Coruscia

Spires of crimson and gold gleam above a sea of basalt... truly, one cannot escape the Emperor's gaze in his own ruling seat!

— citizen

Coruscia is the usual capital of the Medimian Empire. It sprawls across the central Montes Palatinus range, with the Imperial Palace and the Lucian Cathedral watching over the rest of the capital from the Archspire. Its name draws both from its status as the Empire's ruling seat and from the name of its surrounding mountains: Coruscia references a crown in the ancient tongue that Medimia's people once spoke, and similarly, palatinus references the concept of a palace.
Indeed, Coruscia seems like a gleaming gem to many visitors, its wonders starkly visible like an unending palace. Undesirable aspects of the city are hidden well out of sight beneath the basalt stone that functions as the city's base and favoured building material, and red banners flutter in the wind as a crimson reminder of the nation its inhabitants are lucky enough to call home.

Demographics

All and any of us, there are. Horns and hooves and hair and-- not halos! No halos here.

— street rat

Coruscia, like the majority of the Medimian Empire, is heavily dominated by its human population more than any other. Halflings are the next most populous species, though due to the Empire's complicated history of oppression, most halflings are relegated to lesser roles alongside the other smaller races (such as ratfolk and gnomes). Mixed-race kin, such as the half-elves and half-orcs, find it easy to eke out a living in the Medimian Empire due to their desirable traits from oft-distant relatives, and life in the Crowning City is made easier for them with their tendency to join the Empire's vast armies.

Coruscian Tiefling by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Tieflings are particularly prolific throughout the Empire, and though demon-descended tieflings are shunned and treated with significant revulsion, those with infernal roots are granted a number of privileges due to their lineage.
Some tieflings are lucky enough to become acquainted with their Hellish forebears as they rise in Medimian ranks, often securing positions for themselves as clerks both in their mortal life and the damnation that will undoubtedly follow them.
Other outsiders, like ifrits, are treated similarly to the half-species with regard to their natural abilities, with the exception being aasimar. Coruscian-dwelling aasimar fall into three groups: slaves, examples, and rebels. Whilst they can live peacefully in other areas of the Empire, It is exceedingly rare for any aasimar in Coruscia to be left entirely free to their own devices, given their links to Heaven - and their historical ties to Medimia's most vicious enemy, the light-addled Aletheian Empire.

Other species, like the dwarves and elves, are not entirely uncommon within Coruscia - but their presence is something to be remarked on and reported. Few feel comfortable lingering for too long, ties to their ancestral homes calling them away. Those who do remain are either extremely lucky in their lot - or the exact opposite. Notably, Galasthin is one of a few nations that maintain treaties with the Empire to retrieve any wayward members of their nation - and for Galasthin in particular, that refers to all elves.

Bustling Coruscian Market by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Founders

• Empress Lucia Seianus Adrastea

Alternative Name(s)

the City of Eyes, the Crowning City

Type

Capital

Related Ethnicities

• Central Medimian
• Dimpled Dolls

Inhabitant Demonym

Coruscian

Location under

Montes Palatinus

Included Locations

• Lord's Tower
• Red Cathedral

Owner/Ruler

Emperor Decentian

Ruling/Owning Rank

Emperor of the Medimian Empire

Owning Organization

Medimian Empire

Related Traditions

• Festival of the Seared Veil

Characters in Location

• Emperor Decentian

Governance

The Emperor seems so far away up there, but I saw the Consul at the Crownmarket just last week. Okay, he was surrounded by fifty guards, but still!

