Marble Archive
TR
Place

Marble City

CanonOfficial lore from the booksSSGp. 7, 10-15, 24, 33-34, 37, 41, 44SoVp. 29MCp. 90, 102, 115, 126

Marble City is the capital of The Empire and one of the two large cities of its province, The Marble Seat, alongside Sanctuary. The whole royal family, many high officials and the wealthiest merchants of the realm live here. Much of the inner city is built of marble, and colossal marble walls surround it.1

Legend and history

Legend holds that the solid walls of Marble City and the Marble Palace were raised from the ground by divine magic in the First Age.2 In the Second Age, powerful generals of Rolus were appointed to govern the other four major cities outside Marble City.3

Forces gathered by the Heralds, living and voidborn alike, once clashed with the armies of the Grand Alliance outside the city.4 The original decree of The Sanction is still preserved in the Marble Palace.5 The capital was also the stage of the Empire's civil war: Marus Salinor, who did not believe the assassination story, withdrew from Marble City to the countryside and began negotiating with fellow sceptics, and the war that followed ended in a sudden raid on the Marble Palace.6 In 158 AVD the wizard Gelts made an attempt on the Emperor's life inside the palace itself, and failed.7

Life in the capital

Marble City has too little farmland to feed its people, so its markets are filled with goods from every corner of the Empire. That, and its political weight, make it the most expensive city in the Empire to live in. It is a city of diplomatic embassies, massive libraries, fine mansions, crowded markets, artists queuing to show their work to nobles, and travellers from far away.1 It is one of only two places in the Empire with a clock tower; the other is Westreach.8

The former legionary Magnus Driftwood was born in its slums, while Joseph Kalkerian grew up there in privilege as the son of an accountant at the Imperial Bank.9 Citizenship is granted only to those born in the great provincial capitals, Marble City among them.10

Most of the gnomes of the Empire live within the city. There they practise their arts and work in the Empire's academies, teaching young humans the basics of their crafts.11 After their first service to the Empire, House Saveer moved to Marble City and rented a property there with the Emperor's approval, and Sazz’rast Saveer means to return to the city once his mission in Vansreik is done.12

Seat of government

The capital holds the Senate, a council that has no real authority and serves as a gathering of advisors to the Emperor.13 The officer school that trains the commanders of the imperial legionaries is also in Marble City.14 The scholars of the Order of Nus’ar were once confined for life to the White Library in the capital, and even now they may not leave the city.15 A few miles to the southwest lies Sanctuary, a city filled with temples.16

Guardians of the palace

The most elite warriors of the Throneguard clan have long served as close protectors of the emperors and the royal family, and they can often be found on guard in the halls of the Marble Palace. After the death of Conrad the Conqueror, the Archon Academy created tireless, ever-vigilant construct guardians, yet the Throneguard are still known as the honourable protectors of the royal blood.17

Notes

  1. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 37
  2. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 10
  3. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 11
  4. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 13
  5. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 12
  6. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 14
  7. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 15
  8. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 7
  9. ↑BookMercenary Compendium, pp. 90, 102
  10. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 34
  11. ↑BookMercenary Compendium, p. 115
  12. ↑BookMercenary Compendium, p. 126
  13. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 33
  14. ↑BookShadow Over Vansreik, p. 29
  15. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 41
  16. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 24
  17. ↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 44

Sources

This article draws on:

  • SSGLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide(Bad Badger Games, 2024), pp. 7, 10-15, 24, 33-34, 37, 41, 44
  • SoVShadow Over Vansreik(Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 29
  • MCMercenary Compendium(Bad Badger Games, 2024), pp. 90, 102, 115, 126

In Marble City

PlaceArchon embassy in White CityThe Archon Academy's seat in the capital in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, a windowless, colour-changing building ringed by purple water, whose shifting halls are home to the head envoy Siyah.CharacterFazonHuman leader of the Followers of Zolan in White City in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, who hires out his fighters and mages to Raphael, shields him from Zolan's searching power and refuses to cross the Empire.CharacterKarasA big mercenary warrior of the Raphael Efsanesi campaign who changes sides to join the assassin Raphael and becomes the self-styled security chief of his inn in White City.PlaceMarble PalaceThe palace of the emperors of the Empire, whose walls legend says were raised by godly magic in the First Age, guarded by the Throneguard and keeper of the original decree of the Sanction.CharacterNarosMaster of the Kalel assassins in White City in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, said to be a tiefling known as the Emperor Slayer, who forced Raphael into his service with a biting ring and two hostages.PlaceNight WolfAn inn near the palace of White City, formerly called the North Wind, which the assassin Raphael takes from the assassins of Kalel in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign and runs under a new name; an inn of both names also appears in Mürekkep ve Çelik.CharacterPicoloThe young head of the Thieves' Guild in White City in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, owner of the War Chicken inn and a business partner of the assassin Raphael, who prefers to steal without killing.CharacterRalloHigh judge of White City in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, a paladin of Moradin who strikes an unwritten bargain with Raphael and sets him a secret task in an old wizard's tower.CharacterRaphaelThe human assassin at the heart of the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, a street child of White City who returns to the capital to found his own guild behind the front of an inn and is drawn into the schemes of assassins, thieves, mages and knights.ConceptRaphael's assassins' guildThe assassin Raphael's plan, in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, to found an independent guild of killers in White City behind the front of an inn, with Omar running the house and Karas guarding it.PlaceWhite LibraryThe library in the imperial capital where the scholars of the Order of Nus'ar were confined to a life of scholarly work, in exchange for their lives.

Related articles

RegionThe EmpireThe human realm at the heart of the Lands of Exile, an absolute monarchy heavily shaped by faith, ruled from Marble City by the unbroken line of the Red Eagle and divided into five provinces under their Sovereigns.RegionThe Marble SeatThe capital province of the Empire, smallest in size but first in standing, traditionally governed by the heir to the throne.RegionWestreachAn imperial province of mines, foundries and printing presses, ruled by House Von Laidorf and known for its proud, protocol-bound nobility.PeopleGnomesA long-lived, curious people of engineers, clockmakers and scholars who live mostly in dwarf cities and the Marble City, bear names that can number over a hundred, and helped invent gunpowder.PlaceMarble PalaceThe palace of the emperors of the Empire, whose walls legend says were raised by godly magic in the First Age, guarded by the Throneguard and keeper of the original decree of the Sanction.PlaceSanctuaryA city of temples a few miles south-west of Marble City, home of the High Church's First Cathedral and of the patriarchs of the Exiled Pantheon, and the place in the world most visited by pilgrims.PlaceArchon embassy in White CityThe Archon Academy's seat in the capital in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, a windowless, colour-changing building ringed by purple water, whose shifting halls are home to the head envoy Siyah.PlaceAsharOne of the large cities of Whitefall, the imperial province shaped by elven culture whose lands meet the only land route into the Da’fat Federation.PlaceBluelandOne of the large cities of Bluelands, the fertile imperial province known for its agriculture, forestry and blue-leaved vegetation.PlaceBordernrootOne of the large cities of Nearpeak, the imperial province marked by dwarven influence in its architecture and culture.