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--- pantheonrising:player:pg_alkenstar [2025/10/19 18:17] – frayzion
+++ pantheonrising:player:pg_alkenstar [2025/10/22 16:26] (current) – frayzion
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 ==== ALKENSTAR, CITY OF SMOG ====
-In the heart of the war-torn Mana Wastes, a metropolis of industry, innovation, and intrigue awaits travelers hardy enough to make the journey. Beneath the towering gaze of brass spires and stone fortresses, amid a tangle of oil-slicked streets and soot-stained alleys, human inventors and their clockwork creations walk beside mutated kholo
+On the edge of the Hellfallen Cliffs, where the Ustradi River dives in a silver arc into the Spellscar Desert below, rises a city like no other: a place where brass towers and gear‑toothed cranes silhouette against the glow of smelters, and the air itself tastes faintly of oil, gunpowder, and ozone. Within Alkenstar’s massive walls, firearm duels and factory whistles set the rhythm of life, overseen by shieldmarshals whose badges gleam almost as brightly as their pistols.
-scavengers, bronze-masked religious zealots, and fire-fleshed geniekin merchants. Many spend their days toiling without respite in grimy workshops or smoky factories. Others patrol the cobblestone streets for their fortunes, one hand firmly on their holstered sidearms, ready to confront a rival gang or runaway bounty. All the while, pistons, gears, and cogs within every machine and building turn as steadily as the hands of a clock, all maintaining the mechanical rhythm of a settlement that never truly sleeps. This is Alkenstar, the City of Smog.
+To most, Alkenstar is an island of order and ingenuity in the wild, magic‑scarred Mana Wastes. To a few — the kind who notice odd clockworks moving without winding, or market‑stalls selling unidentifiable alloys that hum faintly when touched — it is also a city sitting atop… *something else*. Ancient vault? Lost workshop of the goddess Brigh? Wreckage from some other sky? No one speaks of it openly, but the whispers are there if you listen between the hammer blows.
 Whether your character is Alkenstar-born, a first- or second-generation immigrant, or a total newcomer, it’s worthwhile to master some of the City of Smog’s basic nomenclature. The following is some basic information about Alkenstar known to most locals and visitors alike.
 === Places of Note ===
-Alkenstar is a large city in an arid desert environment built atop the edge of the 400-foot-tall Hellfallen Cliffs. Formidable stone walls protect the city on all sides from wasteland raiders. The easiest way into the city is via the steady-flowing Ustradi River, which naturally bisects Alkenstar.
+Alkenstar is a large city in an arid desert environment built atop the edge of the 400-foot-tall [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:hellfallen_cliffs|Hellfallen Cliffs]]. Formidable stone walls protect the city on all sides from wasteland raiders. The easiest way into the city is via the steady-flowing [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:ustradi_river|Ustradi River]], which naturally bisects Alkenstar.
-In the center of the city is Alken Falls, a massive waterfall set several hundred yards back from the rest of the Hellfallen Cliffs to the north. Thousands of vessels traverse Alken Falls each year by way of the Screw, a technological marvel that can raise or lower multiple ships at a time from one end of the falls to the other.
+In the center of the city is [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:alken_falls|Alken Falls]], a massive waterfall set several hundred yards back from the rest of the Hellfallen Cliffs to the north. Thousands of vessels traverse Alken Falls each year by way of the Screw, a technological marvel that can raise or lower multiple ships at a time from one end of the falls to the other.
-The wealthy districts and neighborhoods south of the Ustradi are referred to as [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:skyside|Skyside]], whereas the polluted, industrial quarters to the north are collectively known as [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:smokeside|Smokeside]. Within these two major regions, the city is further subdivided into loosely defined wards.
+The wealthy districts and neighborhoods south of the Ustradi are referred to as [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:skyside|Skyside]], whereas the polluted, industrial quarters to the north are collectively known as [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:smokeside|Smokeside]]. Within these two major regions, the city is further subdivided into loosely defined wards.
-  * Smokeside is home to the quaint inventors’ neighborhood of [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:steamhaven|Steamhaven]], peaceful Ustradi Heights, and lively [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:ferrous_quarter|Ferrous Quarter]].
+  * Smokeside — Grit, graft, and industry: from the inventor‑crammed neighborhood of [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:steamhaven|Steamhaven]] to the raucous [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:ferrous_quarter|Ferrous Quarter]]. If something explodes here, it’s either a mishap… or a message.
   * In Skyside, one can attend swanky aristocratic galas in the Capital District, peruse the many marketplaces of Auburn District, or head to Pilot’s Square to pay for passage aboard an airship or dirigible bound for major ports along the eastern Garundi coastline.
-  * A few city districts defy categorization into either Skyside or Smokeside, including Hellside—a shantytown that literally hangs from the side of the cliffs overlooking Alken Falls—and the monster-infested ruins of Ironside Quarter along the city’s far western wall.
+  * A few city districts defy categorization into either Skyside or Smokeside, including [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:hellside|Hellside]]—a shantytown bolted to the cliff face, damp with spray from the falls, the perfect place to hide… or vanish forever—and the monster-infested ruins of [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:ironside_quarter|Ironside Quarter]] along the city’s far western wall.
-Alkenstar’s major institutions include Alkenstar Castle (from which the city’s elected politicians hold
+Alkenstar’s major institutions include Alkenstar Castle (from which the city’s elected politicians hold court), the Temple of Brigh (overseen by the highly influential priests of the goddess of clockwork), and Blythir College (the city’s only major magical academy and a hub of higher learning). Of course, as in any city, Alkenstar’s most important cultural movements occur among its people, not its leaders. In the sky-scraping towers of Graeson’s Fingers in the Capital District or upscale establishments like the Longhorn Lounge, socialites mingle and make deals behind closed doors at ritzy soirees and gaudy galas, whose electric luxuries are made possible only by the skilled engineers at the [[pantheonrising:campaign:alkenstar:places:tinwound_hydroforge|Tinwound Hydroforge]].
-court), the Temple of Brigh (overseen by the highly influential priests of the goddess of clockwork),
-and Blythir College (the city’s only major magical academy and a hub of higher learning). Of course,
-as in any city, Alkenstar’s most important cultural movements occur among its people, not its leaders.
-In the sky-scraping towers of Graeson’s Fingers in the Capital District or upscale establishments like the
-Longhorn Lounge, socialites mingle and make deals behind closed doors at ritzy soirees and gaudy galas,
-whose electric luxuries are made possible only by the skilled engineers at the Tinwound Hydroforge.
 All the while, criminals both organized and independent haunt Alkenstar’s alleyways, sewers, and seedy taverns like the Hotfoot Hippodrome, where untold quantities of illicit wealth are pushed through the city like so much lifeblood. At popular saloons like the Barrel & Bullet Saloon, impoverished factory hands and honest laborers hold court from the fortress of a taproom table and wielding only a mug of watery ale.