Wormtown

What planar city would be complete without 25-foot-long worms roaming its streets ? The City of Glass is unique in all the Inner Planes for the thriving community of ormyrr in its midst. Rare anywhere else, they're long, wormlike creatures, each having four arms and the gaping mouth of a frog. Though it's obvious to ormyrr themselves, others find it impossible to distinguish the sexes - "it" just sounds right when speaking of one. Yet, repulsive though their appearance might be, ormyrr are intelligence and generally peaceful. 

The first ormyrr came to the City of Glass in the relatively recent past, looking for magic items. As a people, they're obsessed with magic because they have no skill with it at all. They're keen collectors of all things magical, especially those that grant the power of flight. Those pioneering ormyrr found that magic, like nearly everything else of value, flowed through the city like water; the best way to acquire it, they decided, was to stay right here. They quickly built a reputation as traders and have become popular business contacts. Since ormyrr value little beyond magic items, they'll gladly part with treasures or information to gain what they crave.

The city's ormyrr district is called by its inhabitants something upronounceable to human throats and "Wormtown" by everyone else. The strange creatures disgusted their neighbors, but greatly amused the marids, by importing a huge amount of elemental ooze to build their homes. Normally ormyrr hibernate in mud during cold weather, but since there aren't exactly seasons here, they burrow into the ooze to rest when it suits them.

There are two basic types of buildings in Wormtown. Business establishments follow human style, but are sized to accommodate ormyrr. These are for dealing with other races, so they're usually spacious and neat. The businesses ring the homesteads, keeping strangers out of the residential area. That's just as well; the homes of the great creatures look like piles of frozen muck that's slowly melting, filled with muddy water. This environment is homey to the ormyrr but tends to put most others off.

The ormyrr find it easier to get around their district by swimming, or just wriggling through ooze, so they've carved muddy canals into the ice. Being artic natives, the endless cold doesn't borther them - in fact, they find it quite refreshing. These canals run down the center of the streets and are crossed by footbridges for use by less water-loving races. Well mouths throughout the district lead to a series of tunnels connecting to the outside waters. 

Wormtown Watch

Since ormyrr are widely known for hoarding magic items, Wormtown continually has problems with thieves. Thus, the watch's activities in this district focus on crime prevention. They might not seem to be any good at catching thieves, but the ormyrr have the advantage of being on their home turf. No one knows Wormtown like the worms.

The captain of the watch uses the public name of Krokus Behemoth. As one might infer, it's the lagest and most fearsome ormyrr in the city. Unfortunate thieves caught by the captain were cut up so thoroughly with its four swords as to be unrecognizable. 

An average patrol consists of four ormyrr warriors, one from each squirm.

The Hunters

Ormyrr are trained to track and hunt from birth, even those who dwell in the cities. The Hunters are the ormyrr equivalent of gang, developed from the traditional hunting bands of their people. They handle problems that the Wormtown watch can't deal with, but unlike the gangs of other districts, don't enfore the dominant house's interest. 

Commonly, the Hunters are sent after those who have robbed the ormyrr and escaped their district. Wormtown gets little assitence from the watch in other parts of the city ( often because the culprits are gangs sponsored by another district's house) so Hunters take care of the matter. Other gangs rely on numbers, but a single Hunter is usually all that's needed. 

The Hunters take to the streets and the tunnels at night looking for prey. They use nets to capture their prey alive, and harpoons otherwise.

Points of interest

Krokus Tower

For years the ormyrr had no tower in their district. Such solid constructs were strange, and they preferred the comfort of their mudheap. But once they realized that towers were as much for prestige as defense, the Overseer was determined that Krokus should have its own. The problem was, the ormyrr had no building skill to speak of yet were unwilling to have outsiders construct the tower for them.

Much to the suprise of their neighbors, a tower appeared out of nowehere one morning in the middle of wormtown. How the ormyrr were able to raise it in one night remains a great mystery to the rest of the city. In fact, they solved the problem in typical omyrr fashion: magic. The tower is actually an extra large version of Instant Fortress. If the ormyrr ever needed to move, they can simply collapse their tower into a small metal cube and it with them.

The top level of the tower is set aside as a fortified treasury for all the ormyrr community's magic items. It's safer there under the watchful eye of Krokus Behemoth than scattered in the district's ligtly defended households and shops.

Krazy Kroaker's

Krazy Kroaker runs a very successful shop on the edge of Wormtown, trading in magic. It runs on a straight barter system: In stock are many items that are useless to ormyrr due to their shape ( such as boots, cloaks and armor ) and Krazy Kroaker will trade these for magical devices the ormyrr can use. The shop is very popular with planewalkers. Its proprietor has a reputation for being friendly and honest, and it provides a service found in few other cities.

Kroaker retains the services of Darien Rider, a human diviner, who inspects items brought for trade and determines their magical capabilities. Darien reports his findings to Kroaker, who if satisfied with the information, makes a deal. Most magic items aren't kept in the shop because of the risk of theft; when Kroaker is ready to trade it retrieves the needed items from the community treasury in Krokus tower and stores the acquired ones there.

Theme Song

Inhabitants: Ormyrr 
Business: Magic shops 
Major House: Krokus Squirm  
Councilor: Krokus Overseer 
Watch Captain: Krokus Behemoth 
Gang: The Hunters

Type

District

Location under

City of Glass