Viatys, the city of a thousand faiths

To be fair, it's more like 924 faiths, but thousand sounds better.

Viatys is the largest city in the [insert name of the world], where the believers of different faiths are welcomed with open arms (as long as their religion doesn't call for the killing of non-believers).
Because of that, it's the largest mix of cultures in the world.

The outside of the city

The first thing that the travelers will notice are three outside walls the city possesses.
They were built to protect the people living outside the city that manage food-related resources in their farms, fields, orchards, fisheries, and forests.
All of those structures are necessary for the people of the city to survive.

Each wall has a few gates leading in other directions.
When passing through one of them, the guards check everyone for contraband or things that could be dangerous on a large scale.
In case of attack or when something is wrong, the guards are equipped with magic scrolls that let them contact the inside of the city and the neighboring guard posts.

The inside

The Main Road

There are many gates that lead to the city, however, one of them is way bigger than others. This gate, located on the southern border of the city, is used by most of the visitors and merchants visiting the city. On the other side of it, there is the Main Road, a place full of markets, shops and the house of the merchant guild. It leads directly to the state district.
The main road is 20 meters wide and 5 kilometers long.
Officially, the Main Road is considered a part of the religious district. Just behind all of the shops, there are churches of the most believed faiths in the world. Thanks to that, tourists and pilgrims have the easiest access to the sacred places of the current main pantheon.
Most of the worldwide known festivals and holidays take place there. There's also annual parade created to greet the upcoming new year, where members of most of the churches create various moving shows and stages.

Religious district

The bread and butter of the Viatys and its main source of income, the religious district occupies the biggest part of the city.
The religious district is divided into lots of various sizes, intended for the churches, with houses, inns and smaller shops surrounding them. This kind of setup lets the believers settle around the church of their faith without the need to traverse the enormous city. As the layout of churches changes every seven years, a lot of members of the churches, for which the number of followers fluctuates a lot, live in such a way that they can move all of their belongings easily.

Artisan district

Thanks to the presence of the people from all parts of the world and their churches and the relocation of said churches every seven years, there is a great request for people who can build, renovate, repair, paint, sculpt and decorate or just move stuff. It's no wonder the Viatys became a paradise for all kinds of the artisans.
As such, the east side of the city is filled with various workshops, forges, and storage houses.
The district is never quiet. Almost always one can hear the sounds of hammers, saws, chisels, and bellows. Even at night, there'll be someone trying to finish their orders.
Most of the churches of gods followed by artisans are placed on the border of artisan and religious district, so artisans, who often live in their workshops (or above them) don't have to go on a journey on their day off.

The state district

The northernmost and the smallest of districts, the state district is the seat of the town hall, the bank, the court, and the prison, all of which are almost full on any given day. This is the oldest district of the city, still surrounded by the walls from the times when the village first turned into a city. Some of the descendants of the original inhabitants of Viatys still live here.

The town hall

The seat of the council and the place where most of the paperwork is done.
Anyone who wants to get something done here needs to get the right type of number and then stand in the queue. Thanks to the presence of the races who can function normally during the night hours, the town hall is open 24 hours a day. Every two weeks, the members of the council gather here to draw up the summary of the city's activities and plan the next steps needed to improve the life in Viatys.

The bank

A lot of the churches related to the deities of money usually serve also as banks, however, there are people who never would entrust their money to the followers of the "heretic" gods.
Because of that, there was a need for the state bank that isn't related directly to any of the religions. The bank is run by two old friends, a gnome and a dwarf.
Even though the two founders are on good terms with each other, their workers often show the ancient aversion of those two races. Because all of them are a group of honorable hard workers, the two factions constantly try to outshine each other and thanks to that, the bank works like a clockwork.

The court and the prison

With city such as this, where members of different beliefs, cultures, and races, have to coexist, it's inevitable that there are conflicts. Thanks to that, the job of a judge here is one of the most lucrative and stressful jobs in the city.
Not only one has to deal with many angry clients of races that could fold someone like a piece of paper, but some of them can also take revenge by cursing the judge they think wronged them.

For such a big city, the prison seems to be a pretty small building. It's not because of the low crime rate in the city, but because of the genius of the magical architects living here.
As the spell, which lets someone shrink their size has been known for many years, architects of the prison came up with an idea to create a building that would shrink everyone entering it. Thanks to that, the prison is bigger on the inside.
Additionally, the prison is protected by various sigils that are checked on the regular intervals, that protect it from any kind of damage, both physical and magical from the outside and the inside.

The Graveyard and Catacombs

As the most populated city in the world, and also the destination of pilgrimages, Viatys possesses also the biggest graveyard and catacombs.
There are many outsiders who want to be buried here. As such, the catacombs spread under half of the city and the graveyard is a few kilometers wide and long. Just like the city, both of them are divided into parts correlating to other religions.
So many corpses are a temptation for necromancers, corpse-eaters, and graverobbers. Because of that, there are guards whose main duty is protecting the graves and reapplying protection wards every two weeks.
There are rumors of a few cults hiding in the catacombs.

