Synstasia

Synstasia is a city of divine resplendence, white stone pillars and buttressing suspend the tabulas in their ascent towards the Paradisum, a grand spire, over 3,000 feet stretching into the clouds. A city resolute in the dedication to the gods of the Lighted Path that have guided human civilization, acting as a hierocracy. The city stretches over 200 square miles across the plains, containing its own ecosystems that sustain the city.

Domuq Tabula

The Aldrich Grove. A swath of pristine forest where wild game roams bountiful and essential flora is foraged. Druids in Domuq's Moot are the shepherds of the this sacred space for nature within the city, as many of the creatures hunted within the forest are seen as daily sacrifices, but closely guarded and protected. With the proper tithe hunters can enter this reserve to track the sacred game within.

The Enlivened Fields. These divinely fertile plains are brimming with plantations and farms where food production is perpetually sustained. The followers of Domuq tend to the fields and orchards where the stalks of grain and fruiting trees rise to heights unimaginable anywhere else the world over. Harvests are conducted day and night and transported along canals to the mills and granaries of the Vaults of Nature.

The Hallowed Hamlets. Abode of the majority of the swelling population of the city, filled with common people with common ways. Homely inns and quaint cottages lines the cobbled roads and canals as people take part in a daily exodus to their agrarian work in the Enlivened Fields and the Vaults of Nature. To be given leave by Synstasia to live within this place one must observe the tithe to the utmost, lest they be cast to the streets.

The Vaults of Nature. An expansive complex of mills and granaries that take in the bounty harvested from both the Enlivened Fields and the Aldrich Grove. Barges and carts laden with the hunt and harvest arrive to impart to the towering storehouses and spanning vanes of the mills the daily yield. Nary a grain is unaccounted for, as each one is seen as a gift from Domuq in order to sustain the city.

Dilig Tabula

The Day's Wrest. Grand manors stand alongside humble lodgings where the merchant and working ranks of society take respite from the toil and demands of Synstasia. Amphitheaters and forums give residents venues of entertainment and culture along the garden lined canals. Though some choose to take in other more furtive delights, carousing with all manner of seedy folk that pervade the district.

The Guilded Hills. A sprawling campus of the most stately of guildhalls and masterful of artisanal colleges, where each trade and tool is given its divine due in accordance with Dilig's essence. The Fellowship of the Worker's Wheel ensures each member of the guild works within the allowed teachings of their trade, as experimentation with forbidden magics is treated as heresy and punished to the utmost.

The Neverdark Forge. The center of industry in Synstasia from where white plumes of smoke rise from titanic forges, the radiant glow like a beacon seen throughout the city. The armaments created by the smiths of Synstasia carry the blessing of Dilig as the Fellowship of the Worker's Wheel has a hand in each blade and buckle made. The priests of the Neverdark Forge hold communion in these halls of creation, the singing of hammer strikes against the anvil, the gasp of the bellows, each grunt of toil a hymn.

The Oversiege. The grand roadways of this ward are lined with workshops wholly devoted to the greatest of constructs of war. Open squares are lined with siege towers imbued with protective magics, war carriages of solid steel so that only the mightiest of summoned beast might bear it, and multitudes of other creations of the war priests of Dilig. As peace time holds much of the craft of the Oversiege now caters to the necessity of the nobility and Praetori, as the warehouses lie full awaiting for when the drums of war sound.

The Promised Purchase. A district of glorious markets and fine shops, each one a temple to the power of Dilig and his followers the Fellowship of the Worker's Wheel. The tenets of the market are paramount and the merchants must each day conduct their business according to them, lest the priesthood intercede in the commerce.

Litencia Tabula

The High Gallerium. Majestic promenades lined with golden statues of exalted heroes of the War of Extinction, then give way to the colossal marble halls that hold relics and treasures won by Synstasia from all across Kyme. Intelligentsia the world over make pilgrimages to marvel at the ancient objects Synstasia has gathered for all to see what divine power yields. Crowns and bones taken from the Dragon Kings in the Ashbreak Rebellion. The First Flame given to the world by Achonus to dispel the darkness having burned on through the eons. A collection of the first writings of those lost ancestors of humanity. Countless artifacts and antiquities fill the museums awaiting for the call of Synstasia's need.

The Lecternium. The pinnacle of sanctified knowledge echoes through these blue alabaster halls, as orators and disciples of the goddess Litencia seek the beneficence of her understanding. Spiraling towers connect to a lattice of bridges that span the miles between the learning halls. Acolytes in ink-stained robes dart about with their quills in hopes that they might one day add to the written word of the Lectern of Litencia.

The Quartrium. Bibliomanors as they are so named, as the noble scholars of the Lectern of Litencia hold study and rest within the rooms of these marvelous tome filled abodes. Those of rank amongst the acolytes of the goddess are given these vast estates that comprise the district. Many neophytes must take to the dormitories within the manors where they can serve as scribes and pages until they themselves ascend in the Lectern.

