Asthareth
Asthareth, called the City of a Thousand Pages, is the largest and most consequential settlement on the Copper Bay, a city of accumulated histories stacked so densely upon one another that to understand it properly one must begin not with the city at all but with the geography that made it inevitable. The ancient cove of Calvar, where The Starfall River meets the bay at the foot of the pale ivory cliffs known today as The Starfall Gates, has drawn settlers to its sheltered waters for as long as any record survives, and longer still if the fragmentary evidence beneath the Archives is to be believed. Above those cliffs rises Scrivener's Mount, known in a tongue no longer spoken as Ethvar, the threshold above the water, its limestone face still threaded with the dark ghost-veins of Etherite that made it prized beyond all other sites in the ancient world.
The city of Asthareth itself was formally founded in 1876 AGS upon the ruins of The Library of Caradol and the tower of the Archmage whose name it bears, governed for most of its history by a Council of Ten drawn from its most powerful guilds, among them the Archivists' Sodality, the Merchant Venturer Company, the Compact of Hands, and the Scarlet Libertines, whose collective motto, Veritas et Lucrum, Truth and Profit, is carved above the Marble Tribunal and describes the city's character more honestly than any official proclamation ever has. Since the Rift Crisis of 2513 AGS, power has quietly consolidated in the office of Archon Telamar Bronzehide, a development the Council endorses in public and regards with rather more ambivalence in private, though in Asthareth ambivalence has always been the more profitable posture.
Government
The Covenant of Guilds
Asthareth is traditionally governed by the Council of Ten—representatives from the city's most powerful guilds who meet in the Marble Tribunal overlooking the bay. Unlike traditional nobility, council seats shift with economic power, leading to constant intrigue as guilds vie for influence.
This creates a city where knowledge is literally power—the Archivists hold the most prestigious position, but the Merchant Venturers have the gold.
During the Rift Crisis 30 years ago, The Council of Ten, recognizing that the distributed authority of guild governance proved inadequate during existential crisis, created the position of Archon to provide unified command during emergencies. Telamar Bronzehide's appointment was unanimous, his heroism and celestial heritage making him the obvious choice to lead the city through continued planar threats.
What was intended as temporary crisis management has evolved into permanent governance. As the Rift Crisis subsided, Telamar argued persuasively that the threats facing Asthareth required ongoing centralized leadership. The Council, impressed by the efficiency of unified command and reluctant to return to their often fractious deliberations, gradually ceded more authority to the Archon's office.
Today, Telamar holds powers that would have been unthinkable before the crisis: supreme military command, veto authority over Council decisions, direct oversight of the Archives, and the ability to declare states of emergency that suspend normal governance. The Council of Ten officially retains ultimate authority, but in practice, Telamar's recommendations are rarely opposed.
Industry & Trade
Asthareth's wealth flows from three sources:
Knowledge Trade - The city sells books, trained scholars, legal expertise, and historical research. Noble houses and kingdoms across the world pay handsomely for genealogies, treaty precedents, or technical manuals copied from the Archives.
Maritime Hub - As the largest port on Copper Bay, Asthareth serves as the transshipment point between Beldath, the coastal cities, and ships from distant lands. The harbor never sleeps.
Manufacturing - Particularly parchment, ink, rift-crystal lenses, precision instruments, and luxury goods. The Brec'th and Gris communities have made Asthareth a center for innovative craftsmanship.
Districts
High terrace:
The Archive Ward (Summit) The North western section of the highest terrace, where the magnificent Archives of Asthareth dominate the skyline. The current structure is a masterwork of white marble and crystal, but its foundations descend through multiple layers of construction—each era building atop the last. The deepest levels contain what remains of The Library of Caradol, sealed chambers from an age before the first recorded Harbinger cycle. Scholars whisper that some sections predate even the Thera themselves. Also contains the Scriptoria, housing many smaller libraries, specialized academies, bookbinders, parchment makers, ink alchemists, and the homes of wealthy scholars. Gris tinkers have workshops here where they develop new copying mechanisms. The air smells of vellum, lamp oil, and the peculiar scent of rift-crystal ink that never truly fades.
The High Ward The upper quarter of the city home to the council chambers, Archons Palace, and many nobles mansions.
Middle Terrace:
The Silver Ward in the east containing numerous temples as well as markets and housing.
The Brass Ward located along the western wall. Contains the Brass Gate, the largest entry point into Asthareth. Primarily residential. The north western section is commonly referred to as The Shades due to the tall ridges along three sides that block out most sunlight. The Shades are where most of the Gris in Asthareth dwell.
The Bridge Ward central section that houses the gate to the Bridge of Stars which spans the cliffs along The Starfall River. Contains many of the cities markets and commercial districts. Broad plazas and covered markets where goods from across the world change hands. Banking houses run by sharp-minded Gris handle letters of credit. Kar'th gem cutters maintain shops next to elven silk merchants. The famous Auction of Rarities occurs here each new moon, where everything from ancient artifacts to live chimeras might appear on the block.
Western Villages outside the Brass Gate lies numerous hamlets and villages along the base of the Scrivener's Mount. The area also contains several queries and mines.
The Harbor Terrace
Stone Ward Lower quarter located under the Bridge of Stars. Primarily inhabited by crafters and laborers. The Temple of Calvandra is located here
Dock Ward Section of Asthareth in the lower quarter. Contains the docks, the Fighting Pits, and a large residential area. Referred to as the Muddy by its inhabitants. A maze of warehouses, taverns, flophouses, and shipyards. Here the cosmopolitan nature of Asthareth shows most clearly—Tabaxi sailors gamble with human dockhands, Kar'th engineers repair Gris -designed cranes, and in the right tavern you might hear a dozen languages before finishing your first drink.
