Siathu

Siathu is a sprawling cityscape by the sea mostly surrounded by cliffs. It crawls up and down the nearby cliffs and sprawls along the beachhead 3 or more layers deep. The Center is the tallest, towering buildings of 10 to 30 stories.

Magic is common. Not to say everyone can do magic, but magic is everywhere, and you interact with magically created things every day. Some of you may have been lucky enough to have inherited a magical device or two from your House.

Humanoids of every sort live in Siathu, and in close proximity one to another. The houses and businesses are stacked upon each other, and balconies and bridges crisscross the cityscape. The architecture is widely varied due to the age of the city and the various humanoids who might have built it. Older parts of the city sometimes crumble and new buildings are built on top of the rubble nearly overnight. The city is always changing. Always moving.

There are many Houses. The major ones are:

• Elder House: More like an organized religion than a house. They feed and clothe the poor, though they do keep track of who owes them debts and will exact it in the future through servitude or substance. It is reputed that some of this House are hundreds or even thousands of years old. Some outsiders feel the House is not so much a religion as a financial institution.
• House of the Root: A peaceful House that is probably the only reason there are trees in main city area of Siathu. They use natural and elemental magic to keep the city beautiful. They believe that all should be peaceful and unified, and are constantly evangelizing to gain more members. Their close ties to nature, however, cut them off from some of the advantages of modern magic.
• House of the Book: Guardians of knowledge and research, the House of the Book is uninterested in the politics of Siathu and the world. They are in charge (and indeed invented) much of the infrastructure of Siathu: plumbing, the message network, and heating. In their endless research, however, they can sometimes be sloppy and are often the cause of unnatural disasters.
• House of the Blade: Honorable and just. The House is passionate in their belief in swift justice, and their members are frequently hired as guardsmen. They do not believe in subtle interpretation of law, but the purity of the intent of the law. To outsiders, this can make them seem like blind, close-mindede zealots.
• The Houseless: Those without a house, no real connections in the city. There are many Houseless in the lower parts of the city, destitute, poor and desperate. The Houseless wear no specific garb, but one can nearly always tell a Houseless by the garb they wear. Getting into a House can be expensive, or incur more responsibility than one might want.

There are other Houses, either minor or more secretive. If none of the above seem right for you, tell me a bit about your character and I'll tell you what house you probably belong to.

The World

Surrounding Siathu on the north are stepped cliffs culminating in a massive monument of stone called The Plinth. The Plinth is a massive smoothly curved surface of stone, pockmarked with occasional holes. It is said it holds a network of caves.

To the south of Siathu is a large bay that protects the city from heavy sea activity. Siathu is a busy port, ships litter the bay and are frequently seen going to and fro. Many of the richer folk of Siathu have vacation homes built along the bay with their own private ports.

To the west of Siathu is a massive bridge leading from a cliffedge directly into a massive cliffside. Noone seems to know what the purpose of this bridge is, why it was built or when. It has been there as long as anyone can remember. Hundreds of feet above the bridge, the top of the far cliffside is covered in massive pine trees.

To the east of Siathu is sprawling fields littered with ancient farms. Siathu is growing, however, and constantly eating up smaller farms. The Elder House supervises the restitution given to the farmers who lose their lands to the city's eminent domain.