Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Finder’s Archives.
In this column, we take some of the lands from Magic: The Gathering and turn them into something you can use for your fantasy games.
The stats given in each entry assumes that you’re using Pathfinder or 5e for your games, but they can easily be converted over into any fantasy system. This time we head across to the OTHER City of Brass.
City of Brass
The City of Brass lies upon the Elemental Plane of Fire, and it is the home to the efreeti and their Grand Sultan. Most planar travelers know of this location, but few know that there is a second City of Brass, one very different in tone than the efreeti-ruled hell. The City of Brass is famed for its brass domes that cap thin hundreds of thin minarets that reach into the skies above the baked clay bricks of the streets. Home to hundreds, if not thousands of different religions, the City of Brass exists in a constant state of unrest as the various priesthoods vie for control of the city.
Lay of the Land
The City of Brass is famed for its minarets and brass domes, and when approached from far away, it can be seen glowing with reflected sunlight. Unfortunately, that illusion is gradually destroyed as you move closer to the city. The white walls aren’t nearly as white as they initially appear, and many are in serious need of repair and maintenance, as they have been neglected for at least a decade.
The City is divided into multiple districts, separated by pantheons, with each district’s size determined by the proportionate power of the pantheon. Within each district, the various neighborhoods are divided by faith, so that each neighborhood is under the control of a priest for a specific god. Most of the inhabitants of each neighborhood also primarily worship “their” neighborhood deity, though many pay lip service to other gods of their pantheon as well. Those who do not worship the “local god” ensure that they keep very quiet about that fact, as they could easily be considered heretics.
The neighborhoods and districts vary and flow greatly on an irregular basis, though no one knows how they do so, as some mystical power controls it, but the locals use this to determine how strong their individual faith is and use it as a way to motivate their believers to exert themselves further in the pursuit of power for their deities.
This wasn’t always the case. Approximately a decade before, the City of Brass was at peace, but the Overseer (who controlled all the civil branches of government and kept it entirely secular, to the point that anyone recruited had to swear off their gods on pain of death) died without an heir. Tradition dictates that the new Overseer must be elected from amongst the faithful of the city (and therefore swear off their religion) and voted in by the representatives of the various faiths. But that process broke down due to politicking and has been stuck for the past 10 years, with no end in sight.
Dangers
The districts within the City of Brass are constantly at war with each other, both within the city but also in other places. Many are the crusades and missions declared by worshipers and gods from among those living in the City of Brass. This warfare is usually kept to one of the many plazas where competing preachers debate the merits of their deity above all others, though (especially for more violent faiths) these often break down into riots.
The biggest danger is not from these riots though, as dangerous as they are. The biggest danger in the city comes from the “dead districts”. These are the districts and neighborhoods where the deity has died, whether from lack of worship or by being destroyed by another deity. Most of these districts and neighborhoods are absorbed by the surrounding ones, but a small core always remains. Some people theorize that they’re inhabited by Atropals – the stillborn undead godlings, others that they’re conduits for the negative elemental plane. No one knows.
And that concludes this week. Just remember to spell the name of the city correctly, for while the City of Ass does exist, it is VERY different.
Kim Frandsen
Latest posts by Kim Frandsen (see all)
- Finder’s Archive – Crypt of the Eternals - June 2, 2023
Nice take on the city.
Added to the Blog Database.
https://jonbupp.wordpress.com/blog-database/for-dungeon-masters/multiverse/inner-planes/