Every setting needs a home base, whether it be a small village, or a bustling city, the characters want a place to call home, I think anyway.

Our home base is Rhoringhad, it's no a massive metropolis, but it is certainly big enough to hold lots of interesting characters, locations, and dangers. I'll try and give you a brief tour, but watch your step, some of the locals are crafty folk.

 

It is said that, the great stone walls of the city where already there when the first refugee humans settled here, and they simply built of top of the megalithic ruins. Many elven sages confirm this notion, but elven scholars have been known to "edit" the facts, shall we say.

We'll start at the top, and work down shall we?

North Gate: A massive gateway over forty feet tall, and fifteen feet wide, of weathered stone unimaginably old. Two sardonic gate guards interrogate you as you enter the city. It's best to ignore them, if you perturb them they may have you removed.

Old Syn: The oldest part of the city, as the name implies, and it's looming old stone structures cast deep shadows that, some say, host the shadowy souls of anyone that has been murdered here. As a point of fact, many have been murdered in this area, because it is the nest of the Syn Assassin's Guild, led by the looming Mother Syn (who some say is part ogre), and her merciless son Kaliman, who is said to wear a shadowy cloak that houses the souls of six dead assassins, who are still at his command.

Lord's Keep: The abode of the Dead Prince, the ruler of Rhorin. He is rarely seen, and they say he has a ghastly pale visage, some even surmise that he is an undead of imperial blood who has ruled for centuries, but he lets very few inside his court so it's impossible to say for sure. The prince generally rules the city via four Quartermasters, each of whom regulate a portion of the city:

• Lord Greydrake: A Noble Knight of the White Lion Order, who oversees the Lord's Quarter in the vicinity of the keep, and sees to the defenses of the city
  
• Lord Blacklogan: A disgraced knight who was given sway over the Theive's Quarter, which includes Old Syn and the Blister Town areas, he rules with an iron fist, which is perhaps why he was assigned this harsh domain to manage
  
• Cardinal Arioch: The Holy Pontiff of the city, who oversees the Temple Ward, and Graveyard, who is to all accounts, a fine and pious fellow... most agree... most
  
• Master Merchant Dreldus: A clever and crafty sifey Merchant who worked his way out of the slums of Blister Town, to the point where he now prodly posesses a 12 Wagon caravan, 6 Sailing Vessels, and several small shops about the Market Quater in the heart of the city

Each Quartermaster is generally connected to an order, guild, or religious orthodoxy, and laws are decided upon by sessions of councils, with the exception of Blacklogan, who is simply a petty despot (not to be biased, but he's hanged several friends of mine from the city bell tower).

The Market Quarter: The heart of commerce in the city, broken into three main areas:

• High Market & North Docks: This is the main market area, full of blacksmiths, cobblers, tailors, folk selling wares from awning covered wagons, a bustling din of commerce. The North Docks is the source of most legitimate trade in the city.
  
• Low Market & South Docks: This is where livestock is bought and sold, a good place to buy a horse, cow, or sow, but it's also a place of contraband, with the South Dock often being referred to as "Smuggler's Dock," just about anything can be bought and sold here.
  
• Wytch Market: A place to buy potions, scrolls, and magic baubles of all sorts, much of which comes from the "Smuggler's Dock," spirited into the city in secret. Also take heed, there are many charlatans here, that wish to pawn off ineffective, defective, or even cursed, magical items.
  

Blister Town: Also known as the "Thieves Quarter," is not only filled with rapscallions and dastards, but also an abundance of the poor folk of the city. Many of the so called "thieves" are seen as heroes by the local denizens, since they defy the cruel edicts of Lord Blacklogan. The two main subdivisions of Blister Town (some just call it Blister), are Hobnail, and Rickety Downs.

The largest Thieves Guild in Blister Town is the Scythe Guild, whose sly grinned leader, Sloakum of the Ten Fingers (as each digit is want to fidget), are as close as old Blister gets to "law," since the Scythe adamantly refuse to take orders from Lord Blacklogan (who they call the "gutter hound").

• Hobnail: The steep and winding streets of Hobnail are the natural territory of all thieves, thugs, and ne'er do wells. Hobnail is the perfect place to fence stolen goods, or purchase them. They say that Cole Ruttiger himself (the first "Ruttiger"), was born and raised here... a fairly rough and wild raising, if tales are to be beloved.
  
• Rickety Downs: This cobbled together collection of wooden shacks built on old stone foundations has been a flooded mire for as long as most remember. Wood plank ways wind up and down, hanging over the murky water, and small skiffs ferry folk back and forth as well. Venturing into Rickety Downs is always risky, since it is a place of outcasts and murderers.
  

Temple Ward: Home of the Great Temple, as one might expect, and proselytizers, doomsayers, seers and augurs of all stripes, most of which are con artists and grifters, by all accounts.The Brotherhood of the Temple's main task is to "quell the dead." At times, those who have passed on simply refuse to remain as such, in which case, The Brotherhood restores their rest (by peaceful means... if at all possible).

South Gate: Here you'll find quipping guards, who throw jibes at you as you leave the city, and above this huge gate is a Giant Stone Head, which some say is actually the Head of a demised Stone Giant, and other say it is not actually dead, as they have see it's eyes open during the quarter moon. Those are just tales from old Longwalkers, and drunken King's Wardens though, who would believe such a thing.

Would you?

Richard