Twilight Market
Also known as The Market of Worlds. Only a handful of people know where the Twilight Market is truly located. Anyone else that wishes to access the market needs to use a series of portals with specialised permission seals to access the wondrous cavern that holds the market.
The market is a nexus of almost every culture and race in the The Mortal Realms and beyond. Here someone can buy anything that is either hard to find elsewhere in the world, or simply too illegal to sell anywhere else.
Security is provided by the owners of the market but aside from protecting their own interests, they do not care much for laws or rules within the market.
The market is given it's name for both the shady dealings that often happen inside as well as the general atmosphere. The space is entirely illuminated by gigantic Glowbugs that crawl along the vaulted ceiling of the chamber.
To a newcomer the market might look infinitely larger but to it's owners, they know it can hold precisely fifty two thousand, eight hundred and sixty five more stalls.
Purpose / Function
The market was originally constructed to provide a secluded, secure and untracable location in which the more nefarious denizens of the Mortal Realm could meet and discuss their business or trade in stolen/illegal goods. As the trade grew, however, the owners of the market saw a opportunity and expanded the cavern in which the market is held. Now the market offers a place for hundreds of vendors to sell their rare and exotic goods.
Design
To anyone wandering around the Twilight Market it would seem that there is not design, no larger plan connecting these stalls in any way. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, the owners of the market spend days pouring over floor plans and vendor information to ensure that the experience for shoppers is ideal. Do you need a certain color of fabric to make a new dress? Well then you will also need a slimming potion to fit into it. These are the type of considerations the owners have taken into account and therefore have placed an alchemists laboratory next to the textile stall.
The structure of the cavern where the market finds itself is also all part of a larger plan. The domed ceiling is just the right height to accommodate the maximum amount of bodies producing heat within an enclosed space to not make the air feel humid, while still trapping enough heat to make the wide variety of clientele that visit the market comfortable.
The massive stone columns that rise out of the ground and hold up the vaulting ceiling also server a purpose. They are easy uniquely shaped so as to provide a sort of landmark for customers to find their way around. Few know, however, that these columns are hollow. Allowing agents of the market's owners to eavesdrop and spy on however they need.
Even the Giant Glowbug population is carefully monitored and regulated to ensure the right shade of gloom be present in the cavern. This gives the patrons of the market a feeling of permanent twilight and therefore prevents them noticing how much time they have spent.
Entries
The sides of the cavern are perforated with door sized holes about a meter deep. These all contain portals linking to various locations in the Mortal Realms. These portals have all been enchanted with special permissions seals that only allow someone that has been given a magical key to enter through the portal. Anyone trying to enter without a key will be expelled painfully back to where they teleported from. To obtain a key you have to know someone with a key that can request permission for you from one of the various representative stalls in the market.
Sensory & Appearance
The first thing you notice about the market is the smell. The second thing you notice is the other smell. The first smell is the aroma of a thousand cultures mixing through the scent of cooking food, perfume, spice and other various goods. The second smell is poop. Giant Glowbug poop to be precise. While the insectoid creatures are usually very clean they do tend to leave some droppings all across the market. Stepping in one of these heaps is just one of the many hazards the market holds.
The market is forever bathed in a twilight gloom. There is ample light to see the goods of the various stalls but the surrounding area always seemed obscured in shadow. The markets themselves also make an effort to stand out in the form of the lights they employ on their stalls. This can range from candles, torches, luminescent fungi or small variations of the Giant Glowbugs kept in cages.
Denizens
The denizens of this peculiar market are a combination of every race found in the Mortal Realm and beyond. Each vendor has come to peddle their own unique product from either their own culture or ones procured from other cultures through various means.
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