Community Worldbuilding Project [Ishka: Urban and Urbane]

[Vadin]

Things in the Greenskin district: goblins, snotlings (shorter, weaker goblins), orks (not orcs, those aren't as cool or as green), trolls, ogres, hobgoblins, bugbears. Probably a fairly huge district that likes everybody but 'normal folk'. Human, elf, dwarf, or halfing? Then get out! Genasi, azurin, raptoran, half-giant, or fey? Well why didn't you say so?! Come on in!

They turn out a lot of bouncers, builders, and general tough guys, but also a surprising number of clerics. When you live in a place where people can get hurt real easy real fast, mending wounds on the cheap is a lucrative business.

This makes me think that the greenskins might even have their own version of the Holy Hands that doubles as their police force. More like a band of militarized paramedics, the Bouncers will throw you down, toss you out, and rough you up, but they'll be damned if you can't walk on your own two legs to perform some civil service to make up for their services rendered.

[jagadaishio]

The goblin district should have members of all of the goblinoid races in it, and it would end up with a social structure very similar to that of feudal Japan. It would likely have a similar architectural style too. See Races of War for more details on this theory. The point it, they would probably have cramped apartments and tenements with a rigid social structure enforced by the hobgoblins and a massive yakuza from the ordinary goblins. Bugbears would be the elite warriors and ninja assassins used by the hobgoblin upper class.

As for Dwarves, I could see a somewhat isolationist community of miners, magical craftsmen, and tinkers in a vast number of tunnels. Those dwarves that leave home would probably almost always end up in either the Steamworks or the Temple District. Oh, and axes? No tunnel-dwelling race would use a weapon that you need to swing. Dwarves would use longspears, spears, crossbows and, lately, firearms.

[Renrik]

Districts
The Necropolis: A district of undead, policed by the Order of the Bone Shield, who are involved in capturing and punishing undead criminals and rogue mindless undead city-wide. Contains a gate to the Negative Energy plane, where rich undead build homes. Bodies from the rest of the city are sold to the Necropolis for labor and dietary needs of its citizenry.
Primordium: The seat of the city's ruling council, a pocket dimension in the original village from which the city was founded.
The Steamworks: A steam-powered industrial district. It is actually made up of a number of unconnected sites scattered throughout the city. Most of the city's technological advances, refined metals, and other manufactured objects come off of a Steamworks line. There is enormous conflict and strain between merchant managers and unions in the district. The steamworks hold gates to the elemental planes of both fire and water to allow for infinite steam power.
The Mage's District: A district set up by and for magic users. It has a gate to the astral plane, around which was constructed the Bazaar of the Bizarre. All manner of constructs and magical items come from this district. Those who need to commission a magical service need only come here to find it.
Customs and Immigration: A district that has a number of artificial gates which open to a variety of planar cities periodically to let in waves of new citizens. Potential citizens who aren't useful, who are impoverished, or who don't have a useful skill are turned away.
The Grove District: A district whose layers are made up of massive living trees. Rangers, druids, fey, treants, and other nature beings make their homes here. The Streetbuilders have to work almost constantly keeping the various groves navigable by walkways in the branches. The Groves export large amounts of fruit and edible fungi to the rest of the city.
The Draconic Heritage Collective: A district of beings with dragonic blood built around a temple dedicate to two ancient dragons (one red, one gold) within. The ancient dragons started a game of strategy against each other centuries ago. They have since become players of business and are the two richest individuals in the city.
The Commons: Not so much a true district as the place in between districts. Tends to house lots of housing with only a few shops or taverns. The suburbs of the city. Is policed by volunteer neighbourhood watches and the occasional M.I.
The Academy: A massive macro-school of all manner of higher learning. Mages, mechanists, and other scholars are trained here. Most move on to the district of their profession (the Mage's District and the Steamworks respectively for the listed examples) when they finish their training. Some, however, remain to study new concepts and make breakthroughs of their own. Such individuals lead a life of learning.
Lake District: A district of floating buildings with prime apartments and underwater communities for water-breathers. Is a massive source of fish and edible water-borne plants.
Stadel: A district which vanished suddenly and existed in a void for centuries. One day it returned as suddenly as it vanished, having apparently survived the void by the skill and guidance of the Stadel family. After returning, they fought a short battle with the rest of the city before being comforted. To this day they are largely isolationist and xenophobic.
The Vault: An extradimensional prison where convicted criminals serve their sentence. It is policed and wardoned by constructs. It is rumored that terribly magical experiments are perpetrated upon the people jailed for life.
Entertainment District: A district of theatres, musicians, artists, and performers. People go here for family-friendly and though provoking entertainment. They also go here to see people gutted by each other in gladiatorial fights. It's a very popular district.
Temple District: A district of temples, hospitals, and academies for paladins, clerics, and other clergy. People go here to worship and receive aid from their organizations. The temple district at large publicly denounces, and would have made war to if not for the law, the Necropolis. A portal to the positive energy plane exists here.
Mithral Heights: An elitist community of aerial races, airmen, and rich people built around a massive mithral tower. There are many floating islands and air docks that make up this community. They are policed by a privately hired force of magically-aided flying archers known as the Falcons.
Hedon: A red light district built in a spiral pattern in one of the larger cavern networks of the city. The deeper down the spiral that a person goes, the more perverse and disturbing the wares offered becomes. Most people can't even bring themselves to walk all the way to the bottom. There are technically no layers in this district, as it is a spiral. People found to be committing a crime are captured and sold into slavery in this district until they pay off their debt.
Ravenshome: A district full of raven statues. Those that break major laws disappear. Those that break minor laws have their offenses appear in a tattoo on their arm, listed in over 100 languages. Those that conceal their tattoo feel pain, and concealing their offence is added to the tattoo as a crime. Those whose tattoos get too large disappear. Anywhere you go in the district, there is always at least one raven visible. The crime rate in this district is incredibly low, and people who grow up here almost always end up with some sort of mental or emotional issues.
Collected College: A sub-community of the Academy, its purpose is as a lab and research ground for professors and other people who make their own education their life instead of a career.
Ungul: A small community attached to one of the groves designed around the needs of four-legged creatures of the city. It was designed and built by centaurs, and it is still administered by them to this day.
Gulliver's Heights: A district built by and for the creatures of size large and larger of the city. It has stable clouds above it for cloud and storm giants. They mostly keep to themselves, but tend to keep cupboards or closets converted to (massive) guest rooms for any miniscule, medium or smaller guests. It is the largest district, if not the most heavily populated.
The Hunting Ground: A corporately sponsored hunting grounds for big game hunters and creatures that have a biological or psychological need to hunt. The Alliance smuggled in more dangerous creatures for bored hunters. Some of the creatures were too dangerous to successfully take down, and the grounds grew overrun with dangerous creatures. It was sealed off from the public, and grove rangers frequently make raids to try to regain control, gaining combat pay and a bonus based on the danger of creatures they take down. The Alliance still smuggles in skilled or stupid hunters and the Wild seeks to release the seals, allowing the dangerous creatures to return the city to a natural state.
The Dark City: A former drow citadel annexed after a bloody conflict in the deepest levels of the mines. The Dark Army of city-loyal drow still besiege the castle of the Queen they betrayed when she attempted to fall back to her stronghold and leave her people to be conquered. Contains housing for the deepest miners, lodging for the Dark Army, and a large branch of the Steamworks.
Everdark/Shadowgate: Either two distrcits or a single one in which Shadowgate is a neighborhood. Everdark is a lightless place for nocturnal and darksighted creatures who don;t want to see the light. Shadowgate has spontaneous portals to the Shadow Plane and is beloved by casters of mysteries.
Galdren: The great fields that stretch as far the eye can see, a source of food for the city. They are run by small collectives which send representatives to central council for wider infrastructure planning. skill sharing, discussion, and electing a representative to the city.
Redmere: A district on the other side of the gates to the Plane of Fire. Trades with the denizens.
Aquarene: District on the Plane of Water, exports riverine and natural resources.
Aerodyne: District on the Plane of Air, a trade hub.


