Aknehpet
The City of Brass
Ruled by Sultan Nomylus Ibn al Kabith, lord of efreeti, Aknehpet is a member of the Solarian Alliance, a faction of allied kingdoms across the equatorial region of Torar.
The City of Brass once rode upon the molten seas of the Plane of Fire, however after the convergences that occurred during the Culling, when planar travel was rendered nearly impossible, the Sultan and his Vizier saved the city from death by isolation by transporting it wholesale to Torar. It sits now in its gigantic brass bowl on the southern coast of Lados and has become a haven for elementally-touched persons as well as scholars from around the globe. While these visitors are tolerated, mostly, by the city, it is the business of trade that primarily interests the sultanate.
Aknehpet is a place of magnificence and splendor, of mystery and timelessness. A place of wonder, a fable, an enigma, a fantasy and so much more. Home to the satrapy, final resting place of the Sultana, high kingdom of the efreet, treasury to all the races of genie, this is a place born of the dreams of the very gods of creation. This is a city unlike any found in the universe, with impossibly tall minarets, and impossibly impregnable walls guarded by the leering demon gates. Behind those gates, high adventure awaits those brave enough to test their mettle against the diabolical wit of the treacherous efreet. The City of Brass is all of these things and so much more. A bazaar at the crossroads of the universe, the City of Brass has long been rumored amongst mortal folk to be a repository of relics both fantastic and foul. Here is a place where your greatest dreams and worst nightmares may be granted with a wish if the price is right.
Government
Everything within the City of Brass revolves around the Grand Bureaucracy. Class, caste, and station are all governed by the ability of members within it to move up to the next level of power and responsibility. Thus, many of the noble efreet plot against one another and constantly seek to undermine their equals and take them down a peg, in turn making themselves shine in the eyes of He Who Rules. It would be foolish of an efreeti to undermine a lesser efreeti; instead, he would merely destroy a lesser for impudence, and raise up another in his place. This is a frequent occurrence, meaning there is always room for advancement within the Grand Bureaucracy. It is the goal of every efreeti to raise his house to that of the nobility.
Industry & Trade
Although many objects and items detailed within the City of Brass are given a fixed price for purposes of ease of use and calculating the value of magical items, it should be noted that nothing in the city has an actual fixed price. Rather, everything has a “relative value” as decreed by the masters of mercantile trade. Bartering is an art form among the shopkeepers of the various soukses. Prices are always negotiable as the shopkeepers try to get the best deal for their products. It should be noted however that shopkeepers also enjoy being taken in a deal as they appreciate a negotiator who can outwit them in the trade. The terms of a sale are always final and bound by the Sultan’s Law.
Although standard coins such as gold, silver, copper, and platinum hold a similar value to their worth in other planes, the common coin of trade used in the City of Brass is the brass piece or bp. Brass pieces are roughly the same size and weight of a gold piece and are emblazoned with the magically enchanted profile of the veiled Sultan of Efreet upon one side and an image of the city as seen from the Kubri Al Azim wreathed in flames that seem to swirl and flicker when viewed on the other. Various moneychangers and tax authorities are willing to convert the coin of other realms into brass pieces. All of course take a 2% to 15% or more cut of the overall value of the original coin in the trade. A brass piece is the equivalent of five gp in the characters’ home plane.
Infrastructure
The City of Brass is built within a great brass bowl that sits in the sands of the Ladosian desert. Those entering the city are granted a majestic view of the Upper City with its many sights and sounds. Built into the bowl, the Upper City sits atop floating platforms connected by broad thoroughfares and walkways that lead to one another and deeper into the Middle or Lower City, or “Basin” area. A broad ramp circles the city’s singular gargantuan feature: the Ziggurat al Nar. The ramp leads to each level of the city below the Upper City.
The Ziggurat al Nar dominating the cityscape is a new public works project started after fighting between the current Sultan’s armies and the forces of his predecessor, Ashur Ban, and the Sultana Cirrishade destroyed much of the middle of the City of Brass. Each year, the entire structure rises one inch from its foundations as new plates of living brass are fitted to it. On the far end of the great Sultan’s Boulevard stands the Palace of the Sultan in all its regalia and
splendor. Temples to fell gods also have their place here.
