Prozga (Prawz-guh)

The great mountain known as the Godspeak rises above the city and divides it. The mountain, home to the legendary Sages' Labyrinth, is a monument of divine power. Every inch of it is carefully carved, either to appear natural or into pieces of immense art, and all by Divine whim. Small entrances to the Maze peak out of the mountain, either gated or magically locked or simply left open for anyone to crawl into. The heart of the city is in the Labyrinth, in the puzzle rooms that have become roads or houses or palaces. But most people still live on the outside, in the Northern or Southern spillovers. 
In the North, the maze opens into a massive canyon large enough to hold a metropolis. Waterfalls spill out of the carved mouths of the mountain into canals that run through the city, and hanging gardens cover the walls. Small castles and rich manors line the walls of the ravine and the side of the mountain, many almost showing off with their architectural splendor, all domes and towers. The common houses that fill the canyon are less extravagant, and form a new man-made labyrinth of two-to-four-story buildings. In the South, the maze opens onto a tall mesa overlooking the mountains, with slopes on one side into a second mesa, and then again into the valley below. Here, the majesty of the city is not hidden by canyon walls, but proudly rises in walls of spires. 
This is the city of knowledge. Long have the lords of Prozga watched over the Labyrinth, learning its secrets and conserving ancient knowledge. Most of Prozga's history has been at peace, watching over a world that burns down every few years with smug detachment. It is little surprise that it has also become Garadel's wizarding capital, connected to the Darzan University and the broader world of magic. This has brought Prozga even greater wealth and power; some worry that it is too much, and that it has brought destabilizing influences to the city. The Queen of Ezekos remains powerful here, though, and all civil disturbances have remained small and largely difficult to notice - unusual political turbulence, and little more.

Demographics

160,000 humanoids live in Prozga. The population is 30% Prism, 30% Human, 30% Dryad, and 10 % Other. Prozga is one of the two largest cities in Western Garadel, the other being the capital of the Sacred State of Nalastra, Zohalia.

Government

Prozga is ruled by the Lord Mayor, who is appointed by the monarch. The Lord Mayor does not rule without oversight - they must seek approval from the royal court if they want to act beyond a narrow set of possible powers. Most of their job is a matter of hiring and holding committees, as they work with other local elites in dictating policy. Every Lord Mayor has their Small Court, a handful of immediate employees (often chosen by the royal court or other factions): a Captain of the Guard, an Attorney General, a City Seneschal, and a City Treasurer. As these positions can often be full of politicians that can be better connected than the Mayor, the Mayor is also given a Smaller Court, a council of true loyalists and companions that can be given small amounts of regulatory power. This is a city of factions bound together by frail bureaucracies and very many small constitutions and traditions of government. 
The current Lord Mayor is Lady Ludmilla Godlo, a military officer from the Mazeguard that is known for her religious devotion and sincerity. She is a direct fellow accustomed to military life and military directness, who often still wears her armor to work. While not incompetent, she seems surprised sometimes that she even has the job, and she struggles with some of the more political and intrigue-related parts. She got here because she won enough personal favor from the Primzla clan to be relevant, but is inoffensive enough as a non-politician to avoid being a statement. She has slowly been learning how to use her military and Primzla connections, but still avoids doing anything too noticeable. Ludmilla's greatest sin has been her love of forgiveness - she loves handing out pardons, pontificating about Tira's Forgiveness, and relieving sentences, and it has made her far more enemies than her political alignment has. A number of lawyers feel she is personally out to undermine them, including her own attorney general, though her timely interventions have won her support from a scattering of people (including the Guild of Brewers, notably enough). 
While Ludmilla is the local power, it is worth noting that the royal government is here as well - so the Monarch and the Arsha of Ezekos have a tendency to get involved.

Defences

Two forts protect greater Prozga from threat: Fort Gannarja in the north, which controls traffic into Northside, and Fort Krozim in the South that controls traffic into Southside. The mountains provide the city with most of the walls it could need - Northside is in a ravine and Southside is on two plateaus, so geography is on Prozga's side. Fortresses also guard the entrances of the Maze itself, protecting the government from attack even if the city falls.

