Draektormund

The first thing a visitor to the Dragon capitol might think on arriving is that they have arrived at a particularly vicious formation of obsidian towers. Upon closer inspection, the towers reveal themselves to be the buildings and monuments of Draektormund, a city astride the shifting slopes of an active volcano.

Draektormund is a city built in vertical layers, starting several dozen feet above ground level and climbing to well over a hundred feet in the air. The main pillars of the city are well over one hundred feet in diameter and support most of the open squares, public buildings, and roads, with separate buttressed towers extending up and outward to accommodate personal residences, walkways, and shops. The pillars are much wider at their bases, with carefully-managed lava flow adding mass to support the weight of the city above, and narrow to sharp points high above citizens’ heads.

A City On A Volcano

Life in Draektormund is a constant balancing act between managing the intensity of the volcanic environment and thriving with the resources it provides. The lava must be channeled around or towards the support pillars to expand the city as necessary, and must be chipped away in careful amounts when it cools so that it does not block future lava flows or allow them to creep too close to the city; but the same lava flows, once cooled, provide the obsidian that is the primary construction material for the city and the most common precious gem for its merchants.

Citizens of Draektormund must wear masks and veils to protect themselves from the choking fumes that rise from the cooling flows; but these masks and veils have become the primary fashion statement of the Dragon, spreading far beyond the sulfurous streets of Draektormund and featuring jewels and intricate designs according to the family and personal style of the wearer.

Farms cannot be built too close to the city lest they risk being destroyed in a lava flow, so food must be carted in from more distant farmland; yet the farms in the area receive regular bountiful harvests thanks to the rich volcanic soil.

Unwelcoming Hospitality

Despite the beauty of the city and the hospitable nature of its citizens, visitors rarely feel welcome in Draektormund (or, for that matter, in Dragon lands at all). Perhaps it is the constant heat or choking gases from the volcano; perhaps it is sky with its perpetual slight cast of red; perhaps it is the sea of stylized and expressionless faces that are Dragon crowds.

It certainly does not help that the Dragon trade language makes use of a much wider and subtler variety of intonations to convey complex and layered meanings, or that it uses disturbingly compelling subsonic tones that activate instinctive fear responses in untrained listeners.

The Wolf that serve as emissaries, dignitaries, and representatives of the Wolf jarl always claim, once they have retired their posts and are confident there are no Dragons listening, that they can always feel an air of hostility.

Even more paranoid Wolf emissaries claim that their predecessors simply vanished without a trace after committing some unknown slight against the Dragon lords. The Dragon are quick to point out to any that mention these rumors that they are nothing but gracious and welcoming hosts.

Other travelers share a sense of unease from being in such a strange land with a strange people. The rare regular visitor eventually learns to read more expressions in the exposed eyes of a Dragon mask, and often comes away agreeing with the Dragon about their hospitality.