Organizations
Cut-Throat Alliance: An organization that makes crime a business. Comprised of 80% of the organized criminals and 50% of the disorganized criminals in the entire city. Potentially the most powerful single organization, they have hidden teleportative gates throughout the city for their agents to use for a variety of purposes.
The Streetbuilders: A municipal organizations of builders, their primary purpose is to make sure layers don't collapse down on each other, an almost constant task. When they finish repairing everything, they're given a public building task. Most such buildings are unfinished when the Streetbuilders are called back to their repair work, and sit unfinished forever.
Cave Knockers: Keep the tunnels maintained and mapped, and make new tunnels. Sometimes required to fight unexpected threats in their line of work. The Streetbuilders of the caves.
The Eyes: A now illegal network of divination aided and amazingly skilled spies who keep track of everything going on in the city. Founded under a former regime, and since outlawed, they still report to the city's council, who do not publicly condone their actions. For the right price, they can provide amazing information.
The Holy Hands of Saint Merkiel: A coalition of healers who have set up hospitals in every district in the city. They publicly, vocally oppose the existence of the Necropolis and undead in general. They take no hostile actions, but offer euthanasia to any undead that enter, much to the dislike of the Necropolis's residents.
Humans First: Humans first is a speciest organization which exalts humans and wants all other races to get out. They hold that the original village was a human village, and therefore only humans deserve to be residents. They are often ignored, in spite of rumors that many policy-making officials are secretly members.
Civil Servants: A public bodyguard service for other public service organizations like the Streetbuilders. They are not a police force. Their sole task is to protect their charges.
Municipal Investigators: An organization to handle trans-district criminals, the Alliance, and other such criminals. They serve principally as investigators, and rarely perform arrests, but will do so if needed. They are called in on every Alliance-suspected crime.
The Collective: A communist pro-union organization in the Steamworks. The unions don't official endorse it. Its actions tend towards protest, sabotage, and even attack on the merchant managers.
The Wild: A neoprimitivist organization made up of druids, rangers, and other pro-nature organizations. Their long-term goal is to return the area covered by the city to a state of nature. They seek to break the seals around the Hunting Grounds and let nature do its work on the rest of the city.
Shadow Martyrs: Ex-Cuthroat Alliance members and other victims, the good guys in the dark.
Gatekeepers: An organization which is devoted to ending these mysterious raids on the city. Some stay behind to aid the police and guards, but most patrol the multiverse searching for the source of the attacks.
The Elemental Guard: Police force and defensive garrisons of the elemental colonies.

Other
Random Gates: Random gates will sometimes appear throughout the city for random amounts of time. Magical devices which provide a countdown for the gate's disappearance and devices which hold open the gates are (relatively) common.
Gate Raiders: Occasionally, bizarre or random-looking humanoids will spill out of a random gates, stealing, killing, and retreating back into the gate just as it closes. Those that are captured die shortly after the gate closes and, as such, current policy is to just kill them outright. No two look alike. Sometimes a marauding monster will spill out instead of raiders. People looking to get on the good side of local police are well-advised to put down such monsters - if and only if they have sufficient skill to.
Crystal Observatory: An observatory built in the Mithral Heights by professors from the Collected College. They are always looking for new, better crystals to use as lenses, and are willing to pay exorbitantly for them.
Copper Junkyards: The various scrapyards of the Steamworks. Poor tinkers and mechanist will go here for raw materials, and it is seen as the ultimate sign of the waste and corruption of cities by the Wild. Rust monsters tend to live here, much to the chagrin of anyone walking past with a particularly delicious piece of metal on their person.
Holy Ground: The holy graveyard in the temple district. They refuse to sell their dead to the necropolis, and therefore maintain this expensive burial ground with the tithes of their congregations.
The City Forge: The single largest forge in the city. The truly massive machines that the rest of the Steamworks often need for their jobs are forged here. It is staffed almost exclusively by tough, old, skilled mechanist dwarves.
The Sleeping Army: There is a cavern filled with this vast army, made long ago in a terrible conflict and put to rest, to be awoken in a time of need. They attack anyone with a weapon, but some hide among them unarmed.
The Block: This large and crowded apartment building has a peculiar habit of flickering about several districts, appearing in certain vacant lots in each in a semi-predictable pattern, slightly controlled by its inhabitants. Its tenants trade between districts and practice home industries to keep employed. It usually has a number of guests in it who wish to catch a ride to the next stop and see the world.

