EditGUILMAREditCity of the Drowned Lady- Tone: Spiritual and peaceful city of open marble arches and pillars, frescoes, draped robes, and grape vineyards.
- Timeframe: -4000 to present
- Artifice: High
- Region: Tears of Vrylakos
- Capital: Guilmar (~750,000)
- Notable Settlements: The Docks (~1,000,000)
- Government: Theocracy
- Ruler: Matriarch Mariner of Guilme
- Races: Human (80%), Merren (18%), Other (2%)
- Languages: Vrylakian
- Religions: Guilme, the Drowned Lady
- Coinage: Guilmar has a few gold veins in the rock beneath the city, and mines a relatively small number of heavy coins called Guils (5 gp); coins of the other cities of the Tears are in free circulation.
EditSynopsis
Sometimes called the City of the Drowned Lady, Guilmar is one of the most beautiful of the Nine Tears. Built atop a foundation of solid rock shaped by ancient arts into a perfect circle, the city is crafted largely of marble and other rare stones unavailable to younger cities, and laid out in a circle with a 3.14 mile radius.
The city is actually a single huge structure much like an arena, higher around the circumference, and descending inwards in terraces. The outer circumference is 50 feet tall and descends in ten foot terraced increments towards the partially submerged middle in a sort of waterborne colonnade. At each of the four cardinal points a large fountain stands upon the wall, spouting thier water inwards to flow down the terraces in fluted waterfalls to replenish the waters at the bottom of the city. Twenty identical delicate marble bridges span the trickling waterfalls coursing down thru the city. In the partially submerged center nadir there stands the storied Temple of the Drowned Lady, famed throughout the lands and a popular destination for pilgrimages by the faithful of the water-goddess Guilme.
Around the circumference of the city wall is an impressive and extensive pier and dock system, complete with warehouses, shipyards, and a thriving foreign district. Outsiders generally cannot afford to live inside the city proper, as space is at a premium, so most can be found living in the Docks, along with poorer natives. The entire dock structure is continuous and is an exact 3/4 of a mile in width from the city walls, with piers extending a uniform 1/4 of a mile beyond them them in an evenly spaced pattern. The inhabitible area of the Docks is greater than that of some of the smaller cities of the Tears. From an apex perspective the entire city looks like a giant sprocket, perfectly round with exactly regular piers extending beyond its edges.
Four cubical double gates connected to the Docks by pivoting ramps give access to the inner city. These gates are built in an ancient manner lost to modern understanding, with a double lock system that allows them to be compartmentalized and drained in case of flooding; this has saved the city proper from a watery doom several times when waters flowing from the fountains have inexplicably increased for short periods of time.
The city is open and clean, crime has little purchase, and the people are happy in thier belief that thier goddess watches over them. They are a friendly and generous people on average, and not given to violence. Natives are generally passive and approach life with a ‘what will be, will be’ mindset.
EditMagic
Many of the priesthood of Guilme, the Mariners, are invested in holy power by their patron.
There is a small but thriving community of Cryptics in the fifth and sixth sectors of the Docks.
Winding isn't institutionalized in Guilmar but there are a couple of very powerful Winders and their students who make the city their home. The two camps don't get along particularly well and there is a definite rivalry between them. The Winder Samist and his students favor Blue and Purple magic while the Winder Agamor and her students favor Yellow and Orange magic.
EditDetails
- Guilmaritas: It is quite possible that aside for the professional armsmen of the city's watch and the famous elite gaurds known as the Seaborne that stand viginlance over the Temple of the Drowned Lady, none of the natives would bother with arts of the blade if not for their adherence to tradition. However, the practice of the fighting technique called Guilmaritas is older than living memory and stretches back into antiquity. Held to be a significant holy observance to the water-goddess Guilme, the Drowned Lady, many devout worshipers learn the style's teachings to become closer to their chosen patron.
EditAdventure Seeds
- Pilgrimage: a wealthy patron's nubile daughter is a devout follower of Guilme and insists on taking a pilgrimage to Guilmar for her coming of age. Her father fears for her safety and virtue, and is looking to hire on respectable and competent warriors to ensure her safety. Sister Maris Ka-thern of the local Guilme temple will come along to see to her virtue...
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