Whitewall

• Population: 700,000
• Rulers: The Three Syndics, strange gods with flesh of crystal and bones of silver.

The Land Around Whitewall

• Whitewall sits in a valley at the southern edge of the Black Crag Mountains.
  • City is 10 miles across, and the valley is 40 miles across total.
• The valley is exceedingly fertile, and the city itself is surrounded by incredibly rich farmland.
  • Dotted with farmhouse compounds, defended by Guardians, and well-warded against the dead and Fair Folk.
  • People dwell in the farm compounds during the growing and harvest season, retiring back to homes in Whitewall proper during the winter.
• Foothills around the valley are thick with firs and pine.
  • There are a number of logging camps and mining camps tucked in among the foothills. People live in these during the non-winter months.

Layout of Whitewall

• The Wall: Perhaps the most ubiquitous part of Whitewall is the massive wall that surrounds it: fifteen yards high, six yards thick, they are easily the tallest, strongest walls in the North.
  • Stats: 20B/14L, 50/100 health levels
  • A single gate pierces the wall in the South, where the Traveler's Road leads away to Wallport.
  • It is known that ghosts, demons, Fair Folk and similar creatures cannot pass the gate unless they are invited to do so by a resident of Whitewall.
• Buildings: Most of the buildings in Whitewall are clustered in neighborhoods that all encircle a central plaza (the size and cleanliness of which is determined by the part of town).
  • Buildings all show blank, white-washed walls, devoid of doors or windows along their outer edges.
  • //First Age Buildings:// A few remaining buildings in Whitewall are from the days of the Old Realm, with elaborate, layered spires. These are always within twelve-foot high white-washed walls, however.

Foretown

• The section closest to the gates, and most often seen and visited by visitors.
• Filled with shops, merchants, inns and other establishments intended for the needs of visitors.
  • Many artisans set up their shops here as well.
• Market Season: In summer, most of the plazas and empty spaces are filled with tents, stalls and even simple blankets, in a massive district-wide bazaar.
  • People from all over Creation can be found during Market Season. Many of them open stalls or carts with food from their native area, as well.
• The Delverhall: A college of mining and metallurgy, this small school produces engineers and foreman desired all over the North for their skills, and metallurgists whose alloys and treatments command very high prices indeed.
• 'Nine Silvers Caravanserai: A sprawling inn that gives preferential lodging to Guild merchants, with the capacity to warehouse and defend large quantities of goods, the Nine Silvers' upper floors maintain offices that function as the local Guild citadel.

Midtown

• Mostly home to farmers and miners, as well as brewers, carpenters and other tradesmen.
  • Others who work in Foretown, but prefer the cheaper lodgings of Midtown live here as well.
• Jewelers' College: A college for the crafting of jewelry.
• College of Agriculture: A school that turns out skilled agricultural ministers, farm-overseers and the like.
• Many First Age buildings stand in Midtown, repurposed to daily use and living.
• The Central Temple: In the exact center of the city is a massive temple to the Unconquered Sun, still resplendent with golden spires and friezes proclaiming the glory of Sol Invictus.
  • Powerful Solar-aspected Manse.
  • No one can enter it, due to the impressive array of defenses which adapt to the attackers who might try and invade it.

Afton

• Wealthy district.
• Syndics' Hall: The temple to the Syndics and seat of city bureaucracy.
• Whitewall College of Architecture: University dedicated to Architecture, set in an ancient First Age structure of some kind.
• Lotus Mind College of Thaumaturgical Sciences: University in a small compound that teaches thaumaturgy to students. Students frequently must be graduates from the other universities in the city before they are accepted.

Underton

• System of tunnels and caverns.
  • Illuminated by Old Realm lighting system and warmed through geothermal ventilation.
• Not really designed for people to live in, but has been turned into the slums of the city, with make-shift dwellings all throughout it.
  • Most of the people who live here are menial laborers, the unemployed or criminals.
• Public Baths: Elaborate and beautiful public baths that see constant traffic from the city above.
  • By tradition, citizens use the baths that lie beneath the part of the city they live in.
  • Guardians patrol during the day, keeping peace (and ruffians out of the Afton Baths).
  • At night, when everyone has gone home, the residents of Underton are free to use the baths.

