Bailymena

Byzantine City of Steel & Steam

Adam Tambeau Cassie Goodwin-Harrison Matthew Harrison Chris Stocovaz Rebecca Borland Laurabones Secondhand Sean Yo

A corrupt and wondrous place, From its dizzying heights to its most chthonian depths, Bailymena is a city of a thousand neighbourhoods. Each of these has its own policy on strangers and visitors, and many of these handle their own security and jurisprudence. While it's a good policy anywhere in the Runelands, especially in Bailymena pay close attention as you wander and mind your manners wherever you go, or there could be trouble you don't want.

— excerpt from A Traveller's Guide to Bailymena

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Highlights

The city's official nickname (City of Steel and Steam) comes from the more than two dozen waterfalls which plunge into its valley from the mountains which run along either side of it. The falling water combines with the reaction of warm water into the cold firth, cloaking the city in a mist. In warmer months, this generally clears up by noon or so, but it's perpetual in the winter and near individual waterfalls.
While the mountainous walls of Bailymena Valley provide the city with a limitless supply of hydroelectric and hydrothaumic energy, they also limit the city's sprawl. Consequently, the last century of unbroken prosperity which has been Bailymena's lot has caused the city to expand upwards, as towering high-rise architecture raises the residences of the rich above the mists, and the ruck and maul of the labyrinthine streets below. With these is the Bailymena Sky Transit & Rail System, (the "Buster") which makes rapid transit through the city possible, at least at higher elevations.

Mid Range

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The rugged geography of the countryside means that Bailymena clambers up steep roads over ridgelines, crowds into the river valleys between waterfalls, and even extends beneath the surface of the harbour; within those depths are neighbourhoods of sea-elves and water Djin who work the submarine fields of the Seagarden. It is a city of many levels.
The streets of the city bustle with commerce. Merchants sell wares from all over the world from shops and bazaars alike; tradesfolk and professionals sell their skills to a never-ending job surfeit, and the government collects taxes as appropriate, which the city's administration uses to fund public works, education, and emergency services to its citizens.
Residential neighbourhoods of varying styles and quality can be found scattered throughout the city, often along small side-streets in otherwise-dedicated neighbourhoods; the Barrister's District, for example, is a collection of townhouses along an alley between the Superior and Supreme Court Districts, and is as advertised on the tin.

Low Life

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Bailymena is ANCIENT, older than real-world Rome. Once the fey Gateway of Bael Menagh, it is a city which has always built atop the ruins of the of the old, and so there is an impressive depth of civic infrastructure underneath the city's streets. As with any city of size, rumours exist of those who live in the tunnels and passageways below. In Bailymena's case, these are absolutely true. Everyone knows about Bailymena Below, but few know how to get there.
This fact is of considerable use to Bailymena's well-established and robust criminal culture. While the Proconsul appointed by the Empire is a mostly-upright sort who maintains public order, balances a budget and keeps people employed, the fact is that Bailymena makes far more money than appears on official ledgers.
Copperpenny Road, on the other hand, is an entertainment district consisting of a four-by-five block section of Old Bailymena that caters to more lowbrow forms of entertainment, with the kind of hotels that rent by the hour and shoebox apartments that give multi-day discounts.

Bailymena Harbour, as seen from the Police Cathedral

Founding Date

in antiquity, as Bael Menagh

Alternative Name(s)

The City of Steel & Steam, Ol' Bully, Big Meany

Type

Metropolis

Population

2,000,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Bailymenan

Location under

Skodia

Included Locations

• Hightower District
• Ironfire Bramble
• Lost Acre

Ruling/Owning Rank

Patrician

Characters in Location

• Madame Mumbles
• Thrasher

Related Plots

• The Oath

Related Historical Events

• Season 2, Episode 1
  Rapscallions 201: All That We See or Seem"
• Zivah Hullu:
  An Extra, Small Medium at Large
• Rapscallions 4:
  Hullu-cidation
• Rapscallions 1:
  A Fine Fellowship of Felons
• Thumbcutter:
  The BUSTER Job
• 1007 IR
  Thumbcutter's Trip
• Etienne d'Arabette
  Thumbcutter's Travails
• Delilah's Dilemmas
  A Little Kindness Goes A Long Way
• 992 IR
  Khaludur Arrives in Bailymena
• 990 IR
  Discovery of Delilah del Rey
• 989 IR
  Delilah: A Little Miracle Goes A Long Way
• 989 IR
  Birth of Shakir Askari
• Narri Hullu, esq.
  Bailymena, Skodia, 988-1019

Copperpenny Row Entertainment District

Fun Fact

The Biltmore is far and away Bailymena's most impressive structure, with deep roots in the bedrock shores of the Firth itself. A generational project, the construction of the building and its facilities has been handed down from master to apprentice continuously since ground was first broken on its construction 500 years ago.

Government

An Imperially-appointed Proconsul oversees the Council of Bailymena, which is comprised half of hereditary Lords and half of elected officials from the city. Locally, this is referred to as the Parliament of Crows.

City of Industry

The Bailymena Underground, Sky Tram, and Elevated Rail (BUSTER) system keeps the many wards of the City connected, while its many waterfalls power hydroelectric, hydrothaumic, and thaumoelectrically-driven industries all along the banks of its rivers. Along its shores, shipping and industry crowd the waterline, and above it all the towers of Bailymena rise majestic. All made possible by the commanding hold they have on the resource-rich isle of Skodia.