Irongate

Subject: [GREYTALK] Irongate
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 17:48:33 EST
From: "Rip Van Wormer>"
Reply-To: The GREYtalk Discussion List

The Fallengod Peninsula was in ancient days dominated by dwarves, working away in their halls on the exposed bones of the Oerth.

With the falling of the City of Summer Stars, elven refugees settled the peninsula's surface in scattered villages, vainly trying to rebuild their lore. Halflings, true to their peoples' plastic nature, lived among both races, adapting their appearance to resemble their host races. The Flan, by and large, avoided the region. Especially in the wake of Vecna's victory, they weren't wanted.

It wasn't until the peninsula was overrun first by the Suel fleeing the conquering Oeridians and then by the pursuing hosts of Aerdy themselves that the elder folk of the Fallengod had to contend with humanity living among them.

It was the dwarves who first built a port near the human village of Talian in order to take advantage of the growing human trade from the sea and the convenient natural sea-caves. Products were shipped from the dwarven smithies and foundries via dark underground rivers flowing out the caves into the harbor.

The deep natural harbor was widened by the dwurfolk, and the city of Irongate was born. Sailors from Idee, Onnwal, and even the isolated villages of the elves began stopping there for supplies and trading with the locals. In time, ships from across the Flanaess were going to Irongate to sell their wares, bringing such exotic creatures as kenku, bullywugs, and catfolk, as well as a number of adventurous gnomes attracted by the promise of gemstones and alcohol.

The SeaMaze, Irongate's most distinctive feature and the one most visible from the sea, was built in 447 CY, after independence from the Great Kingdom was proclaimed. The majority of citizens didn't emphasize with Aerdy at all anymore, and even the language had changed over time. The SeaMaze was an incredible feat of dwarven engineering, a labyrinth of stone and concrete protecting the city's seaside entrance (or did it protect the mouth of the harbor? Ideas?) The enormous pylons rising out of the bay have become synonymous in the minds of Oerth with the city's titular Gate.

Irongate is a complex, rich mix of Oerth's cultures. The city's first human
-- elf marriage took place in 202 CY, and the first legal coupling of human and dwarf took place not long after. Cobb Darg, the current mayor, is from an old merchant family with blood so mixed that it's hard to tell what species have gone into his physiology.

Holidays celebrated in the City of Iron include Ulhamir, the festival of creation, brok'org, the tyranny of souls, Good Luck Day, the kenku new year, the Night of Shadows, and the myriad festivals of Bralm.

Notable foods include specialty mixed drinks, seasoned turtle-egg omelets, etc. Foods are commonly heavily spiced, a combination of subterranean products and a great deal of fish. Zagyg Chaos Mead, famous around the Nyr Dyv, is actually based on a long tradition of mixed drinks begun in Irongate.

Prominent gods of the region include Bralm, Muamman Duathal, Xerbo, Fortubo, Vegadain, Abbathor, Corellon Larethian, Osprem, Zilchus, Procan, Velnius, Phaulkon, Atroa, Wenta, Sotillon, Wastri, and Telchur.

Entertainment: besides a wide selection of restaurants from seedy dockside dives to five star dinner theaters catering to wealthy merchants, Irongate is known for its gnomish operas. Gnomes will perform anything, from the saga of Johydee's Mask to the Mutilation of Gruumsh, the Courtship of Wee Jas to the Urvin Seasmith cycle of comic privateer yarns, all set to the rousing gnomish voice, amplified by that race's complex nasal passages until in a trained singer it reputably rivals the decibel level of a dragonne. Prostitution is kept low, but a determined solicitor can discover a whore for every taste imaginable. The Irongate thieves' guild regulates all such transactions and keeps them at a fair price.