can speak their language, whether or not the guides can also speak Common.
The criminal element thrives in Sharn. It’s all about location, location, location, and the city serves as a crossroads for both legitimate and illicit trade. Indeed, some crime lords run extensive and respected legitimate businesses as cover for their illegal activities. A few of these enjoy the privileges of a high standing in the community and even donate a portion of their wealth to various charities and charitable organizations. If the City Watch knows about their double lives (and many believe that it must), it is content to pretend that the good they do outweighs the evil.
Other than one woefully inadequate attack from the sea that barely scratched the cliff walls rising from the bay, the Last War never reached Sharn—at least not in the sense of marching armies and occupation forces. The City of Towers did have to contend with spies, saboteurs, terrorists, and waves of refugees as the years of bloody conflict dragged on. Perhaps the worst event during those years occurred in 918 YK, when unknown saboteurs (no one ever claimed responsibility for the act) caused the Glass Tower to fall from the sky, killing thousands.
Demographics
33% human, 17% dwarf, 9% halfling, 9% goblinoid, 8% gnome, 7% elf, 5% half-elf, 4% shifter, 3% changeling, 2% orc and half-orc, 1% warforged, 1% kalashtar, 1% other races
With over 200,000 citizens, Sharn is Khorvaire’s largest city. Like most metropolises in Khorvaire, its racially diverse population is only one-third human (70,000), and includes not only the common races but also a number of goblinoids and other monstrous creatures. No more than 10% of the city’s nonhuman population lives in specifically ethnic neighborhoods, such as the dwarf neighborhood in Upper Dura. Most nonhumans are fully integrated into every district of the city.
Dwarves (35,000) make up the largest racial group in Sharn, after humans. A small proportion (about 7%) of these live in two dwarf neighborhoods: one in Middle Northedge and the one in Upper Dura. Many dwarves live in the wealthiest residential districts of the city, including the Central Plateau’s prestigious Mithral Tower neighborhood. Many of these, as well as much of the rest of the Central Plateau’s dwarf population, are affiliated with House Kundarak and work in the city’s finance districts.
Sharn has almost as many halflings (22,000) as dwarves. Roughly 8% of these live in the so-called Little Plains district, a strongly ethnic halfling neighborhood in Middle Menthis, where the architecture strongly resembles the stone-carved city of Gatherhold in the Talenta Plains. Many more halflings live in integrated neighborhoods throughout the city, particularly in the city’s many inn and tavern districts. House Jorasco has a prominent establishment in the Dragon Towers on the Central Plateau, and their houses of healing are located throughout the city.
Goblinoids, including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears, are another large minority in Sharn (20,000). While some (particularly the larger races) are immigrants from Darguun, many of the goblin families have lived in Sharn for over a thousand years, dating back to before the time of Galifar. Many of these folk cluster in two areas in Lower Dura and the Plateau Cogs, while most of the rest live in the other neighborhoods of Lower Dura and the Depths. Some labor in the forges and foundries of the Cogs, while many more are unemployed and live in squalor.
A sizable population of gnomes (17,000) calls Sharn home, with perhaps one-tenth of these living in Den’iyas in Upper Menthis. A significant number of these, as well as many other gnomes living in Upper and Middle Menthis, have ties to Morgrave University, or else to Menthis’s bustling entertainment industry. House Sivis has a hall in Dragon Towers, and the most prominent members of the house live in that neighborhood. It also has a larger headquarters in the University District in Upper Menthis.
Sharn contains a somewhat smaller (13,000) population of elves. Some 11% of these live in Shae Lias, a neighborhood in Upper Northedge, though few have any connection to the University. Shae Lias is known as a quiet neighborhood of elegant taste, and is a popular shopping destination for those seeking artistic items and fine woodwork, including furniture. House Phiarlan has a small headquarters in Dragon Towers, with another several hundred elves attached to it. The rest of the elves live in integrated neighborhoods, though they tend toward upper-middle class status.