[Vadin]

Renrik, could you bold all the titles for the districts, organizations, and other groups?

[Renrik]

No. No I could not.

[jagadaishio]

Don't forget the Element Guard. And Redmere really doesn't see much trade at all. It mostly just chases locals away from the gates being used for power in the city.

An excerpt from Races of War on goblinoid cultures:

Spoiler

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There are at least three kinds of Goblin. That's important, not only because it means that any group of Goblins has access to a great many opinions and skill sets, but also because it means that the Goblinoid physiology is extremely morphic. And because of this, and because noone really cares if goblins disappear, when a wizard or demon decides to make a new form of super soldier – chances are good that they use Goblins as a base. Heck, you don't see any halflings with rhino horns on their face, and you don't see any dwarves transformed into undead monstrosities with bone-sucking tentacles popping out of their nipples. That's all the dubious pleasure of the Goblin people.

Goblinoids are, as a people, much quieter and more precise about their movements than other races. And this allows them to live in much higher population densities than other races without going mad. And well, they totally do that. Goblinoid settlements are, by the standards of other races, amazingly claustrophobic. Bugbear settlements traditionally make walls out of paper and place living quarters right next to one another to conserve heat. Those not blessed with the bugbear's natural silence find their every action heard many apartments away. Goblins usually dispense with the paper altogether and simply sleep ten to a room. Fortunately for them, goblins do not snore.

While goblinoid societies are classically short on free space, they are also not generally well organized. Goblins live together not because they like sharing, but because they steal from each other so constantly that it's just a waste of time to put walls between sleeping areas. If a goblin needs something, he'll take it and use it. Goblins aren't socialist utopians or anything, they simply don't respect property rights of others. Oddly enough, the end result is pretty similar to Goblins being really cooperative. Hobgoblin society takes it one step further and even has elaborate rules about who has to submit to who and when people have to take their shoes off and how people have to behave in public and everything. They actually are well organized, and their intricate webs of subjugation allow them to maintain high population densities without eating each other.

Goblinoids go to war for really one reason only: they want your stuff. Hobgoblins need constant influxes of new Slaves to keep everything rolling (even Slaves gain in seniority and prestige in time within Hobgoblin social structures so the bottom rungs of society can really only be replenished from captured enemies). Goblins want your shinies and aren't afraid to torch your village to get them. And finally, the Hruggek demands that the Bugbears slaughter your people from the shadows on a fairly regular basis. That's like wanting your stuff, only in this case what they are taking from your lands is the satisfaction of having seen your last breath from the back.

An excerpt from Races of War on combined goblinoid culture:

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Getting conquered by the Goblins really has very different effects depending upon which Goblins are in charge when they overrun your defenses. The Hobgoblins have the most intrusive plan – where your people are enslaved and forced to work for and even join the Hobgoblin clans. The Bugbears have perhaps the least disruptive plan, where they simply run into your village and kill and eat anyone they can catch and then go back to their own lands with everything they can carry. The regular old Goblins, on the other hand, mostly want to fill santa sacks with your stuff, and then come back tomorrow and do it again. It's like taxation, only it's set to "whatever they can carry" and you have to pay it "whenever they show up".

Living under the yoke of the Goblins can be anything from an excuse for lots of dangerous random encounters (Bugbears have overrun your nation), to a semi-comic game of fighting semi-organized crime (Goblins), to a role-play heavy pseudo-Japanese setting where the PCs are all ronin or ashigaru or something (Hobgoblins). It can even be more than one of those, in the not-unlikely case that more than one group of Goblinoids is involved. In this case, you're normally going to be forced into a society where Hobgoblins are Samurai, Bugbears are Ninja, Goblins are Yakuza, and you're a serf. This is your chance to do a Kurosawa film from the perspective of those guys in the background harvesting rice with a knife under the disinterested glare of a distrustful Samurai.

An excerpt from Races of War on hobgoblins:

Spoiler

Show

These guys have an incredibly baroque system of laws and an interlocking system of fealties that are actually a parody of Feudal Japan.

[Strawman]

There could be at least one dwarvish clan that originated in the city. The clan would be comprised of dwarves who were exiled from other clans. Now that time has past, some members of the clan want to institute a process of forced exile, but other members disagree.

Also, Organization – Trash Corps

The Trash Corps pick up the trash and bring it to landfills, burn it, compact it, recycle it, etc. They also maintain the sewers (except for its structure, which is left for the Street Builders). They are generally understaffed, although for some reason the richer districts always have their trash collected on time.

Place of Interest – Arcane Sewers

The Mage District contains a great deal of spilt potions, magical waste, and broken objects of a magical nature. When all of these combine and fester in one place, stuff happens, usually bad. That is why The Mage District has a separate sewer/garbage system for potentially dangerous magic waste. This area is sectioned off, and barricaded so that creatures born of the waste cannot escape into the city. A special division of The Trash Corps takes care of the Arcane Sewers. They are required to have arcane magic, and they carry around bags of holding to transport more dangerous waste.

[Renrik]

We had forgotten about the trash! Thanks for the save, Strawman.

[Owrtho]

There was mention of it a few pages back in regards to Ravenshome. It just never really got taken to discussing how it works in the rest of the city as well (it just kinda vanishes there).

Owrtho

[BRC]

Citywide-Government Idea
The Council of Ministers.

