[Deneguhl] The City of Cities
Deneguhl (DEN-eh-GOOL) is not the name of a world, but of a city. I see it as the sort of grand city one might find in other D&D settings like Waterdeep or Greyhawk, the sort of central hub a campaign can begin from or culminate in. These cities are a staple of fantasy and make a great start for worldbuilding, as they can be packed with suggestive flavor that can either be expanded on later.
Deneguhl earned it's sobriquet not just by it's size - it's the largest city on the continent of Oneros, but because it is literally a handful of cities. The first city is the heart of Deneguhl, a sprawling, rotten town, former center of an unstoppable empire, now fallen from grace and full of decaying monuments, shantytowns built on top of crumbling manorhouses, and peopled by a prideful folk who both remember their empire and, simultaneously, have little interest in regaining it, choosing instead to thrive in trade and mercantilism, and as a naval power. I am unapologetically modeling this third of the city on Rome after the fall of the western empire, the tarnished crown jewel of a dead hegemony that is experiencing a sort of second life as a merchant powerhouse.
I'm going to lean into that "homage" and make it a major religious center as well.
Beneath the heart of the city is the second part of Deneguhl, the Dwarven Hold of Alkuth (AL-kooth), a thriving underground settlement that has grown from a small enclave to a sprawling underground warren over the last five generations. It's miners plumb the earth, supplementing the surface trade with rare metals and ores, and it's crossbowmen and shieldwalls form the center of the Dennish military, with Dwarven marines being feared by pirates and rival nations alike. Although the mainstream Dwarven culture is patriotic for their adopted city, there is a strong minority sentiment that the Dwarves are the main reason for Deneguhls current success, and plans for a coup or insurrection circulate amongst the ale-houses and backrooms of the Alkuthian undercity.
The dwarves are very much cut from the cloth of the Italian condottieri, vassals to the Pope in Rome, with a dash of Swiss in there. I'm imagining formations of dwarves with tower shields and crossbows, or grappling hooks and curved axes. Unlike dwarves in other settings, the Alkuth have a maritime tradition, which I find neat - though I think they may be unique, and other dwarves find them positively unnatural.
The third piece of Deneguhl is the Gnomish settlement of Spire, a floating mote of earth and various airships all linked together and held in place over the city by heavy chains extending from the city walls. The last remaining outpost of a truly ancient gnomish kingdom, Spire was once a floating fortress spitting fire and death upon the world from above. Now it is thoroughly retired (at least, one would hope) and has been for hundreds of years, floating serenely as the center of a thriving city dominated by a Gnomish ruling class and their human allies drawn from below. Spire is a center of arcane learning and research (centered on its college, the Arcanum), with little interest in most politics outside the city proper. Many of the cities wealthiest reside here, high above the tumult of the city, concentrating much of the City of Cities wealth high above it, and taking along much political clout as well.
The ruling family of Spire is largely apolitical and, like their people, disinterested in most things outside arcane mysteries and their own security. They have accumulated significant political capital and favors, but rarely make use of them. This has frustrated many human functionaries in the Spirish court. Are they as lethargic as they seem, or simply playing the long game?
Spire isn't based on anything, I just thing former war-criminal imperial Gnomes are rad as fuck.
The (apparent) final city of Deneguhl is the former imperial palace, center of the long-gone empire, now the holy religious seat of the Sainted Faith, the dominant religion in the city and a good sized piece of the continent (at least, among humans). This is a pantheon of demigods - saints - who performed great deeds in the distant past and won the respect of the gods, and now husband creation. The palace is the site of the final saints Apotheosis, Anacreo the Uncrowned, the last emperor, who gave up both his crown and his life to defend the people of the city as the empire came to an end. The current High Keeper, the leader of the faith, resides here with a small army of priests, bureaucrats, and pilgrims. He or she exerts significant political influence (although they have no actual temporal power/role, as of several hundred years ago) through their temples.
The true final city of Deneguhl is not one most of it's residents are familiar with, but something that haunts the secret corners of the city and snatches up the unwary. It is the Morte, a dark reflection of the city at it's prime, at the height of it's empire, seared into the shadow-plane by the boundless cruelty and the myriad suffering of the victims, haunted by the spectral dead that long for past glory. The connections to Morte are almost always accidental - the planar equivalent to a crack in a wax seal - but some are deliberate. Indeed, some local organizations create gateways into the Morte to act as secret passages between safehouses, while others plumb the dead city for treasures. Both risk the wrath of the cities undead guardians, and the places around these permanent gateways are often cursed, haunted places.