Resources & Industry of Whitewall

• Education: Whitewall takes great pride in its educational colleges, founded by order of the Syndics. People come from all over the North to learn in their halls, as their graduates often earn many times more than those who are trained in those arts via traditional apprenticeships.
• Trade: A well-defended, clean and orderly city with a well-guarded route from the sea, Whitewall is a primary trade hub in the North.
  • The Guild is fairly strong in the area, and based out of their Nine Silvers Caravanserai, in Foretown.
• Agriculture: The farms and orchards around Whitewall produce ample and rich food, many times that produced in similar areas around them. As a result, Whitewall is something of a breadbasket for the North.
  • Produce extensive grains, such as oats, barley and a hearty Northern wheat.
  • Orchards produce apples, pears and nuts aplenty.
• Mining: The mines surrounding Whitewall produce many usable ores: copper, iron and tin primarily.
  • Occasionally, veins of silver and rare crystals used in thaumaturgical rites are found as well.
  • Whitewall also commands two jade mines among its riches, which produce high-quality white and blue jade.
• Logging: The quick-growing evergreens of the foothills are kept logged back through active logging camps that spring up here and there.
  • Most camps are logged out in about four years, at which point the stumps are burnt and the workers replant and mulch the seedlings before winter sets in.

Culture of Whitewall

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Politics of Whitewall

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Religion of Whitewall

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Martial Arts World of Whitewall

Given its central location, Whitewall is a hotbed of martial arts intrigue, boasting several clubs, nearby temples and outright masters of the martial arts. Indeed, one of the most common forms of violent disturbance in Whitewall is the martial arts duel in the middle of the street, from potent masters facing one another down to entire clubs or other groups facing down their rivals.

Law Enforcement & Military

• Marama's Keepers: An elite military order, Marama's Keepers are an order of templar-style martial artists who move in three- to five-man patrols around the outer edges of Marama's Fell, dedicated to keeping the horrors within from escaping into the rest of the North. They are welcome nearly everywhere they go, for they usually comport themselves with humility and integrity, remaining aloof from local troubles - save where the dead or demons are involved. They specialize in the Golden Janissary and Lightning Hoof styles.
• The White Guardians: An elite command within the Guardians of Whitewall, the White Guardians are very skilled martial artist military police who defend the city. They are under the direct command of the First Guardian, Macha Pethisdottir. The guardians study a variety of martial arts, taught to them by their First Guardian: Golden Janissary style, Jade Mountain style and Crimson Pentacle Blade style.
• The Sarunathi: Though they are registered throughout the North as mercenaries, the Sarunathi are actually an order of martial artist bodyguards who specialize in the techniques of the Falling Blossom style.

Criminals

• The Pale Blades: A gang that is part of the Guild of the Evershifting Breeze, an organized crime syndicate that spans the North, the Evershifting Breeze is part of the notorious Five Shades Associations, a criminal syndicate that spans the whole of Creation. The Pale Blades are known for their trade-marked feathersteel shuriken, and the white sashes and face-covering scarves they wear. Like all of the Evershifting Breeze, the Pale Blades study the Air techniques of Fivefold Shadow Hand style.
• The Black Crag Clan: Though this clan of assassins is based out of their ancient mountain home, it is known that there are representatives of the clan in Whitewall. Those who seek to speak with one of their representatives need only leave a black stone inside the teapot of any tea house in the city when they are finished. The shadowy assassins will find them. The Black Crag Clan assassins utilize Night Breeze style.

Clubs

• The Heavenly Blade Association: A group of noble and wealthy practitioners of the martial arts, the Heavenly Blade's sifu Arani Malis, an outcaste Fire Aspected Terrestrial, teaches the Even Blade Style. They are known for their constant feuds with the Northern Sky-Shaking Brotherhood.
• The Northern Sky-Shaking Brotherhood: The rivals to the Heavenly Blade Association are known as ruffians and malcontents. Made up mainly of the poor and downtrodden, their sifu Uncompromising Integrity is a former student of Arani Malis who now wishes nothing more than to defeat his old master in battle.

Temples & Monasteries

• Aru-Shen Monastery: An order of monks who revere the teachings of Mela, founded by an Immaculate monk. Though their founder was recalled to the Blessed Isle, these monks continue their meditation and work.