Fatima's College of Arts

On the small island north of Central Island — called North Island appropriately enough — is the campus of the city’s famous university, Fatima’s College of Arts, as well as the homes of several notable citizens, and a handful of music shops and playhouses. Many consider this district to be the cultural heart and soul of the city, and it is well-patrolled and well-protected as a consequence.

Infrastructure

Fatima's College of Arts

Considered by many to be the heart and soul of Westden, the university at Fatima’s College is where its finest entertainers and many of its most well-known inhabitants are trained. Founded by Fatima, the famed dancer, hero, adventurer, and first High Burghess of Westden, aspiring bards from many distant lands come here to learn their trade, and usually go on to highly successful — even legendary — careers upon graduation. Each college has its own hall with a dean as administrator and a maestro as the head professor of that college. Fatima's College’s overall administration is overseen by its chancellor who is assisted in those duties by the provost. The Chancellor of Fatima’s College is Lauriann Danyr, the Dean of Masque Hall and Maestro of the College of Theatre.
She also serves as the burgess of the Actors, Musicians, and Playwrights Guild with a seat on the Council of Burghers. The current provost of the university is Ivir Traskari (male human), who is considered Chancellor Danyr’s right-hand man. The Provost of Fatima’s College has a long tradition of importance as Westden as it is the provost who typically attends city council meetings as proxy of the chancellor and is usually being groomed to step into the chancellor’s position someday — if not something even higher. No less than seven provosts of Fatima’s College have gone on to be elected High Burgher or High Burgess of Westden over the years, including the current High Burgess Cylyria.

The Masque and Lute

The premiere theater of Westden is an imposing marble edifice built in the manner of an ancient temple, with graceful statues of the gods and fluted black marble pillars veined in white. Inside, the auditorium seats 300 in comfort, beneath a domed ceiling painted with images of Ninkash, Baccho, and Mitra.
The stage itself is over 50ft in length and 25ft wide, with an elaborate system of trapdoors and risers, as well as extensive ropes, pulleys, and rigging backstage where scrims and stage pieces can be moved about easily, creating almost any setting or environment Maestro Wilhelm Rovellar (male half-elf) wishes. He retired from the College of Theatre to pursue his professional career, manage the theater, organize productions, hire actors and stagehands, and give patronage to promising young playwrights — having one’s play or opera presented at The Masque and Lute can guarantee fame to an aspiring writer. Wilhelm himself lives in spartan quarters near the back of the theater. His most extravagant furnishings are a large canopy bed and mirrored dresser once owned by the great elven actress Myrean Dyrin, who disappeared mysteriously several years ago.

Hagglesthorpe Estate

This lavishly appointed estate sits on the northeastern banks of the island, behind a wrought-iron fence among meticulously cared-for grounds. Marble statues of the owner’s ancestors and topiary in the shapes of magical beasts are set around the estate.
Inside, the halls are filled with priceless works of art — sculpture, paintings, fine furnishings, crystal goblets, silver platters, tapestries and silken wall hangings. An elegant ballroom on the third floor is large enough to accommodate at least 200 guests.
Piter Hagglesthorpe the Elder (male human), a wealthy silk merchant and burgher of the Dockworkers’ Guild, is well known for his patronage of the arts. Piter the Younger, Piter the Elder's fifth son, is a comely, if not foppish, young man. He enjoys gambling and strong drink, and little else other than spending his family’s fortune. He easily picks a fight with someone he thinks he can trick into a darkened alley and believes that he can overcome with ease.

The Silver Harp

A fine old two-story building is home to one of the most celebrated craftsmen in Westden. Fathilir (male human) is a master builder of stringed instruments, including many of exotic and even foreign design. The shop is spotless, and Fathalir’s two apprentices Cryndle (female half-elf) and Welsey (male human) are accomplished workmen in their own right. Fathilir is very particular about who he sells his quality instruments to. A prospective client must make a successful DC 20 Charisma (Performance) check in order for Fathilir to begin work on such an instrument.
A handsome man in his late forties, Fathilir exudes charm and poise. He has a very serious look to his pale blue eyes and sits quietly for hours listening to fine music played on his creations.

The Clarion Call

The side of this shop is painted with an archon blowing upon a great golden horn. Inside, many different wind instruments are on display, including horns, trumpets, flutes, recorders, serpents, and many others. Carlis Pace (male human) a wizened and witty old craftsman makes these fine instruments for standard prices.