— street rat

The Crowning City is ruled most directly by the Emperor of Medimia, currently Emperor Decentian, though it is generally administered on a day-to-day basis by the Emperor's advisors and heirs (known as the Imperial Advisory Council) in conjunction with the Consul of Coruscia. As the Emperor's personal seat of power and crowning jewel of the Empire, Coruscia's laws differ greatly from those of other areas of the Empire, and the officials leading the city are responsible for communicating with the Rubies Regnant on any potential issues that may arise.
The Consul handles affairs such as taxation and minor law-ruling with input from the Imperial Advisory Council, whilst the Council handles all military-adjacent matters in the city. As the Emperor's heir is generally included in this council, it is largely understood to be a way of introducing the future Emperor or Empress to the citizenry and a method to ensure they understand the weight of their decisions. Heirs are included from an age as young as seven, and remain on the council alongside their other duties until it is their turn to rule. There have been exceptions to this: some heirs have lived and died on the battlefield with little chance for politicking, and some have simply become too foolish for the opportunity to make sense.
Though the tradition has remained unbroken for some two hundred years, it now seems to be under threat: with the recent absence of Grand Duchess Lucilia, his third child, the Emperor's heirs have withdrawn from public appearances. The exact cause of the Duchess's disappearance is as of yet unknown, but word throughout the city is that a grave sickness has befallen her, for the Emperor's wife has begun to don the black of grief over the scarlet of faith. Prayers for the safety and health of the Duchess are not yet officially sanctioned, but many of the smaller churches and shrines throughout the city have begun to practice them regardless out of respect for the imperial family.

The Atrium Undarum by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Districts

Due to its mountainous terrain, Coruscia's many districts - known as sectors, most commonly - sprawl across vast spreads of land both above and beneath the surface of Coruscia. Carriages serve as general public transport, stopping at set markers throughout the sectors on a schedule as strict as clockwork; many are now partially automated by careful runework, though resistance to complete automation still exists. Shadowgates - portals that briefly leap through the Shadow Plane - are well-guarded passages around the city as well, but their use is heavily regulated lest the creatures of the Shadow Plane prey on Coruscia's inhabitants.

The Lucian Cathedral

Named for Empress Lucia Seianus Adrastea, the Cathedral stretches high above Coruscia. At night, its scarlet windows glow crimson with infernal energies.
It is said that from here, the eyes of Hell are always watching.

The Imperial Palace

Seat of the Emperor, the Palace adjoins the Cathedral and extends down into the very heart of the Archspire - the mountain on which it sits.
Here, conquests are planned and fine balls are held. Here, many enter with dreams of glory, never to exit its gates again.

The Lord's Tower

One of the more gruesome forms of entertainment in Coruscia, the Tower is the final battlefield for would-be heroes that stand against Medimia.
Otherwise doomed, these adventurers participate in an intense bloodsport tournament that invariably leads to one of two outcomes: darker faith, or final death.

Sector Merianum

Home to decorated and respected military, as well as the more standard barracks. Citadel Catenis stands tall here as the greatest of Coruscia's prisons; rumour holds that at its lower depths, the rough-hewn basalt cells give way to flaming lava. Very few who are imprisoned in the lower levels of the Citadel are ever released.
This sector continues underground, where shadowgates and tunnels connect Medimia's military throughout the capital and across the continent.
The Sigilite Beacons that surround Coruscia are linked to a central control array here, allowing for overrides in emergency situations, and at least five members of the Amethystine Regiment are permanently anchored to the array as emergency power sources.

Sector Caudecium

Coruscia's administrative heart, surrounding the Palace and Cathedral. Legal matters for the Consul are brought to the Atrium Undarum, intense forums of debate echo through the halls of Enthymus, and scribes ever run their quills dry as they take page after page of notes through the countless buildings of endless bureacracy.
It is perhaps the most dull sector, by many standards, in terms of the work done there.
Some consider Sector Caudecium to be truly the closest to Hell one can get: they are not entirely wrong, for lesser devils will often seek contracts with mortals here, enshrining the ink-stained scrolls binding the mortal's soul in Medimia's own records and law. They draw some amusement in binding souls not only by Hell's law, but also by the mortal's own - a twice-wrought contract is doubly hard to escape.

