The Plane of Fire

To all but the few creatures born of flame, this elemental plane is entirely inhospitable, able to kill those unprepared for its extreme temperatures and toxic air in mere moments. Those who can bear it will see incredible spectacles of nature, and fires of all colors. The only habitable space to those not immune to the effects of the heat and flames is the City of Brass. It hovers above the ground, held in a great bowl of brass, with obsidian towers stretching to the sky. The city is ruled by the efreeti, headed by the Great Sultan, the Potentate Incandescent, Si-dan Al-Hariq ben Lazan, and his retinue of efreeti sultans, to include the Overmaster Al-Shahar an-Lazim.

The Great Gates

The City of Brass is a place built to remind visitors and inhabitants that everyone has a place in the social caste, with grand Sultan palaces overlooking slave yards and squalid, ash covered streets. Contributing to this reminder are the Brass and Obsidian Gates of the city, that require proof of identification and status to pass through. Surrounding the perimeter of the bowl are the Brass Gates - the only ways to travel on foot in or out of the fortress city. They sit at the four cardinal directions, each named for the elemental plane they lead towards, if common cosmology is to be believed; the water gate to the north, earth gate to the east, fire gate to the south and into the Cinder Wastes, and the west gate to the plane of air. Towering in the center of the city lie the Obsidian Gates, which are in fact planar gates, similar to the pools in the Astral Sea. They rise as the second highest point in the city, dwarfed only by the highest parapet of the Grand Sultan's Charcoal Palace, which was built higher (12' 6" higher to be exact) centuries ago by the Grand Sultan Marrake an-Shatar ben Lazan, exactly his height higher, as a reminder to all in the Brass City that despite their usefulness, the Sultan was still greater than the Obsidian Gates, and still the most important piece of the City of Brass.

The Obsidian Gates are built entirely of obsidian retrieved from the mines at the Fountains of Creation, the mountain range to the south of the city with high rates of volcanic activity. They have been wrought into mirror-like pillars, with the symbol of their destination carved and painted in white about 30 ft from the base. While this ring of pillars can take travelers to many places, it is limited, and is highly guarded by a combination of the Sultan's efreeti guards and githyanki warrior pirates. The gith are a more recent addition to the Brass City, but with all the planar traveling occurring their services have been enlisted to track down any who try to escape unauthorized through the portals and into the Astral Sea. There are Gates to the following planes: the Nine Hells, Carceri, Gehenna, Limbo, the Abyss, and the Material Plane.

In the City

The City of Brass is said to never sleep. With all the interdimensional travelers and business to be conducted, there is always movement, and there are always guards watching key areas. A few of the most notable structures are Marrake's Palace, a hotel and casino for the wealthiest visitors, the Imporium Confiscatorium, an imp-owned and operated pawn shop and information broker, and Bootlicker's Pub, efreet-owned tavern for visitors, most of whom are of course unimportant compared to the efreeti. All of these pale in comparison to the burnt towers and spirals of the Charcoal Palace, residence of the Grand Sultan and his horde. Its vaults are rumored to be protected by ancient red dragons, fire elementals, and warded by the spells of a thousand archmagi.

Marrake's Palace

Only the wealthiest traders and slavers can afford to enjoy a visit to Marrake's Palace, a grand casino named for the Grand Sultan who built it, the same Sultan who made great efforts to increase planar business and opened the Obsidian Gates. Exotic liquors, gambling dens, and illegal drugs keep these seedy elites content, distracted, and spending while they visit the Brass City. The Casino is managed by an efreet named Antoine, who has a reputation for stern and swift response to any causing trouble in his establishment. His role as manager is purely operational, all manual labor is handled by slaves of all types - the clientele here appreciate a certain menagerie of service. These slaves often provide entertainment in a variety of ways, ranging from humiliating and barbaric to impressive displays of skill - a fighting pit among the options. Eilonwy's mother Keya has found herself here for the past ten years, after serving in the mines at the Fountains of Creation for a few decades with good behavior. She is put on stage in the arena with a bow in hand to face off against all manner of fierce creatures. She also managed to advocate for an old friend, Keridwen, who would help teach El how to cook before the fire came, who now works at the Bootlicker's Pub as a cook.

There is the following variety of slaves employed at the casino; dealers, cocktail servers, janitors, and entertainers. Efreeti serve as security and dealers at higher status tables, as a reminder who is still in charge in the city among the high and mighty from other planes. Weapons are not permitted in the Palace, being confiscated upon entry and kept in a safe storeroom (exception for only the highest ranking guests). The security personnel employ the use of silver studded brass knuckles discreetly. Alarm spells are used across thresholds that are not for common guests or slaves to be passing through, which all security have access to via attuned earrings. The most important lock boxes and display cases are protected by Arcane Lock spells as well, increasing the DC to pick or break the lock by 10.

The Archer and the Teapot
The entertainment slaves are a diverse bunch. There are two locations where they put on shows; the pit, and the lounge. The pit is typically for violent displays or combat spectacles, while the lounge is for the tamer, less violent acts. El's mother Keya is featured in both, either pitted against monstrosities, or putting on impressive displays of archery, shooting enchanted lanterns inches away from the heads of onlookers. She is accompanied by a personal efreeti guard, Yelleh, since weapons are put in her hands for the show, and otherwise held by Yelleh.