The High Note

This crowded tavern is always thick with pipe smoke, and filled with students, apprentices, artisans, intellectuals and would-be philosophers, as well as performers such as jugglers, singers, and even apprentice mages. Handbills and sketches on parchment line the walls, and a wide window faces the street, looking out over the college hill area. Lottobus and Osius (male humans), two burly but kind bouncers, break up fights and keep the crowd from getting too boisterous after successful performances. Owner Mac Laren (male human) goes out of his way to make the place inviting to students and bohemian types, with such events as poetry readings, bardic contests, and regular performances by up-and-coming talent.
The High Note hosts weekly bardic competitions for musicians, poets, and storytellers. A prize of 50gp is offered in all three categories, and every other month the winners are invited back to compete for a prize of 500gp.
A number of bards and performers have risen to prominence through the competitions here, but none have gained the notoriety of a group of barbarians who call themselves “The Accursed”. No one is entirely sure exactly why they call themselves this, and the group’s own explanation for it keeps changing — sometimes on a daily basis.
The High Note’s fare is pretty standard — it is the crowd and the atmosphere that draws most customers. Specialty beverages include High Note Red Ale (4cp per mug) and a potent Licorice Liquor (2sp per shot — drinkers must make a Constitution save at DC 10 + 1 per shot consumed, or wake up in a random location somewhere in the city).

The Written Note

Originally, this was the location of a small bardic school. As years went by, more and more bardic tales and songs were transcribed in books, and the Written Note slowly evolved into a library. Today, it is one of the best resources for bards and historians, containing thousands of volumes of written music, operatic librettos, lyrics, histories, dramas, and many other similar items.
The library is built of great white marble blocks, with multicolored stained glass windows rising between graceful pillars. Inside, the structure still contains an auditorium and stage, now used for speeches and debates, or is rented to various guilds for regular meetings. Elsewhere, the building is full of tall shelves and warrens where the books seem to go on endlessly.
The chief librarian, Geldin Lucan (male human), is a wise-looking man with long red hair and bright eyes. He is said to possess a magical flute that can both charm and command listeners. Books are available here for study at a cost of 1 sp per hour. The user must remain here and books cannot leave the library.

Umberto’s Studio

Umberto Deleon ( male half-elf) a truly skilled painter works in murals, canvas and fresco, keeps his studio here. Also trained as an illusionist, Umberto often infuses his works with magic, allowing them to seem to come to life if observed long enough. His works can be found throughout the city, most notably at the Halls of Justice, the Masque and Lute, and at the Fatima’s College lecture halls.
The studio is extensive and is almost always in a state of chaos, with numerous half-finished works, paint pots, brushes, sketchbooks, and supplies scattered about so that only Umberto himself knows what is where. He has a number of assistants who try to keep the place in order, clean his brushes, sweep the studio, and deal with visitors, but the master himself remains somewhat aloof, striding about the building, constantly deep in the throes of creative contemplation, muttering to himself. He is as sloppy as his studio, always clad in a paintstained smock with a paintbrush stuck, forgotten, behind one ear.

Home of Ferdinand

Ferdinand Kincaid (male halfling) is a writer of contemporary works who publishes under the pseudonym of Sir Glanic. These sensationalist pieces, purported to be nonfiction, feature Sir Glanic romancing the daughters of noblemen, rescuing fair maidens, and slaying fell beasts. The stories have a certain familiarity to most of the good folk of Westden and are thus extremely popular.
Ferdinand himself is a thin and somewhat timid-looking individual, often seen in neighborhood inns or taverns scribbling notes on parchment with a quill pen.

Hadran’s Dome

This large dome is covered over in bright blue lapis lazuli. The building was built several decades ago by the astromancer Hadran, and the interior roof is covered in gemstones intended to duplicate the night sky over Westden. Hadran enchanted the dome so that the gemstones would move with the seasons, and could be manipulated to resemble the constellations at any point in the year. In addition, Hadran was also able to transform the interior from night to day, and simulate the appearance of any weather or climatic condition that he desired. After Hadran’s death, the dome passed on to a number of owners, and eventually fell into disrepair.
Recently, the dome was bought by a consortium of merchants and bards, who have restored it to its old grandeur and now use it as an auditorium and playhouse, where operas and plays can be presented with realistic effects.
Manager Carla Teres (female human) now manages a staff of low-level astromancers who also present planetarium shows to the public, showing the skies and relating legends and tales of the stars.

