Limbo

"A City of Night and Shadow, where even the bravest fear to tread. It was a town stuck in constant Limbo, haunted by the memories of what used to be."

Once called Soulheim, the city of Limbo serves as a monument to the Age of Darkness and the evil reign of Vivinora, the Divine Forum goddess of Ice and Shadow. The once prospering trading city had been made black with Vivinora's shadow magic and lifted into the air so that its new ruler could oversee her entire domain. Under the rule of King Gregory of Arenthia, the fabled Knights of Twilight assaulted the city with the power of Wardens and defeated Vivinora, trapping her soul in one of their companions and then throwing the city into a pocket dimension created by Arch-Mage Alfred Lockheart. Later in history, Limbo would be used as Ser Nightingale's stronghold/prison as she became corrupted by the power that resided there. Under the rule of Queen Venmae Davneiros of Arenthia, another group of Arenthian Knights imbued with the power of the Wardens would attack Nightingale in her dread castle and defeat her. Using new technology (the sophisticated weaponry of the Rose-Class Elemental Astral Ship), the group managed to destroy the city once its new ruler was defeated.

Eldritch Historians would eventually cite Limbo, the Black City, as one of the most magically dense locations in Jade. It is also one of the few location to be able to manufacture its own form of Mana crystals without the need of Mana Obelisks. As Nightingale was a Warden of the Arcane and a Paladin (turned Blackguard in the City), She was able to attune with the Shadow Crystals located in the city's four quadrants, and super enhance her abilities. Experts have determined that a normal mage, cleric, druid, or paladin shouldve been engulfed and destroyed by the sheer power alone, but her Warden magic and what little good remained in her heart was enough to shield her from the deathly effects of Shadow Magic. The City of Limbo is also cited by the Circle of Magi as an example as to why the study of Shadow Magic should be banned across the globe, much like the schools of Blood Magic and Chaos Magic.

Demographics

Soulheim was a trading city and was mostly comprised of merchants from all over the Erathian Continent. About 10% of the residents were nobles or upper class. 60% were made of a unique Middle Class of people who profited off of the city's trading enterprises but did not make enough to live in luxury. This middle class were store keepers, land owners, and even the general work force for these establishments. The last 30% were the down trodden and the criminal poor, who either turned to a life of crime which often tried to exploit the middle class or were people who were just unlucky in their own business ventures. 

When Soulheim was converted to Limbo, Vivinora originally asked for its inhabitants to kneel before her and pledge their loyalty. Those who didn't became mindless shadows who walked the streets, spreading her evil and enforcing her rule. However, even her supporters were eventually converted to shadows in a more painful process, as Vivinora's aura of darkness was an all-corrupting force. Anyone who spends enough time in Limbo becomes a Shadow.

Government

Originally, Soulheim had two forms of governments that worked together to serve the demands of the King of Arenthia. The Lord of Soulheim was the sitting governor/mayor of the town and he represented the King in all decision making and had executive powers over all branches of state security and commerce. The other branch of government was the citizen-founded "Merchant's Alliance." This council of prominent merchants was the first of its kind in ancient Jade history and helped balance and moderate the massive amount of wealth that poured into the city's coffers. They also managed all quality of life in the city. 

When Vivinora took over, she executed the sitting Lord and his staff, as well the elected members of the Merchant's Alliance. The Goddess, as with the rest of Jade, declared herself the absolute power and authority. Nightingale continued this level of authority when Vivinora fled the city's prison dimension.

Defences

Following the success that Starpoint's Great Walls had, both the outer city limits and the castle district's boundaries were lined with tall, manned walls and defensive towers. They were made out of stone and every other tower had either a set of scorpions/ballistas or a trebuchet. Soulheim was also one of the first human cities to arm their archers with crossbows rather than the traditional longbow, which expanded the potential of the individual guardsman. 

When Vivinora raised Soulheim out of the ground, she erected a great invisible barrier that kept everything in. This magic bubble kept the city stable in flight as well as protecting it from outside invasion. To pass through the barrier would mean certain death. Neither Magic nor projectile can penetrate the shield.

Industry & Trade

Before the dark times, merchants from all over the continent would come to Soulheim to trade their wares for more exotic items. This grand exchange was the very heart of Soulheim's finances. With so much trade going on, even the light taxes and tariffs imposed never harmed the merchants' profits in the slightest and the entire kingdom became very wealthy from this one city alone. Ten years before Vivinora's take over, a Craftsmen District was planned and built. It was an early attempt at add industry to the town's profits but it proved to provide very little despite however high quality the product may be. When people came to Soulheim, they tended to look for exotic, far away goods rather than things built close to home.

