SUTULAK - THE SLAVER CITY

Small City: AL NE; 25,000 gp limit; Assets 13,101,250 gp; Population 10,481; Mixed (65% human, 25% goblinoid, 8% half-orc, 2% other).

Sutulak was once a simple meeting point between orc and human lands where unscrupulous members of both communities could trade in stolen goods, livestock, and—on occasion—captives. Only after word got out about the place, and corrupt nobles from elsewhere began to arrive in search of slave labor, did the locals realize the potential of their situation. Sutulak grew swiftly into a functional if unattractive city. Today, its buildings are sturdier, its roads wider, and its walls higher, but it’s no less ugly or squalid than before.

Sutulak is ruled by a council of its richest citizens— that is, the most powerful slave-traders. An enormous portion of the population consists of slaves and those who guard them, giving the entire city an atmosphere of misery.

Sutulak has a higher gp limit than most cities its size due to the constant infl ux of slavers. At any given time it might contain more than 2,000 travelers, both buyers and sellers, in addition to its resident population.

ARCHITECTURE

As with many other aspects of the city, Sutulak’s architecture is sharply divided along class lines. The stone houses and offices of the powerful are bizarre hybrids of military and opulent styles. They feature strong doors, narrow windows, and high gates to protect against rivals’ forces, assassination attempts, and the constant threat of uprising. Yet they might also display ornate statues or colorful dyes, the better to showcase the wealth of the owners. Most of the city’s other structures are wooden and simple, whether they serve as homes for the city’s poor or as shops, taverns, and slave stables. The citizens of Sutulak prefer swift and cheap to difficult and expensive.

The city government devotes some attention to infl uencing the fi rst impressions of visitors. Although Sutulak’s clients arrive simply to do business and are unimpressed with shows of wealth, they do appreciate effi ciency. Thus, the larger and cleaner buildings are clustered along the main avenues, so that visitors encounter them before seeing anything else.

LAYOUT

Sutulak, like other slaver cities, resembles a military compound in terms of general layout. The streets are almost all unpaved, other than the few leading to the slave markets. Those main avenues are wide, if not well kept, to allow carts to carry slaves to and from the markets. Smaller streets are winding and confusing, to slow the escape of any slaves who manage to flee.

Soldiers stand at all major intersections, and the city’s various districts are walled off from each other. Guarded gates ensure that escaped slaves must bypass multiple obstacles to win freedom.

A stone defensive wall rings the city, but it is unlike most others. Wooden spikes and embedded broken glass protrude from both sides, and portcullises defend the inside and outside of the heavy wooden doors. Sutulak’s wall is designed to enable defenders to fi ght off invaders from outside or rebelling slaves from within.

Sutulak Map Key

The keyed locations on the Sutulak map indicate various districts of the city. For a general discussion of these features, see City Districts beginning on page 34.

1. Defensive wall
2. City gate
3. Civic district/Lord’s Manor (combined)
4. Embassy district
5. Fine shops
6. Magic district
7. Noble estates
8. Wealthy residential district
9. Average residential district
10. Garrison
11. Guildhall district
12. Marketplace
13. Temple district
14. Caravan district
15. Inn/Tavern district
16. Red-Light district
17. Shantytown
18. Slum/Tenement district
19. Warehouse district
20. Slave quarter

PERSONA

Sutulak is crowded, dirty, and miserable, and its citizens are much the same. The large slave population is wretched but transient, and most of the citizens are poor. Artisans and shopkeepers support the city’s only thriving industry by manufacturing and selling merchandise suited to the needs of slave traders, such as tools, shackles, and simple clothing. Foreign merchants do not come here for other kinds of goods, and thus a shop that deals in furniture or tailored clothing (for instance) is only as successful as local demand allows it to be. The constant parade of newly captured slaves, crying in pain and despair, has deadened of the souls of Sutulak’s common people. They go through the motions of daily existence but care little about anything else.

In sharp contrast are the few successful slave traders who make their homes in the city. They dwell in fancy buildings, dress in ornate and colorful clothes, and send for delicacies and luxuries from other cities. Like the general population, these people are also inured to suffering, but they reveal their soullessness through greed and cruelty rather than through general ennui.

Given such a climate of poverty and misery, it is only natural that crime is rampant in Sutulak. The government deals with criminals as might be expected: It sells them to the slavers.