Estates District
Situated high up on Dawnlight's seventh shelf, the low walled properties and manicured lawns of the Estates District bear little resemblance to the city below. No alleys cut between tall and thin red stone buildings. Instead each property runs the half the width of the shelf, either from its broad main avenue straight to the Cliffs leading up or those leading down. Built with an array of materials and in a variety of styles that have fallen in and out of fashion over the past century and half, each property has a unique character and charm that make for impressive curb appeal.
The common folk of Phelandria cannot, of course, simply wander into the district and ogle meticulously laid gardens, complete with fountains and flowering trees to accent their flower beds. The minor nobles and wealthy merchants that own these mansions erected gates at either end of the shelf long ago, staffing them with their own guards to ensure the safety and privacy of residents. This blocks public access to The Wilds, though given the negligence with which those same minor nobles and wealthy merchants have treated that public park, it may actually be safer for the public that way. It also effectively cuts the city off from the Lionguard as the Duke sees no reason to spend his coin to protect those that clearly can afford to protect themselves. Any visit by the Lionguard immediately sparks a wildfire of rumors ranging from love triangles turned murderous to whispers of treason.
A small shelf, with limited space for such estates, prices have risen sharply in recent decades leading to what the older noble houses have declared a "disturbing trend". Merchants and nobles that fall upon hard times have, on several occasions, found themselves forced to sell their mansions to avoid the dungeons below the Le Carre Palace as debtors. And while most merchants clearly deserve such a fate, no noble, no matter how minor, should ever suffer that indignity. Worse, newly minted merchant lords have purchased these estates, paying silvers on the crown only to have them demolished, rebuilding gaudy palaces in their stead.
A Mansion in the Estates District