The Council of Ministers is appointed by the Grand Council, and consists of the directors of the various citywide departments. Each seat has two chairs, one for the minister themselves, and one reserved for their second, usually the director of some powerful organization Their


The Minister of the Interior: the head of the bureaucracy that runs the Streetbuilders, the Cave Knockers, and the Trash Collectors. The second seat is held by the High Engineer of the Streetbuilders.
The Minister of Justice: Heads the bureaucracy that inspects and coordinates all the police-departments, primarily the city-controlled ones (Like the Elemental Guard, the Vault Wardens, and M.I.). The second seat is held by the M.I. Director.
The Minister of Magic: Part of the bureaucracy that keeps track of and handles most of the magic items the city controls. Conducts a census on the number and power of spellcasters in the city, and general handles the magical affairs the government needs too. The second seat is held by the Arch chancellor of the University.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs: Handles all relations between the City and the world outside. The second seat is held by the current leader of the Merchants Guild.
The Minister of War: Theoretically, this seat would be held by the Commander of the City's armed forces. However, because the city lacks a standing army, this seat is held by a bureaucrat who leads a small department that keeps track of the city's preparedness for war, and would, in the event of a conflict, become the top commanders of the city's army. They are almost never consulted.

The Minister's Council has no actual voting power, instead serving to run their departments and advice the Grand Council on various issues.

[UserShadow7989]

I have an idea for an organization: "The Peacekeepers" (Edit: Alternately known as "The Peace". The latter can be used to prevent confusion with or the false assumption of affiliation with the Gatekeepers.)

The city's massive size, variety of cultures, and large number of violent and intolerant organizations makes it's social structure unstable, and the possibility of civil war or riots high. As people grew concerned for their livelihoods and the possibility of getting caught in a war zone, they scrambled to find a way to prevent disaster. Eventually, people from all over the city banded together to found The Peacekeepers.

The Peacekeepers are lead by the original founders and people they hand pick, who only contact the members and issue orders through magic. The identity of the leaders and how many there are is known only to the leaders themselves. When sending a message, they suggest methods with which to accomplish the goal. Judging by their suggestions, they are most likely Neutral Good or Chaotic Good.

The Peacekeepers work as intermediaries or buffers between groups that share hostilities to reduce the odds of a sudden riot. They also send anonymous tips to police organizations in an effort to solve hate crimes. The members often hire and work alongside bounty hunters to hunt down criminals and gangs that threaten to cause chaos, and even donate to help cover the cost of paying bounties.

Some Peacekeepers work behind the scenes, using blackmail or other unsavory means to force violent groups to back down or a crooked politician's retirement. Few even murder to accomplish their goals. This is not the Peacekeepers as an organization's doings, but that of individuals. Most of the group's members are disgusted by the very idea, and do not see the perpetrators as real Peacekeepers. The leaders also frown on these actions, sending members to capture and turn in the murderers when alerted.

Because of the extremists among their number, the public view of the Peacekeepers can vary wildly; From heroes keeping the city from falling apart to bloodthirsty hypocrites who only care about their own safety, and everything in between. Several policing forces are only held back from shutting them down by the lack of evidence connecting the extremist members' crimes to the group's agenda.

Hate groups see the Peacekeepers as enemies, and many will refuse to provide services to or even attack someone they identify as or suspect of being one. Most criminals don't care about the group's existence, so long as they don't get in the way.

Because of the negative and even violent views some have of The Peacekeepers, there is no symbol or uniform identifying the group and it's members have a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy about membership. Many will work their way into small social groups when looking to recruit, and will study it's members carefully before deciding if they should extend an invitation to join.

Peacekeepers work individually or in small groups so as to not attract attention. This is also so one member's discovery won't lead to a large number of Peacekeepers being identified by hate groups, as well as making it harder for spies to weasel their way in. This secretive and criminal like behavior only reinforces the distaste for the group from law agencies.

The members can be of any alignment. Most are Good and leaning towards Chaos, but Evil members working to prevent a war they could get caught in and Lawful members trying to capture lawbreakers are within it's ranks as well. The leaders are unknown, but are likely Chaotic Good or Neutral Good.

(Edit)Humans First, The Wild, and the Cut-throat Alliance are all in opposition with The Peacekeepers. While not in direct opposition, the Peacekeepers attempt everything within their power to keep organizations known for quarreling with each other from doing anything drastic and try to keep inter-district strife to a minimum (e.g. they try to keep the Temple District and the Necropolis out of one another's business).

That was a lot of typing. Did I forget anything that should be included, or not clarify something well enough?

[Renrik]

I dig the council of ministers, and the Peacekeepers look good to me.

Now, we might need more groups for the Peacekeepers to oppose. They'd definitely dislike Humans First,and maybe some of the police forces in the more racially defined districts, like Gulliver's Heights and Ungul (since Ungul has a segregated social structure).

I'm not sure if they'd dislike the Wild. We've got the Wild involved in so much stuff, it's almost better if they didn't.

[jagadaishio]

I think that the Peacekeepers would definitely oppose Humans First, the Wild, and the Alliance. They would also try to keep law-abiding organizations from attacking each other and keep interdistrict strife to a minimum. They would, for example, engage in acts to keep the Necropolis and the Temple District out of each other's business.

As for the council of ministers, I like it.

I think that the Trash Corps would employ certain monsters in the disposal of trash. Rust Monsters would handle metal scraps, while Otyugh would be able to handle all manner of organic trash and sewage. The Otyughs' own waste would then be used as fertilizer. What other monsters do you think would be put to work disposing of trash?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I'm just popping in to say that I'm loving this setting. I can't think of any other cool additions to make, but I can help with formatting!

Districts

The Necropolis: A district of undead, policed by the Order of the Bone Shield, who are involved in capturing and punishing undead criminals and rogue mindless undead city-wide. Contains a gate to the Negative Energy plane, where rich undead build homes. Bodies from the rest of the city are sold to the Necropolis for labor and dietary needs of its citizenry.

Primordium: The seat of the city's ruling council, a pocket dimension in the original village from which the city was founded.

The Steamworks: A steam-powered industrial district. It is actually made up of a number of unconnected sites scattered throughout the city. Most of the city's technological advances, refined metals, and other manufactured objects come off of a Steamworks line. There is enormous conflict and strain between merchant managers and unions in the district. The steamworks hold gates to the elemental planes of both fire and water to allow for infinite steam power.

The Mage's District: A district set up by and for magic users. It has a gate to the astral plane, around which was constructed the Bazaar of the Bizarre. All manner of constructs and magical items come from this district. Those who need to commission a magical service need only come here to find it.

