Sitting in the middle of the endless ocean is the great city of Anatos, filled with spiralling towers of sand and pristine white stone. Canals criss cross up and down the city, allowing people to get to anywhere within the city by hopping onto a boat or gondola. Tropical trees and plants grow where they can, but are also placed carefully to bring out the city's beauty.
All ‘cycle’ round the temperature is hot, only lowering during the rainy storm seasons. For this reason most people in the city dress lightly, in colourful silks if they can afford it, and spend plenty of effort to find new ways to cool the interior of their homes. The stone marble floor of many houses feels cool to the touch, granting a chill calmness to its residents.
Anatos is known as the Final City by its people, for all other lands and nations were destroyed long ago by Varasha’s wrathful calamity. Thus the people of Anatos regard it as their duty to survive and prosper, to be good to one another and prove to the god of destruction that they were wrong to condemn the world. While there are disputes and conflict in the city, the people of Anatos believe it is up to them to be a shining beacon of good and civilization so the souls of those who have died will one day find their way home to them. But this tropical paradise is not without its troubles, as powerful guilds vie for power, shadowy figures plot it’s downfall, and ancient and new monsters threaten it’s very existence.
The city is ruled by the six members of the Elder Council, whose duties include safeguarding the city's legends and resolving disputes. In practice though the council very rarely gathers, the people of Anatos are mostly good natured and often don’t need their guidance. It takes a serious matter to compel them to intervene but everyone listens when they do.
The most common homes within Anatos are the residences and apartments within the numerous towers spread across the city. Each tower has a large open atrium in it’s centre allowing for cool air to flow through and has a pulley system for bringing goods up to the higher levels, sometimes ropes and tapestries are even hung down these atriums for a trope of performers to give an aerial performance.
Each tower often forms their own close knit community with their own rules and cultures, making travelling from one to another an almost disorienting experience. One tower could have harsh and clear rules and decorated with each person's craft, while another could be laid back and a maze of hanging clothes throughout it’s walkways. Learning a tower's quirks and style is often the first challenge for any guest or new resident to overcome when entering one for the first time.
Between the towers and walkways a number of canals criss cross the city, which many residents use to travel from place to place or even live and work from. Every day boats flow up and down these bustling canals, whilst merfolk and other aquatic creatures swim beside or under them.
According to legend the city was built atop an ancient mountain but the city’s actual foundations are made up of enormous stone blocks and pillars that stretch deep into the depths. How these foundations were constructed is a mystery and even the current sculptors of the city have only ever managed to construct smaller imitations to help expand the city. Rumours abound that many of these old foundations actually have hallways and cavernous rooms inside of them, but only criminals or the desperate ever try to venture down into them.