Inner walls, guard posts and barracks

To increase the safety of the city, every district is separated with walls. It helps both with containing possible fires and makes it more difficult to escape for the chased criminals.
Every district has its own guard posts, barracks, and fire stations that can communicate with each other via magical scrolls.

Defences

The city of thousand faiths is a wonder when it comes to its defenses.
Its walls were built by the best dwarven artisans, with materials given by mysterious benefactor. Said benefactor enchanted every brick and nail he provided, so they strengthen each other when they are connected.
The whole city is covered by an invisible magical dome that could deflect or absorb any attack directed at it.
Even if it would fall, most of the churches are protected with smaller barriers created by their owners. As it has been noticed by one of the inspectors, those barriers started to connect with each other long ago, creating a magically interwoven net.

History

At first, Viatys was just a small village, where believers of three different faiths have lived.
Priests of those churches made an agreement that they wouldn't fight between themselves for their believers.
For years, they managed to uphold the conditions of the deal.
As the village started to grow and slowly turned into a city, travelers who passed by spread the rumors of the agreement.
Soon, believers of many different faiths started to flow to the place where they could coexist peacefully.
With that, the growth of the city accelerated at great speed.

Appointment of the council

As the city grew, it became clear really fast that it would need some better government. One mayor just couldn't take on as many things as his position now required.
That's when a council was created.
In the current council, there are 20 descendants of the original village inhabitants and 20 representatives of the biggest faiths.
Together they legislate and decide on the further fate of the city.

Architecture

Viatys is one big mishmash of architectonic styles from all around the world that changes chaotically every seven years.
There are monumental buildings that seem to bask in their own splendor just next to simple wooden churches, one could find near a road.
Buildings that seem to change their colors and buildings made out of materials with just one color.
Some owners of the lots decide to opt out of building grand churches and create smaller ones, surrounded by the parks or groves.
It's pretty common to see someone sitting on a bench under the tree to relax, not realizing they are in the place of worship.

Type

Large city

Population

The inside city - 1 milllion, way more if the people living between and outside of outside walls are counted.

Status:
Viatys is a free city-state and in case of any war, it is considered completely neutral.

Geography

The city has been built in the foothills, on the top of one of the hills.
When the city started to grow, its builders used the spells that would flatten the top. Now only the state district and the terrain behind the first wall is still uneven.

Demographics

People of all races can be found here, even some of the monstrous ones. Members of the races that would be a threat to the others (such as those that would normally feed on them or control their minds) are regularly checked for any suspicious and dangerous activities.

Opening up a church

Anyone who fills out the special form with the information about their religion, its dogmas, rules and holidays related to it, and registers ten other believers of the same faith, is eligible to build or rent a church there.
Depending on the number of believers they can rent or buy bigger land.
The city then takes a little tax every month based on the church donations and the number of believers.
If one cannot pay this tax, either by money, produced goods or by selling holy symbols, the religion will be "evicted" from the city until someone pays the debt.

Counting the believers

Every seven years, a new census is made. Depending on how many believers of each faith there are, there can be changes in the layout of the city.
That's because every faith can own the land, which size is corresponding to the number of believers. If that number drops too much, the church will have to move to the smaller building to make the place for another religion.

Transporting the church

Thanks to the efforts of the churches of gods of magic, a new spell has been produced which lets the caster move and resize the parts of the building without destroying it. It is often used when there is a need to relocate very ornate parts of building to the new smaller church.

Viatys Inquisition

With the city that big, there always will be some kind of trouble.
Guards can deal with the violence, stealing and vandalism, but when the cults try to summon a demon or their Elder God, when someone starts to sell potions which help to brainwash the masses or when someone resurrects half of the catacombs as their undead minions, there is a need for some heavy artillery.
That's what the Viatys Inquisition is for.
Members of the Inquisition specialize in fighting with spellcasters and resisting any types of charms. All of them are magically gifted and can use various protective spells and spells that help in the investigation (speaking with the dead, scrying, the zone of truth).
They wear armor that is enchanted with magic that untangles incoming spells, making them useless.
There is an aura of resoluteness surrounding them, that calms the hearts of innocent and strikes the fear into their "prey".

Are there really that many religions?

Short answer: No.
There are a few reasons, why so many religions have been registered.
First, sometimes a deity related to religion has more than one domain they rule over. In that case, different types of people could register them as different religions. For example, the Dwarven god of Forges, could both be registered as a dwarven god and the god of smiths, additionally, his church could also be located in the general church that worships dwarven pantheon.
Second, sometimes the traditions related to a god in various parts of the world could be different enough, that the people coming from that parts of the world would want to have a church that suits their traditions more.
Third, the only way to own a bigger lot in the Viatys is to be the head of the registered religion. However, nothing stops non-religious businesses from registering as a religion as long as they fulfill all of the conditions to be registered as one. There are at least a few philosophical schools in the city as well as gambling dens, guilds, hotels, spas, and bathhouses.