Sanctuary, Olov's Guide

Olov’s Guide to the City of Second Chances

Overview of the Boroughs of Sanctuary

• Tearside is the stepped side of Sanctuary that is best described as ‘facing’ the Tears of Vrylakos.
• Perside is the stepped side of Sanctuary that is best described as ‘facing’ the Perpendicular. On an especially clear day, the Perpendicular can be seen shimmering from this side of Sanctuary.
• Garside is the stepped side of Sanctuary, opposite Tearside, best described as ‘facing’ Garza.
• Voidside is the stepped side of Sanctuary, clockwise of Garside and counter-clockwise of Tearside that faces a seemingly empty region of the multiverse known as the Hollow.
• Innerside is the region of corridors, caverns and room found within the Pyramid itself.
• Hangside is the labyrinthine region of shanties and slums made from ship parts, salvage and anything else the residents have managed to get their hands on. The borough hangs precariously from the underside of Sanctuary and is a mecca for smugglers and other such ne’er-do-wells. Only competent and sure-footed visitors should venture here.

First Tier

• The Lady’s Tower: A slender, windowless tower that can be seen from all of the tiers in Sanctuary and is often used as an aid in navigating one’s way around the City. Despite its lack of windows, the few people that have been inside the tower claim that the building is full of light.
• Chamber Prime Buildings: A sprawling gothic maze of a building whose basements are rumoured to extend down into Innerside.

Second Tier

• Chamber Philosophick Buildings: The Chamber Philosophick buildings are constructed from marbles acquired from the numerous dimensions visited over the years. Some buildings are constructed from a single type of marble whilst other wilfully juxtapose many different stones. Each building is constructed as an oft-exaggerated tribute of particular cultural styles. Along the walls of the building (both within and without) one can see many mosaics, most of which depict the rich life that exists (or used to exist) throughout the multiverse.
• Chamber Arcane and Arcanick Buildings: these buildings comprise a complex mix of experimental workshops, laboratories, herbological gardens and greenhouses and the usual towers favoured by those gofted in the Art. The ground floor of the main Chamber Arcanickal building is the Museum of Arcanickal Curiosities, which is open to the public.
• Chamber Geographick Buildings: the Chamber Geographick’s buildings are notable for two things: the first is that it’s nigh on impossible to tell which buildings on the Second Tier actually belong to the Chamber Geographick (rather than one of the other Chambers); and the second is that they are renowned for having multiple entrances and exits, most of which are unknown even to Chamber members. Some people even say that the Chamber Geographick doesn’t even use the buildings, preferring to headquarter elsewhere.
• Chamber Ascendant Buildings: The magnificence of the Chamber Ascendant’s buildings exceeds even the temples in Sanctuary; truly, they have to be seen to be believed.
• The Great Library: Most Sanctuarians claim that the Great Library houses the finest store of information in the Multiverse and, whilst this is almost certainly and exaggeration, the library is extensive and a great starting point for anyone needing to do some pre-Tweening reading.
• Upper Lady’ Walk: The Upper Lady’s Walk is divided into many smaller, formal gardens and is considered the part of Sanctuary where one is most likely to see courting lovers, thinkers and performance artists. The Upper Walk is also famous for its celebrated flower show when the night garden is in bloom, rare botanical specimens are displayed and the vegetation is accentuated by cleverly placed alchemickal sun-globes and Tweenwind-catchers. Many statues of great sculptors can also be found throughout the Upper Walk.
• Wicallen’s Pillar: Apparently, this sort of thing is quite the rage in Corrupted Planes and Dimensions and it is easy to believe such statements when one stands near the Pillar: the onyx cubic structure of the Pillar would be entirely featureless were it not for the occasional tormented soul that surges out of the Pillar's dark depths, pushing outwards against the strange membrane of the Pillar. The origin of Wicallen’s Pillar is unknown and some claim that it has existed on Sanctuary’s Great pyramid from times prior to the Founding. Unsurprisingly, Rana Plaza in which the Pillar resides is the quietest square on the Second Tier.
• A number of Embassies are dotted haphazardly throughout this tier including:
  • The Honourable Fiorian Embassy which also includes chapter houses of the Order of the Grey Bulls and Black Harts. The Skynights maintain a small compound near the Sanctuarian Naval Docks on the Fifth Tier.
  • The Mezonian Embassy whose divisive internal politics and bickering often spills out onto the streets of Sanctuary (usually on streets and in buildings far removed from the Embassy, using ‘hired help’, one should add)
  • The Luuzian cathedral-embassy and first monastery of Sanctuary. A beautiful example of Luuzian architecture, the inside of this building is populated with many great tapestries which tell of the great tales in Luuzian history.

Third Tier

• St. Yangin’s Cathedral of the Holy Unification: the ornamentation on the outside of this grandiose religious bastion is rivalled only by the embellishment of the décor inside. Services are held daily and open to all.
• Lower Lady’s Walk (the Twilight Garden): The Lower Lady’s walk is full of exotic plants that thrive in Sanctuary’s eternal twilight. The formally arranged garden is a place of heady perfume and secret tranquil spots. The Lower Walk is usually best avoided in the quieter hours when most Sanctuarians are sleeping.
• Xauphia: this Ælven community is effectively a self-contained mini-city, and Ælva is the language to be overheard. The population is pretty evenly split between Xauphinelle loyalists, rejectors, and the uncommitted; tensions sometimes arise from this.
• Greenmarket: Greenmarket is situated outside of Garden Gate and is the largest food market in Sanctuary.
• Garden Gate: Garden Gate, the only active gate outside of Hanram’s Bazaar is a rather fragrant place. The smell of freshly cooked food and spice mingles with the aroma of sewage being shipped back to Garden. Sanctuary is not self-supporting and is therefore reliant upon trade and its gate to the dimension of Garden to feed the populace. As a result, Garden Gate is one of the most heavily guarded districts outside of the First Tier.
• Dark'o'er: a secluded community hiding under the cover of thick awnings stretched hither and yon, populated almost entirely by the agoraphobic Grell.