The Reliquar. The most stark and ominous of structures in Synstasia, it is a titanic edifice of hexagonal pillars of jet black marble with no windows, passages or doors. Only those who are known to enter may enter this vaulted dungeon of knowledge. Rumors surround what lies within, those who have visited tell of dark mist filled halls with recursive hexagonal rooms lined with forbidden tomes. Others tell of the Carcerum Terminatus, a prison where Synstasia's greatest heretics and enemies are held until the end of time. Yet more still say it is where the holiest and most powerful of Litencia's servants interrogate and torture fiends and horrors beyond knowing so they might know the secrets of their destruction.

The Sanctum Scholastia. The greatest of the world's libraries there remains scantly a stone or shelf uncovered by tome, treatise, essay, or letter. Each word written in these materials is divined by the Lectern of Litencia, the priests share not the secret of their codexes, only passing them on to the most trusted and longsuffering of students. If one wishes to partake in such knowledge one must prove what use they have for the knowledge as well as demonstrate an esoteric knowledge of the proper tithe.

Achonus Tabula

The Hier Rampart. A colossal martial complex enclosed within a wall of immaculate granite and radiant steel from where the war priests of Achonus might judge and instruct those who seek the glory of divine service. Hung from the walls are grand tapestries of the highest of heroes that once honed their might in the crucible of the Praetori. Those who wish to join the Synstasian military must prove their piety and strength of spirit, resulting in warriors of indomitable will and wielders of divine magic.

The Lodge of Laurels. Like one great barracks the hundreds of strongholds in the district are host to the chapters of the Praetori of Achonus. Rivalistic to the extreme each chapter seeks to emulate the heights of military discipline and zealous adherence to their divine duty. Each day a victor chapter is named, as the reports of warrior exploits arrive from the war clerics of the chapters stationed across the world.

The Synod of Synstasia. These are the grand bastion chambers of golden alabaster that hold host to the military wings of each of the Synstasian Orders of the Lighted Path. The Synods as they are known are constituted of the most pious and proven of the Hierocracy's servants. Of Domuq's Moot there are druidic officers that infiltrate and supply within the military structure. Sacred smiths and merchants of the industrial elite provide the arms and transport needed for the military. Litencian augurs and diviner strategists act as espionage agents and advisors to the military, guiding its actions. The martial masters of the Praetori of Achonus serve to command the holy legions in bringing the light of Achonus' Flame to all under Synstasian protection. Finally the war hospitallers of Soel serve to ameliorate the most grievous of wound or curse, and even return from the dead those who might yet still serve Synstasia.

Paradisum

A blade like tower of purest white stone at the center of the city, the tabulas built ascending around it, rising over three-thousand feet in the air over the golden plains. Atop the massive tower is the pinnacle of humanity's achievements, a seat of beatification of its unyielding ambition and mote of divinity the city holds in the darkness of the world. The spiritual leader of the Hierocracy of Synstasia the Pontiff joined by the Ecclesia Convocation, the high priesthood of the Orders of the Lighted Path rule over their empire of the divine.

The Shrouded Stair. Within the tower of the Paradisum is the solemn stair named for its ascent to the tower's heights, and its descent into the Undercroft of Soel. Lined with funerary shrouds and in each step a carved a prayer reflecting that even each of the Lighted Path gods' must yield to Soel's domain of death.

Undercroft of Soel

A city of tombs, mausoleums, crypts, graveyards, and catacombs that hold the dead. Being in a constant state of expansion and disrepair, the Undercroft is dangerous for those who not prepared to navigate this domain of death.

Soel's Crown. The first quinate of the Undercroft, originally built as a place of burial for the legacy of the Pontiffs, but after the Sealing at Soel's Feet the nobility of Synstasia began creating burial estates and family vaults. White arcane lights mark the dark halls leading into grand mausoleums with opulent magically sustained gardens, while the graves of the Pontiffs are now relegated to the pillars.

Soel's Heart. Much darker and more hushed than the Crown, the Heart is a more reverent space, the primary features of this portion of the Undercroft is the consistent expansion and renovation that take place funded by the merchant class of Synstasia.

Soel's Embrace. Mostly dilapidated this portion of the Undercroft is littered with abandoned scaffolding and tapestries which fails to distract from the over-packed tombs and neglected urns. Some call this section of the Undercroft home, living amongst the graves, either as acolytes of Soel, or simply being mad, or mad with grief. The section is also where the sewers of Synstasia open into what were once enclosed canals. Some sections are even known to have sightings of the undead.

Soel's Lap. Rumors abound of what takes place in this sealed section of the Undercroft, whether teeming with cult activity, the black market city of Nogood, or an arena where blood offerings to Malceth are made, it is an open secret to what now lay behind the sealed passages and secret tunnels.

Soel's Feet. What was to be a grand temple to Sol, some mysterious fate befell those, where all life and light was said to be snuffed in an instant. Many attempts have been made to reclaim this section, but none ever returned so the lowest sections of the Undercroft are now sealed.