The Seven Cities

On the western tip of Avlis sit the Seven Cities. Known for their racial diversity, the cities are home to orcs, humans, elves, halflings, gnomes and other races.

The Cities

Map of the Seven Cities

The names of the cities are Redgate, Andarr, Dormiria, Stalwart, Crosstreams, Malekia and Bullwark. From these cities streams the second largest system of trade in all of Avlis. Information on some of the cities follows:

The City of Red Gate

Red Gate is the easternmost city of the confederation making up The Seven Cities. Its gigantic red northern gate, for which the city is named, is always open and facing the orcish capitol city of Brekon. At all hours of the day and night, there is traffic coming in and out of the gate, mainly in the form of caravans carrying goods to and from Brekon.

Because of its location, Red Gate serves as the lifeline for Brekon to the rest of the world. Goods made in that country are brought here so they can be distributed throughout the world, and outside goods are bought here so they can be carted back to the villages within Brekon.

The Divalok River runs through the middle of Red Gate. It enters from the east gate and leaves through the west gate where it goes on to flow through the cities of Crosstreams and Andarr, where it terminates in the ocean. This river acts as a natural water highway responsible for driving much of the economy of the Seven Cities and northern Avlis. Goods from Brekon and the other cities are taken down by barge and by ship to Andarr where they are put onto ocean faring vessels and transported to other parts of the world. Red Gate is located at one of the first staging points where the river becomes deep enough for ship travel, and is therefore one of the first places from which goods are shipped.

The eastern side of the city is a gigantic riverfront marketplace, where goods from all around the continent can be found at various points of their journey to wherever they are going. This marketplace is directly connected to the northern section of Red Gate which is set up as a caravan jump-point. This area is constantly packed with beasts of burden and caravans in various stages of assembly or disassembly. There is no clear demarcation between this section of town and the marketplace. One sort of flows into the other. Beasts of burden slowly give way to storefronts and barge-docks in a seemingly never-ending sprawl of economic activity.

The center of the city is walled off and reserved for the noble families that run Red Gate. It is usually referred to as the Palatial District, and currently, the noble families there consist mainly of humans, orcs, and elves, though there are a couple of influential halfling business families there.

The southern district of the city is generally reserved for families with money, usually consisting of successful merchant folk and minor nobles. This part of town is set up so those people can keep themselves occupied with drinking and partying as well as their day-to-day business dealings and living.

The general "rabble" of the city lives on the western side and northwestern edge. At the extreme western edge of the city is a small shipyard where ships can be repaired and barges can be fabricated.

Because of the nature of Red Gate, it has an extremely diverse population. There are a very large number of orcs living there peacefully, and where there are orcs, there are always goblins and giant-kin as well. Another large portion of the population is made up of gnomes, many of them businesspeople from Deglos who have settled there over the years. Additionally, there are many humans, halflings, elves, dwarves, and a small number of dracon. Fairy races are not common in Red Gate, except for the small pockets of urban sprites which exist in every city on Avlis.

This racial diversity gives way to religious diversity as well. Red Gate has a shrine to just about any deity you can think of. It has large temples to Valok, Gorethar, Hurine, Aarilax, Fegall, and Berryn. There are also some very small temples to Toran, and Dra'Nar. The temples are located throughout the city in various places.

Red Gate's atmosphere is that of a bustling trade center and caravan jump-point. It is an area where east meets west and north meets south, and they all come together to exchange their goods. The attitude of folks in Red Gate is that trade is everything, and anything that disrupts trade is generally not appreciated. They are aware of all the various racial and religious difficulties that abound, and the nobles of Red Gate often go to great lengths to stifle such things and cover them up as they happen.

The City of Andarr

Andarr is the westernmost city of the confederation making up The Seven Cities. This city serves as a major year-round port for virtually the entire western coast of Avlis. While other cities in the confederation, such as Stalwart and Melekia, have ports of their own, only Andarr's is large enough to accommodate the huge amounts of trade going in and out of the region, and only Andarr's port has all the necessary technology for building, repairing, and maintaining ships of all sizes. In the port of Andarr, you can find ships from all nations conducting trade. Goods from inland areas come down the Divalok River and land in Andarr where they are loaded onto their ships and taken away. Conversely, ships from elsewhere come into Andarr and unload their goods where they are carted up the river to the inland areas. A good portion of these goods are also known to go directly out the northern and southern gates of the city as well. As most citizens will tell you, "Everything stops and starts in Andarr."

Some of the major features of Andarr are that it is bisected by the Valokian River into a northern and southern half, and each of its districts is completely walled in and separate from all the others. The creators of the city felt that this would make it more easily defensible against invaders from the sea who might try to establish a beachhead there. Anyone coming in from the ocean would need to take each district separately as if it were its own tiny little city.

