Sharn, the City of Towers

A mission set up to guide the lost souls of Lower Dura toward new, productive lives sells its most hopeless cases to a cult that needs victims for human sacrifice. A wealthy scholar hires adventurers to pick up a parcel for him at the waterfront, but another group of adventurers, hired by the rightful owner of the stolen artifact, attacks them there. A simple robbery in a nondescript alchemy shop propels adventurers into the depths of the city in search of a ring of thieves with an interest in releasing a long-forgotten demon lord. Agents of Droaam attack a Knight of the Citadel, and the dying knight begs the adventurers who fought off the assassins to take a mystical talisman to the Knight-Marshal. A world-weary adventurer recruits allies for one last expedition into the heart of Xen’drik, while the Emerald Claw plans sabotage and revenge.
Every day, a hundred adventures unfold in the City of Towers. Heroes arise and meet their doom; treasures are unearthed, stolen, and recovered; and villains plot unending schemes of wickedness to unleash upon the city. In districts from soaring Skyway to the sweltering Cogs, thousands upon thousands of people from every race and nation toil and play, eat, drink, and die among the towers. The city inspires a range of emotions, from awe to disgust. Its architecture and the pervasive magic of flight, the bustling activity of its towers, the tremendous array of cultural, culinary, and commercial delights it offers, and its proximity to the lost continent of Xen’drik draw pilgrims and adventurers from around the world. Its crime rates, the debauchery offered among its many entertainments, the well-known corruption of its leaders, and the threat of ancient monsters lurking beneath its sewers provoke fear and censure from those of less adventurous spirit.¹
This is the largest city in not just all of Khorvaire, but the whole of Eberron itself.
¹Taken from Sharn - City of Towers by Keith Baker and James Wyatt, pg. 7.

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. All nationalities are represented, and there is a particularly large Cyran refugee population, the largest population of Cyran's outside of New Cyran.

Government

Sharn is ruled by a council of seventeen, elected by the denizens of each ward, who in turn also elect the mayor. They are officially part of Breland, and part of their taxes go to that nation, but they are allowed to make their own laws (as long as they remain within the Code of Galifar) and set their own taxation rates.

Industry & Trade

The most important industry is that of weapons, armor and magical artifacts powered by their lava pools and by House Canith's designs. The docks are also vitally important they are the main link to Xen'dirk.

Infrastructure

Industry takes place down in the Cogs. The docks down on Cliffside bring in goods to the Warehouses in the lower levels and lifts then bring them around the city. There is a lightning rail station called Terminus Station located in the lower wards, and in the Skyway is a newly built airship platform. The University of Morgrave is world-renowned for their studies into Xen'drik and the ancient Giant Empire that once spanned it. The surrounding land helps feed the vast population and supplements what it imports daily, and water is taken up by magical means from the Dagger River and piped throughout the city. The plumbing is relatively advanced, and the sewers are old but work. Modern Sharn is built upon the bones of several older cities, that are warded off but potentially hold many secrets. Bellow that still are the lava pools that feeds its massive industry.

Guilds and Factions

Councilors - each of the individual councilors are supposed to represent the interest of the people that elected them, but it is well known they are often part of larger agendas. They in turn appoint a mayor who is the city representative beyond Sharn And although a position of power in itself is very much controlled by the Councilors. 
The King's Men - Although they do take orders from the Councilors, they are mostly here under direct order from the king of Breland himself. They investigate any threat to Breland as a whole that might appear in Sharn as well as providing military aid within Sharn if it is ever needed. 
The City Watch - the leader is appointed by the Councilors and they take their orders from them, but do on occasion work with the King's Men. However it is also known that they are quite corrupt, and accepting bribes is not uncommon.
Embassies - although not the capital of Breland there are embassies for all the nations recognised by the Treaty of Thronehold here as the huge population of Sharn means there are communities from all nationalities residing here that may often need representation, as well as direct access to the economics of Sharn. 
Dragonmark Houses - While all of the Dragonmark Houses are present and active in Sharn, only House Orien, House Canith, House Deneith and House Tharask hold official embasies here. 
Clan Borromar - The most powerful criminal organization in Sham. Operating out of its headquarters and key holdings in the Little Plains district of Middle Menthis, the Boromar Clan controls gambling, smuggling, and theft in Sham. The Boromar Clan's network of extortion, bribery, and blackmail extends from Lower Dura to Skyway. The Boromars' influence extends beyond criminal enterprises into many legitimate circles of power. Ilyra Boromar sits on the city council, and a number ofother councilors are close allies of the clan. The family has ties by marriage to House Jorasco. The family owns tenements throughout Sharn and invests in shipping, storing both legal goods and contraband in warehouses.
Daask - Formed by monstrous immigrants from Droaam, Daask has been building its power in the Khyber's Gate and Malleon's Gate districts of Sham for the last decade. It is most infamous for its monstrous enforcers, but the organization also draws members from the destitute populace of Sham-largely goblins and shifters, but also humans, dwarves, and any other humanoid who feels that the current system has failed them. Daask makes its money through acts of violence, from mugging to armed robbery to outright pillaging. The group has diversified in recent years, building an extortion racket-threatening violence if tribute isn't paid-and entering into the drug trade, selling both dreamlily and a mysterious substance called dragon's blood.
House Tarkanan - The smallest of the four criminal organisations, House Tarkanan has no interest in claiming territory or dominating the criminal underworld. The house takes neither side in the war between the Boromar Clan and Daask, and it will not assassinate high-ranking members of either organization. In other matters, it sells its services to all who have the gold to pay for them. House Tarkanan's top priority is using its wealth to protect, train, and care for people who have aberrant marks. The leaders of the house are pragmatists and soldiers, and they train their recruits to be warriors and thieves.
The Tyrants - No criminal guild in Sharn is more shrouded in mystery than the Tyrants. This organization of changelings deals in secrets and lies, selling forgeries, running long cons, and treating identities as a commodity. The Tyrants have spies throughout the city, even in places where they have no current plans or contracts. The organization gathers as many secrets as possible, then sells thatinformation to the highest bidder, uses it for blackmail, or stores it for a time when it becomes useful.