The city’s half-elves (10,000) are fully integrated into neighborhoods throughout the city. Both House Lyrandar and House Medani have halls in Dragon Towers, and significant numbers of halfelves dwell there and in neighboring areas of the Central Plateau.
Shifters make up less than 5% of Sharn’s population (8,500), concentrated in Lower Northedge, Middle Tavick’s Landing, and the Depths. There are no shifter neighborhoods, but the shifters do tend to live in small clusters.
Changelings are a minority in the city (6,500). They do not cluster as shifters do, but gravitate individually to red light districts and tavern districts. A large number of changelings are found in the goblinoid neighborhoods of Lower Dura and the Plateau Cogs.
Sharn’s orcs and half-orcs (4,250) are almost all connected to House Tharashk, which maintains a grand hall in Dragon Towers. Expeditions to Xen’drik, especially for the purpose of prospecting for dragonshards, has grown into a booming business in Sharn, and House Tharashk thrives on this trade. The house maintains a prominent presence in the Upper Dura neighborhood of Clifftop, which has a reputation as an adventurer’s quarter. A significant number of inquisitives tied to House Tharashk also operate in the city.
The kalashtar in the city (1,600), mostly made up of a small group of recent immigrants, live in Overlook, an apartment district in Upper Dura.
The warforged residents of Sharn (1,500) continue to seek a place and a purpose since the end of the Last War. Many were built for the war but never used, since the fighting ended before they could
be shipped to one of the fronts. With the Treaty of Thronehold, the warforged have become free citizens rather than property. Even so, many labor in virtual slavery in the Cogs.
The remainder of the population (2,500) consists of monstrous creatures, such as ogres, doppelgangers, medusas, minotaurs, and a few fiends.
Many of the larger creatures (particularly ogres and minotaurs) came from Droaam under contract to House Tharashk to work in the Cogs. Most of these creatures live in the undercity districts of the Northedge Cogs and the Plateau Cogs. A few live higher in the city, either hiding their monstrous nature or putting it to good use in their work.
About 8% of Sharn’s populace are members of player character classes.
Assets
1,125,720,000gp
Guilds and Factions
Deathsgate Guild, Clifftop Guild
History
Over the course of ten thousand years, the city by the Dagger River has risen and fallen time and again. The many scars of history can be seen everywhere— each representing a score of dangers to threaten the present-day inhabitants.
Duur'shaarat
Thousands of years before humans came to Khorvaire, the land belonged to the hobgoblins. One of the greatest cities of the Dhakaani Empire was the hobgoblin metropolis of Ja’shaarat (“Bright Blade”), nestled by the edge of the Dagger River. The early Dhakaani architects carved their city into the stone instead of raising towers above the ground, and the halls of Ja’shaarat extended beneath the surface of the land. The goblin miners pushed into Khyber, discovering a vast lake of fire that burned with a supernatural heat. The blades and armor of the greatest Dhakaani warriors were forged here, and tempered in khaar draguus, the blood of the dragon. Later, they raised great monolithic buildings that covered each of the plateaus and would later serve as the foundation for the City of Towers. When the alignment of the planes brought the daelkyr and their armies of horrors to Eberron, the Dhakaani empire fell before them, and Ja’shaarat was devastated. The empire never recovered from the conflict and the great city was never restored. The goblin tribes that hid in the ruins renamed their home Duur’shaarat, “Blade of Sorrows.”Shaarat
In time, the humans of Sarlona began to explore across the ocean. A wave of humans followed the famed explorer Lhazaar to Khorvaire’s eastern shores. The humans didn’t stop there, however. They pushed inland and explored the northern and southern coasts seeking land to settle and kingdoms to erect. As a result, Malleon the Reaver discovered the inlet of the Dagger River twenty-five years after Lhazaar’s historic undertaking. Malleon enslaved the goblins and built a fortress within the ruins on the bluff above the river. Malleon, a superstitious man, hoped to make peace with whatever spirits remained in the ruins. He sealed off the deeper levels of the goblin-made mountain-monoliths that had been home to the majority of the hobgoblins, and he named the city Shaarat, deriving the name from the stories told by his goblin slaves. Over the next six hundred years, Shaarat grew into a powerful and wealthy city. Breggor, first ruler of the nation that would eventually bear the name of Breland, demanded that Shaarat bow to his authority. Malleon’s descendants refused. A long siege followed, ending when Breggor ordered his wizards to rain destruction on Shaarat.Sharn and the War of the Mark