Customs and Immigration: A district that has a number of artificial gates which open to a variety of planar cities periodically to let in waves of new citizens. Potential citizens who aren't useful, who are impoverished, or who don't have a useful skill are turned away.

The Grove District: A district whose layers are made up of massive living trees. Rangers, druids, fey, treants, and other nature beings make their homes here. The Streetbuilders have to work almost constantly keeping the various groves navigable by walkways in the branches. The Groves export large amounts of fruit and edible fungi to the rest of the city.

The Draconic Heritage Collective: A district of beings with dragonic blood built around a temple dedicate to two ancient dragons (one red, one gold) within. The ancient dragons started a game of strategy against each other centuries ago. They have since become players of business and are the two richest individuals in the city.

The Commons: Not so much a true district as the place in between districts. Tends to house lots of housing with only a few shops or taverns. The suburbs of the city. Is policed by volunteer neighbourhood watches and the occasional M.I.

The Academy: A massive macro-school of all manner of higher learning. Mages, mechanists, and other scholars are trained here. Most move on to the district of their profession (the Mage's District and the Steamworks respectively for the listed examples) when they finish their training. Some, however, remain to study new concepts and make breakthroughs of their own. Such individuals lead a life of learning.

Lake District: A district of floating buildings with prime apartments and underwater communities for water-breathers. Is a massive source of fish and edible water-borne plants.

Stadel: A district which vanished suddenly and existed in a void for centuries. One day it returned as suddenly as it vanished, having apparently survived the void by the skill and guidance of the Stadel family. After returning, they fought a short battle with the rest of the city before being comforted. To this day they are largely isolationist and xenophobic.

The Vault: An extradimensional prison where convicted criminals serve their sentence. It is policed and wardoned by constructs. It is rumored that terribly magical experiments are perpetrated upon the people jailed for life.

Entertainment District: A district of theatres, musicians, artists, and performers. People go here for family-friendly and though provoking entertainment. They also go here to see people gutted by each other in gladiatorial fights. It's a very popular district.

Temple District: A district of temples, hospitals, and academies for paladins, clerics, and other clergy. People go here to worship and receive aid from their organizations. The temple district at large publicly denounces, and would have made war to if not for the law, the Necropolis. A portal to the positive energy plane exists here.

Mithral Heights: An elitist community of aerial races, airmen, and rich people built around a massive mithral tower. There are many floating islands and air docks that make up this community. They are policed by a privately hired force of magically-aided flying archers known as the Falcons.

Organizations

Cut-Throat Alliance: An organization that makes crime a business. Comprised of 80% of the organized criminals and 50% of the disorganized criminals in the entire city. Potentially the most powerful single organization, they have hidden teleportative gates throughout the city for their agents to use for a variety of purposes.

The Streetbuilders: A municipal organizations of builders, their primary purpose is to make sure layers don't collapse down on each other, an almost constant task. When they finish repairing everything, they're given a public building task. Most such buildings are unfinished when the Streetbuilders are called back to their repair work, and sit unfinished forever.

Cave Knockers: Keep the tunnels maintained and mapped, and make new tunnels. Sometimes required to fight unexpected threats in their line of work. The Streetbuilders of the caves.

The Eyes: A now illegal network of divination aided and amazingly skilled spies who keep track of everything going on in the city. Founded under a former regime, and since outlawed, they still report to the city's council, who do not publicly condone their actions. For the right price, they can provide amazing information.

The Holy Hands of Saint Merkiel: A coalition of healers who have set up hospitals in every district in the city. They publicly, vocally oppose the existence of the Necropolis and undead in general. They take no hostile actions, but offer euthanasia to any undead that enter, much to the dislike of the Necropolis's residents.

Humans First: Humans first is a speciest organization which exalts humans and wants all other races to get out. They hold that the original village was a human village, and therefore only humans deserve to be residents. They are often ignored, in spite of rumors that many policy-making officials are secretly members.

Civil Servants: A public bodyguard service for other public service organizations like the Streetbuilders. They are not a police force. Their sole task is to protect their charges.

Municipal Investigators: An organization to handle trans-district criminals, the Alliance, and other such criminals. They serve principally as investigators, and rarely perform arrests, but will do so if needed. They are called in on every Alliance-suspected crime.

The Collective: A communist pro-union organization in the Steamworks. The unions don't official endorse it. Its actions tend towards protest, sabotage, and even attack on the merchant managers.

The Wild: A neoprimitivist organization made up of druids, rangers, and other pro-nature organizations. Their long-term goal is to return the area covered by the city to a state of nature. They seek to break the seals around the Hunting Grounds and let nature do its work on the rest of the city.

Shadow Martyrs: Ex-Cuthroat Alliance members and other victims, the good guys in the dark.

Gatekeepers: An organization which is devoted to ending these mysterious raids on the city. Some stay behind to aid the police and guards, but most patrol the multiverse searching for the source of the attacks.

The Elemental Guard: Police force and defensive garrisons of the elemental colonies.

Other

Random Gates: Random gates will sometimes appear throughout the city for random amounts of time. Magical devices which provide a countdown for the gate's disappearance and devices which hold open the gates are (relatively) common.

Gate Raiders: Occasionally, bizarre or random-looking humanoids will spill out of a random gates, stealing, killing, and retreating back into the gate just as it closes. Those that are captured die shortly after the gate closes and, as such, current policy is to just kill them outright. No two look alike. Sometimes a marauding monster will spill out instead of raiders. People looking to get on the good side of local police are well-advised to put down such monsters - if and only if they have sufficient skill to.

Crystal Observatory: An observatory built in the Mithral Heights by professors from the Collected College. They are always looking for new, better crystals to use as lenses, and are willing to pay exorbitantly for them.

Copper Junkyards: The various scrapyards of the Steamworks. Poor tinkers and mechanist will go here for raw materials, and it is seen as the ultimate sign of the waste and corruption of cities by the Wild. Rust monsters tend to live here, much to the chagrin of anyone walking past with a particularly delicious piece of metal on their person.

Holy Ground: The holy graveyard in the temple district. They refuse to sell their dead to the necropolis, and therefore maintain this expensive burial ground with the tithes of their congregations.

