HISTORY

Former slaves, chased and hunted throughout the continent, band together and form an
expeditionary force. On makeshift rafts and boats they make their way to a neighboring
continent, in which they find a premade city almost untouched by the centuries. They
move in, and they name it Cradle.

THE SURROUNDING AREA

Splitting Cradle into roughly a third is a river that leads up to the Aereus district.
Surrounding the city before the wilderness truly begins, are large stretches of farmland,
chiefly responsible for feeding the city’s vast population. Past these farmlands is a
comparably small stretch of unused grasslands and hills before the geography begins
to change. To the east, it comes to a set of five large lakes, to the west, it becomes a hot
desert. To the North, large mountains visible from the upper levels of the city provide
the springs from which the river that feeds water into Cradle starts, while to the South
are large salt flats and arid but temperate, badlands.

Further out, the lands act in accordance to the outer planes, with metal rich, but
inhospitable areas farther to the South, and verdant, fertile lands to the north.
Unpredictable weather to the east and strictly scheduled weather to the west, all curated
by the topography of the region.

Some small nomadic tribes live in the general area, but none go within a week’s travel of
the city, describing it as cursed or haunted, and considering those who come from that
direction as doomed, often adorning them in funeral attire, trying to scare them off, or
killing them, depending on the tribe.

THE TOWER
The Tower is at the center of Cradle, and the city almost revolves around it. It’s a
labyrinth full of dangers and mysteries, artifacts and treasures made by whatever
civilization built it centuries ago.

It’s a very strange space much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, and it is
very big on the outside. It’s a place where going up sometimes means falling, where you
can move in circles by going forward and progress forward by walking backwards.
Magical maps have been made by the people of Cradle, but only under strict monopoly
by the Navigator’s Guild, who guard the secret as tightly as any dragon guards his
hoard. The real important thing however, is that the top of the Tower is host to a portal
to the astral sea, from which the denizens of Cradle can venture out of one plane to
explore the others. To trade with devils or push demons out from foreign dimensions, to
fight astral pirates or become astral pirates if it pleases.

DISTRICTS AND GEOGRAPHY

Cradle is a city built and traversed vertically with many bridges, elevators, and stairways
leading up to its heights. The highest levels are generally only accessible by lightning
rail or airship and each level is wider than the one above it, eventually leading to the
uppermost levels that are the seat of Cradle’s government. Generally, the higher one is
in Cradle, the higher their wealth and status in Cradle’s society. The districts are
generally split into two sections, almost as two distinct cities unto themselves - the
upperhalf of the city is often called the spires or the peaks, while the lowermost parts of
the city are called Low Town by its residents or the Pits by those who treat it with a little
more disdain. From Top to Bottom the districts are as follows.

THRONE
The uppermost level is called Throne, high enough up to reach past the clouds. It is the
seat of government for Cradle, resting nearest to the top of the Tower. It hosts the
palaces and buildings from which all the Great Men and Women of Cradle rule the city,
and is essentially full of government buildings and offices.

ARGENT
The wealthiest and most powerful individuals have their homes in Argent, just beneath
Throne. Here one will find huge mansions, gardens, theatres, and so on, all the great
wonders of Cradles. The uppermost elite work in Throne, but they tend to live in Argent.

AURUM
Aurum is high enough up that the air starts to thin and chill. Besides being a residential
district, Aurum also contains the financial districts. The banks, the guilds, and other
such private institutions tend to be based in Aurum, as well as the police forces.

AERIS
Aeris is where most of Cradle’s middle class and lower middle class live and work. It is
one of the most populous of its districts, as well as where most of its universities,
martial training halls, temples to the gods, marketplaces and so on reside.

AEREUS
Aereus is the last of Cradle’s upper levels and is where “low town” begins. It is Cradle’s
red light district, full of clubs and less-than-legal markets. Here many of Cradle’s
citizens go to get a drink, to party, to let loose. Aereus contains the city’s largest
coliseum and many of its citizens make their living in the fighting pits.

FURNACE
Furnace is red, hot, and burning. It is Cradle’s industrial and manufacturing sector, one
of two beneath-ground-level districts, as well as where many of its poorest residents live
and work. It too contains a red light district, but here things are much more dangerous.
Weapons, black magics, and illegal substances flow like water in Furnace.

THE DEPTHS
The Depths are the poorest and most desperate slum in Cradle. Choked by the fumes of
Furnace, magically changed to flow down instead of up, and cast in shadow by the rest
of the city above it, The Depths would be in near total darkness if it weren’t for the
powerful magical lights scattered throughout it. Many people do make their living
traversing beneath the Depths to get at the rich mineral and gold deposits underneath
but in general no one lives in the Depths willingly, and no one goes there without good
reason. Besides the poverty and darkness, the Depths are split in half by a black river,
from which monsters are known to crawl their way out of.

POLITICS, FACTIONS, AND INSTITUTIONS

Two Institutions form Cradle’s government:

THE SMALL COUNCIL

Ironically named due to being made up of many hundreds of individuals, the small
council is a body made up of citizens elected by the guilds they are a part of to
represent them in the government. The Small Council is essentially the city’s parliament,
drafting and proposing laws. They are effectively the city’s legislative branch and are
meant to handle “small” matters, hence the name.

THE GREAT COUNCIL

The Great Council is a council of ten men or women: Three Ministers of War and Peace,
Three Ministers of Finance and Trade, Three Ministers Of Crime and Punishment, and
the Magistrate. What the ministers do is self-evident, two out of three are voted upon by
the nobility, the third is appointed by the Magistrate, all have broad powers relating to
their jurisdiction. The Magistrate is the head of state and the single most powerful
individual in the city. He possesses veto power over all the Small Council, and has two
votes instead of one on the Great Council. Take into account that the Magistrate also
appoints three of the ministers and he wields considerable power.
If this sounds like a poorly designed system that’s because it is. Members of the Small
Council often treat it less like an institution in of itself, but more like a staging ground
from which one might propel one’s self to the Great Council. It is often said that the only
district more bloody than the depths is Throne. People joke that once a man finds
himself on the Great Council, his lifespan can be measured in months. Only a slight
exaggeration.

Powerful but none government institutions would be:

THE BANKING HOUSE OF THEODORE AND ELEANOR
The Banking House of Eleanor and Theodore, a bank with its fingers in every pie, who
are said to mettle even in other planes and effectively control the Banking Guild, and all
its considerable resources. Nicknamed The Bronze Bank by the citizens, not much is
known about the Bank, no one even knows if Eleanor and Theodore are real, but it is
known that the quickest way to get your throat slit in the night is to cross the Bronze
Bank.

The city’s politics are cutthroat and bloody, every guild employs their own force of
private military forces and an extensive spy network to gain whatever edge they can on
the other guilds.

CULTURE
The founding population of Cradle were former slaves and outlaws, and that has led to a
population comfortable around weapons, steel and iron and bronze are everywhere,
because the people of The City have had to fight for every inch of ground. Every man
and every woman carries a sword, and it isn’t all that surprising to see kids with little
daggers on them, with the most celebrated people in the city being those who walk the
“Steel Path” - warriors and mercenaries. Festivals with sword duels or great big fights
between wizards and sorcerers are also pretty damn common. The people of the city
make it their business never to start a fight, but always to finish it. Beyond that, people
are generally kind and hospitable, open and cosmopolitan, if only because they’ve been
dealing with creatures from all over the many planes.