Industry & Trade

Prozga is a great city of smiths, smelting, brewing, weaving, ink-making, tanning, and pottery. All sorts of goods are made from the raw resources imported from the countryside, and there are guilds for just about any craft or trade one could imagine. 
Prozga's trade is even more robust than its crafts. Merchants crossing Western Garadel by land must pass through Prozga, and the city's markets have a good reputation. The city makes hosts just about every language imaginable, and dictionaries that can assist in reading every living or dead tongue - Prozga is unique well-suited for scholars and merchants alike.

Infrastructure

Road and sewer maintenance in Prozga is mostly managed by local guilds and major clans, which receive a say in government in exchange for services provided. Water is the area of royal authority, shared only with the oldest of the clans; water is managed by royal bureaucrats, and the cistern and irrigation networks cut across districts.

Districts

The Labyrinth

The city moves through the Sages' Labyrinth, and there is settlement in the maze itself.
The Sage's Road: The safest and easiest path through the Labyrinth from Northside to Southside is the Sage's Road. Many of the old cleared puzzle rooms and caverns have been turned into markets, residential blocks, and gardens; small mines have also carved new living spaces into the mountain. Property along the main road is rather expensive, and tends to be held by well-established shops, merchants, and elites. Commoner live in side caverns and rooms that are attached to the road, but not quite on it. Many of these common settlements are like villages or independent neighborhoods, with small gardens or mines producing food, and local shops producing goods for the Roadside merchants.
The Royal District: A section of elaborate puzzle rooms with exquisite art and finery that were solved and then renovated into the seat of royal government. The old rooms are no longer clearly distinguishable for the most part, as they have been deconstructed and re-assembled into new layouts by centuries of architects and miners; it is built like a government complex first now, though it gives the impression of having been made by the Godspeak for a ruler to live in - it is the divine right to rule in a building.

Northside

The Northside is the larger and more populous of the two external parts of the city. Northside is almost entirely contained with a ravine-valley that opens out of the mountain; it is fairly flat, and has lower elevations than Southside. It is split into three parts.
Castletown: The fortified old city near the main entrance to the Sage's Road. This district crawls across the base of the mountain, covering many of the entrances and old temples. Castletown is the commercial district, and the home of most of the old elite prism-clans. Ancient prism-hold manors and castles line the mountainside, along with terrace gardens and monumental temples. This is a mostly-prism part of town, and is very traditional and broken up by class. 
Rozdim's Quarter: A district in the center of Northside, known for its canals (once used for irrigation), cult temples, and libraries. Once, this was the place where humans and dryads lived, a farming town that clung to the markets of Castletown. Rozdim's Quarter is named after Holy Rozdim, a monk of the Sacred Geometry that built a grand library here and made this farming community a center for learning - which ultimately led to its incorporation into Prozga proper. Now it is a scenic district of fine architecture, temples gardens, specialty shops, tinkerers, scholars, and priests. 
Kechtown: The largest part of Northside, Kechtown just means "guildtown", and it refers to all the neighborhoods run by various guilds across Northside. It is difficult to paint Kechtown with a broad brush, since these guilds vary wildly in wealth, power, and style - some of Kechtown is essentially slums, while other parts are middle class. 

Southside

Southside is made of two plateaus, with a winding road down across both and into the valley below. While smaller than Northside, the space is more clearly delineated into districts.
Gentleroad: The Gentleroad is the path down through the plateaus, into the valley below. The Gentleroad is followed by a massive drainage ditch, which is left open for use as a public park when it isn't flooded with rainwater. One could call the Gentleroad commercial and common, a mixture of all of Southside.  
Highslab: The uppermost plateau, occupied by the wealthy and their servants. Pristine, heavily guarded, and very political.
Ringroad: The secondary plateau, occupied by everyone else - the commoners and guild artisans of the Southside. Still not fully developed, and a place of rapid construction. 
Greenvale: Not technically part of the city, Greenvale is the valley to the South of Prozga. It is agricultural, and has a few suburbs in the North that orbit Prozga.