The docks district is one of the larger sections of Andarr. This area is located on the western shore of the city and serves both as a trade depot and a military rally point for all manner of naval activity. The docks district is so big that it stretches from the northernmost tip of Andarr to the southernmost tip. In effect, the entire western piece of the city is made up of docks and dock-related buildings.

Near the center of the city, and immediately east of the docks, is the Smithing District. The other major commodity which Andarr is known for is metal goods. The government of Andarr is a major importer of iron ore, which is fashioned into all manner of metal implements by the smiths in the smithing district. Many know that the dwarves are the best smiths in the land, but the people in Andarr would argue that that's only true if the dwarf is Andarrian. A large portion of the smiths in Andarr are orcish, and there are even some human and elven ones. Truthfully, the smiths of Andarr are of all races, and no matter which race they are, it is generally accepted that their goods are superior to all but the finest from Galdos and Deglos.

To the north and south of the Smithing District are residential areas where the large population of Andarr makes its go at living. The two residential districts, with the Smithing District in between them, are all adjacent to the docks. East of these districts is the largest district of Andarr, the Business District. The bulk of Andarr's economic and governmental activity takes place here. Goods that are brought down by boat are sold in a small market if desired. However, the majority of the space in this district is used by trading companies who conduct imports and exports. The sprawling mass of buildings in this district goes for the entire length of the city from north to south.

East of the business district are two more walled-in sections, one to the north of the river and one to the south. Both are residential in nature, however the one to the south tends to include houses of wealthier families. In the northeastern residential district, there are many taverns and other establishments for fun and pleasure, and the residents of Andarr often refer to this place as the Tavern District, though officially it is still known as the Northeastern Residential District.

As in all seven cities, the population of Andarr is diverse. However, because of Andarr's strategic location, there is a lot of outside influence from other governments. The lords of Andarr are closely tied to various Kurathene nobles, such as the goodly Lord Arvanos, and the much defamed Lord Crullath. It is not uncommon to see ships from the various Kurathene nobles docked at this port. For many, Andarr is the stopping point along the journey to the Kurathene from points south, and it has gained a reputation as a decent place to make business transactions and dealings between multiple parties. For everyone wishing to make their presence known in The Seven Cities, Andarr is one of the best places to start their work. Its central location lends itself to this.

The City of Dormiria

Also known as The City of Refugees, Dormiria is located on the northeast corner of the land that contains The Seven Cities right on the border with the orcish nation of Brekon.

Dormiria is a popular place for those who are fleeing the laws of other nations or groups because it has a very lenient government that does not look kindly upon intrusions by outside forces to affect their own justices. For orcish refugess it is especially popular because it is easy to get to, yet not as frequented by orcish officials as the city of Red Gate, which is much closer to the orcish capitol city of Brekon.

This makes the city a breeding ground for all those who are disaffected with deities like Valok and The'ton, and those who wish to engage in activities not looked kindly upon by the orcish nations. Many of the rising numbers of orcish mages can be found here because of that, and some of these folk are managing to gain a foothold in the Dormirian government as well.

Naturally, this neutrality and seeming propensity to harbor outlaws puts Dormiria at odds with its orcish neighbor, and quite a few skirmishes have broken out in Brekon's attempts to force its way in after one of its interests. Because of the position it enjoys as part of the condederacy of The Seven Cities, Dormiria is unafraid of Brekon and uses these benefits to its solid advantage.

The term "refugee" does not describe objectively whether a creature is unseedy or benign whatsoever. Thus, personalities and races of all kinds can be found in Dormiria. Unfortunately, many of them are paranoid in nature, but they currently have confidence in the government to protect them from outside nabbers.

On the other hand, this paranoia is also counterproductive to Dormirian culture and economics. The city port is used more often to smuggle persons out of the area than it is used to bring in goods for sale or trade. A large personal protection trade has risen up because of this, and many of the best bodyguards and caravan protectors can be found here, which makes them Dormiria's largest export.

Some of the refugees have managed to piece together a small merchant economy inside the city, and a market district of sorts has sprung up in the city within the last few decades. One can also find some fairly nice houses in the center district which house the nobles of the city and its government buildings. There is also a highly developed town watch police force based in the east of the city that works to keep meddlers from other governments out of the city, and it is rumored that some of these are actually "secret" guards that go in plain clothes and get involved in underworld deallings in order to pre-empt outside interference.

The City of Stalwart

On the northern branch of the Divalok River sits Stalwart, the City of Rich Pleasures. Among all the Seven Cities, Stalwart occupies an interesting position. To the south are three heavily defended cities (Bullwark, Malekia, and Crosstreams). To the west is Andarr, a mighty naval power. To the east are Red Gate and Dormiria which act as a barrier against Brekon's intrustion. Because of the great protection offered by these cities over land and by sea, Stalwart needs to put almost no resources into defending itself. In fact, the city has no walls to speak of.

