The Crossroads

The flying adventurer city known as the Crossroads is a mass of land and abandoned city which floats high above the world of Argent, closer to The Source than it is to the land below. In recent years it has become home to many adventurers who wish for glory, riches, and more, who come for the opportunities that the flying city presents. Strange shimmer nexus like portals occasionally spring up, allowing passage to the city. They happen on a pattern, it would seem, and merchants utilize these charted patterns to their fullest extent.

The people of the Crossroads live within the abandoned city streets. Tall marble structures accented with platinum and gold, built to last, and withstand. Over the years since it's reclamation the city has begun to undergo a shift. Merchants, craftsman, and the adventurers who fund them have taken up restoring the once glorious city, utilizing a magical device known as the Compass to travel to the far reaches of Argent, and both expand the city and grow it's reputation.
The most powerful inhabitants of the city have formed a guild of some variety, in order to organize and govern the Crossroads, backed by the Crossroads itself. The guild has no leader, as the guild secretary, Ethenia, and others in the organization claim the city itself is sentient. They say the Compass is powered by it, as is the magic that keeps it afloat and unharmed this high up into the storming atmosphere that surrounds the source.
Anyone with a semblance of potential may join the Crossroads, doing so by a small initiation within the center of the city, involving attuning yourself and your soul to the Crossroads itself. Doing so grants a person a number of strange abilities unique to people of the Crossroads:

• A member of the Crossroads always detects as magic, with no recognizable school. A successful identify spell reveals to the caster the attunement between the Crossroads and the guild member, but tells them nothing about the guild members abilities.
• The ability to use the Compass is only available to members of the Crossroads. The compass itself allows the user to send themselves to any area in the world with an open arcane stream. These streams are unpredictable, and so do not always take you directly to your destination, but have found to be reliable enough for people to justify constructing infrastructure within the city.
• So long as they can see the sky, a member of the guild can spend one hour recalling themselves to the city, vanishing from their position and appearing in the Compass' plaza within the Crossroads itself.
• Guild members can communicate with other guildmembers, if they choose to, regardless of the languages they know. Though on the ground in Sear a party of Seddenese folks may need to rely on their Searan member to speak for them, they'll have no trouble speaking to eachother.

History

Where the city comes from, who built it, and why it can fly how and where it does is all one large mystery that none seem to have the answers too. Many theorize based on it's architecture that it was constructed by the golden dragons before the great floods of old, but there is little to prove that, as all non eminent dragon culture has been lost to the waves.

The Fall of 1776

At the beginning of the new year, tragedy befell the city. Just before the silver and golden lights above would finish their final rotation signifying their welcome for their many faced siblings next cycle, everything began to shake. The white stone structures of old began to crumble underneath the force, and the sky itself would seem to almost fall away. It was on this day when the citizens of the Crossroads would experience an event called "The Fall", by the locals. Hundreds died, many of which were influential. An owner of a popular tavern, or the children of a similarly frequented bar on the cities opposite end, all fell victim to the tragedy. In response to this, many began to become reclusive, or leave entirely.
Despite this, this event showed the world what the adventurers congregated in the city were capable of. It's told that it was the efforts of the many adventurers of the crossroads that stopped the city itself, while the portals were failing, people were rioting, and their homes were crumbling, from plummeting straight into the Great Tradeway Sea. Many recall stories of a great blue dragon or beast man made of lightning freeing them from rubble and allowing them safe passage to the less volatile districts, while others describe a fantastical event where the most powerful mages alongside even the most novice, combined their magical energy to keep the city afloat. A few distinct heroes were notable, at least within the tales, but one stands true as definitely the most referenced. One described as a tall half dragon, with blueish silver scales, who was told to have nearly given his life for the city. The common people have begun to call him the Dragon of the Silver City, even though with recent acts of kindness and efforts made to unite the city, his true name has become known as Ivallyos.
New eyes have been on the city since the event. Powerful organizations, people, and governments, are all watching the adventurers of the Crossroads to see what they will do next. Some watch as potential enemies, others as allies, and others as things more complex. This caused an influx of new citizens during the rebuilding, as the population has nearly doubled from it's previous nearly 5,000, to almost 10,000, over a very chaotic few weeks.

City Districts

The circular city is split into four ring shaped districts that grow higher in elevation as you travel closer to the center, known as the Mortal, Dragon, Coin, and Divine districts. Each servers it's own purpose and has been claimed by the guild that runs the city. The Mortal, Dragon, and Divine districts are all housing. With various different qualities of such depending on the district itself.
The housing of the mortal district is comfortable and livable, but by no means amazing. The dragon district is nice, with large living spaces, amenities like showers and running water, and so on. While the other two are rather mundane, the divine district is a life of luxury. Magically heated rooms, amenities like pools and catering, and various other things.
The coin district is the district that stands out the most. This is where businesses and shops are ran, with open markets, running transit like wagons and such that do laps of the city, and so on. This is where most travelers and tourists will end up, and stay. A number of particular taverns sit in this place.

