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[Kadzar]

Thaelas canonized as city of lightning. The city sprawling at the mountain's base is the city of Metal. Known for its peerless crafting (duh). The undergound cities are particularly developped under them, and despite numerous theories nobody really knows why.

((See, the thing of it is, though, the whole idea of the stair-city is that it started as a pilgrimage path that eventually grew into a city over time. The stair-city isn't meant to be all that special in itself other than the fact that it supports what's at the top and it's a rather fantastical construction. And I don't imagine it being a very metal place; it would be mostly stone or adobe in terms of materials and a lot of terraced farms and gardens to support the population.

((And actually, the whole lightning motif never really seemed to fit the top of the mountain that well, either. When the stormy desert was mentioned earlier, I thought that would be a better fit for it. Now that I think about it, ice would be a really good idea for the mountain top, so I think I'll make it that.))

The City of Thaefar, also known as the Grand City of Ice, sits at the peak of Mt. Thaefar. It is reached by climbing the Countless Steps which encircle it's perimeter in a spiral pattern up to the top, which has over the centuries grown into the magnificent Stair-City of Tolgrin, whose terraced farms and gardens feed not only itself but also the citizens of Thaefar above.

Near the top of mountain, below the City of Thaefar, there is a line all around the mountain where snow will always fall called the Eversnow. The path through this region on approach to the city is known as the Eversnow Pass, which is constantly cleared by the monks of the Snowpass Monastery, who do so not only as a courtesy to travelers but as a form of meditation.

[Furtuka]

It is said in childrens tales and legend that there is an uncontainable wish granting being similar to the spirits but different in nature called the Flumier somewhere in the world. It appears as a ball of unearthly blue light with properties of both fire and lightning in its appearance. It has a playful personality.

[WillowLuman]

There are beings made out of quicksilver in the caves beneath the chasm. Some of these caves connect to the surface, and theses beings sometimes leave to attack settlements. Adventures, particularly the Panther Company, venture into these tunnels, wher many mysterious things exist.

Didn't we already decide that no one knew what was at the bottom? Now people are making regular journeys there?

[Flying Dice]

There are beings made out of quicksilver in the caves beneath the chasm. Some of these caves connect to the surface, and theses beings sometimes leave to attack settlements. Adventures, particularly the Panther Company, venture into these tunnels, wher many mysterious things exist.

Didn't we already decide that no one knew what was at the bottom? Now people are making regular journeys there?

This. We're talking about something 3/4ths the width of the continental U.S. and a hell of a lot deeper than the Mariana Trench. Not deep enough to breach the mantle, but deep enough that what functionally amounts to a permanent cloud layer forms hundreds of meters below the rim. Pretty much everything we've written about it places the bravest mortals as barely willing to dip into the top of the clouds to hide. This, like those ancient, abandoned subterranean cities and the places wrecked by certain walking natural disasters, is very much a "Here be dragons" element of the world. :|

[WillowLuman]

(Hopefully this isn't too dark)

There is a place known as the Forest of Man. It was once a large Human settlement, but the great imprisoned spirit once walked past it in its wanderings, and the entire place was transformed, twisting the people there into all manner of shapes. The trees have boughs like great tangled masses of arms reaching out, their roots likewise of legs. The creatures of the forest, too, resemble humans, though twisted into inhuman shapes, and without any appreciable intelligence. Humans in general feel a reverence for the place, as the site of a great tragedy, the memory of which must be respected. Other races, though, greatly value the bones of the man-trees for their unique properties, much to the dismay of the human groups near the forest.

[Kadzar]

There are beings made out of quicksilver in the caves beneath the chasm. Some of these caves connect to the surface, and theses beings sometimes leave to attack settlements. Adventures, particularly the Panther Company, venture into these tunnels, wher many mysterious things exist.

Didn't we already decide that no one knew what was at the bottom? Now people are making regular journeys there?

This. We're talking about something 3/4ths the width of the continental U.S. and a hell of a lot deeper than the Mariana Trench. Not deep enough to breach the mantle, but deep enough that what functionally amounts to a permanent cloud layer forms hundreds of meters below the rim. Pretty much everything we've written about it places the bravest mortals as barely willing to dip into the top of the clouds to hide. This, like those ancient, abandoned subterranean cities and the places wrecked by certain walking natural disasters, is very much a "Here be dragons" element of the world. :|

((Yeah, I agree. Although the subterranean cities do seem somewhat reachable, unlike the others, though I think that it's the sort of thing that only the very brave or very desperate would venture into. No branch of the Fire Panther Company would likely go there, since they  devoted to gaining money above all else, I think, and the underground cities don't reliable enough promise for a payout to be worth the risk. Any ventures into such a place would be unsupported by the Company at large and their next of kin (or they, if they somehow survived) would not be able to make any claims on their adventurers insurance.

((Also, I'm starting to think we need to introduce some more organizations into the mix, so that we don't have everything being about the Fire Panther Company.))

[Dermonster]

((You'd think that a giant walking timestorm that's easily visible and moves at the pace of a man would be somewhat avoidable.))

[Furtuka]

((We have the knights alfriendi and a bunch of unamed ones, but yes, I agree.))

[Kadzar]

((Yeah, and I'm thinking besides all these NGOs we could do with an empire or two. Unless this world is intended to be some sort of anarchist utopia or whatever, we could do with some governments, probably kingdoms mostly. Nothing should be too big or widespread so that it's hard to avoid or makes one wonder why there's a need for adventurers in the first place.))

[WillowLuman]

I think the elemental big cities would be their own entities, either insular or full-on city-states, but many other independent kingdoms/republics/nations exist.

[Flying Dice]

I think the elemental big cities would be their own entities, either insular or full-on city-states, but many other independent kingdoms/republics/nations exist.

This, pretty much. At the very least they'd be city-states with their associated territories. Any of the cities straddling the land-bridges over the rift could easily be the capital/a major city of a kingdom, too. So. Political organization time.

[Furtuka]

Along with the small bridges, there is a single giant stone bridge constructed by beings of unknown origin that spans the chasm at a point in which it is at its full length around 70 km. The vastness of the bridge is so large that miniature forests have grown atop of it, and cities and towns have been built atop it. There is evidence that there were other bridges of this size built in the past, but all that is left of them are ruins where they once began and ended.


((Holy crap I didn't realize how huge the chasm could get until I google searched 3000 km. That's the vertical length of Australia!))

[Detoxicated]

Unfar from the foot of the stair city is bigger marsh area. There you can find multicoloured fog, that depends on the daytime as well as the season. Within these marshes, travellers have to be extremely carful, as there are Fae living there. These Fae will lead you into the swamps, where you will die a horrible death of drowning.
You can find a small tavern in the marshes, which is run by the Sacred Order of The Travelling Word.

[Dermonster]

... Fae?

[Furtuka]

((I assume he means the old will'o wisp variety.))