History

The city now known as Sharn was built upon a foundation that dates back thousands of years before humans ever settled Khorvaire. During that time, the hobgoblin Dhakaani Empire's greatest city was carved into the jagged cliffs that Sharn now towers over. This city was called Ja'Shaarat. This metropolis didn't rise toward the skies, as Sharn does. Instead, the architects of the Dhakaani built a vast number of chambers and tunnels into and under the ground. As the city grew in size, the Dhakaani eventually would build great monolithic buildings on the plateaus above the Dagger River that would later serve as the foundations for Sharn. When the Daelkyr invaded Eberron, the city was devastated, and the hobgoblins never had a chance to restore it to its greater glory.
Thousands of years later when human settlers from Sarlona began to explore Khorvaire, the Dagger River was stumbled upon. The river led Malleon the Reaver and his explorers to the site where Ja'Shaarat once stood. There he enslaved what goblins still resided in the ruins and erected a fortress within the ruins. He sealed off the lower wards of the ancient hobgoblin city and named the city Shaarat, as a result of stories told by the goblins he enslaved. For 600 years, Shaarat prospered and grew into a powerful metropolis once again. Breggor Firstking, the first ruler of what would become Breland, eventually conquered Shaarat and renamed it Sharn.
Over the course of the next 800 years, Sharn's towers began to rise and the city developed into something resembling Sharn today. Around this time, the Dragonmarked Houses began to prosper and this helped cultivate Sharn into economic power. But the Dragonmarked Houses also brought with them the War of the Mark. The leader of those who bore the aberrant dragonmark, Tarkanan, took control of Sharn and turned it into a home for all who wore the destructive marks.
Tarkanan couldn't hold the city for long, but in the end he used his terrible powers to destroy much of the city. For the next 500 years, the city was looked down upon and the city remained in ruins. Then, when Galifar I took control of the Five Nations he rebuilt Sharn. 
In more recent history, although Sham was never subjected to a sustained assault during the Great War, 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.

Architecture

Sharn rises from five distinct plateaus. While each plateau has its own unique feel and personality, you have to remember that the city also rises vertically into the usually cloud-filled sky. So, while the city is divided into horizontal neighborhoods, it is also divided and stratified vertically. 
Take a typical tower block in the Central Plateau. Starting at the uppermost level of the city, Skyway floats above the Central Plateau’s tallest towers that actually touch the ground. The UpperCity sees the most light and enjoys the freshest air, and consequently the most well to do members of society live and work among the skybridges and platforms and balconies that extend from the uppermost towers.
Dropping down to the next section, we come to the Middle-City. This part of the city is a bit more enclosed than the section above it, but there are still open-air balconies and platforms here and there. A wide range of middle-class citizens live and work in this region. Descending farther, we arrive in the Lower City, where the poor must toil and struggle to survive. Few windows and only the occasional balcony or skybridge can be found among these levels, where the tower foundations grow close together and seem to merge with each other in ways almost unimagined in the higher sections of the city. 
Beneath the Lower-City, the weight of Sharn’s towers seems to crush all memories of the Depths. Sewer networks fill the upper regions of the Depths before giving way to the ancient ruins and forgotten levels of earlier ages. Passages and shafts are neglected, and many have collapsed over the centuries, but who knows what wonders and horrors roam these vaults that have been abandoned by those living higher in the city.
At the very base of the city, beneath ground level, lies the Cogs, whose great foundries and massive forges fuel Sharn’s industrial economy. Shafts and tunnels that bypass the Depths lead directly to the Cogs. In all, it’s hard to tell where one vertical section of the city begins and another one ends, and it certainly isn’t a uniform division from one ward to another.

Geography

Sharn looms atop the cliffs overlooking the Hilt, a bay at the mouth of the Dagger River in southern Breland. The city sits upon the foundation of an ancient hobgoblin city. Below that, a rumored lake of molten lava rests, but its presence can be felt only in the lowest parts of Sharn, the Cogs.
The inhospitable outcropping that Sharn sits on allows the city to grow only in vertical height. This might have been a problem for other cities, but Sharn happens to be located within a manifest zone linked to the plane of Syrania, the Azure Sky. The manifest zone enhances magic that creates flight and levitation. This allows Sharn to have towers that rise nearly a mile in height, transportational flight, and even a section of the city that floats above the highest towers.

Natural Resources

The Lava pools in the Cogs, and the Dagger river are the main natural resources of Sharn. The manifest zone is an un-natural resource that is also important in allowing Sharn to exist in the way it does.

Founding Date

13YK

Alternative Name(s)

The City of Knives, The City of Lost Souls, The City of a Thousand Eyes, The Gateway to Xen’drik, and The Gateway to Perdition

Type

Metropolis

Population

Over 1,00,000 offical residents.

Location under

Khorvaire

Characters in Location

• Cavallah, Sharn Crime Boss of Daask