The community of Southmere is located on the eastern shore of Calvar Cove, lying outside the direct reach of the guild council and the Archon's office, governed loosely if at all, populated by harbor pilots, lighthouse keepers, and fisherfolk who have no particular loyalty to Astharene institutions, it is exactly the kind of place where the Unfettered might maintain a quiet presence, or where someone who needs to be near the city without being in it might choose to live. Often referred to as The Farside by Mudders
Guilds and Factions
The Major Guilds
- The Archivists' Sodality - Controls the Archives and all scribal work
- The Shipwrights' Union - Commands the harbors and maritime trade
- The Merchant Venturer Company - Handles foreign trade and banking
- The Lampkeepers - Maintains the rift-crystal infrastructure and lighthouses
- The Compact of Hands - Collective term for the high priests of the temples of the four Labors
- The Asthareth Guard - Part Army and part City Watch, The Asthareth Guard keeps the peace in both the city and the surrounding territories
- The Scarlet Libertines - Asthareth's guild of legal pleasures, protecting the workers of the vice trades, regulating gambling, drink, pipeweed, and sex work within the city's walls, and ensuring that what is permitted remains orderly enough that no one has cause to make it otherwise.
Factions and Intrigue
The Covenant of Keys - A secret society of Archivists who believe they're protecting dangerous knowledge in the Caradol Depths from those who would misuse it. They sometimes hire adventurers for clandestine work.
The Unfettered - A loose coalition of merchant captains, smugglers, and free traders who resist the guilds' price-fixing and monopolies. They operate from the Underdock.
The Quorum of Whispers - Spies, information brokers, and blackmailers who trade in secrets rather than goods. They know the Council of Ten's decisions before the official proclamations.
The Collectors - Wealthy eccentrics obsessed with pre-Harbinger artifacts. They fund expeditions to ruins and pay premium prices at the Auction of Rarities, sometimes triggering bidding wars with scholarly institutions.
The Crimson Libris - A banned cult that believes the Caradol Depths contain prophecies about the next Harbinger return. They occasionally attempt to infiltrate the Archives.
The Winnowers are a secretive group loosely tied to Gunjoral that accept contracts for assassination, execution of those who have escaped conventional justice, and what members quietly call "mercy endings," the termination of suffering when no other recourse exists.
Points of interest
The Athenaeum of Healing - A temple of Andelun and hospital built around natural hot springs, inspired by ancient Caradol traditions. Physicians here study both conventional medicine and the mysterious healing properties of certain Rift Crystals.
The Starfall Observatory - Where astronomers track Joru, Quorath, and most importantly, calculate The Harbinger's approach. Their predictions are sold to governments and merchant houses for fortune and disaster planning.
The Variegated Market - A covered bazaar where "exotic" goods are sold: Undergarden fungi, preserved specimens, alchemical reagents, and sometimes items of questionable legality.
The Garden of Echoes - Ruins of ancient pre-Caradol structures preserved as a park in the High Ward, where wealthy citizens stroll among broken columns covered in pre-AGS script that no one can fully translate.
The Flamekeep - The northern headland lighthouse, where a massive rift crystal burns with captured starlight. The Lampkeeper's Guild maintains it zealously—should it ever fail, ships would founder on the rocks.
The Starward Light -The original lighthouse for the Cove, it is still powered by wood fires instead of a rift crystal. The lighthouse sits nearly 20 feet lower than the Flamekeep, but is no less important as the twin lights mark the safe entrance to the cove on dark nights.
The Fighting Pits - A collection of mud and sand pits in the Dock Ward where would be champions can test their mettle in gladiatorial combat. While the games are not supposed to be to the death, “accidents” happen regularly.
The Archives of Asthareth
The Archives are more than a library—they're a city within a city. The current structure contains:
The Crystal Halls - Main reading rooms illuminated by suspended Rift Crystals, where hundreds of scholars research everything from agricultural treaties to pre-Harbinger prophecies.
The Scriptorium - Where both traditional scribes and Gris mechanical presses duplicate texts for sale across the world. Asthareth's printed books are prized for their accuracy.
The Vault of Originals - Recovered caves of the original Library of Caradol where the oldest and most valuable texts reside, including pre-Caradol fragments that predate the common calendar.
The Caradol Depths - Sealed levels from the ancient library. Only the Keeper of Keys (currently the elderly human scholar Magister Theryn vol Harurth) knows all the passages. Stories claim these depths contain forbidden knowledge about The Harbinger's true nature, spells from before the Thera's time, or maps to lost civilizations. Adventurers occasionally receive special dispensation to explore specific sealed sections.
Geography
Asthareth rises dramatically from the Copper Bay in a series of monumental terraces carved into the white limestone cliffs of the Scrivener's Mount. Running from the Copper Bay in the South East to the Scrivener's Mount in the North the city cascades from the Archives at its peak down to the bustling harbors below, connected by grand staircases, winding streets, and an ingenious system of pulley-driven platforms that haul goods and passengers between levels.
The harbor itself is one of the finest natural anchorages in the known world—a deep crescent bay protected by two headlands where lighthouses burn with rift-crystal flames that never dim. On any given day, hundreds of ships crowd the docks: merchant cogs from Beldath and The Undergarden, Brec'th barges from The Amberstone Mountains, Fansari Privateers, and vessels from a dozen other ports.
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