Titan's Gate

Titan's Gate is a a metropolitan city and city-state on the Azure Coast, situated on the north end of the titular Titan Bay. It is located to the south of Spineguard Keep and is located along the well-traveled Miridian that crosses through the treacherous valley dividing the Broken Spine. The port city is both shelter and lifeline for folk of the Azure Coast. It is the only place to buy luxury goods and offers the discerning shopper the widest selection anywhere in the region – though usually at prices higher than those in Throm.

City Structure
Titan's Gate is a tolerant but well-policed city of merchants, and business as usual is the general order of the day. The city's unique shape, curved around its harbor, gives it the appearance of a crescent moon. The docks and shipping facilities are among the most efficient along the coast and the city relies heavily on the ships that dock there. A large open marketplace dominates the northwest portion of the walled city. To keep vermin from spreading too much into the city proper, cats are bred and encouraged to roam the city freely. Walls cut Titan's Gate into three sections: The rich live atop the bluffs in Starfall Crest where they are protected from the bourgeoisie clinging to the slopes by the Inner City Wall that literally prevents the middle class from rising above their station, and beyond the protection of the city's outer Raxis Gate its many outcasts live with little law other than the daggers of thieves.

Starfall Crest
Starfall Crest is home to many buildings of wealth, including luxurious manors and a few temples. At its center is the Palace of the Six, the core government structure from which the six prominent noble houses rule. Starfall Crest also houses various museums and institutions of education, including the Toleius College of Arcana (or simply known as the Arcanium). The temples of Pelor and Erathis are two of the most well-known temples within Starfall Crest, tended to by the members of their respective faiths who lend influence upon the Six Houses.

Temple District
Also within the Raxis Gate is the Temple District. The Temple District hosts temples to virtually any god, even evil gods like Tiamat and Bane. The most prominent temples in the district used to be the ones devoted to Moradin, Melora, and Avandra. However, following the mass expansion of the city after the Great War, the three religions were no longer the dominant temples, with smaller (and some malign) religions gaining more and more influence. The Temple District is the only place inside the Raxis Gate that unifies the cultures of all of The Spinelands and perhaps all of Collabris.

Merchant Quarter
The final notable district within the Raxis Gate is the Merchant Quarter, which mixes in with the city outskirts and proves to extend outside of the gate as well. With a potent aroma due to the various cultures coming together and its blend with the horrid stench of sooty rubbish fires from the outskirts, only part of the Merchant Quarter is hospitable to those who prefer a finer way of life. It hustles by day and night, and is usually open space-wise only in the sense that there are no buildings. Temporary stalls, bins, tents, sale tables, and the shoppers thronging to them usually crowd shoulder to shoulder. Deliveries here are often made by tall, strong folk striding through the crowds with tall poles strapped to their chests or backs at the top fo which are cribs and crates full of produce. Prices are lower here than elsewhere in the city, but business is apt to be sharper. Among the more common vendors of silks, scarves, tobacco, gnomish coffee, and spices from farthest reaches of the Azure Sea are masters of tattooing and several hedge mages who specialize in spells that temporarily change a client's features.

Slums
Beyond the Raxis Gate lie the sprawling slums, paddocks, cut-rate inns, and stockyards. On the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder are the destitute; the generational poor. Having lived in poverty for two or more generations, these people own very little and mere physical survival is the daily goal. Decision making involves the elements of survival, relationships and entertainment. With limited material wealth at hand, survival is what life is about and what most time is spent accomplishing. The law of the street is the governing principle. A person must be able to defend themselves and their possessions. Black, sooty plumes of smoke occasionally rise from the fires of burning garbage. Dire rats run rampant through the streets; riddled with mange and filth fever.

The Nightmist
The most notable inn in the city is The Nightmist which sits between the docks and the Starfall Crest. Many ship captains, wayward travelers, adventurers, and privateers take shore leave here. It gets its name from the occasional fog that rolls in from The Veil and covers the streets at night. It's rumored that whenever the fog rolls in, strange things happen at the inn. Objects move of their own accord, strange sounds can be heard in the walls, food grows strange fungus within seconds, ale turns to milk, and strange creatures dart in and out of periphery. The owner, Dallen Langward, has since tried to quell the strange phenomena by hosting a pudgy drake that lies in a bed of furs behind the bar. No one is certain how this has helped, but the Nightmist hasn't seen any decline patronage since.