Forth Tier

• Founder's Cross: The original settlement from which Sanctuary grew. Now a bohemian district of artisans notable because the district provides an historic record of Sanctuarian architecture throughout the ages.
• Oswald’s House of Benevolent Correction for Wayward Youngsters: A charitable organisation which ‘rescues’ young children from Hangside and teaches them the skills that they need to better themselves. Oswald’s school has many wealthy patrons who are totally unaware that Oswald is himself a spymaster and his school a front for scoundrelly hi-jinks.

Fifth Tier

• Free Trader Sovereignty: The Dankchun Free Traders are a vast merchant collective who insist that, in order for a city, realm or dimension to trade with them, they must be granted a sovereign area of land sufficient for their needs. Free Trader Sovereignty is a walled district over which the Chamber Prime has no power. The district has it’s own docks and market places. Those wishing to trade with the Dankchuns must enter this district and abide by the Free Trader’s rules.
• Hraath Street: the infamous street of brothels, drug dens and pleasure palaces mostly frequented by ship crews that extends into Innerside
• Sanctuary Docks: the main public docks for Sanctuary dominate most of Tearside on the Fifth Tier and thrust precariously out into the Multiverse.
• Naval Docks: The heavily guarded docks for the Lady’s Navy is located on Perside and is not open to the general populace. However, one can get an excellent view of some of the Lady’s magnificent ships from Fourth Tier Perside.
• The Bleakhold: The prisons of all worlds are not exactly designed with ascetics in mind and the Bleakhold is no exception. This squat, grey fortress is the home to some of Sanctuary’s worst criminals. The Bleakhold is also the temporary home for those who have been sentenced to entombment in Wicallen’s Pillar.

Innerside

• Hanram’s Bazaar: Hanram’s Bazaar is the vast, chaotic market of Sanctuary that occupies a cavernous space of pillars and tiers within Innerside. Anything legal or licensed can be bought here so long as the buyer knows where to look. Street performers and thieves ply their trades within the busy walkways between covered market stalls. Around the over perimeter of Hanram’s Bazaar sit the Seven Gates of Sanctuary and major tunnels connect the bazaar to the docks.
• Seven Gates
  • The Great Gate: the Great gate is inactive throughout Sanctuary’s History. Luuzian members of the Chamber Philosophick have been attempting to decipher the ancient hieroglyphics that surround the gate and, whilst they have failed to reactivate the gate, their research suggests that the gate was once capable of transporting travellers to multiple destinations.
  • Luuzgate: Unsurprisingly this gate links Sanctuary to Luuz. Most people incorrectly assume the gate is called Luuz gate because of where it goes but the gate is actually named after the God, Luuz.
  • Harmann’s Gate: Harmann’s gate used to link Sanctuary to Cazia but, following Cazia’s corrupting, the gate has subsequently been magically sealed, trapped and is guarded at all hours.
  • Lady’s Gate: The Lady’s Gate links Sanctuary to the Anchorite of Vathis.
  • Mirabel’s Gate: The gate leads to a destination of the GM’s choice.
  • Zebinar’s Gate: The gate leads to a destination of the GM’s choice.
  • Dust Gate: Named after the Battle of Dust, where the vastly outnumbered Lady’s Navy broke through a Vezanti blockade, this gate leads to a destination of the GM’s choice.
• The Nightmarket: The Nightmarket is where one goes to buy anything that cannot be bought in Hanram’s Bazaar. Its location is not fixed and visitors will need good contacts to find out where it is next being held. Visitors should not venture here unprepared.
• The Many Steps: The Many Steps is a single vertical space that connects the uppermost level of Innerside to the lowest level. The staircase is wide enough for 20 people to walk abreast and is bounded by stone banisters with regular carvings and statues. Most people use the Many Steps to access Hanram’s Bazaar.

Hangside

• The Bastard Prig: located on the corner of a public square that is one of the few neutral areas in Hangside, the Bastard Prig is rumoured to be the best place to learn the Hangside style of knife-fighting
• Chainwalk: Even the lowest of the low have their social echelons and those who dwell in the Chainwalk are at the bottom of Hangside’s social dung-pile. Few of Hangside’s surefooted denizens venture here for even they consider the area precarious at best. The area is almost exclusively populated by the outcasts of Hangside society, which is to say that it is almost exclusively populated individuals so untrustworthy, misanthropic and vicious, that even the dangerous and dishonest residents of Hangside want nothing to do with them. There are all sorts of rumours about what the Chainwalkers get up to.
• Chizzin’s Gap: A large hole in the centre of Hangside where Chizzin’s Glorious Bruisers used to run their many nefarious rackets. Rumour has it that Benjamin Snarker got so fed up with Chizzin’s gang that he and his gang cut the whole district free of Sanctuary and sent it tumbling into the multiverse. Modern folk tales tell ho Chizzin and his undead gang still drift through the multiverse to this very day. His name also exists in Modern Tweenish as, to be ‘chizzed’ is to be cast adrift.