Prosperine's silver teapot is held on display in Antoine's private office, behind an Arcane Lock glass case. The door to his office has an immovable object enchantment (Wildemount Sourcebook) that he can temporarily disable for 1 minute by using the code word: fruit salad, which he typically speaks in Ignan. The office also features a gold framed portrait of Antoine, correspondence about tribute deals with the Cult of Mammon (Mammon's cult pays a fee to the Palace in return for access and VIP treatment), and of course a sum of money in the amount of 100 platinum lying around.

The Imporium Confiscatorium

This is the largest non-efreet-owned shop in the City of Brass, which also functions as a house of records. It is owned and operated by an imp named Grestos and a retinue of other imp helpers. His main industry is through a network of imps that steal/confiscate objects from incoming slaves/prisoners, which also means these imps are basically record keepers of all activity in and out of the city, through the Obsidian Gates primarily (the Brass Gates are seldom used by outsiders). They also are often found working as translators since they interact with all sorts of groups. Since they aren’t on their home plane, they are a bit brazen, knowing they can’t be fully killed, and themselves have access to the Obsidian Gates.

Bootlicker's Pub

This pub serves the caste of planar travelers that cannot afford the higher class establishments. Few of these tavern guests are slavers, as that happens to be a more lucrative business in the City of Brass. These are your travelers who probably look down on many of the customs of the Brass City, but are here searching for an item that was lost, cannot be found anywhere else, or seeking to buy loved ones out of slavery (always for ludicrous sums). The menu is vast, as this multi-story tavern boasts chefs from across the planes, among them the wood elf Keridwen from Torren.

The Brass Markets

Street vendors shout out daily deals, new inventory, and haggle with devils, tieflings, fiery dragonborn, elementals, and giants in these crowded, sweaty markets. The narrow rows are broken up only by larger plazas where slave auctions are commonly found. After people are captured and brought to the City to be sold, they are first registered at the Gates, then held in cells under the Market streets, before brought out to auction. Those that aren't bought by some planar traveler often meet a crueler fate in the obsidian mines on the fire plane, where they serve until they die or live long enough to impress an Overseer. It is not common for slaves to ever change stations, and even when they do it often happens off the books in underhand deals between an Overseer and someone they met drinking or gambling.

Slavery

The largest portion of the City of Brass's income comes from inter-planar slave trading, the Nine Hells being their largest partner in this horrid act. People and creatures are kidnapped from all over the planes, very often the Material, and sold in the Brass Slave Markets as laborers or oddities for sport entertainment. Obsidian ankle cuffs adorn slaves, at once protecting them from immediate, fiery death while also keeping them chained to slaver's carts. Because of this, they don't even need locks, they can be freely removed by undoing the fastener, but the chains are locked into a loop on the cuff. Those slaves that have earned a station of higher rank may find themselves rewarded by removing their chains, and offered something better, like obsidian bracelets or chokers. They may be able to move up in station, but will never truly be freed.

As such, the spirits of these slaves are quickly and easily broken. They are treated as inhuman, inferior, not given any leeway or flexibility in the mines, which is where they all start out. Those with something more to offer may eventually move into slightly more comfortable roles, but by that point they've already been broken. 

The Fountains of Creation

Across the Cinder Wastes lies the volcanic mountain range known as the Fountains of Creation. Low ranking overseers start their careers out here, at this, the worst post in the plane of fire. Slaves walk the mines and break their backs against the obsidian deposits in these sweltering volcanic basins. Obsidian anklets chained to carts keep slaves together in their work groups, and there are no locks to be bothered with on their anklets, since removing them would result in instant heat death. There are very few efreeti here, as the environment ensures slaves can't make any escape attempts if they wanted. The low ranking overseer currently in charge is Crispus, a generally rude and overbearing efreeti, trying hard to move up in status to get out of this post. The primary security force at the mines are magma elementals.

Localized Phenomena

This is perhaps the most hostile environment of all the planes. It is ever-burning, intensely hot, and choking ash and smoke hang in the air. Hot coals burn underfoot as the landscape shifts and flow in rivers of fire cascading over crumbling cliffs into spectacular firefalls. Firestorms are common and frequent, with hot ash raining down to burn and blind those caught in the storm. The elemental fires here do not require air or fuel to burn, and can take on any state of matter, hot enough to ignite anything flammable instantly.

Natural Resources

Obsidian forms regularly from the lava flows that cover the plane. It is used to create weapons, armor, jewelry, black mirrors, and as components for other magical means. Adamantine scrap is found in small quantities near the border with elemental earth. Copper and zinc are in high quantities in the crust of the plane, combining into alloys of molten brass, where they flow as great rivers of molten brass.

Names to Know

• Si-dan Al-Hariq ben Lazan, the Great Sultan
• Al-Shahar an-Lazim, Overmaster of all slave Overseers
• Grestos, imp owner of the Imporium (employs Scrag, Magnus, Hodi, Sarala, and Zuri)
• Antoine, manager of Marrake's Palace
• Manfred, efreet Overseer who runs auctions, answers to Al-Shahar
• Crispus, Overseer at the Fountains of Creation
• Prosperine, tiefling woman who is searching for a Djinni trapped in a silver teapot (she is it's master, but it was stolen, and is now owned by Antoine)
• Xamodas & Pah'zel, githyanki pair of hunters
• Keridwen, slave from Torren who cooks at Bootlicker's, does not know the whereabouts of others
• Keya, El's mother who fights at Marrake's Palace for sport (Aewen, little bird)
• Rhen, El's father who mines at the Fountains of Creation

Type

Dimensional plane