The City Forge: The single largest forge in the city. The truly massive machines that the rest of the Steamworks often need for their jobs are forged here. It is staffed almost exclusively by tough, old, skilled mechanist dwarves.

The Sleeping Army: There is a cavern filled with this vast army, made long ago in a terrible conflict and put to rest, to be awoken in a time of need. They attack anyone with a weapon, but some hide among them unarmed.

The Block: This large and crowded apartment building has a peculiar habit of flickering about several districts, appearing in certain vacant lots in each in a semi-predictable pattern, slightly controlled by its inhabitants. Its tenants trade between districts and practice home industries to keep employed. It usually has a number of guests in it who wish to catch a ride to the next stop and see the world. A red light district built in a spiral pattern in one of the larger cavern networks of the city. The deeper down the spiral that a person goes, the more perverse and disturbing the wares offered becomes. Most people can't even bring themselves to walk all the way to the bottom. There are technically no layers in this district, as it is a spiral. People found to be committing a crime are captured and sold into slavery in this district until they pay off their debt.

Ravenshome: A district full of raven statues. Those that break major laws disappear. Those that break minor laws have their offenses appear in a tattoo on their arm, listed in over 100 languages. Those that conceal their tattoo feel pain, and concealing their offence is added to the tattoo as a crime. Those whose tattoos get too large disappear. Anywhere you go in the district, there is always at least one raven visible. The crime rate in this district is incredibly low, and people who grow up here almost always end up with some sort of mental or emotional issues.
Collected College: A sub-community of the Academy, its purpose is as a lab and research ground for professors and other people who make their own education their life instead of a career.

Ungul: A small community attached to one of the groves designed around the needs of four-legged creatures of the city. It was designed and built by centaurs, and it is still administered by them to this day.

Gulliver's Heights: A district built by and for the creatures of size large and larger of the city. It has stable clouds above it for cloud and storm giants. They mostly keep to themselves, but tend to keep cupboards or closets converted to (massive) guest rooms for any miniscule, medium or smaller guests. It is the largest district, if not the most heavily populated.

The Hunting Ground: A corporately sponsored hunting grounds for big game hunters and creatures that have a biological or psychological need to hunt. The Alliance smuggled in more dangerous creatures for bored hunters. Some of the creatures were too dangerous to successfully take down, and the grounds grew overrun with dangerous creatures. It was sealed off from the public, and grove rangers frequently make raids to try to regain control, gaining combat pay and a bonus based on the danger of creatures they take down. The Alliance still smuggles in skilled or stupid hunters and the Wild seeks to release the seals, allowing the dangerous creatures to return the city to a natural state.

The Dark City: A former drow citadel annexed after a bloody conflict in the deepest levels of the mines. The Dark Army of city-loyal drow still besiege the castle of the Queen they betrayed when she attempted to fall back to her stronghold and leave her people to be conquered. Contains housing for the deepest miners, lodging for the Dark Army, and a large branch of the Steamworks.

Everdark/Shadowgate: Either two distrcits or a single one in which Shadowgate is a neighborhood. Everdark is a lightless place for nocturnal and darksighted creatures who don;t want to see the light. Shadowgate has spontaneous portals to the Shadow Plane and is beloved by casters of mysteries.

Galdren: The great fields that stretch as far the eye can see, a source of food for the city. They are run by small collectives which send representatives to central council for wider infrastructure planning. skill sharing, discussion, and electing a representative to the city.

Redmere: A district on the other side of the gates to the Plane of Fire. Trades with the denizens.

Aquarene: District on the Plane of Water, exports riverine and natural resources.

Aerodyne: District on the Plane of Air, a trade hub.

[Strawman]

If they can be controlled, anything that can cast disintigrate would be perfect for the sewers. Maybe some giants are members of the Trash Corps, and they compact items into an amorphous blob (1 item for the disintigrate spell).

[Owrtho]

I'm just popping in to say that I'm loving this setting. I can't think of any other cool additions to make, but I can help with formatting!

Thats helpful, though I thought I'd point out you accidental left out the districts after Mithral Heights. Also, just a thought, but it might help to alphabetize the districts.

Owrtho

[jagadaishio]

If they can be controlled, anything that can cast disintigrate would be perfect for the sewers. Maybe some giants are members of the Trash Corps, and they compact items into an amorphous blob (1 item for the disintigrate spell).

Gelatinous cubes. They could each rest in 10x10x10 metal cubes with 5' diameter pipes leading to it. Certain types of refuse, like leather and bone, would be dropped down to the trapped cubes which would digest the especially durable organic trash.

[UserShadow7989]

I think that the Peacekeepers would definitely oppose Humans First, the Wild, and the Alliance. They would also try to keep law-abiding organizations from attacking each other and keep interdistrict strife to a minimum. They would, for example, engage in acts to keep the Necropolis and the Temple District out of each other's business.

I agree. Should I edit that in?

TBH, I made the Peacekeepers to open up quest/plot hooks, such as investigating a Humans First member's strange behaviour, or the disappearance of a prominate political figure supporting (insert race) rights in a more biggoted area, or even as a potential employer looking for a group to help track someone suspected of being a mass murderer/connected with a large gang/mafia. Plus the anonymous leaders and their way of communicating could also lead to a quest to find someone posing as the leaders and ordering members to do horrible things.

I have to say that so far, The Necropolis is the district that intrests me most. Of course, it's the one that's been fleshed out the most, so that may change when the others get more detail.

[jagadaishio]

I agree. Should I edit that in?

TBH, I made the Peacekeepers to open up quest/plot hooks, such as investigating a Humans First member's strange behaviour, or the disappearance of a prominate political figure supporting (insert race) rights in a more biggoted area, or even as a potential employer looking for a group to help track someone suspected of being a mass murderer/connected with a large gang/mafia. Plus the anonymous leaders and their way of communicating could also lead to a quest to find someone posing as the leaders and ordering members to do horrible things.

I have to say that so far, The Necropolis is the district that intrests me most. Of course, it's the one that's been fleshed out the most, so that may change when the others get more detail.