These hauntings and outbreaks of the undead have always occurred within the city after the fall of the empire. Initially, they were considered another of the humiliations and disasters that afflicted it in the waning days of power, then as something like a local curse. Recently, the dead have begun moving in ways that suggest they are pursuing some greater plan, which has drawn the interest of the Arcanum.
Deneguhl earned it's sobriquet not just by it's size - it's the largest city on the continent of Oneros, but because it is literally a handful of cities. The first city is the heart of Deneguhl, a sprawling, rotten town, former center of an unstoppable empire, now fallen from grace and full of decaying monuments, shantytowns built on top of crumbling manorhouses, and peopled by a prideful folk who both remember their empire and, simultaneously, have little interest in regaining it, choosing instead to thrive in trade and mercantilism, and as a naval power. I am unapologetically modeling this third of the city on Rome after the fall of the western empire, the tarnished crown jewel of a dead hegemony that is experiencing a sort of second life as a merchant powerhouse.
I'm going to lean into that "homage" and make it a major religious center as well.
Beneath the heart of the city is the second part of Deneguhl, the Dwarven Hold of Alkuth (AL-kooth), a thriving underground settlement that has grown from a small enclave to a sprawling underground warren over the last five generations. It's miners plumb the earth, supplementing the surface trade with rare metals and ores, and it's crossbowmen and shieldwalls form the center of the Dennish military, with Dwarven marines being feared by pirates and rival nations alike. Although the mainstream Dwarven culture is patriotic for their adopted city, there is a strong minority sentiment that the Dwarves are the main reason for Deneguhls current success, and plans for a coup or insurrection circulate amongst the ale-houses and backrooms of the Alkuthian undercity.
The dwarves are very much cut from the cloth of the Italian condottieri, vassals to the Pope in Rome, with a dash of Swiss in there. I'm imagining formations of dwarves with tower shields and crossbows, or grappling hooks and curved axes. Unlike dwarves in other settings, the Alkuth have a maritime tradition, which I find neat - though I think they may be unique, and other dwarves find them positively unnatural.
The third piece of Deneguhl is the Gnomish settlement of Spire, a floating mote of earth and various airships all linked together and held in place over the city by heavy chains extending from the city walls. The last remaining outpost of a truly ancient gnomish kingdom, Spire was once a floating fortress spitting fire and death upon the world from above. Now it is thoroughly retired (at least, one would hope) and has been for hundreds of years, floating serenely as the center of a thriving city dominated by a Gnomish ruling class and their human allies drawn from below. Spire is a center of arcane learning and research (centered on its college, the Arcanum), with little interest in most politics outside the city proper. Many of the cities wealthiest reside here, high above the tumult of the city, concentrating much of the City of Cities wealth high above it, and taking along much political clout as well.
The ruling family of Spire is largely apolitical and, like their people, disinterested in most things outside arcane mysteries and their own security. They have accumulated significant political capital and favors, but rarely make use of them. This has frustrated many human functionaries in the Spirish court. Are they as lethargic as they seem, or simply playing the long game?
Spire isn't based on anything, I just thing former war-criminal imperial Gnomes are rad as fuck.
The (apparent) final city of Deneguhl is the former imperial palace, center of the long-gone empire, now the holy religious seat of the Sainted Faith, the dominant religion in the city and a good sized piece of the continent (at least, among humans). This is a pantheon of demigods - saints - who performed great deeds in the distant past and won the respect of the gods, and now husband creation. The palace is the site of the final saints Apotheosis, Anacreo the Uncrowned, the last emperor, who gave up both his crown and his life to defend the people of the city as the empire came to an end. The current High Keeper, the leader of the faith, resides here with a small army of priests, bureaucrats, and pilgrims. He or she exerts significant political influence (although they have no actual temporal power/role, as of several hundred years ago) through their temples.
The true final city of Deneguhl is not one most of it's residents are familiar with, but something that haunts the secret corners of the city and snatches up the unwary. It is the Morte, a dark reflection of the city at it's prime, at the height of it's empire, seared into the shadow-plane by the boundless cruelty and the myriad suffering of the victims, haunted by the spectral dead that long for past glory. The connections to Morte are almost always accidental - the planar equivalent to a crack in a wax seal - but some are deliberate. Indeed, some local organizations create gateways into the Morte to act as secret passages between safehouses, while others plumb the dead city for treasures. Both risk the wrath of the cities undead guardians, and the places around these permanent gateways are often cursed, haunted places.
These hauntings and outbreaks of the undead have always occurred within the city after the fall of the empire. Initially, they were considered another of the humiliations and disasters that afflicted it in the waning days of power, then as something like a local curse. Recently, the dead have begun moving in ways that suggest they are pursuing some greater plan, which has drawn the interest of the Arcanum.
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