Hook City

Hook City Information Pamphlet

by Willow Kyle, Highmage of Hook City

Welcome to the City of Magic! We wish your visit to our fair city to be a fun, pleasurable and profitable experience. May the gods bless you and yours for all time!

The first thing everyone wants to know about our city is story of The Hooks. It dominates the skyline, our trade, and is the center of our very lives. The Hooks hold by their mighty power The Bridge, which is the richest and most prestigious market The Wold has ever known. This structure separates our mighty city into three regions: The Northhook Cityscape, The Bridge, and The Southhook Shore Cityscape.

The Northern Cityscape is divided into two main areas: Mudtown and Northhook City. These are separated by a huge structure known as the Wall of Tears. Mudtown is a huge area outside the wall of The Northern Cityscape where visiting merchants wait their turn for an opportunity to enter the city and show their wares for trade.

Mudtown receives its name from the huge amounts of it created by the constant churning of the ground by the wagons, hooves and feet of the merchants as they move about looking for a cleaner place to camp. A caravan entering Mudtown reports their presence to the Front Gate where they receive a warm cup of coffee and a number. Then they wait. Thousands of merchants are camped each day in Mudtown. Be warned. Traveling through Mudtown can be dangerous. No guards patrol the area to see that justice is done. The area is considered “outside” as far as city laws are concerned. Most merchants arrive in Mudtown with mercenary protection and many offer such services within Mudtown. The wealthy traveler should consider hiring from a reputable firm to protect his person and belongings. Merchants grow very anxious and will approach all travelers trying to force their wares upon them so as to avoid having to wait for their number to be called. Once a merchant is allowed inside, he is given a bath. Then his inventory is assessed magically and assigned a chit value. Chits are the method of exchange within the city. More will be said of them below. The merchant is allowed one free trading day within the city for him and a small group of assistants. All mercenary protection must remain outside the city walls. Merchants may negotiate for a more lengthy stay.

Northhook City, also known as Soldier’s City and, is where those who work in the military, are involved offices of the city, labor for the good of the city, and deal with the outside reside and work. It is considered the lessor of the two cities; however, saying that any part of Hook City is not opulent is definitely a misnomer. The most notable feature of Northhook is the Marble Causeway a wide road made of worked marble and lined by statues on both sides. This road runs through the middle of Soldier’s City from the gates at Mudtown to The Bridge. On both sides of the river is a district known as Labor Town. The farmers, fishermen, and herdsmen who work the edge of the Hook City Isthmus live here, as do any one who makes something or earns their living by the fruit of their own labors. This is the poorest part of the entire city. It is very much like a merchants quarter in most other cities, and the only place in the city where Chits and foreign coins are equally accepted.

The Marble Causeway. Of special interest is that the only place public temples are allowed in Hook City is if the temple has their main doors facing the Marble Causeway. Every conceivable temple is here from all the various Southern Powers. Why, even the northern gods of the Wold, gods of Testing, and various dead gods and cults have a temple here (though the largest are the many Southern Powers). Hook City has more traffic with the northern continent than anywhere else in the Southern Continent, but even then, there is a healthy xenophobic suspicion of any northern deity.

In order to reach the Bridge the merchants must pay to climb the stairs, or use the elevator. The stairs are a rickety collection of wooden switchbacks climbing up six stories to the surface of the Bridge. The elevator is a hand operated lift that cost ten times as much as the stairs.

The surface of the Bridge is where the market is. The Bridge hangs from four giant hooks that hang in mid air. No one knows where they or the bridge came from; both are magical in nature, however the rigging holding the bridge to the hooks is not. This non-magical rigging must be constantly maintained. Over the years the rigging has been reinforced and strengthened so many times that it has become a deadly maze of tangles. A special group of men have been trained to work within this maze. They are called Climbers. These men climb like spiders through the maze of linking chains, wire, rope, and other strangeness. The Climbers know the status of every piece of rigging on the bridge. They are the only ones capable of maneuvering through the chains. The Market is guarded by the bridge guards, or Market Wardens, who are loyal to Old Glory. The Market is a mass of people, unlike most markets there are very few wares on display. If you wish to buy something that was to big or expensive to bring up the stairs a “runner” takes a note signed by the buyer and the seller, magically notarized by a Market Warden to the city offices where the buyer can pick up his new purchase.

Almost all trade within the city used to be done with Chits until they were all recently and mysteriously destroyed (See below). This had dated from the very first Day of Faith when the gods rewarded those there and their descendants with the inherent ability to cast one form of Cantrip. Anyone of the Noble Races who are born in Hook City get a free Cantrip that they can cast as a spell-like ability. three times per day. These Cantrips are of common use that can replicate one Craft Skill:5 for one minute. Consider some merchants who enhance their skill with Cantrips like Paint or Yeast. Abhorring money, the people of Hook City nevertheless have to use the same common currency as everyone else now that there are no Chits extant.