Guilds and Factions

The Great Clans: The great clans of Ezekos are the elite families that run the bureaucracy and rule over politics and commerce. Five great clans hold prominence here; while there are others in the kingdom, they keep to their holds of power in the countryside. The great clans of Prozga are:

• Primzla: An ancient clan close with the military of Ezekos. A very big family prone to infighting, and known for its very conservative leaders. Operate a coining club in Castletown. 
• Umenla: Extreme traditionalists who helped found the city, who dominate most of the local government of the Sage's Road. They are very elitist, very isolated, and very focused on the Labyrinth over all else. Operate the coining club in the Sage's Road.
• Opplik: A clan close with the priesthood, and known for their tactical marriages that have tied them to every major organization in West Garadel in some capacity. They even have holdings in Nafena, it is said! The Oppliks of Prozga care a great deal about traditional ritual and public perception, and spend great coin and energy organizing public festivals during holidays. These include Huloto (the night of meats and salts), Burningnight (the Sarakan holiday of renewal), Kechda (the parade of guilds), Witchfire's Eve (a mystical night of cleansing and burning effigies), and Sage's Day (a holiday dedicated to the heroes of the past and the Sacred Geometry). Operate the coining club in the Rozdin Quarter. 
• Ottawol: The most commercially ambitious clan, the caravan-princes of Prozga. Often scrutinized by the other clans for being too interconnected with the guilds, which has given them a bad reputation. Operate the coining club in Kechtown.
• Mikred: The only clan to adopt and involve humans and dryads, the Mikreds hold dominion in Southside. They are no less elitist than the other clans, though - in fact, they seem to overcompensate by performing extreme pomp and ritual. The Mikreds are said to be favored by Jade Atharzen, and they do certainly love training their kids to be lawyers - they consider lawyering to be a high-class art, and they wrap themselves around the justice system at every opportunity. Operate a coining club in Highslab.
• The Lesser Krezkojs: Small cadet branches of the royal family that own various manors and properties across town. They mostly fight one another, or are absorbed into other families, but it is worth noting their existence here.  

The Sarakan Temple: The dominant religious institution of Prozga, led by Arsha Erklin Krezkoj. A religion of renewal, of forgiveness, and of commerce, which plays a very large role in organizing merchants in Prozga. The Sarakan priesthood also helps organize communities, though many shrines are largely run by district elites rather than sanctified priests. The city's local religious administration is led by Land Priest Hewin Opplik, a competent and dutiful priest. 
The Cult of Sacred Geometry: The Cult of Sacred Geometry is the original religious group that helped build Prozga, and still operates as a monastic order and religious cult under the supervision of the Sarakan Temple. The Cult is mostly autonomous, led by a council of elder monks. The Cult runs the city's universities, libraries, and manages who can exit or enter the central chamber of the Sage's Labyrinth. 
The Cult of Agamine: The Cult of Agamine the Herald is the other notable religious group here, a group of apocalyptic mystics who read omens, compile prophecies, record tales of distant lands, and help lead the public during the more wild holidays (notably Burningnight and Witchfire's Eve). 
The Military: The standing military of Ezekos is its own political and economic force. It is made up of its own sub-factions: the elite Mazeguard, the Warmages, and the Blood of Karn mercenaries. 
The Guilds: The guilds are powerful here, and they run entire neighborhoods in Kechtown and Ringroad. While innumerable, here are a few powerful ones:

• The Smith's Guild is basically a coalition of smaller specialist smithing guilds (silversmiths, hammersmiths, coppersmiths) that united long ago to take the Great Clans to task. Nowadays, the sub-guilds are locked by bitter rivalries and internal feuds
• The Brewer's Guild is the most ambitious and powerful of the current guilds. Their current guildmaster has been absorbing many other brewing guilds across the kingdom and has been courting the greater Sarakan temple - raising concerns of the loyalty to the Queen. 
• The Lawyer's Guild organizes lawyers, legal assistants, and law clerks. Very hierarchical. The guild has recently become traditionalist-leaning, and has starting feuding with the Brewer's Guild. 
• The Weaver's Guild organizes weaving and some tailoring (but not all). The guild is greatly stratified and has a legendarily huge rulebook for new members (that is flaunted by the masters). The weavers keep trying to ban textile work outside of the guild, but are continually unsuccessful - but they have banned the production of lace (a new textile fad) by anyone without a special guild license. Tensions are on the rise between the rural-born poor weavers and the proudly urban upper-middle-class leadership.
• The Tanner's Guild organizes the tanning of hides and crafts of leatherworkers. The guild is very common-class, with a big tent for new members and investment in the poorer neighborhoods of Prozga. Recently, an alliance of cobblers and curriers (luxury leather-workers) have tried to secede into their own guild, but were bribed and intimidated otherwise. 
• The Smelter's Guild organizes the production and use of furnaces, and prefers to keep to itself. They are known for their avoidance of politics, and minimal drama; they are also entirely dominated by very old prisms. 
• The Miner's Guild is another lower-class guild, but with a meritocratic spirit - they do their best to fund the education of some miners into miner-masons. They can be very fickle about which families can access education grants, though, and they tend to let the unfavored miners languish in slums. 

Points of interest

The Warmage Academy: The premier wizarding academy in Garadel. The academy does not serve its own ends, but is a tool of the Ezekan state (technically, it is part of the military). The greatest wizards of the Academy often hold positions in the Mazeguard, the Cult of Sacred Geometry, or the Darzan University as well as the academy. The Academy is in the Sage's Road, near the Royal Palace. 
The Academy of True Knowledge: The Academy of true knowledge is a college of mathematics, physics, engineering, and architecture. It also teaches law, natural science, and medicine, but these aren't what it is famous for. This is the secular wing of the Cult of Sacred Geometry and the greatest educational institution in the kingdom. To be educated here is to have status, regardless of one's background. The Academy is in the Rozdim quarter.
The Holy Rozdim Library: The Holy Rozdim Library is the greatest library in Western Garadel (perhaps all of Garadel). The Rozdim library has worked hard to copy just about every book to ever pass through Prozga, and any new book that is published and sold in the main markets is required to send a copy here. Not too long ago, a legion of monks worked here tirelessly copying text; now, the new model of printing press has allowed those monks to rest their hands and expand their selection to foreign books. The Library is surrounded by a nest of little temples, all belonging to the Cult of Sacred Geometry. In the Rozdim Quarter.
The Sunbrand Cathedral of Tira the Supreme: This cathedral in Highslab is the largest and most dramatic Sarakan temple in Prozga. Created by the legendary architect Dakya Sunbrand in the late 1700s, the cathedral plays with light, perspective, and materials in fascinating ways. The scope and design of the place is breathtaking, and the cathedral is very popular with foreign Sarakans who want something more familiar than Prozgan cult temples. 
The Explorer's Commons: The place where all non-government Maze Explorers go to get officially licensed and prepared for their journeys into the Sages' Labyrinth. While the city doesn't exactly patrol every entrance to prevent illegal spelunking, it generally disapproves of large expeditions into the Maze that don't go through here. Besides, the entry fee is worth the cost - you can get maps, books on the nonsense geometry of the maze, and guides who can offer an experienced view of Maze navigation.
The White Tower Brewery and Hotel: The largest and most prestigious brewery, restaurant, and hotel in town, much beloved by foreign visitors and local elites alike. This is the home base of the Brewer's Guild, but it is more than that - it is an alcoholic library that hoards fine brews from across the city, it is a culinary school, it is a social hub that transcends birth for any who can pay for an evening there. There are many sides to the White Tower: you've got your brewerside pub, right out of the actual brewery, which serves a more limited selection but much cheaper; you've got your fancy hotel salon, with its exclusive seating and fine cuisine; you've got Streetside, an open-air brew market that sells the finest selections of the guild and where many people simply drink in the street. If you want to really make it as a cook or a brewer, this is it; if you want to make it as a musician, you can also try playing here, though they can be quite exclusive (the salon takes only the finest musicians, while the streetside crowd has been known to outright brutalize buskers they don't feel play well enough). 
The Mirizi Observatory:

Founding Date

742 ME

Type

Large city

Population

160,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Prozgan

Location under

Kigura Mountains

Owning Organization

The Kingdom of Ezekos