The Second Ring
Mayoral District
The seat of Anastara’s governance, the Mayoral District covers not only City Hall, but the courtrooms, offices of various clerks, and major offices or even headquarters for the largest commercial powers of the city. The District is the only one laid out on neat, clean lines with sensibly-organized buildings in good array, and the mayor is quick to promote this as evidence of Anastara’s legacy of competent leaders and efficient bureaucracy. In doing so, she obeys a long-standing tradition of failing to mention that the district was completely rebuilt a hundred years ago after the then-current mayor fell asleep while smoking a pipe and caused a fire that ultimately razed every rickety overcrowded building in the district at the time.
City Hall
Partially restricted
City Hall was built to look exactly like a city hall should look -- tall pillars, broad wings, a dome atop it from which the Anastaran flag flies, all on a scale that impresses with majesty without being inaccessible. The mayor of Anastara is a king in all but name, so Anastara has far more offices and departments than a simple borough would -- and the vast majority of Anastara’s bureaucracy does its duties here. Taxation flows through City Halls, as does trade. Diplomatic offices and the Diatu Magicademy Liaison keep the city wealthy, prosperous, independent, and unexploded by angry wizards. Above-ground, things look smooth and clean, an impression achieved by shoving vast stacks of records and paperwork into the basement and hoping very hard that the inevitable overflow can’t be blamed on anyone specifically.
Diatu Magicademy students are welcome here for all official government business, and may also find work as filers, gofers, or paperwork organizers. Some students skilled in law or at least bureaucracy have earned a money completing forms and negotiating the web of clerks and functionaries on behalf of those struggling with the mess.
Town Square
One of the largest open spaces in Anastara, the Town Square is, first and foremost, a circle. The name is historic. Few people actually complain, because outside of official government-led events such as mayoral speeches, no one actually uses the Town Square -- it simply isn’t located anywhere near anything.
The Town Square stretches from City Hall across to the outer canal of the ring, with other government buildings surrounding it and opening onto it. Neat and well-maintained stones lie flat across its breadth, some of the finest paving work in the city. In the center, the famous Town Square Fountain hurls water skywards in varying patterns, all around the building-height statue of Anastara Diatu (artist’s rendition) in the very center. Coins glisten at the bottom of the pool; some things cross all space and time.
Trade Consortium/Office of Trade and Traffic
Restricted
The first floor of this large, squat building is dedicated to the official Anastaran offices of the Trade Consortium -- the united front that the airship trading companies present to the government for bargaining advantages and leverage. The second floor houses the Office of Trade and Traffic, which is the official arm of the mayor dedicated to dealing with the Trade Consortium.
The blatant corruption, bribery, kickbacks, and quid-pro-quo bargaining is so open and matter-of-fact that the city accepts it without question. Both Consortium and Office members are careful to keep their graft within tolerable bounds, and the city remains prosperous and well-supplied even through this malfeasance.
Anastaran Courthouse
The third great building opening onto the Town Square, the Courthouse strives to impose with its statues of gryphons and excessive stairs. Inside, the wide and spacious lobby leads to the three courtrooms of Anastara and the web of lesser offices, cells, meeting rooms, and support services that go to keeping the courtroom running. Justice in Anastara is surprisingly progressive, possibly helped by crime primarily coming from outside sources rather than residents. The courts generally do much more in dealing with civil cases, efficiently and competently.
The Knight's Quarters
Restricted
To the surprise of many, Anastara still maintains a military, despite it having not seen action in 275 years. More of historians and caretakers than soldiers, this military dwells in and maintains the Knight's Quarters, an ancient stone building that survived the fire that razed most of the district. Highly regimented and disciplined, with numerous ceremonies and observances, the knights consider themselves to be caretakers of an ancient and proud legacy. Despite the area being officially off-limits to civilians, the knights actually take great interest in any visitors, and welcome them in to enjoy tea and several history lessons. Whether they want them or not.
Rumored Locations
Office of Magic and Wizardry
Potonkin Cafe
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Arts District
The cultural touchstones of Anastara grew naturally as general spaces became more specialized and new general spaces arose in turn. The influx of wealth and wizardry over time also makes Anastara one of the leading lights of the Tenscore Kingdoms. Playwrights long to see their plays performed in the Surcosta Theater or even the lesser venues dotted throughout the District, and musicians who can command the Corastra Hall are guaranteed to find themselves welcome in royal courts and wealthy manors across the continent. The Arts District also runs later than any other but the Docks, its doors open till the wee hours of the morn -- so much so that the hours of 2 to 4 in the morning are known as “Arts time” in the city vernacular.