The Southhook Shore Cityscape contains all peoples concerned with things magical. Merchants trading various magical trades and abilities, Sages, Guilds, and Professional Traders all reside within Magic City. All normal businesses, vendors, etc. here in Magic City are here considered part of the Magic Trade as their Gods given Cantrip ability is involved in running the Magic Trade they have chosen. Everything conducted here in Southhook is done with civility and order. No battles, arguments or even court cases between the citizens of Southhook exist. Instead both will hire outsiders or proxies, less civilized people to battle their enemy’s hired proxies. Very specialized laws exist that govern proxies, protection groups, etc. and how they must act within Southhook. No place on the Wold contains a more civilized manner of life! Southhook reigns supreme in both extravagance and courtesy.

The Docks are run by the Traders of Hook City. They are very much like any docks in any harbor town with two exceptions. First, unlike most docks in other cities they are completely safe. The protection that guards Hook City extends to The Docks. The second difference is that these Docks used to rest on the grasses of the Sargrass Plains (which are now destroyed and moved from the Great Migration), and now have a narrow corridor of unmeltable ice that links Hook City to the savage lands of the Ice Vein! All ships at THESE docks tend to be flat bottomed and have runners like giant ice skates!

We welcome you to Hook City and hope that you enjoy your stay. If you have any question this pamphlet does not answer, please stop by the city office in the Soldier’s Town.

Note: After the recent Great Migration, the location of Hook City changed. It is now bordered by the Gateway Downs to the west and Ice Vein to the south, with unknown lands to the southwest, and ocean to the north and east.

Teucri Artifacts and Hook City, by Noman the Anonymous

(A scroll found by the Iron Adventurers in the Library of Wayfarer)

Hook City has the distinction of being the location most concentrated Teucri artifacts in all the Southern Continent. While no city official will admit it, (and even asking one is courting trouble), there are at least three Teucri Artifacts that have to be in Hook City: the Hooks, the Chits, and the Memory Stones. I have been working with a sage expert on the Teucri, and have been able to confirm some speculations.

The Hooks. Already described in the attached pamphlet, they are the most visible artifacts and proof that Hook City is the most magical in the Wold. The Hooks hang in the air without any support, are not affected by any known magic, and are (so far) completely indestructible. Most known Teucri ruins are, pardon my friend’s words, unaffected by normal gravitational stresses. He says that means ‘down’ can be in any direction or no direction at all. Teucri artifacts also can only be destroyed by certain things or events. And if the Hooks aren’t Teucri made, I’ll eat my hat!

The Chits. Hook City uses chits, but how are they made and why are they not used outside the city? First, it is certain the Chits are Teucri Artifacts, for they can't be destroyed by any normal means that I know of. Second, chits are in and out of circulation, so there must be a central depository somewhere in Hook City. Third, even with the stringent management of the chits, it is curious to note that there has been no circulation of chits outside of Hook City even on the Black Market. My sage friend speculates that the magic of the Chits only work within a certain distance of Hook City. And because they must be Teucri made, it stands to reason that they have to stay within a certain distance of the Teucri Artifact that makes the Chits.

(Addendum by Inspector Llandrius) During the Day of Faith, as saboteurs tried to destroy the Bridge, a team of thieves attempted to penetrate the Hook Treasury and steal the Chit Machine. This machine, carefully protected to keep its existence secret, was the Tecuri artifact that created and maintained the Chits. The hero group, Iron Adventurers, foiled the plot but were unable to save the Machine. And on the destruction of the Machine, every Chit in Hook City was destroyed. The Machine is still hidden, in the hope that it may be repaired.

The Memory Stones. Used almost exclusively in South Hook, each South Hook citizen has a Memory Stone, and all official laws and regulations and contracts between South Hook citizens are recorded on government ‘Stones too. For example, two South Hook citizens want to record a contract and go to a city official with their personal Memory Stone. The Official brings a City Memory Stone. In the presense of all three stones, the contract is read and both parties and the official state their agreement. In the future, either party or any city official can use any ‘Stone to replay the contract and any pertinent recording that would affect the contract. Just like the Chits, the Stones are indestructible and only work near Hook City, they must be Teucri Artifacts!

……

(written in a different hand) Noman went to Hook City to get me more information and kept in communication with twin magical Communication Rings. He successfully penetrated an undisclosed location in South Hook, describing a large and strange looking machine, which I am confident is Teucri made. His last words to me were “there is a guardian aaaarrrggghh…”. I have destroyed my ring, will hide this treatise, and this night will flee to the wilderness. I will continue my study of Teucri artifacts, but must remain alive first.