Dancamort
Dancamort is the primary mortal settlement on Hadesia, and the largest city of the Three Brothers Isles. It was founded by the god Hades after the Litigation of Flames as a place for his followers to grow their wealth, power, and influence on the Material Plane. Due to Hadesia's harsh winds and climate extremes, Dancamort is almost entirely subterranean.
Demographics
Dancamort's population is overwhelmingly Human, with small pockets of Halfling, Gnome, and Dwarf residents. The planetouched Tiefling and Aasimar are significantly more common than usual here. Despite clear influence from Bjália's architecture in the grandest structures of the city, there is a negligible Elf population in the city.
Government
The Rex Terrestrus makes all final decisions on the city's behalf. They are guided by a city council consisting of the Master of Rituals of the Hall of the Daemon Ascendant, the commander of the Chain of Charon, the Speaker for the Dead of the Hadesian Basilica, and the twelve most generous donors to the Company of Hades (as determined at the last Blood Moon's Nexus of each year).
Laws in Dancamort are numerous, strict, and heavily enforced. It is the most-policed city in Belcantas. Paradoxically, there is no system of courts or prisons; instead, the Chain of Charon makes all decisions on the spot as to whether or not a law has been broken, and metes out punishments in the form of fines or physical violence (up to and including deadly force). Only a handful of the worst criminals in the city are ever imprisoned in the special keeps below the Hall of the Daemon Ascendant; these criminals are swiftly used as ritual sacrifices during the Blood Moon's Nexus.
Defences
The tunnelways and Funicular shafts between the hollows are set with portcullises and guarded by stone golems, so that an invader who breaches one hollow is unlikely to be able to make it to the next. Chainguard units, stationed throughout the city, are heavily equipped with both weaponry and magic-resistant enhancements.
Industry & Trade
Dancamort's most important industries are the wealth of materials extracted from the Hadesian Deep Mines and refined in the Dancamort Steelworks and similar plants. The city extracts and exports a number of raw materials and processed metals, the most prominent of which are its black granite, steel, and electrum.
Nearly as vital is Dancamort's tourism and entertainment industry. The city is dotted with lavish casinos like the Grand Plutonia Casino that see thousands of visitors per year, both locals and foreign travelers, who seek excitement and the chance at an incredible fortune. The casinos, dance halls, and taverns of Dancamort operate at all hours of the day.
Infrastructure
Each of the city's four hollows is connected via a Funicular, a type of enclosed cable-operated carriage pulled between tracks by stone golems and counterbalanced by a car of equal weight on the other side.
The enormous wheel on the side of the Dancamort Steelworks churns water from the River Styx to power its forge. Every thousand revolutions of the wheel, a heavy bell rings. Its vibrations are enchanted to resonate with similarly-made bells scattered around the city, which ring at the same time. This happens ten times per day, allowing the denizens of Dancamort to tell time without relying on sunlight.
At the innermost bounds of the city, The Wall stops the flow of the River Styx and prevents creatures from deeper within the caves from entering the city.
Districts
Styx Hollow is the district next to the harbor, easily recognizable by the distinctive eighty-foot-high stone gates that welcome visitors into the city's underground. It is the largest of the four hollows, and the commercial and civic heart of the city: home to the Stygian Bazaar, the Grand Plutonia Casino, and the Hall of the Daemon Ascendant.
A funicular on the east side of Styx Hollow traverses up the mountain to Crown Hollow, the peaceful district populated by mages, aristocrats, and other wealthy citizens. Some portions of Crown Hollow are even built outwards from the mountain, with gnomish stained glass murals showcasing the rare natural light. The most famous landmarks of Crown Hollow are the exclusive Olympiana Casino and the Azerus Observatory, with its groundbreaking Telescope pointed upwards towards the Astral Plane.
Deeper into the caves on the west side of the city sits Charon Hollow, the most sprawling and residential district of the city. The Hadesian Basilica, near the main funicular from Styx Hollow, is its most prominent landmark. The Conservatory of Souls can be found in the upper reaches of Charon Hollow, as can the main campus of the Azerus Hadesia University.
Finally, the neighborhood buried deepest into the earth is Deep Hollow, which is largely populated by miners, quarry workers, and other members of the city's lower classes. Its major landmarks include the Dancamort Steelworks, the Witchlight Markets, and the natural springs that were once the Baths of Lethe. Several funiculae connect parts of Deep Hollow with more remote portions of the Hadesian cave systems that remain active in the mining industry; otherwise, the neighborhood ends abruptly at The Wall.
