I began working on Ibis, the City of Sorcerers today - drawing a thumbnail sketch of a map, shooting around ideas for locations I want to place thereon (is that a word?). Thought I'd share, and ask if anyone has ideas for things they think should be in a pseudo-Egyptian city-state with a bunch of sorcerers residing therein (not that's a word).
- A bend of the River of Death with quays, crocodiles, a noble barge, maybe a half-submerged grotto filled with things unspeakable.
- An Inn (obviously I've put a lot of thought into this one).
- Clock shop - or general place to buy mainsprings and weird bits of mystic engineering.
- Tavern - a beer hall of some sort, lots of students, raucous - no magical stuff allowed, only for the normal folk who put up with enough magic during the day ...
- A den of thieves in an old, abandoned granary - stone tower, cylindrical, secret passages to a hidden quay (for smuggling), maybe to the beer hall, maybe into the sewers.
- A souk running through the neighborhood - lots of peddlers in tents/booths.
- Workshops - leatherworker, dry goods, pointy hat shop, fine wands and staves, weapons and armor, a tailor (mystic gowns for men).
- Mausoleum of a Nabu princess/queen.
- Temple of Thoth - big compound.
- Subterranean temple of Seth - hidden under something innocuous, maybe the wine cellar.
- Flophouse, apartments surrounding an open yard filled with weird mushrooms and mushroom fairies.
- Bakery / coffee house.
- A tavern with a wine cellar.
- Gardens of the Nomarch.
- Tower astronomical observatory.
- University - dominates the center of the map - library, lecture hall (old hall, new hall), shrine of scribe goddess, vaults holding magical experiments, manse of the chancellor, laboratories.
- Fortune teller.
- Animal Market - large building, selling camels, horses, maybe more exotic creatures.
- Temple of Hathor - temple whores
- Tavern frequented by mages, maybe with portals to other places and times.
- A pleasant grove.
- Barber/surgeon.
- Tobacconist - herbalist - pipes and other smoking paraphernalia.
- Sewers - open in a few places, tunnels inhabited by ghouls (the Mortuary Society, a recognized guild in Ibis charged with dealing with carrion).
- Guild of Astrologomages, Planet-Masters and Weather-Watchers.
- Orichalcum foundry and jewelers dealing in astrolabes and amulets - maybe a gnome factory.
- Emporium with weird doo-dads - no two of the same thing, nothing overtly magical, owner pays for rarities in coins of rose-gold.
- A mortuary for all of your mummy needs - maybe an adjacent shrine of Anubis.
- Wizard towers like minarets
- A serpentarium, for all of your asp and cobra needs.
- A used chariot shop, because I love the 3 Stooges [okay, maybe I'll leave this one out].
- Stone carvers - long factory, many monuments half-finished
- Vat and cauldron maker
- Printing shop
- Foreign merchants - true factory
- Industrial area with tanners, phosphorous makers, alchemists, smiths - have a tavern for working joes and host cock fights/bear baiting
- Scriptorium
- A snake charmer
- Physick who doubles as a detective
- Lapidary shop; meeting place for conspirators who want a republic like Antigoon
- Maybe a nice collection of low-level magic-users - diviner, necromancer, conjuror - along with an illusionist and elementalist. These will be spread throughout the aforementioned locations, so as not to make them too obvious - retired adventurers who have sought a safer life of commerce.
- Monsters - were-cobra clutch, vampire and minions, mummy and ghoul attendants, bandit king and men - laying low and recuperating, vaults of synthoids and homunculi, a well of souls
So - anything obvious that I'm missing here. I'll fill the gaps with other artisans, maybe a set monster encounter or two, but anything else?
A place for hiring professional mourners for funerals?
ReplyDeleteAnd if they dress like Egyptians, a place to by fake-goatees for ceremonial occasions.
Brilliant - professional mourners were big in the day. Thanks!
ReplyDelete