The Oathneedle
The Oathneedle is very tall, extremely long and thin spire of an unknown metal that lies in the approximate geographic center of the city. It is covered in magical runes that appear to the reader as if they are written in their own native language. These runes explain the laws of the Free Citizens.
The laws are then followed by a passage of text that describes the actual oath its self. If a person lays their hands on the oathneedle, and then reads the Oath aloud (in their own language), they receive the glyph of the Free Citizen, and are now metaphysically and magically aligned with the Demi plane. Swearing this oath will instantly break all previous oaths, contracts, obligations or bindings placed upon the person. In the case of magical contracts, they are actually broken. Legal contracts made outside of the Free city are now no longer enforceable against any Free Citizen.
This does not protect Free Citizens from contracts made with outsiders after they take the oath of citizenship.
Localized Phenomena
The Oathneedle glows with a powerful and otherworldly light. No structures of any kind can be placed within 100 feet of the Oathneedle; They begin to disintegrate within days of being erected. Biological creatures are not affected by this, so the Oathneedle is surrounded by a carpet of moss, ferns, mushrooms and other low light fauna.
History
No one knows when exactly the Oathneedle came to the Demi-plane, however scholars suspect that the plane existed first, possibly as the private demense of a wizard, and the Oathneedle came a number of years after. Some attempts have been made to study the Oathneedle, and determine such things like " What is it made of? What schools of magic does it use to make this effect happen?". However one attempt to remove a small piece of the needle for analysis by scholars, first in 1438 and then later in 1919 resulted in a phsychic shockwave so intense that every Free Citizen was knocked unconscious for several hours, leaving some in a coma for days and outright killing several others.
After the 1919 incident, several of the richer gangs and citizens pooled together to fund the creation of a massive golem that now protects the area around the needle, to prevent curious outsiders or suicidal citizens from damaging it.
Comments