Gar

Gar is a smallish city on the western coast of a wide peninsula in the northern areas of the inland sea. Although larger than Poori a week's sail to the north, it is still not far from the wilderness of the hills and mountains to the east, and is the next-to-last stop on the merchant lines. The cool climate is moderated from the sea, but with a constant wind blowing in salty sea air and lending a weather-worn look to even the newest structures.

The city is firmly in the hands of the New Faith, at least on the surface. Several temples, including The Searing Light, The Nine-Pointed Star, The Blistering Sun, The Just And The Bloody, and others collectively administer some degree of rule and justice to a city of traders and the thieves who prey upon them.

The wealth in Gar, relatively speaking, is concentrated in the hands of the powerfully-named Alliance of Merchants, who have acted as secular patrons of sorts, funding the impressive-by-any-standard Tome-Hall of the Towering Spires library and its concomitant sages and men of letters; subsidizing a society of collectors and master craftsmen; a number of specialized schools and academies for a fortunate minority of literate folks to expand their minds; and the Red Veil club for the entertainment of the well-off and their hangers-on, some who prefer their identities go unmentioned.

Meanwhile, the rivers, natural and engineered, bearing barges of lumber and stone from the hills to the sea, border the Canal Town, a self-governing district of porters, miscreants, drunks, and shellfish cultivators, under the shadowy influence of "the Skull", a master manipulator and schemer whom has not been seen by any reputable soul.

Into the hinterlands, the control of the Temples is inconsistent. Some areas, sharing a common history with Gar, provide it with food, manpower, and metal enough to buttress its continued existence. Other areas, like the Outer Hold nestled in the mountains, retain a strong regional spirit and bristle at Gar's dominance. Here, too, among the farms, herds, and mines, the Old Ways remain able to color lives and dictate attitudes, to the disgrace and anger of the Temples.