Market Table
Many call the Market Table the beating heart of Phelandria. With its long main boulevard broken up by a pair of huge squares, the Table feels both wider and more open than other shelves. The street itself, clogged with food carts, foot traffic, and the ever industrious Porters' Guild moving goods and passenger's throughout the city, feels just as cramped as Dockside though the population here gentler look and feel. That does not mean, of course, that one's purse is save in the crowds of the table, be it the daytime shoppers or nighttime revelers. It simply means that cutpurses here wear finer clothing.
The two great squares for which the table is known contain vendors selling every manner of good produced in other districts or shipped in from abroad. Some merchants have semi-permanent stands of wood with canvas awnings while others make due with high-topped carts or even blankets. The arrangement of goods and sellers varies from day-to-day as the squares clears each evening, making room for street performers, food vendors, and revelers. Those with a bit more coin to spend often take their food and drink from the public houses ringing the squares. Built from the city's red-stones, these two and three story establishments offer fare and entertainment that is decidedly upscale from what one might find in Dockside.
Morning at the Market Table
The Shelf itself is one of the deepest, its side streets and alleys running nearly a hundred paces toward both the Talbourne and the Bay. Along these long yet narrow and often twisting passages lie the entrances to comfortable inns and some expensive, if cramped, housing for those that wish to live in the heart of the Imperial Jewel. Scattered amongst them are the city's theaters and private clubs. The former offering up the comedy and drama - both low and high - for which Phelandria is famous. The latter caters to tastes far more eccentric among which include clubs passionate about innocuous subjects such as wild flowers or pipe smoking, while others tend toward passions less savory, including, if rumors are to be believed, at least one club the features bare-knuckle fighting.
With such crowds at all hours of the day and night, the Market Table holds a number of opportunities for the Guild. They manage all of the begging and pocket picketting tightly, of course, but also generate the largest portions of their protection revenue from the Table. For the sake of public safety, the Lionguard patrols the shelf heavily, keeping more serious crimes to a minimum, though whether it is their patrols or an understanding with the Guild that keeps most visitors safe, who is to say?
Founding Date
circa 600 AC
Type
Neighbourhood
Location under
Included Locations
Related Reports (Secondary)