Surcosta Theater
Partially restricted
Founded by and later named after Surcosta Diatu, grandmother of the archmage and a legendary actor even in the darker pre-Magicademy Order times, Surcosta Theater is one of the oldest and most legendary theaters of all time… and also the most decrepit. Unwilling to tamper with the crumbling masonry and confusing stonework of seven hundred and forty years past, the theater’s wealthy patronage has preserved and reinforced with magic, and built around. From the outside it looks shiny, new, and glorious, but the inside looks like an ancient open stage, surrounded by stonework that once might have risen from grass.
And this is fine. Surcosta created her theater well. It carries sound perfectly, offers all who join the audience a fine view, and offers plenty of room to enact sweeping musical numbers without sacrificing the close intimacy of potent monologues.
The theater may be attended by students -- but many students want to act on the stage, one way or the other, and many of them plan out ways to slip onto the stage and speak or sing or act, and let the virtue of the theater infuse them. Superstition holds that this is a blessing, but even if no magic is behind it, standing on such a stage and feeling the power of its history and legacy surround you is sure to be a revelatory event. The patronage, of course, would prefer you not do this.
Corastra Hall
Founded by and later named after Corastra Diatu, mother of the archmage and perpetually irritated at being in her own mother’s shadow, Corastra Hall has grown from a gentle nook on the hill opposite Surcosta Theater to an immense concert hall full of vitality and energy. Unlike its rival theater, Corastra Hall has long benefited from the attention of Valhudor wizards who eternally seek to play in it. In modern times, not a night goes by where some musical performance is going on, from a simple bard’s songs to an orchestral epic or anything in-between.
The theater has strict performance qualifications, and while Valhudor wizards have an in, the unworthy and untalented have no hope of making it through an audition. Nonetheless, even a first-year student could perform on the stage if they have the top-tier skill necessary to make the cut.
Dragonfire Library
Named after a legendary tale in which dragons destroyed all of mankind’s works and knowledge save for one hidden library from which humanity rebuilt itself, the Dragonfire Library is the greatest library in the city, and a fairly mediocre library overall. Despite its massive pillars, towering shelves, and magnificent aesthetics, the library simply can’t compete with Diatu Magicademy’s hunger for books of all sorts, let alone the local wizarding populace’s tendency to snap up whatever they can find. Consequently, most of the library’s works are outdated, weirdly niche, or strangely controversial. Should a wizard wish to peruse a tome which explains how the gods are in fact lizard-people from another world brought here by Sundering, or delve deep into an alternate method of casting spells that involves oversized leeks, here they can do so.
Tucked away in its wings, however, the library does hold a rather unique treasure: tomes of magical lore that predate the Codifications and thus harken back to old times of wild and chaotic magic. They are of course of no objective value to the modern student, but… well, who knows?
Rumored Locations
Backstage at the Theater
Rondalbury Performance Hall
Curtain Call Tavern
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University District
Magicademies attract universities (schools for those age 11-17) like dogs attract fleas, as hopeful parents look for ways to mold their children’s early education to ensure their success in future endeavors. Anastara is no exception, but over time competition has weeded down the options to two very different and very decent offerings, along with a large number of tutors, specialty instructors, and focused education.
Wandbringer Academy
Founded under the principle of offering a direct route to Diatu Magicademy, Wandbringer is one of the finest universities of pure intellectualism a student can attend. In addition to all the usual venues -- history, geography, mathematics, so on -- Wandbringer actually has courses in magical theory and philosophy, and for its oldest and most aspiring students, even some very basic study in actual practical magic and spellcasting. While no graduate could ever call themselves a wizard, this educational foundation does indeed greatly help in both entering and learning at Diatu Magicademy. For its price, it ought to.
Dervoir Finishing School
Aimed at those children who need poise, social grace, confidence, and etiquette to succeed, Dervoir molds the young proteges of nobility or the wealthy into the social forces they need to be to survive. Dervoir blends rich comfort and luxury with surprisingly harsh discipline, a carrot and a stick both quite outsized. Very rarely does the university fail to get results, though, and though its actual academic education is nothing compared to other universities, its graduates can rely on their newfound social gifts to accomplish any task they want -- including study at Diatu.
Rumored Locations
Wulfric’s School of Transformations
Wandbringer Tunnels
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magicademymods) wrote2019-01-02 04:53 pm