Demographics

The Crossroads is an incredibly diverse city, with inhabitants from all over the universe. From volcanus from deep within the Excess, to mousefolk from the docks of Murinechire, many various races find themselves purpose within the Crossroads. Similarly, you'll find people of just about any skill set within the city. Talented craftsman, powerful wizards, expert pilots, hardened warriors, and more.

Defences

The city itself floats in an area so high up in the sky that the storms and powerful winds would kill anything that tried to exist there, but it manages to thrive. The city itself is it's own enclosed ecosystem, where it's internal weather mimics that of the seasons, but remains free of natural extremes like blizzards, heatwaves, and floods. Anything attempting to assault the city would first need to reach it, as creatures with intent to harm the Crossroads are immediately unattuned if they were beforehand, and ejected from the city using the compass.

Industry & Trade

The Crossroads has strong relationships with powerful Argent organizations like the Archons, the merchants of Murinechire, the dragons of the Eminent, and more. They trade both their diverse and exotic services, most prominently so in the form of adventurers. Powerful warriors from all over who come to the Argent to show their strength, and earn their keep by doing tasks and jobs for those of the Argent with the funds to hire them.

Infrastructure

The guild governs the land and it's distribution, for adventurers, tradesmen, and any others within the guild. You must pay for both the refurbishment of the structure, it's land, and it's upkeep. Until a citizen can afford this though, they are given a room in one of the larger guild lodging buildings within the mortal district. Each room is about 500 square feet, including a bathroom, bedroom, kitchenette, closet, and common area, all of which are equipped with basic furnishings.
As an adventurers improves in skill, their lodge is upgraded. Adventurers are split by the guild into tiers, where tier 0 and 1 adventurers remain in their mortal district lodgings, tier 2 and 3 are given lodges in the dragon district, and tier 4 adventurers earn a room in the divine district. Rooms in the dragon district are about twice that in size. With room for guests, running water and showers, mild magical temperature control, and closer access to the coin district. The divine district lodges are incredible. Each tower has maybe 20 lodges, with each tower sharing access to a pool, well staffed and stocked training grounds, catered meals three times a day, grooming assistance like in house barbers and spas, and so on. This is the life adventurers shoot for.

Guilds and Factions

There are a number of factions that have begun to form underneath the banner of the adventurers guild, but alongside that, a number of non-heroic factions have begun to build up and grow under the noses of their more powerful neighbors.

The Hane'vashi

Literally meaning "First of the Sky" in old Searan, the Hane'vashi is a group of kobolds, high elves, and other Eminent loyalists who firmly believe the city is a relic of an ancient golden dragon kingdom once called Levi'vashi, that once took up almost all of the southern half of Sear. The Hane'vashi, or Vashi for short, have refurbished their sector of the district as true to source as they could, recreating what they believe to be the most faithful possible design to the originals.
The Vashi don't make any trouble per se, but are definitely a group that many have their eyes on. Their half-dragon leader, a dragon of a quite lesser family from the Sora territory who calls himself Vir'ann of Ancient Gold, claims to be a descendant of the historical dragon Vandria; not the Vandria we know, but the golden dragon Vandria who founded the first civilized dragon kingdom, Levi'vashi, and who the Vandria we know is named after. He's made no action on his tall tales, but many who spend long nights at pubs with the man claim he says the city holds great secrets, and that ancient pre-flood magic is hidden deep within. Many say that he believes if he gets his hands on that magic, he can restore dragons to their former glory, and that in itself has caused many to grow suspicious of his efforts to grow his community.
Their existence, unintentionally, has caused tension between dragon supremacists' and their opposition to be greater than ever. People from all around the world come to the Crossroads as a haven, but those who hail from Testifaria, are known to say it feels safer their than here at times, which has drawn many distasteful eyes to the Vashi.