Breggor wanted the city on the Dagger River for his own, and he didn’t allow the place to remain ruined for long. Within a decade of the siege of Shaarat, Breggor renamed the city Sharn. For the next eight hundred years, the towers began to rise and the city flourished along with the Five Nations. It was during this time that the dragonmarked houses began to grow and prosper. Between the pure marks, the mixed marks, and the frequently appearing aberrant marks, the more powerful houses saw a threat to their growing wealth and economic power. The houses began to argue, and soon strong and angry words led to full-scale battle. War had come to the dragonmarked houses. The War of the Mark, a terrible and bloody conflict, changed the face of Khorvaire, firmly establishing the dragonmarked families that hold power to this day. The pure families and their allies outnumbered those possessing aberrant and mixed dragonmarks, but the aberrant marks held considerable destructive power. At first it was a simple purge, as the aberrants were hunted down one by one. But in the third year of this inquisition, Lord Halas Tarkanan gathered his aberrant kindred. Tarkanan, a brilliant tactician, used his military skills and the power of the aberrant dragonmarks to turn the tide of battle. Tarkanan and his queen seized control of Sharn, turning it into a bastion for the aberrant marks. In the end, Tarkanan simply didn’t have the numbers to overcome his enemies. The battle continued for another four years, but Tarkanan and his forces were slowly beaten back to Sharn. As House Cannith, House Deneith, and the armies of pre-Breland closed in, Tarkanan and the Lady of the Plague called upon the full power of their aberrant dragonmarks and released horrific magical forces. Terrible quakes caused parts of the city to collapse, and rivers of lava flowed up from the fiery lake deep below. Those who escaped the flames were devoured by swarms of vermin or stricken down by deadly plagues. The War of the Mark was over—but Sharn had suffered greatly and was abandoned. For over five hundred years, superstitious folk shunned the ruined city, muttering about the curses of the aberrant lords. Despite the superstitions, the location had considerable strategic and economic value. When Galifar I took control of the Five Nations, he sent a force to rebuild the ruined city. House Cannith played a critical role in the reconstruction, and to this day House Cannith remains one of the most influential forces in Sharn. Dwarf engineers were brought in from the Mror Holds, and a few of the Brelish nobles invested a great deal of gold in the city. Chief among these was the ir’Tain family. The ir’Tains are known as the slumlords of Sharn, and over the centuries the family has made a fortune from its many tenement properties. Today, the ir’Tains are one of the most powerful noble families in Breland; Lord Hass ir’Tain is an influential member of the Breland Parliament, and his mother Celyria is the unquestioned leader of high society in Sharn. Other powerful families and merchants flocked to the new city, and Sharn prospered and grew. When work began, only a few towers remained standing above the ancient goblin foundations and human ruins. It was believed that the curse of the Lady of the Plague still lingered in the darkness, and the remnants of the old cities were quickly sealed away. In time they were forgotten, lost in the shadows of the new towers that stretched toward the sky. Occasionally treasure-hunters venture down into the haunted levels that lie between the Lower-City and the Cogs, but the vast majority of the citizens know little or nothing of the ruins that lie in the Depths. Today, Sharn stands as a center for trade, diplomacy, and intrigue, a city with an important role to play in the future of Khorvaire. When dealing with Sharn, remember that the city has an ancient and rich history, and that as you descend you are effectively traveling through time. The lowest levels of the oldest towers are over ten thousand years old, and the buildings within them have gone through many changes. What is now an apartment complex might once have been a cathedral. A tavern might have been a hobgoblin armory. This sense of history and change can add a great deal of color to an otherwise simple location.Architecture
A riot of architectural styles and designs play through the city’s impressive skyline. From its deepest foundations to its highest spires, Sharn displays the history of the continent for all to see. Heavy, oppressive goblinoid architecture provides the base for much of the city, its stonework reaching back to a time when humans did not exist on this continent. Atop this ancient foundation, the periods of human civilization stack one on top of the other as the city reaches for the clouds.