Infrastructure

Despite the state of ruin the city might appear to be in, Limbo is still held up in fairly decent condition. If it wasn't for the corruption, the city would be easy to fix and inhabit. Soulheim had one of the largest networks of paved roads of its time. This network, while a international staple of modern transportation, was one of the first of its kind and allowed the merchants to move goods from the cities massive public warehouses on the edge of town into the marketplaces with ease. When Soulheim was built, it was to be the second cityscape in Arenthia, with the first being the capital of Starpoint. In fact, It's original location on the other side of Lake Sapphire made it a perfect spot to recreate Starpoint mirrored. Architects took the city plans of Starpoint and created an almost 1:1 scale of what is now known as the Inner City/Castle district of Starpoint. Back then, Starpoint was half the size it is now, but was still considered one of the largest cities in the world. While Starpoint had "a little of everything" back then, Soulheim was to have more entertainment and trading facilities, and then later a craftsmen district. Unlike Starpoint, that grew naturally to accommodate a steadily increasing population; Soulheim was design to be an entire city built from the beginning. Incentives were handed out to encourage people to move there and fill up the empty districts built. It was considered an early engineering marvel and one of the first efforts to normalize the urbanization of populations. 

Assets

While it may seem as standard for modern cities, one of the things that made Soulheim unique was that it had the first ever banks and similar financial institutions. The Elves of Arabel had a similar institution at the time but their bank was government ran. Soulheim's banks were privately owned and financed. Another thing that is common to modern cities but was unique at the time was a large set of public warehouses that were guarded by city watch. These warehouses could be rented out by the many city merchants and store most of the goods traded. 

As Vivinora turn the city into what is now Limbo, Mana crystals began to form in the epicenter of each district. These Crystals help propagate the amount of magic that dwells in the city and eventually became a source of power for Nightingale to tap into.

Guilds and Factions

The primary faction and one of branches of government was the "Merchant Alliance of Soulheim." This group was a league of merchants that were originally created to agree on a standardization of pricing raw materials, such as Iron, Grain, and Wool. As time went by, they were given more authority and grew into a union that protect merchants and helped make sure all trades done in city limits were fair and honest. Many of their trade practices and beliefs are shared and used as common sense polices for modern traders.

History

In the early years of the Second Era, a war between gods and men was fought resulting in all of Jade being cast into a never ending night. The Age of Darkness lasted ten years as the goddess of ice and shadow, Vivinora, ruled all of Jade after enslaving the other gods of the Divine Forum and defeating the armies of man. Vivinora had consolidated much of her power within the walls of an ancient Arenthian City originally called Soulheim, but renamed it Limbo as she used her magic to lift the entire city into the air. At the time, Soulheim, now Limbo, was nearly as big as Starpoint in both population and land mass. Vivinora used her shadow magic to turn the entire population into an army of walking shadows and reinforced the outer perimeter with magic that prevented outside entry. It was at that point that Vivinora turned Limbo into the "Capital of Jade" from which she ruled. Eventually, Vivinora's mortal husband, King Gregory Arenthi, led a group of knights, imbued with magic used by the First Wardens, into the city. These Knights of Twilight managed to defeat Vivinora but only temporarily. As Vivinora was a Goddess and the Knights lacked any surefire way of destroying her (not to mention Gregory's hesitation to go through with a final blow), the group of adventurers devised a plan to lock the weakened goddess away. During her reign, Vivinora defeated the other gods and goddesses of the Divine Forum and put their weak states into mortal bodies, called Inheritors, and was able to keep these mortals under her control. The Knights of Twilight decided to do just that for Vivinora. One of the Knights, Ser Nightingale, volunteered to become Vivinora's "First Inheritor" under the promise that the Knights would return for her when they had the power to destroy a goddess. To keep Jade even safer, King Gregory's Arch-Mage, Alfred Lockheart, developed a spell that would lock the entire city of Limbo into a pocket dimension, a void-like prison where nothing could escape. This dimension would also share the city's name and become a region of void that would be filled with Vivinora's lingering shadow magic. Unfortunately, the magic of mortals couldn't hold a goddess forever, and when Vivinora regained her strength after corrupting Nightingale, she used much her power to escape Limbo. Limbo had now become ruled by a new Queen, Nightingale, who became angry at her fellow Knights for never finding her again. She learned to harness the power of Vivinora's City and used both her Warden Powers and the corrupting shadows to begin her own reign of terror on Jade. She even began to use the corrupt goddess's own magic against her, developing a superweapon to destroy the Divine Forum.

Tourism

Despite as grand this city is spoken about, they had not designed it for any tourism. Very few cities in the early days of the Second Era ever had public attractions. The closest thing the city had was the "Soulheim Grand Bazaar," which was an international marketplace that any merchant, so long as they paid a daily fee, could setup their tents and stalls. The plaza was bigger than most arenas of the time and could accommodate almost a hundred travelling caravans. Everything from across the world could be found here. Almost a hundred years after Limbo was sent into the void and Vivinora defeated, Khajihali built a near replica of the Grand Bazaar in their capital of Tal'Malda. The Tal'Maldian Grand Bazaar is now the largest marketplace in all of Jade.

RUINED SETTLEMENT
Year 206 of the Second Era

Founding Date

Year 22 of the Second Era

Alternative Name(s)

Soulheim, The Black City, Thorya (Elvish word for Dread, Terror)

Type

City

Population

Over 25,000 before Vivinora's rule

Inhabitant Demonym

Shadows

Location under

Arenthia

Owner/Ruler

Nightingale

Owning Organization

The Divine Forum