Ak'Anon
Ak'Anon is a city of contradiction. Good and evil, abandon and care, whimsy and concentration - all these live alongside one another here. King Ak'Anon rules over the splendor and keeps the city from spinning off its axle. The city is the home of Norrath's Gnomes. Well known for their arts in tinkering, these deft beings have delved more into science than spirituality. Though worship is not discouraged (as an abbey dedicated to Brell Serilis and Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane lies within Ak'Anon), Gnomes are more apt to pursue the miracles of strange technology and arcane knowledge over religious experience.
The ticking and whirling of machines great and small punctuate the lives of the Gnome residents of Ak'Anon. Gnome tinkerers spend hours creating new mechanical devises. On occasion, Gnome inventors will hire those adept with both blade and spell to assist in some dangerous task that would involve the guarding of an "experiment" or the tracking down of a creation gone awry. What many visitors do not see is an enclave of evil Gnomes in a corner of the city, who would welcome with a kiss of decay and pestilence all those who would greet Bertoxxulous.
History
According to legend, a Dragon once dwelled within the caves of the Steamfont Mountains. After the creature was removed by Elven heroes, the Gnomes inherited the tunnels and caverns that now hold the city of Ak'Anon. Deep within these caves, in mines long abandoned, dwells a group that calls itself the Dark Reflection. Dedicated to Bertoxxulous, this community seeks to overthrow the current ruling court so that it may further the will of the Plaguebringer. The Dark Reflection may have a tough time at overthrowing King Ak'Anon, however. The beloved Gnome king has ruled for seven straight centuries, the first two as a flesh and blood gnome and the last five as a marvelous construct created to house King Ak'Anon’s mind and spirit!
Tourism
Clockwork guides direct visitors around the city, and there is so much to see. Merchants are plentiful, selling both standard everyday items and bizarre gnomish machinations. The Ak'Anon zoo is famed worldwide for its collection of natural and unnatural creatures. The Library Mechanamagica feeds a hunger for knowledge that lures even the Erudites here to learn more.
Geography
Built in a valley in the Steamfont Mountains, city engineers have constructed huge windmills to power various city machines. A narrow chasm to the Greater Faydark wood is the main point of entry, but rumors of a hidden dock and tunnel below the city would explain how so many wonders came to be so far away from the rest of the civilized world.
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