Almost all of its buildings stretch hundreds of feet into the sky, and some are built among the clouds. Great bridges span the space between towers, most of them lined with businesses. Massive cranes haul freight up from the wharfs to the warehouse districts, while magic lifts carry the wealthiest citizens around their towertop neighborhoods. And things fly—from skycars carrying a dozen passengers to soarsleds carrying one, flying carpets, airships, and any number of personal magic items, the inhabitant make great use of Sharn’s manifest zone.
Sharn consists of a number of common elements that take on amazing proportions within the city’s dizzying heights. These features are described below.
Towers
The towers of Sharn range in height from about 100 feet to nearly a mile tall, but their basic construction resembles that of a traditional castle or other stone building. Extensive magic goes into their construction, from the spells used to lift blocks of stone to such enormous heights to the magic that strengthens and supports the towers, allowing them to stand despite all probability. Even with such magic in place, the towers are generally broad at the bottom and narrow at the top, many of them peaking in elegant spires or domes, while others are crowned with flat platforms that hold parks, pools, or small estates. The streets of the ancient city have been swallowed up as towers were built upward and lower walls thickened, to the point that now the towers tend to merge at ground level into a solid maze of walls, jumbled together with no discernable pattern. Most towers are roughly 800 to 2,500 feet in diameter at the bottom, narrowing to about 200 to 600 feet in diameter at the top. Some have narrower spires extending farther upward. Every tower is built of magically reinforced stone, with hardness 16 and AC 3. Climbing a tower wall requires a DC 22 Climb check. A typical Lower-City exterior wall is 15 feet thick, with 2,340 hp per 10-foot section. In the Middle-City, exterior walls are 10 feet thick, with 1,440 hp per 10-foot section. In the Upper-City, exterior walls are only 5 feet thick, with 900 hp per 10-foot section. Interior walls also consist of stone construction. Some serve important structural functions and are as thick as exterior walls, but most are only 1 foot thick, with 90 hp per 10-foot section. In general, a tower has one story per 10–12 feet of height. Ceilings tend to be lower (and stories packed more closely together) at lower levels and higher toward the top levels, but there are certainly exceptions (warehouse towers, for example, usually have high ceilings). Stories might also be subdivided: a popular residential design features an open central plaza, 20 feet or more in height, surrounded by two-story homes built as if hanging off the wall of the tower. A minor variation on this design has even higher ceilings and three-story units surrounding the plaza, with the bottom story of each unit housing a business. Most towers are studded with balconies, riddled with windows, and connected to neighboring towers with bridges.Balconies
Balconies range from simple ledges with protective railings where a homeowner can step outside to enjoy the sunset, to large platforms where skycars can land to discharge passengers. Most towers have at least one balcony per story; many towers have many more balconies, at least at certain levels. Since flying is so prevalent in the city, any balcony is a potential entry point to a tower. Balconies opening into businesses or residences can be secured by some means, ranging from a simple door or portcullis to magical means such as a wall of force or an alarm spell. A great number of balconies, particularly the larger ones, open into public space. STREETS Streets run through the towers of Sharn, allowing horses, mules, and wagons to travel in a fairly normal fashion within the city. Unlike the streets of a typical city, most of these streets are broad thoroughfares rather than twisting alleyways, either suspended high above the ground, arcing around towers, or constructed through the center of a tower or other building. These streets are 25 feet wide with 5-foot-wide walkways on either side. Because the streets of Sharn are almost entirely indoors, most are artificially lit with everbright lanterns or everburning torches. In general, the upper levels have the best lighting, while torches in the Cogs are spaced so far apart as to leave large spaces of darkness.Bridges