The Lotus Aegis Initiative

Having arrived on the scene by Ethenia's original request during the Fall, a group of Unitian wardens have made their homes in the Crossroads. These wardens are sworn to the Order of the White Lotus, and have taken up shop within the divine district. They remain, despite no longer being needed, claiming the need to watch over the citizens in case something like the Fall happens again. They call themselves the Lotus Aegis Initiative, or LAI, and are a group of young aspirants of the organization who's job it is to insert themselves into communities that need them, and maintain the health of those in dire need.
The LAI itself is mostly made up of a number of Unitians, but they aren't exclusively so, with people from all over Sedden joining the Order of the White Lotus, and finding themselves invited to the initiative. Alongside the mostly tiefling volunteers are their small army of constructs called Peace Guardians. These arcane creations are Unitian by design, and are modified versions of Shield Guardians, supposedly engineered by the Emperor and Queen during the initial founding of Unity, and improved bit by bit over the years to far exceed the capabilities of their archaic predecessors.
Those of the Initiative have spent most of their time helping in the rebuilding effort, but they've also had many citizens volunteer to assist them. They've been teaching those who are willing medicine, and even small amounts of magic, to help people become more self sufficient. Business owners, especially those who sold medicine or worked in minor medical fields like pharmaceuticals or healing alchemy, have shown a great public distaste for their self insertion, and their lack of concern for the local economy.

The Murinestock Labor Union

Owned by a mousefolk named Bibbin Crosnitch, the Murinestock Labor Union formed in response to the cities rebuilding. The group has promised the people of the Crossroads a fair representative and negotiator when it would come to their skills, once all is said and done. Their more modern promises of higher wages and employee benefits are hard to turn down, and for only a small fee any citizen can join them.
The Union itself has almost claimed it's own small section of the coin district, turning some of the more intact ruins into offices, community lodgings for union members without homes, and soup kitchens for the same crowd. On top of taking good care of their people, the Union ward of the coin district, in the time since the Fall, has had less robberies, assaults, and a general lack of crime when compared to any other neighborhood in the city, making it quite alluring to join for that alone.

The Winter District

A community of refugees from Winterlan have begun gathering on one of the more secluded corners of the mortal district, lead by a self proclaimed frost genasi man named Vulja, with the title of Winter Warden. Vulja's story is simple. He was sold a map that lead to a portal in southern Winterlan that lead to the Crossroads, and so he began to lead the people who were willing to this flying city, free of the dangers of their crumbling home. Since they lack the money to really integrate like others have, the hundreds of Winterfolk who've found themselves in this nook huddle together in tents around fires. Little has changed about their lifestyle, besides the lack of immanent danger, and the opportunity to work.
Many Winterfolk have found employment with one of two organizations assisting in the reconstruction of the city. A few hundred with the the Quid Pro Quo, under a woman named Nyumari, and another few hundred under the City Wardens, under the Dragon of the Silver City. Though none of them have had any particular complaints about either, the working conditions and pay leave something to be desired. Both organizations have been accused by outsiders to the situation as having capitalized on low income workers to boost their own names during a time of tragedy.

The Champion's Court

By technicality, the Champion's Court is actually a part of the Nexus, a Surreal echo of the Crossroads. Following the Fey Tides of 1776, but not discovered until several weeks after, a fey crossing was established directly in the Fortune Stadium. Entirely unnoticed saved for a bit of conjuration magic in the very center of the stadium, one can freely travel to the Champion's Court by stabbing the fang of a predator, submerged in rose water, into the center of the Stadium while under moonlight.
Those who do are whisked to the Surreal, in the Champion's Court. Caelagarm Oath-Keepers act as impartial wardens and dutifully patrol the streets and buildings within. The purpose of the Champion's Court is to be an arena-literal or figurative-for nonlethal conflict resolution. The Court is operated by both the Rose Court, and the Moon Court.
There are two main aspects to this court: The Hall of Brains, and the Hall of Brawn. The former is meticulously guarded against all forms of magical espionage and houses important meetings as a political neutral grounds. The value of such a place can't be understated in a Reality where political lines are literal, and physical space is defined by ideas. The latter is a gladiatorial arena designed for ritual combat. A permanent moon hangs over the field that prevents death from injury while in its light. Roses bloom across the battle field, which can be triggered to deploy dampeners to reign in overly vicious combatants.
The Hall of Brawn exists to help slake the thirst for violence found in certain circles, as well as to provide a stage where two parties can fight uninhibited without going so far as to murder another fey. It also provides an ideal arena for simple bloodsport.
Exiting the Champion's Court has been made unusually easy, relatively speaking. Plant a rose seed (easily procured in the court) covered in blood spilled by prey during a hunt. The rose instantly sprouts, and anyone who eats the leaf is taken straight back to the Fortune Stadium.

A3:Stillalive loading image by Byung Cheol

RUINED SETTLEMENT
Pre-flood, supposedly.

Founding Date

1775

Alternative Name(s)

The Argent Crossroads, City of the Silver Dragon

Type

City

Population

Roughly 10,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Cross

Housing Mechanics

Demand: Neutral
Land Quality: Modest - Wealthy
Possible Docks: Planar
Special Rules: For the purposes of Boutiques, player owned businesses are always considered to be Trusted and Guildhouses are always considered to be Welcomed.