Guilds and Factions
The most important organization in the city of Dancamort is the Company of Hades, the order of priests, monks, scribes, and acolytes dedicated to the Olympian god of death who rules the city.
The Chain of Charon is the much-feared police force of Dancamort. Its Chainguard soldiers keep a watchful eye on the streets and commercial enterprises of the city, harshly punishing anyone who dares to break the laws of the land.
The Luciferan Synod is a Druid circle that holds a special affinity for the bioluminescent fungi that naturally grow in the caves of Hadesia. They tend to many of the vertical "gardens" of mushrooms and slime molds that grow along the walls of the city, and they are also primarily responsible for the care of the plants in the Conservatory of Souls.
Rumors swirl through the back alleys and long-neglected taverns of Deep Hollow about the deeds of the Rotten Lyres. This underground bardic guild spreads stories that run contrary to the official doctrines preached by the Company, and have even been rumored to lead people to forbidden knowledge about resurrection and the transmigration of souls. Any known association with the Rotten Lyres can be grounds for persecution by the Chain of Charon.
History
Settlement on Hadesia began in the Age of Tranquility, with a handful of black granite caves close to each other along the southern shores of Hadesia. Over time, the people of these settlements mined their way through the granite (selling the additional stone to nearby islands) and connected several of the caves.
As with so many other settlements along the lowlands of Belcantas, these caves were destroyed in the Age of Anxiety by floods, tsunamis, and attacks from deep-sea monsters. However, the lands of the Three Brothers Isles were raised at the dawn of the Age of Complexity, as part of the settlements of the Litigation of Flames that re-drew the boundaries between the gods' domains and allowed Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus to claim dominion over parts of the Material Plane. The Dancamortian Charter decreed that each of the three would receive a place on the Material Plane where mortals could thrive under their power: a domain of rich earth for King Hades, a domain of boundless waters for King Poseidon, and a domain of endless sky for King Zeus. After searching high and low, the celestials of the courts decided that the three long-sunken isles in the north of the Aquatic Kingdoms were the most suitable place by far to fulfill the charter, and Fricka herself raised them from the sea.
Hades, unlike his brothers, immediately set about creating and populating a grand city dedicated to his worship and traditions. This underground city proved prosperous, situated as it was over a rich vein of metallic ores and within an expanse of high-quality black granite. The city, as it is today, faithfully carries on its original purpose, upholding the worship of Hades on the Material Plane and increasing his (and their) wealth within the mortal world.
Points of interest
Styx Hollow
The first landmark visible from ships entering the ports of Dancamort is the grand gate built around the River Styx delta and the entrance to the caves. The gates are in the shape of dozens of indistinct humanoid figures, crawling across the cliffs of Hadesia, desperately holding open the entrance to the city. The Stygian Bazaar is a sprawling flotilla situated across the mouth of the gates and the delta of the River Styx, where ships carrying the valuable stone and metal goods from deep within the mountains meet ships from other lands bearing above-ground treasures. It is known as one of the safest, cleanest, and fairest marketplaces in the Aquatic Kingdoms, since would-be pickpockets know better than to steal under the watchful eye of the ever-present Chain of Charon. Most importantly, the entire neighborhood is situated around the Hall of the Daemon Ascendant, one of the two holiest places in the Hadesian culture of worship. The Hall of the Daemon Ascendant is the civic center of the city. It houses the Olympian Throne from which Queen Eboli Hadesiana makes her proclamations, as well as the largest amphitheater for public events, grand entertainment events like the Cerberus Races, and important religious rites like the Blood Moon's Nexus.Charon Hollow
Azerus Hadesia University is the main educational institution of the city, and a sister school to the Wizarding University of the Aquatic Kingdoms. Its programs serve clerics, scribes, and sages of the divine, as well as arcanists and wizards. It is particularly well-known as a Necromancer training school. The Conservatory of Souls, though far from any natural light, is a botanical garden tended by Hadesian priests and subterranean druids. It is also said to be a portal between realms, where some departed souls may temporarily pass from Hades to Elysium and find peace.Crown Hollow
Crown Hollow is a relatively quiet district, though it does contain two of the major casinos of the city: the Olympiana Casino and the Royal Jochaastan Casino. These sit at opposite ends of a naturally level stretch of cavern known locally as Violet Boulevard. There are significantly more air shafts than usual, making it light and airy by Dancamortian standards, and there is even enough light for a few clusters of shade-loving violet plants to grow with only minimal magical intervention. The city's wealthiest residents, including the captain of the Chainguard and the owners of multiple casinos, have homes that border or partially overlook Violet Boulevard, and it is also home to several of the finest jewelers in the city. The newest attraction of the neighborhood is the Azerus Observatory. This arm of the university requires a long funicular ride and a steep staircase to reach, as it is built in the highest corner of Dancamort's caves. Those patient enough to make the trek, so long as they have an invitation from the university's head astronomer, will be rewarded with incredible views of the Astral Plane from the world's largest Telescope.Deep Hollow
