Vitriosk
New Member
Urborg - The Heart and Soul of the Known World!
In a vast land of fields, mountains, rivers and lakes: Bordered on all sides by unscaleable walls of cold steel from a forgotten era, rests a single kingdom at the heart of the known world. This enormous city, clad in shining marble, and guarded by dozens of stone and iron gates, is home to every race under the sun. Every creature large or small finding refuge in the shops and settlements spread throughout its enormous interior. At the center of this monolithic kingdom-city, and resting atop the mountain center-piece, a castle of crystal and sparkling gemstones sits. Here, from on high, and with a view of all that is protected by the walls, the King and Queen pass judgement. Their reign is eternal, and their rules absolute: Though they seek only peace, and to maintain order amongst the plethora of beings gathered below them.
But not all is well and good within the gates. There lurk those dark and hideous things that seek to overthrow the good King and Queen. The evil creatures that exist to balance the scales. All is not lost though, for the city guarded by steel: With King and Queen atop a mountain of mithril and crystal, as there too exist those who would not let the darkness run rampant. Those brave souls who strike out against the night, and guarantee the safety of the dawn. This is the land of Urborg, the city-state of but one nation, and here is where the future rests for those trapped inside the cold steel prison. For those who will never know how wrong they are about the world beyond.
As a functioning city, and a kingdom: The only one in the known land, with but a few small settlements outside of it's gated walls, Urborg is a veritable paradise, and cesspool at the same time. The different rings, and spiraling layers leading towards the castle and heart of the city, are a maze of shifting landscapes and rising wealth. From the simplest of huts, inns, shops and stables at the outer ring: "The Shadowed Denizens" as the people there are called. All the way to the aristocrats, and wealthy merchants who live within the upper rings. There are many gardens, courtyards, and fantastic buildings in the ring's closest to the castle, and the many training grounds for guards, knights, and those who uphold the law of the kingdom often reside near the middle in barracks or Inns paid for by the government.
Although it's a lone kingdom amidst a sea of land with massive, impregnable walls surrounding even it's walls, the soldiers and knights of the land are still needed. From outside Urborg's gates, within small mountains, large forests, and even rising up from underground tunnels, many external threats emerge. Orcs, ogres, goblins, kobolds, and all manner of beast trying to get into the city to wreak havoc. Giants roam the edge of the massive walls, and sometimes travel towards the city in pursuit of food, and many a knight has fallen at the feet of such brutal strength. Yet never has Urborgs' walls been breached, and never has the castle been scratched by so much as a single thrown stone.
Magic is not in abundance in the land of the King and Queen, but the few mages the court holds, are highly respected and revered. Practical and calm, the ministrations of their wealth of power can be felt all across the land, as they seek to keep the people protected, and train those who have the gift. A small mage guild just prior to the inner circles is where the many hopeful students go to try and delve into the arcane, and yet less than one tenth of a percent are ever found to possess enough ability to use. Those many disgruntled would-be arcanists who leave, are forced back into society with a heavy weight on their shoulders, and a greater burden to bear afterwards.
Such is the brutality of the ringed city every day. It is no walk in the park for those of the lower orders, and yet they do not scowl or fight amongst themselves. Instead they toil and struggle to their dying breaths, for the land they love, and the only kingdom they know. There are those who wish to change the city-state from within, and those who wish to throw it into total anarchy, but at each end of their blades, the law of the guards seem to be waiting. Waiting to drive them back from the walls, or into the dungeons under the castle's mountain keep. Where they'll rot til eternity passes.
Good and bad, chaos and order, happines and sorrow exists in blossoming numbers in Urborg. Each sword meeting shield. Each shout finding a whisper. It's a constantly shifting landscape of hypocricy, propoganda, confusion, and treachery alike. All bathed in many valuable layers of shining marble, polished metal, and glittering gemstone.
There are many fleeting questions surrounding the foundation of the kingdom, and the lands stretching beyond its gated pathways, and walled-in streets. Questions of how it came to be. Who the king and queen really are. What they are. These questions are whispered between drunkards at dusk, and guards changing posts alike. Simple passing curiosities that never seem to amount to any answers, or searches for them. Yet those questions, and more remain. What are the massive walls beyond Urborg, and what could have possibly constructed such monstrous things? If the all that is - Is within the city-kingdom, and lands surrounding it, then what is beyond those mountainous, cold constructs which envelop all the world?
- - Are you an adventurer? A knight? A peasant tradesman? Perhaps a royal mage, or a devious thief? What life do you live in the worldspace of Urborg? What tales do you hold as memories, and what future do you wish to find? These are but the most primitive of questions I ask you to think upon. What role would you wish to take in the improvement, or downfall, of the kingdom? Would you seek to scale the walls and see what rests beyond the border of all that is known? Would you fight oppression, or oppress those under you? What web would you weave, if you were standing in those spiraling streets? Amidst the shadow denizens, and royals alike. Wandering about with patrolling guards, or exchanging coin for medicine at herbal shops. What in Urborg could hold sway over your interests? - -