When a city does not need to spend large resources to defend itself, and when the river running through a city is not deep enough for large ships, the atmosphere is not good for the business of commerce. Consequently, Stalwart does not have a large port and does not see much ship traffic. This tends to make the goods in the city a little more expensive than elsewhere, and that often makes the city attract a higher class crowd, because many of the goods that do make it in are of very special quality.

This combination of factors over the years has turned the city into a sort of playground for the wealthy and adventurous. In Stalwart, the theatre and music may not be as beautiful as in the bardic districts of Crosstreams, but the sheer number of establishments is magnificent to behold. A noble with enough cash in Stalwart can attend to any kind of vice or pleasure he or she wishes. There's gambling, high class prostitution, the finest wines and perfumes, and any other kind of luxury imaginable.

Residents in Stalwart tend to have a lot of money compared to commoners in other cities and live in opulence. The entire city looks as if it is one large noble district peppered with carpeted inns and taverns.

Naturally, this makes the place a good meeting site for nobles of the other cities who often congregate there to discuss business in comfort. Even nobles from as far away as M'Chek are often found there relaxing or using the city as a meeting point to negotiate with far away counterparts over marriage deals and treaties. For nobles at war, Stalwart has even been used as a place to reconcile or engage in diplomacy. The noble families in charge of the city have recognized this and tried to stay neutral in all outsider matters in order to foster this atmosphere.

Stalwart is not known for its temples and religious nature, however there is a large temple to Mishlekh and some small temples to Kelvos, Wilsash, and Ingoren.

The population in the city has no dominant racial type, though it possesses a high proportion of gnomes who tend to be one of the only "more serious-minded" folk among the other races in the city.

The City of Crosstreams

As it flows from east to west, the Divalok river splits. One portion continues off towards the city of Andarr and the ocean beyond. The other portion flows southwest towards another city called Malekia. Crosstreams sits right on top of that split.

While the cities of Andarr and Redgate act as hubs coming in and out of the region of the Seven Cities, the city of Crosstreams acts as the hub within the region. By far, Crosstreams is the largest known city on the continent, and with that distinction comes many other properties. Culture is at its highest here. The most cosmopolitan and openminded ideas begin here among the many centers of learning, music, and art within the city walls.

Some say that entering Crosstreams is like entering another reality, for the pace of life has a whole other purpose unakin to the outside world. Traders abound here, but more for the purpose of pleasure rather than business. They can be seen attending the theatres and pubs that are plentiful. Both freelancing bards and the followers of The Harpinger, who has his largest temple here, are freely encouraged to make their living entertaining people. In Crosstreams, there's a festival almost every week, depicting some event that happened in the past, or commemorating one of the gods. Though the population is made up of all the major races, and most of the minor ones, tolerance is dominant as a social attitude, and religious expression is appreciated.

For times when religions just can't help but conflict, Crosstreams possesses one of the most skillful city guard units in the world. They are able to enforce the peace and diversity of the place without causing too much unrest, and for some reason, they seem to even have crime well under control. People question everything here, but for the most part they are happy with the government and nobles of the city, so they don't dig too deep on this particular issue so much.

Pretty much any god's worshippers can be found in this city. The Harpginger's temple is among the largest, but there are also temples to The'ton, O'Ma, Mikon, Hurine, and a few others. Shrines of other gods abound in the Religious district as well. Crosstreams is laid out in three major sections connected by bridges. The city is shaped like a "V" laid on its side with the point of the "V" pointing east. The splitting river creates the "V".

The northern side of the "V" is mostly a residential area, though there are quite a few good taverns there. The southern side of the "V" contains mostly merchant housing, and a small district known as the Instrument Quarter, where the finest crafters of musical instruments base their trade. In the middle section, between the two rivers, there is the Capitol District right at the pinnacle of the "V". Beyond that lies the Theatre District, which is fairly small. To the west of the Theatre District lies the Religious District. At the far western end, the city is capped off by an area of Parks, and then another residential district.

The City of Malekia

On the southern branch of the Divalok river sits the largest city on the continent dedicated to the forces of evil, the City of Malekia.

From an outsider's perspective, the city streets are a tangled and twisted mess of dead end alleys with curious slots in the stone walls, and strange paths leading into courtyards surrounded by towers. For those familiar with the design, Malekia is a death trap for any invading army. Though the city walls are not strong, the layout of the urban anomaly is roughly in the form of concentric rings filled with twisted passages in between. The passages seem random, but they are actually designed to make an invading army become quickly lost and divided in the streets, where the defenders can use the towers and wall slots to murder them as they meander aimlessly.