Most bridges connect the streets running through the towers, allowing wagons and pedestrians to cross from one spire to the next. As such, they are generally as wide as the streets. Low walls along the edges of a bridge prevent people from falling accidentally. Major bridges can be as wide as 50 feet across, and actually have structures built along the edges, crowding the roadway down to a width of 10 feet or so. Such bridges are popular sites for street fairs and open markets. A great number of narrower bridges span the gulfs between towers as well, not designed for carrying wagons but for facilitating pedestrian traffic. These bridges are five to ten feet wide and almost always have low walls or railings.Lifts
One of the most important uses of magic in Sharn is in the creation of magic lifts to facilitate vertical travel between the levels of towers. Particularly at lower levels, ramps wind around the inside or outside of large towers to get wagons from level to level, but at higher levels special levitation devices carry passengers and even cargo up and down within the towers.Falling
Falling from potentially deadly heights presents a constant danger in the City of Towers. Whether a character is bull-rushed over the side of a bridge, knocked from a soarsled, or thrown offabalcony,the sudden stop far below can have deadly consequences. Fortunately, Sharn has precautions in place to reduce the number of deaths that result from falls. The city offers a standard reward of 25 gp to a spellcaster who casts feather fall on a falling person. The reward is large enough, and the risk of falling real enough, that spellcasters who can cast feather fall almost always keep one prepared on a daily basis. Watch patrols usually carry a wand of feather fall, but few members know how to activate it. Bridges in the Upper-City and Middle-City are also warded with permanent feather fall effects to protect those using them from falling bodies and other large objects. Such wards are triggered automatically when an object approaches within 30 feet of the top or sides of a bridge. This is effectively a magic trap that resets automatically and immediately. A popular magic item among those that can affordone,a feather fall talisman is a single-use item containing a feather fall spell. The trick to using this item is timing. Because it works only once and lasts for a single round, it must be activated within 60 feet of the ground in order to protect its wearer from falling damage. Since falls in Sharn can involve heights of a mile or more, this is not always easy to accomplish. A DC 10 Wisdom check can be used to determine if a character successfully times activation.Geography
Most of Sharn’s neighborhoods are vertically stratified. For example, while Menthis Plateau is known as a center of entertainment, the type and quality of entertainment available varies among the different levels of the towers. The upper levels (usually referred to as “Upper Menthis”) offer high art in the forms of opera, theater, and symphony, as well as housing Morgrave University and a thriving community of writers and other artists. The middle levels (“Middle Menthis”) house a thriving theater district with more affordable shows, a large number of professional minstrels, acrobats, and similar entertainers, and a year-round circus complete with animals. The lower levels (“Lower Menthis”) contain a very different sort of theater district marked by burlesque shows, a red light district, and a great number of taverns for cheap and bawdy entertainment.
A long wall rings the Central Plateau at its lowest level, interrupted by towers along its entire length. Inside the wall, structures rise higher and higher toward the tallest towers near the middle, creating
a great artificial mountain at the heart of the city. Mostly populated by the upper and middle classes, the Central Plateau houses the seat of the city’s government, its wealthiest citizens, and its finest businesses. Embassies from other nations, important representatives of the dragonmarked houses, and banks are found here as well.
Menthis Plateau serves as the entertainment hub of the city, and is home to Morgrave University and a variegated quilt of different races. Certainly the most trendy of Sharn’s quarters, Menthis is a popular tourist destination. No walls surround Menthis, though its tallest towers are spread along its outer rim. The enormous dome of Morgrave University, ringed by five tall, slender towers, stands near the center of the plateau.
Northedge, the most residential of Sharn’s quarters, contains everything from towertop penthouses in the heights to tightly packed apartments on the lower levels. Aside from a marketplace
district near the bottom of the towers, Northedge is a quiet neighborhood with little commerce and little crime.