If you want. Agreed on the Necropolis, but they may just be due to the fantastic Graveyard Shift that BRC has been penning.

[BRC]

Oh, one minister I forgot
Minister of the Treasury: keeps track of the budget and the city's funds. The second seat is held by the president of whatever is the largest bank in the city at that time.

Edit: I can see some interesting interactions between the Peacekeepers and M.I. Both are citywide organizations, so their jurisdictions might clash, especially considering how secretive parts of the Peacemakers are.

[UserShadow7989]

Edit: I can see some interesting interactions between the Peacekeepers and M.I. Both are citywide organizations, so their jurisdictions might clash, especially considering how secretive parts of the Peacemakers are.

I can see some MI members not liking the Peacekeepers. The Peacekeepers is run by and is mostly comprised of Neutral good and Chaotic Good people, but some members use illegal means to accomplish goals (something the higher-ups and most members frown upon), and with their secracy some parts of MI may consider the Peacekeepers as nothing more then another group of extreamists. The Peacekeepers have no connections to any part of the government (so much of what they do falls under vigilantism), and there's plenty reason to suspect the group of unlawful conduct, on top of all that.

I wouldn't call them opposed as Peacekeepers have little reason to dislike the MI. A few members may think MI is doing a poor job, but that's it. Members may even see MI's existance as a blessing. Some members of MI may also believe that the Peacekeepers as an organization hinders crime far more then it causes, and have a favorable oppinion of them. With their shared opposition of the Alliance, they have some common ground to build on. I agree though. Either way they are very likely to cross paths often, and there's plenty of room for both cooperation and antagonism.

(Edit) Come to think of it, they might also get along with the Gatekeepers, as the latter keep monsters and raiders from doing too much damage and protect people, a similar goal to the Peacekeepers who prevent civil wars and interdistrict strife to keep people safe. (/Edit)

On a different note, I like the Council of Ministers.

[Strawman]

Gelatinous cubes. They could each rest in 10x10x10 metal cubes with 5' diameter pipes leading to it. Certain types of refuse, like leather and bone, would be dropped down to the trapped cubes which would digest the especially durable organic trash.

I could imagine more than a few "unexplained disappearances" around those pipes.

Also, here's some Places of Interest.

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Lab V – Depending on whether or not the DM decides if the rumors about the vault are true, there is Lab V. This lab is hidden in the vault. It is a place where experiments are conducted on prisoners. Golems guard every room of the lab, and powerful physical and magical restraints are available for all manner of beings. There are machines that produce electricity, stretch limbs, create a vacuum in a closed off room, and all manner of disturbing implements. At first glance the lab looks more like a torture chamber.
Alternatively, Lab V could be a place where prisoners are genuinely rehabilitated as well as possible. The portion of the vault would probably contain a pleasant garden and numerous doctors of the mind. Candidates for the program are chosen for good behavior. The candidates cannot have contact with the other prisoners, as they are deemed bad influences. This leads to rampant rumors about disappearing prisoners. In fact, the other prisoners came up with the name Lab V.
Or, Lab V could be both those things, with the more awful version being an extreme form of rehabilitation.

The Vents – Mithral Heights has a problem with cold temperatures during the winter due to its altitude and separation from most of the city. They may have great fireplaces, but that doesn’t keep their cobblestone streets warm. Their solution is to have pipes coming up from the Steamworks with the hot air. During the winter the residents of Mithral Heights can open vents to let out the hot air and warm Mithral Heights.

The Dorms – A part of The Academy. Fairly self-explanatory, the dorms are a housing location for young students. Although many of the learning establishments have dorms that follow certain school rules, The Dorms are an apartment complex populated and run by students that belong to various learning establishments. Imagine a college dorm without rules, where many of the students know magic. Law enforcement keeps things in The Dorms from getting too crazy, but enough goes on to give low-level characters a challenge.

Racing Track – The Racing Track is a place for various creatures to race each other, and centaur races are the most popular. This place of interest used to be in the Entertainment District, but residents of Ungul moved it to their own district. The residents of Ungul decided that they enjoy racing, they did not enjoy the idea of others profiting from their effort.

[jagadaishio]

Name: Terradome
Other Names: Brick, Mount Metal
Government: Martial Tribunal
Law Enforcement: The Element Guard, Earth Platoon

Terradome started as a mountainous adamantine nugget buried half way into the floor of the cavern in the Elemental Plane of Earth in which it was discovered. After a few centuries of excavating this super-hard material, the miners were left with a perfect, polished sphere of adamanium half-buried and completely hollow after the first two feet. The Earth Platoon, at the time operating out of an isolated network of tunnels, saw this as a great opportunity and acquired the sphere, building a citadel inside out of living crystal, making something of an artificial geode.

Hallways and rooms are lit by luminescent crystal formations, and fantastic sweeping vistas are formed of carefully moulded, carved, and sculpted crystal. The Earth Platoon oversees the prospecting of new caverns for mining crews and the protection of said crews from any elemental onslaughts that may occur. Terradome itself has a thriving economy, in part because they take a small tax on all minerals brought through to the city and in part because the beautiful, almost palatial crystal construction of Terradome is considered a fantastic locale in the city's tourist industry.

Terradome is a favoured position for any Guardsmen with a burrow speed, the earth glide ability, or a love of dark places like vampires. The locale denizens of the region know Terradome as Brick.


Place of Interest: Element Guard HQ

The headquarters of the Element Guard is a large brick building in the Mage's district. Within it are massive libraries of historical texts, cultural texts, and maps of the various elemental planes compiled by generations of arcanists and Guardsmen. The headquarters is regularly staffed only by scholars and officers with other Guardsmen only passing through to and from their posts. The main hall has four massive doors, each carved with the name of the element of the plane it leads to in a hundred different languages. The Water and Fire planes both have environment-controlled airlocks before their gates, but the Earth and Air doors lead directly into the main halls of Terradome and Aerodyne.