The Dancamort Steelworks sits at the base of the cliffs where the River Styx becomes turbulent and finally tumbles into the Stygian Falls below. Its enormous wheel churns the river's flow into power for the steel mill; every thousand revolutions, it rings a massive bell that rings throughout Dancamort's caverns and governs the Dancamortian Timekeeping system. The Witchlight Market of Deep Hollow is tucked far away from the tourist districts, but its clusters of magical lanterns are visible even from the bottom of the mine's funicular shaft. Treasures bought and sold in the Witchlight Market are often incredibly difficult to obtain elsewhere in the city or even outside the Lower Planes. To ward off immediate suspicion from nosy Chainguard patrols, few of the goods sold here are quite as they appear. Some are disguised with illusion magic or warded with curses, while others are encased in wax or locked inside leaded chests that can only be opened by the buyer. The Baths of Lethe, located in Deep Hollow below the Stygian Falls, were once home to a well-appointed spa complex; sadly, this has been closed to the public for the past several decades due to safety concerns. Some still risk the journey for the waters' legendary ability to soothe lingering injuries and suppress curses; however, creatures from the Underdark and even fiends from beyond the Wall often lurk at their shores. Today, it is more popular as a place to hunt potential steeds for the Cerberus Races than as a spot for rest and relaxation. The lowest border of Dancamort is formally defined by The Wall, a massive dam at the edge of the Baths that is said to hold back multiple portals to the Lower Planes. The Wall crumbles and decays at a shockingly fast rate for a solid stone structure; it is defended and constantly rebuilt by an army of both the living and the Undead. The tendrils of the Hadesian Deep Mines reach well beyond the Wall, however, and are a vital part of the city's operation. Though mortal miners do work in these mines, carving out iron, coal, basalt, electrum, and other crucial resources, a slight majority of the workers are the skeletons of those who donated their bodies to Hades in death, either voluntarily as worshippers or through the forced Corpse Conscription of criminals.Tourism
Dancamort is perhaps the most popular year-round tourist destination of the Aquatic Kingdoms. Visitors come from across the world to gamble, drink, enjoy live entertainment, and marvel at the displays of art and wealth that can be seen across the city.
For those who do not stay in the casinos' onsite inns, popular lodging options include:
- Paulson's Pocket, the town's largest inn, located on a special funicular stop that directly connects the Grand Plutonia Casino of Styx Hollow and Jochaastan's Royal Casino of Crown Hollow
- The Starlight Steps, an inn at the top of Crown Hollow whose more expensive rooms extend upwards into a terraced, windowed building above ground
- The Ironheart Inn, a Charon Hollow institution notable in recent decades for cheap liquor and frequent bar brawls
Architecture
The buildings of Dancamort are typically carved from the black granite on which the city sits, then expanded or built upon from blocks of the same stone dug from deeper within the quarries. Bioluminescent fungi native to the caves often grow on the surfaces of these buildings; many cultivate them into living murals or signs that advertise their businesses.
Geography
Dancamort sits at the southern edge of Hadesia, next to its only natural harbor. The underground River Styx flows from the harbor, through the neighborhood of Styx Hollow, over the Stygian Falls, and further underground towards the Underdark.
Climate
Dancamort's temperature is consistently cool and mild throughout the year, as its subterranean location shields it from the extreme temperature swings often faced on the island's surface. The temperature warms and the air grows more stagnant in the lower regions of Deep Hollow.
Natural Resources
Dancamort sits atop a rich stockpile of high-quality building stone. More must always be excavated to expand the city; the excess is sold to nearby islands, and can be seen commonly in architecture as far away as Sona. There are also fruitful veins of iron ore, silver and gold (mostly mixed as electrum), and other metals, as well as coal and even diamonds.
Dancamort's agriculture, in contrast, is notoriously poor. The surface soil of Hadesia above the city is rocky and poor-quality. Some nomadic shepherds manage herds of mountain goats and bison on the lands above it, and a few farmers cultivate hardy desert plants, such as agave (originally native to Desarmín). The majority of food in Dancamort is imported from Psedonia and Zewa.
Founding Date
Y1 CPX
Founders
Type
City
Population
66,600
Inhabitant Demonym
Dancamortian
Location under
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Additional Rulers/Owners
Owning Organization
Related Traditions
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