Zachton’s Fanmagical Conservatorium

This small shop on the west side of North Island is an atrocity to all things architectural. Walls jut out at strange angles, windows and doors are strange parallelograms, floors are undulating planes of non-Euclidean design. The entire place seems like one fever-dream floor plan laid out on a crumpled piece of paper. No one in their right mind could have conceived of such a building, which seems a natural assumption for its proprietor and designer. Zachton Glazerfield the Lesser (male gnome) is a mad genius. His musical instruments and toys are sights to behold. Half-mechanical, partially mystical, and completely wondrous, Zachton’s contraptions alternately make music, can be played with as toys and mechanical devices, and boggle the imagination. Considered a savant by some, a lunatic by others, and beloved by many, the conservatorium is a shop guaranteed to amaze and excite.

Character

The district teems with students, artists, philosophers, and other intellectuals (both real and pseudo-). Many of the college’s instructors live on campus, along with most of the students.

Businesses

Though the college dominates the island, there are other businesses there as well, catering to the needs of the students. These businesses include music and art shops, galleries, bookstores, taverns, and cafes. The remainder of the district is devoted to housing, from basic dormitories for ordinary students to luxurious apartment buildings or houses for wealthier students. A few fine houses can also be found for the rich notables who live here.

District Modifier

+3

Prices

Prices are high here, averaging 20–25% over the standard costs.

Gold Piece Limit

1000gp unless otherwise noted.

Building Type

Buildings in this district are well-built, usually of brick or wood, faced with limestone. The buildings of the college itself are built in a Foerdewaith-gothic style, with pillars, steep roofs, garrets, and elaborate decorations such as gargoyles, sculptures, and friezes depicting stylized instruments, musical notes, quills, sheet music, and books.

Guard Details

An honor guard of 6 Lyreguards is stationed here, but most security is in the hands of the College Watch, a group of professional warriors hired by the city. These individuals wear dress uniforms and are ceaselessly polite to the inhabitants of the island.

Location under

Westden

The Accursed

The Accursed are certainly striking in appearance — unkempt northerners, their faces tattooed with exotic tribal symbols, clad in animal skins and studded leather armor. Most outsiders consider their performances — featuring mandolins and lutes pushed to their absolute limits of performance, accompanied by thunderous northern wardrums and near-incoherent screaming vocalizations — to be little more than noise, but the young audiences at the High Note — ever eager for new sensations — find the Accursed to be nothing short of hypnotic. The group is especially well known for the devotion of their female fans, who have adopted the unusual practice of flinging pieces of their own clothing at the Accursed as they perform.
Most of the group’s more excessive practices — hard drinking, violence and arrogant behavior — is considered to be simply an expression of their northern barbaric ancestry and unfit for “civilized” society. All the same, the crowds that come to the High Note each week to cheer on the Accursed seem to not care terribly much, and many of the more trendy students of the district have begun to mimic their ways, dressing in furs and leather and engaging in all sorts of excessive behavior.
Wearing black kohl on his lips sporting tattoos of stars over his eyes and hearts on his thin arms, Estrellya (male half-elf) is perhaps the most effeminate of the band. However, his voice beguiles even the most jaded of Westden’s young populace, and he is constantly flocked with young women wherever he goes. Intelligent and well-spoken, he is often the mouthpiece for the band and sings most of The Accursed’s more suggestive songs.
His face, arms, and neck are all tattooed with arcane runes and astrological symbols, Acestrus (male human) brings forth chaos when he plays his fine gittern. Almost a loner, he is the quietest member of The Accursed. Although this quietude belies something else, for when the party begins after the show, he has been known to go quite wild in the revelry and has been asked to leave more than one taproom after burning holes in the furniture with acid splash.
Beast (male human) dresses in black leather and has dragon wings tattooed upon his fierce face. He wears dragon-sculpted boots and is a large, imposing figure with a devious scowl upon his lips at most times. He sings some of The Accursed’s more warlike songs when they perform for an audience.
Gantz (male human) is quiet and mysterious, but when he strikes his drums, hearts flutter in panic and an almost electrical adrenaline rush fills the air. Tattoos that are almost feline adorn his features and he moves with a feline grace.