The residents of Malekia are largely followers of Maleki, though there are significant numbers that follow other gods like The Harpinger, Evrak, Wilsash, Xenon, Kelvos, and Paragus. The second largest following in the city is that of The'ton. Each of these gods has at least one temple in the city, though there is no discernable temple district.

In fact, Malekia has no discernable districts at all, because of its nature.

One would imagine that such a city would be a playground for Thieves guilds, and that the city would contain many of them. However, the term "thief" is rather moot in Malekia, and their "guilds" are basically just "the government". The "guild leaders" are technically nobles, and win their place by many means, usually by right of succession of family, or by combat. Each noble has his or her own police force that patrols certain sections of the city that are accepted to be under their faction's control. However, these areas, or turfs, change constantly.

Malekia does have laws, and oddly enough the laws make no race subject to another strictly on a racial basis, and they outlaw any kind of political coup or toppling of one noble by another. Of course, this does not preclude doing these things without getting caught. There are of course strict penalties for any noble found in an attempt to destroy another.

The population of Malekia is as diverse as any other of the Seven Cities, though there are fewer goodly races and more of the less scrupulous kind present. Outside of Brekon, Malekia possesses the highest goblin and giantkin population of any other place in Negaria. Humans, halflings, and the occasional dwarves can be seen mucking about as well, with a healthy number of orcs present as immigrants from Dubunat which lies only a few miles to the south.

Malekia recognizes that it owes its existance to the confederation of The Seven Cities, and generally does not try to overtly control or disrupt the entity. Of course, many things happen behind the scenes, and there are always attempts to 'extend the confederations holdings into Dubunat', but the orcs of Dubunat take it in stride. In either case, Dubunat encroaches on the affairs of Malekia just as often because it sees the city as a jewel for the taking. Like all the other cities in the confederation, Malekia sends its emissaries to vote on council matters and supply troops to the pool of confederaton soldiers, but the emissaries themselves always change because of internal situations.

The City of Bullwark

The city of Bullwark is the southernmost city of the confederation known as The Seven Cities. It is the only city in the confederation that does not have access to a major watery thoroughfare, yet it is highly regarded as the glue that holds the confederation together.

Bullwark is the smallest and youngest of the Seven Cities, yet its troops make up the largest percentage of the Confederated Army. This is because all males of fighting age that are residents of the city are required by law to serve in the military. This is at times hard to enforce because record-keeping can be difficult unless magic is employed to help, but luckily for Bullwark, strict measures for enforcement are not necessary. The citizens of Bullwark are incredibly nationalistic and proud of the Confederation. They take great pride in being allowed to serve in its armed forces, and it is thought that this pride partly rubs off on the other cities to solidify their confederation.

Initially, Bullwark was set up as a fortress to guard against the onslaught of orcs that came into the region during the Great War. Since then it has always remained relatively stout and efficient, which has enabled it to keep Dubunat, the orcish nation to the south, at bay except for minor periods where wars were fought between the southern orcs and The Seven Cities.

Bullwark makes only what it needs in terms of goods and services, and it exports little. Much of its wealth, whatever meager wealth it contains, is imported from elsewhere, usually the other six cities. The center of the city is a vast fortress run by a series of generals who double as the nobles of the city. These nobles are not just responsible for military matters, but also for making laws and running the day to day operations of the city. For the most part, this task is not difficult for them internally, because most citizens of Bullwark understand the nature of the law and follow it accordingly. Those who don't are either expelled or imprisoned.

Off to the northern side of the city is a vast training ground and military base that is used to train the Confederated Army. Soldiers from all Seven Cities come there to train and learn the ways of combat. The fortress and the base together are considered the military center of the confederation. To the east of this complex is the Confederated School of War, where officers are trained for the Confederated Army. This school is not directly controlled by the government, however, and is often known to take students from any place in the world who can afford the fees. Many Kurathene Nobles have sent their sons there, as have M'Chekian nobles, and even some sons of Toran Shaarda.

Surrounding these areas are the residences, usually made up of functional homes with little austerity. There are a decent number of inns and other establishments but rarely does one find the shady places that are so common in the other cities. The residents of the city are much like the noble. They tend towards kindness and the desire to help others, with a healthy respect for the law.

Racially, Bullwark is fairly diverse. Initially, the city was largely human, but over the centuries many orcs have made their homes there from either Dubunat or Brekon. There are even a fair number of dwarves and halflings in the city that contribute immensely to the local culture. Less common races would include elves and goblinoid, but there are plenty of token examples, as always.

Religion is not such a prevalent force in Bullwark as is nationalism, but there are sizeable temples in the city to Dra'Nar, Dre'Ana, Gorethar, Toran, and Senath. Smaller shrines to other deities are also fairly common.