Cthugarak, City of the Firenewts

Basalt Gate-Tower

Cthugarak is a sprawling Firenewt city moulded from living rock inside the caldera of an active volcano in the Bandit Mountains. The city proper sits within a roughly circular slab approximately 1000 yards in radius across two tiers, surrounded by a lava moat accessible by raised causeway or aboard giant striders. It is reached from the surface via a lava tubes that converge at the Basalt Gate-Tower checkpoint, which seals all entry. Every visitor must pass inspection, no exceptions.

Arriving with a pendant is the standard way in. Guards confiscate the device, ask a few brief questions about the purpose of your visit — trade, sport, gambling, scholarship — and issue a heat-cloak in exchange. The glowing orange cloak marks you as a sanctioned visitor and, critically, keeps you alive in the volcanic heat.

Pendant

On the way out, the process id reversed: return a cloak, receive a pendant.

Holders of a house or clan brooch from one of the merchant clans or noble houses have it easier; they keep their brooch, skip the cloak entirely provided they can withstand the heat by other means, and face far less scrutiny at the gate.

Anyone without a valid cloak or brooch faces enslavement or death. A brooch from an enemy house, or one that cannot be verified as legitimate, is cause for immediate suspicion.

The below introduction or similar would be experienced by any adventurer that obtains a suitable pass to the city.

Crossing the Causeway

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As you step onto the raised obsidian causeway, the lava moat churning orange and black below, Lieutenant Vraks falls into step beside you. He does not look at you. He speaks in the clipped, precise tone of a city guard who has said this a hundred times and found it beneath him every time.

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VRAKS: "You will listen. I will not repeat myself.

"The city you are entering is Cthugarak — he pronounces it KssTHUGaRAK — city of Lord Inferno, Herald of the Eternal Flame, also called Cthuga. Everything here belongs to him. You do not. Keep that in mind.

"The lower city is divided into eight quarters. Each is held by a noble house. The houses hate one another. That is not your problem; unless you make it your problem, in which case it becomes the last problem you ever have.

"You carry heat-cloaks. They cool your weak bodies, they grant you passage on the main causeways. They do not grant you entry to house strongholds, noble estates, the Temple Precinct, or the Upper Caldera. If you are found somewhere you should not be, there is only one verdict and two sentences — slavery, or death. I mention this as a courtesy, not a warning. You will not receive another.

"Now. The houses."

He pauses to let a giant strider patrol clatter past, its rider scanning your party with flat yellow eyes.

"House Ignisalam — First among the houses. Their mandate is the priesthood. They hold the Temple Precinct, and they hold the ear of Lord Inferno himself. The High Priestess governs the faith. Cross them and you cross Cthuga. I mention them first because that is the correct order of things.

"House Blazenewt — Second rank. Military conquest. They hold the Chattel Quarter; slaves, livestock, the pens. They also hold the gate you just came through. They hold me. You will find them on every patrol and every causeway. Do not be foolish when Blazenewts are near.

"House Flamesaur — Third. Entertainment. They run the arenas, the gladiatorial pits, the beast fights. Their quarter is loud, it is dangerous, and it is popular. If you lose your coin there, that is your own affair.

"House Infernagecko — Fourth. Weaponsmithing. The Obsidian Forges are theirs. If you need arms of quality in this city, you go through them. If you try to go around them, they will know.

"House Emberdrake — Fifth. Trade routes and diplomacy. They hold the Foreigner Quarter. You will spend most of your time there. It is where your kind lives. The Emberdrake tax collector Zhurask holds considerable sway there — he is a moneylender as well. I advise you not to borrow from him.

"House Cinderwyrm — Sixth. Lore and fire-magic. The Scholars Tower is theirs. They know things. They sell access to what they know. Do not steal from their archives. They will find out, and they are patient.

"House Pyrotoad — Seventh. Alchemy. Their quarter reeks. Their brews are useful, but unstable. Their people include addicts and failed experimenters. Avoid the fumes, they are not always accidental nor harmless.

"House Scorchviper — Eighth, and lowest. Slavery, espionage, poison. They are universally despised. That does not make them harmless. Their slavers work the Outcast Quarter and they will take anyone who cannot account for themselves. If you lose your heat-cloak, you become their business very quickly.

He stops at the Foreign Quarter; beyond, the High Street runs to the Noble Gate.

"Your kind sleeps here in the Foreigner Quarter. There are three places worth knowing. The Drake's Ember Rest, on Westflame Boulevard; four stories, cooled chambers where you can remove your heat-cloaks, twenty-five gold a night. Clean, well-guarded. The Coilfire Arms, on Haze Fissure; three levels, five gold, run by a human named Drask Embercoil, there you sleep with your cloaks on. The Ashveil Flophouse, on Stranger Causeway; one gold, straw pallets, Pyrotoad fumes seeping through the walls from their quarter to the north. Save your coin there if you must, but sleep lightly.

"The Hearth is the central concourse, where the High Street meets Westflame Boulevard and Eastpyre Avenue. It is the heart of the lower city. Lose your bearings, go back to The Hearth.

"Stay on the main causeways. Display your heat-cloaks when asked. Do not touch a brooch that is not yours. Do not look at a patrol for too long. Do not look away from a patrol for too long.

"One final matter. The noble estates and the King's Palace are on the plateau above; the Upper Caldera, across the Obsidian Bridge, beyond the Noble Gate. You will not go there uninvited, the likelihood of receiving such an invitation is near zero.

"Welcome to Cthugarak."

He turns and walks back the way he came without another word.