The Middle City is home to many of the most famous bazaars and a rather large population of foreigners who dwell within the Souk Dhimi. An expatriate attitude dominates the flavor of this section of the city, tinged with fear of what the Sultan might do if he decided to expel them all. Many visitors to the city are drawn to the Bazaar of 1000 Sins and the Bazaar of Arcana, or to the mysteries of the Great Repository and its more accessible annex.
The Lower City, or the Basin as it is commonly called, is the true underbelly of the City of Brass. Foreign fugitives and Fire Sea Corsairs press shoulder to shoulder with throngs of new slaves and the indigenous slave population of azer who toil at the Ziggurat al Nar day in and day out for the length of their miserable existence. Here, rogues run the warrens and neighborhoods. The great Caravanserai and its Slavers Bazaar dominate the lives of folk who come here as surely as the Ziggurat al Nar dominates the skyline. A combination of ash and a peculiar acid rain fall daily near the sides of the bowl, giving the Lower City a strange orange-black overcast look that only adds to the crushing despair so tangibly in the air.
Rumors speak of layers carved into the brass and bedrock beneath the basin and even into the walls of the bowl itself. Only the most fell of creatures may find solace and rest in places such as this so far from the hustle and bustle of the city’s many thoroughfares.
Guilds and Factions
Cult of the Burning One
The Cult of the Burning One or, as it is also known, the Cult of the Veiled God, is the name given to the terrestrial worship of the Sultan of the City of Brass. Through his own connivance, the Sultan established his dominance over the Plane of Fire. With his terrestrial invasions and the conquests of various worlds, the Sultan has seen to the expansion of the Plane of Molten Skies. These triumphs have seen the Sultan’s ascendancy from a power of the Elemental Planes to lesser godhood, giving him the ability to grant clerical powers to clerics of his cult, or to serve as patron to those sorcerers and warlocks who wield arcane fire. Burning dervish sheiks administer the cult on the planes where it operates. An efreeti prince appointed governor general of the new world by the Sultan of Efreet himself commands the dervish sheiks. Below the dervishes are a series of hariphs who are clerics or arcane casters who have sworn their allegiance to the Sultan. The hariphs are humanoids native to the world that is chosen for invasion and were among the first to convert to the new faith. They themselves often came from wealthy or privileged backgrounds but were not in a line of succession to their families’ riches. The dervishes are a sect of janni that have sworn their souls to the Sultan and now serve as his priesthood and secret police. Their very existence is tied to the Sultan and to the Great Ziggurat that occupies the center of the City of Brass, an omnipresent monument to his might and power. The ziggurat of the City of Brass is the headquarters of their sect and is said to house legions of the burning dervishes, most of whom devote their days to prayer and training. The cult is active in regions where a brazen spire has been erected. New converts to the cult are either forcibly or willingly coerced into listening to the teachings of the Sultan. Burning dervishes and the priests they have trained proselytize the faith of a coming cleansing fire and judgment of the veiled god over the false gods that have come before. They “prove” the power of their faith through wishes granted to the most obedient converts by the local governors. The truth behind the Brazen Spires and the indoctrination of the cult is to prepare an area for invasion by the Sultan’s forces when new worlds are conquered. Destitute and forgotten folk are invited to the spire and given food, clothing, and a purpose. Many are trained as mamelukes for the Sultan’s armies, while the more receptive of the converts are trained in the use of magic or the worship of the veiled god. These newly trained forces serve as the forward base for the attack that inevitably comes as they destabilize local governments and cities. The invasion itself is often swift and is usually accompanied by efreet, squadrons of burning dervishes, enslaved fire elementals, and armies of mamelukes gathered from other planes to fight at the behest of the Sultan.Fahd al An'il
This interdimensional clan of thieves, assassins, and mercenaries ranks with the Underguild as one of the more dangerous organizations in the known universe. The Fahd al An’il has ties with the Bayt al Sikkyn, however, and prefers not to overturn the status quo and hurt their business interests.The Efreet Nobility
The noble class is made up of those efreet who rose up against their former Sultan at the behest of Nomylus. They are petty and cruel, representing the lion’s share of the more decadent and evil virtues of the efreeti race. The various nobles are extremely wealthy and distrustful of one another. Their spheres of influence may encourage them to reach out to characters in an attempt to quell the strength of a rival house. They may offer wishes in exchange for work, though one should be careful of wishes granted by the efreet, as they are as often as not a gateway to personal slavery as they are a path to power and riches.
Type
Large city
Population
60,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Aknehpan
Location under
Owner/Ruler
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