Dura, the largest quarter in Sharn, covers the great expanse of the western plateau from the cliffs overlooking the Dagger River to the crevasse of the Western Cog. It is also the poorest, excepting the Cogs, with even its topmost levels solidly middle class. Dura mixes various businesses and housing, never approaching a true residential district but holding a number of apartments, tenements, and (near the bottom) slums. The lower levels of Dura include a large population of immigrants from Darguun and Droaam, forming a neighborhood of goblinoids and other monstrous residents.
Cliffside is a neighborhood perched precariously on the side of the cliffs above the Dagger River and Sharn’s waterfront. It includes the waterfront businesses far below Dura, as well as towers built up from the cliff face and a shantytown of caves dug into the sides of the southern cliffs overlooking the Hilt. The businesses of Cliffside are either directly related to shipping or cater to boat crews, adventurers, and other transients.
Tavick’s Landing, at the eastern edge of the city, is in some ways defined by being the terminus of the Orien lightning rail line and trade road. The lower levels cater to travelers and traders entering Sharn by rail, and include an entire city district that has been converted to provide housing for refugees from the Last War. The middle and upper levels are broader in their purposes, including a variety of trades, services, and residential districts.
Skyway is magically suspended above the city on gigantic disks of force, like Tenser’s floatingdisks taken to a fantastic extreme. These disks are among the many magic items and effects in the city that work only because of the presence of the manifest zone linked to Syrania. Not a cloud palace but an actual extension of the city, Skyway includes some of Sharn’s finest inns and restaurants, exotic and upscale trades, and a number of mansions belonging to the very richest citizens.
The Depths is the generic name for everything that lies beneath the city’s main plateau, excepting Cliffside and the Cogs far below. The
upper levels give way to active and inactive sewers, some of which have their own inhabitants, as well as the mostly forgotten ruins of earlier settlements built long before the towers started to rise. Far below and accessed by well-maintained tunnels and shafts, the Cogs sit at the very base of Sharn and serve as an actively populated center of industry. In fact, the roots of modern Sharn’s towers lie underground in some places, buried by the passing of centuries.
The Cogs are the churning heart of the city, full of forges and foundries powered by steaming geysers, molten lava, and bound fire elementals. Extending far below the foundations of Sharn’s towers and built along the banks of the great chasms that divide the city, the Cogs incorporate elements of ancient ruins and natural caverns.
Quarters, Wards and Districts
The city of Sharn is divided into smaller units: quarters, wards, and districts. The smallest unit is a district. Equivalent to a neighborhood, a district has a population ranging from 1,400 people to over 4,000 in the larger districts of Dura. Businesses of similar types tend to cluster in districts, giving each district a particular character as well as a definite social class (upper, middle, or lower). In general, the most densely populated districts are the lowerclass districts. Examples of districts include Highest Towers, the civic center of Sharn, and Dragoneyes, a red light district. A ward consists of three to nine districts. To an extent, districts of similar type and social class cluster together in wards, though there is some variation in individual wards. The wards of Sharn are grouped vertically as well as horizontally, so there are upper, middle, and lower wards in each area of the city. Upper-class districts tend to be found in upper wards. Examples of wards include the Upper Central Plateau (known simply as Upper Central), which includes Sharn’s financial and civic districts, and Lower Tavick’s Landing, which includes businesses catering to merchants arriving in Sharn by Orien caravan or lightning rail. Quarters, the largest divisions of the city, generally consist of three wards apiece and are divided based on the actual topography of Sharn’s plateaus. Examples of quarters include the Central Plateau and Tavick’s Landing.I’ve been here a week, and it’s still hard not to be 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 massive towers, and up above I can see the burning ring of an elemental airship. Staring into the sky, I nearly walk into a massive warforged juggernaut. It’s my first time seeing one… but there’s so many things I’ve never seen in this place. A tattooed elf haggles with a masked halfling, arguing about the price of lizard meat. 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… that warforged stole my purse.
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