Sector Diomedaes

Inhabited by the most grand and glorious of Medimian aristocracy, Sector Diomedaes is considered accessible to only the most elite of society. Its streets are lined with real gold, and every estate within the high boundary walls could easily be considered a palace in its own right.
Lower-class individuals are utterly forbidden from this sector without a writ of service, and even then, must remain unseen by their noble masters.
It is rumoured that one of the grandest estates of Sector Diomedaes is owned by one of Hell's most powerful beings, though the stories vary on who this figure may be. Known simply as Paradise, the elaborate manor's gates open only at night and none of its visitors are ever truly seen - their features always covered by the scarlet robes and veils of the most faithful.

Sector Praeconium

Known colloquially as the Crown Market (or Mercatus Coruscia, in formal writing), Sector Praeconium is Coruscia's grandest market. It lies up some few flights of stairs from the ship docks, allowing for traders to travel across the Empire with their goods, and a shadowgate is all that separates it from Coruscia's isolated airship docks.
The sector, despite its usual colloquial name, was formally named in honour of one of Medimia's most prolific traders who was among the first to sail to all of Istralar's accessible continents with trade goods in tow. It is said that the contract for his soul is buried beneath the market's central stones, placed there in case his spirit need be called forth from where it rests to serve the nation to which he dedicated his days.
Just about anything can be found in the Crown Market, if the right price is paid. Just about anything. Less-savoury markets, such as those for pleasure or flesh, are restricted in their practice to the Market's underground reaches, where diligent guards keep noble eyes from veering too low and small hands from reaching too high.

Sector Laevinum

Sweeping spires dominate the educational centre of Coruscia, and members of the Amethystine Regiment live almost freely within the confines of this particular district. Home to Coruscia's academies of arts, magic, music, knowledge, mathematics, science, and more, it should come as no surprise that Sector Laevinum is a very well-travelled areas of the city.
Students often choose to live on-campus, either paying for their studies in gold or service. Many are sponsored by the state, with a contract binding them to some few years in the Medimian military as recompense for their training. It's considered a fantastic deal for those who would otherwise not have the means to survive, and contributes greatly to the country's positive reputation amongst many of its people.
Repositories of forbidden texts do exist in this Sector, but many are instead locked away within the Cathedral's own vaults, where security is far higher. This simple knowledge deters many would-be thieves and encourages scholars to entrust their work to the Imperial Faith.

The Underneath

Medimia's subterranean reaches are where its poorest citizens dwell, cast aside by the bustling crowds above and forced off the streets by the guards. Those who cannot survive elsewhere live in rough-hewn cells of stone, subsisting on the meagre daily rations provided by the Emperor's goodwill.
None will starve in Medimia, but the price they pay is steep: the Underneath regularly goes unguarded, leaving its inhabitants as prey for the infernal beings that traverse Coruscia's nights. It is not uncommon for cells to be found empty with no trace of their inhabitants, and those who live this half-existence know the threat of this well. Those that go untouched have their ways of remaining so, whether that be dedication to illicit deities of Heaven or precious salt circles drawn around their beds.
Of course, this has given way to illicit markets and sparks of rebellion, but in the Capital, all reaches the eyes of the Emperor. In the past, the Underneath has been stained red by purges of rebellions; the stones bear the stains to this day.

Other sectors, largely residential in nature, do exist throughout the city, providing homes to the thousands of regular citizens and travellers Coruscia hosts. Food is farmed on the city's outskirts and underground, and is carried forth through shadowgates and by the eerie carriages that silently glide through the streets at dawn and dusk. The city is well laid out, with strict naming conventions providing easy traversal between districts and shortcuts built into roads, bridges, underpasses, and similar structures to prevent any impediment to traffic: in times of war, these are all enchanted to close.
As mentioned, Sigilite Beacons line the walls of every sector as tall bastions of power. They are each linked to nearby guard postings, and both allow the city's defenders to communicate quickly and to draw magical arrays into being to halt criminal scum in their tracks. They are well-maintained by the Cathedral's own priesthood, and often draw their magic from members of the Amethystine Regiment.

Coruscia, City of Eyes by Hanhula (via Midjourney)