Supplemental Post: Map Focus E

Some nice intersections with my recent shorts

I’m gonna try and do this will a less sprawling preamble. In fact…

and for reference

A

This section of the city is meant to feel like the sort of urban decay one finds in geographically isolated city sections. Where there’s just not a lot of ways in or out. I don’t have much set in the section story wise, though some minor protagonist characters do hail from here: notably, Jogie from The East Gate (Though Hyr Veret is wedged deep in one of the foothill valleys of the mountain.) The whole of section A is a little bit lawless, a little bit of frontier justice plus a stronger organized crime presence. The Fejahd do patrol out this way, but getting here is always the tricky part. The rest of the city is a little skeeved out by the fact that, due to the mountains, morning comes late. Through in the lack of access to the sea, and the sun always sets on the city wall (possibly not clear on the map, but the walls separate the city from a thin stretch of land and then the sea. The cliffs in Within Walls stretch up this way.

I have some idea for interesting things to have happen here in the future, but no stories are set here, or at least none in the works, thus the general lack of development.

B

This is the far northern reaches of the city, the boondocks, the terminal station of the ox-tracks and most importantly the North Gate. One of the very first scenes I imagined when I was developing Beleksihyr, even before I ever thought of writing this story, was set at the North Gate. It did make its way into a story, that likely won’t ever see the light of day, but was super helpful to have written (A 40k word exploration of my own setting, the character survives and is instrumental in some of the later story arcs I have planned.) This is supposed to be a weird place to most of the normal citizens. If we imagine Bostonians as “Standard Americans” (That’s a fucking stretch ← coming from a Masshole) then I see Section B being viewed like those people see Louisiana. Not in terms of climate or ridiculous accent (ironic, considering my origin) but in terms of perceived alienness.

E

I kinda think of E as the Connecticut of Beleksihyr. It’s got some nice neighborhoods, but it’s not area G nice at it’s peak. It has some nasty hyr in it, especially around the ox-tracks where the infrastructure cuts off communities and so property values draw poor folk and with them poverty based problems and discrimination (Again… Hello Boston.) Not to belabor that last parenthetical, but we also have one of the two major universities here… More on that later.

Anyway not a lot to say, this is kinda the “typical” region of the city. I don’t think I have any stories set here, but some do involve travel through here.

1

This is Dosul Mountain. It’s not tall but it sprawls. It’s often described as being round and green and tree covered. This is directly named after the mountain upon which the first school I taught at in Korea was situated. (that’s a hell of a sentence, read it again) and I put it there so any of my students can get a little giggle as they think of the mischief they got into by sneaking off onto the mountain when they could. It was a glorious time, and I did most of my initial world building teaching at that school. The hyr on the mountain are larger and less densely populated than the rest of the city. Mebre’s Ma was born in Hyr Besat on this mountain. The mountain folk are definitely treated as weirdos by the rest of the city, think of it as a mix of Appalachia + Salem Massachusetts + West Coast of Ireland all with a lot of tree and a lot of “weeyoo weeyoo” (fluttering finger gesture implied) If one has never visited Dosul mountain, they have likely heard the stories and scoffed, but the locals… they know… Especially the closer one gets to the rounded peaks of Dosul, shit gets less and less canny.

6

In all my notes and drafts this place is called “The College of Labor” which is a pragmatic title and not nearly as Marxist as it sounds. I have a need to rename it soon as it features heavily in the background of a character we’re about to meet in The West Gate. So I gotta get cracking. (got a suggestion? drop in the comments, if I steal it, I’ll name a minor character after you)

The College of Labor (CoL) is like the Academy of Lore (AoL) in that it is a center of learning. The Aol defo looks down on the CoL and the most prestigious of CoL fields of study often have to do some course work at the AoL. Engineering for example needs the sort of Maths that the AoL has a whole major for. I had mapped out a story about a Maths major student discovering her really like the CoL students once they see he’s not looking down his nose at them. It had some cool moments but it felt a little too on the nose about some things so I left it as mainly just some sketches. Anyway some of the majors from the CoL cover smithing, carpentry, stonemasonry, animal husbandry, cooking, brewing, advanced basket weaving, etc. This school is all about hands on fields, pragmatic shit, while the AoL is all hoity toity.

8

This is Kitrek-Tavak central to my most recent short (To Stop the Wind) It is a holy tree from which every Hyr Tree in Beleksihyr is descended. Each Hyr’s tree is unique and the branches of Kitrek-Tavak all bear different seeds (not the most original idea, but I have specific memories of reading Piers Anthony’s Xanth series and there was a tree like that, and I don’t think he invented it either) This is the most holy site of the Ensaa, the order that serve and preserve the hyr trees. A lot of development for this place came about from a weird story I wrote 7, 8 years ago. I don’t want to delve too much about what goes on here, but as much as this place is hallowed it’s also a get away spot for the wealthy. The base of Kitrek-Tavak is housed in a specially built hall and there are tables there that you have to pay to hold on to. Even a disadvantageous one (like tucked away in a poor view corner) commands in license fees more than some noble houses make in a year. Just knowing someone who can put you on the guest list is braggable. So yeah it’s that fun mix of spirituality and the conspicuous consumption of unimaginable wealth. That mix has never gone poorly…

NG

This the North Gate of the city, the busiest gate. Important bit of setting knowledge, the lands beyond the city walls are all a kinda wasteland. More desert than supernatural “The Blight”. People do cross the wastes to come to the city and some even leave the city to cross the wastes, so there are roads and even some settlements along the way. The hyr around the NG have plenty of Inns and guild-houses of adventuring type. This is the sort of neighborhood that helps you remember this was a campaign setting before it was a story setting. Like all gates in Belekishyr, there is a bailey outside the main gate with its own lesser gate and within that bailey is a somewhat rough and tumble “welcome hyr” that is like all inns and warehouses and expedition supply shops etc. It is a very cosmopolitan place and about as far away a one can get from the central seat of Fejahd power, so you can imagine what its like. I see it as a bit like a frontier fort atmosphere. The concept of the welcome hyr will play a decent sized role in the The East Gate story.

ONG

The Old North Gate represents the historical northern border of the city from centuries ago. Over time they expanded the city and the city wall was torn down and turned into a great central avenue. The ONG remains standing as there are some important legends from the city’s past that took place there. (again, not to plug my own story, but the ONG is central to some of the cooler parts of The East Gate) the gatehouse and its encircling walls remain standing as a kind of monument to the past. It’s one of those place that any people talk about seeing some day, like the statue of liberty or whatever. It’s basically a museum now run by the Varlaam (I don’t know if I have explained much about them, but they’re kinda like wandering bards, trading stories and news for a space at inns throughout the city. They have to complete a course of study at the AoL, and they usually have some instrument and some acting skills. If your hyr has a Varlaam visiting, everyone is headed to whatever inn they are staying at to see them perform. The Varlaam take an oath of homelessness, and wear green sashes when they have completed their study. Any inkeeper who turns away, or worse, is perceived to have cheated a varlaam, should not expect to stay in business long.

OK, that wraps up that dive into a map quadrant, 2 down, 2 to go. Hope you’ve enjoyed these little world building teasers.

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