[BRC]

I finished another Graveyard Shift installment. I should really put these in the Arts and Crafts forum

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The portal Whooshed, and Gordon appeared in “Detectives Square”. The massive edifice of the M.I. offices filled up one corner of the square, and took up a good piece of space directly above it as well. The other four sides were largely taken up with living quarters, warehouses, bars, and other things the detectives needed to make it through the day.
Gordon could hear a bell ringing, and was almost bowled over as a column of hobgoblins in riot gear rushed past. He was about to shout something when a voice answered his question preemptively.
“Gate raiders in the Steamworks, heavy team is moving in to contain before they cause too much damage”.
Gordon looked down, a gnome was standing there grinning behind a pair of blue-tinted glasses.
“Hey Ollie”
“Hey Gordon, why the long face?”
Off in the distance, a Wizard obviously on loan from the Academy teleported the riot team away with a Pop. The two detectives started walking towards the big double doors that led into the Municipal investigations central offices.
“Bad case, looks like the Alliance killed some poor halfer, left him inside a pillar. Then, when some streetbuilders find him, he reanimates and runs off. I don’t suppose you’re free to give me a hand with it?”
“Ooh, nice try Gordon, but next time wait until I’ve agreed to tell me about the corpse running off. Besides, I’ve got my hands full”.
“Doing what?”
They were inside now, and Ollie smelled the distinct scent of a fresh pot of coffee and took a sharp left. Gordon followed.
“Robbery case up in the merchant’s district. A bank job, real slick too. Four guys walk in and start brandishing weapons, collecting wallets and things like that. The bank’s got a few trolls on retainer though, and once they show up the perps throw up a fogcloud and skedaddle. When the Trolls get back to the vault they find it opened and empty, they swear they couldn’t have been gone more than a few minutes, and that was a serious safe, one of them custom jobbers the kobolds make, with all sorts of gears and hidden traps and the like. It’s the type of safe a dragon would trust with it’s gold”.
“When did you become such an expert on Safes”.
“When I heard the manager blather on for twenty minutes about all the features on it. He seemed more distraught that they’d gotten through that thing than that the cash was gone”.
“Ouch, so, what are you doing here”
“Putting the rookie they saddled me with to use, having him pull the blueprints from the arc while I grab my tools from my locker.”
“You didn’t bring them with you?”
“Slipped my mind, besides, it gave me a chance to think about what I’m going to do with ‘em on the way back. Good luck finding you’re runaway corpse”.
Gordon grabbed a mug of coffee, it wouldn’t do him very much, but the warmth would be nice, it might help him make some headway on this nightmare.
__________________________________________________ ______________
It was a nightmare. Not the case, Oliver relished a challenge, that’s why he got into the business, and it’s why he spent two years at the Academy so he could get his Occult Investigator certification.
No, the nightmare was this rookie. He was plenty bright, but he was fresh from training, and was going for his Occult certification as well, so he was like a big friendly puppy. Always asking if he could help, wondering what Oliver was doing, asking if he could help. Oliver had a Process, he didn’t mind working with Gordon, who also had a Process. But both their Processes involved very quietly looking at things and thinking quietly. The Rookie (Oliver didn’t find him deserving of a name yet) also had a process (Oliver did not find it worth of capitalization). His process seemed to involve saying “Detective Midersen, look at this!” every two minutes. Oliver did not approve of the rookie’s process.
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“Detective Midersen!”
Oliver turned around. There was the big human, all elbows and knees, Carrying a binder under one arm and a roll of blueprints under the other. “I found the blueprints for the bank. In addition, I grabbed a copy of the Known Criminal Index, Volume four, safecrackers, lockpickers and-”
“I know what’s in volume four. All right, let me grab my tools and we’ll get back to the scene”.
Junior Detective Rekin watched his mentor with awe. The gnome stood in the safe, softly chanting, eyes closed behind those blue-tinted glasses. He’d sprinked some powder around. Rekin made a note of that. He made a note everytime Detective Midersen took something out of his bag. The Detective hadn’t said what the powder was, so Rekin just wrote down “Powder for spreading (divination aid?).
Detective Midersen’s bag was a constant source of wonder for Rekin. It contained the tools of the Occult Investigators trade. Each object in it was like some priceless artifact, an ancient blade that the Detective used to cut through the lies and find the truth. He would like nothing more than to search through the bag and see just what was in there.
“Detective Midersen”
“What!” The detective sounded testy. He must have found something.
“What have you found?”
“None of you’re business”. A Test. The Detective wanted him to figure it out on his own. The Detective was always doing that, keeping Rekin on his toes. He was considerate like that.
“Well, they obviously didn’t use magic to break in. The safe is warded against that according to those runes, though they might have used magic to get the money out, since it’s not an A.M.F.”
“Alright, very good”. The Detective said that oddly, he must really be concentrating on the spell.
“Also, the criminal was most likely a Gnome, Halfling, or Goblin”
__________________________________________________ _______________
Oliver stopped his spell; he wasn’t picking up much of anything. What looked like a Gust of Wind, which explains how they moved the bills that quickly. They probably held a Bag of Holding or a portable hole or something open to catch most of the bills.
Now, normally he wished the rookie would shut up, but here he had to see what the idiot was babbling about.
“Alright, what makes you say that”.
“The Blueprints sir”. The rookie pulled them out, dropping most of them in the process. “I was looking for a way they got in without going through the lobby, and I found something interesting”. He finally found what he was looking for. “The Ceiling, up there, it’s solid stone except that it’s at the base of a Dormanger type pillar, which means there should be a Streetbuilder’s accesses tunnel at the base. According to the blueprints, the tunnel is built to Gnome standard. It’s the only way they could have gotten in and out without alerting the Trolls.
Oliver threw some dust at the plain stone ceiling and started focusing, and what do you know, transmutation magic.
“I’ll be damned. They busted a hole, then fixed it up, looks like a Stone Shape or something. Which means a two-man job. The caster and the safecracker.”
Oliver took another look at the safe. It’s massive door stood ajar, it’s inside revealing a mess of clockwork that made his brain hurt.
“Rookie, do you got that book of Safecrackers?”
“Yes, I have it right here Detective-”
“Good, Shaddup and look in there for a Rank A small-sized Safecracker known to use strength enhancement, he’d need it to budge that door.”
The rookie started looking through the book while Oliver took another look at the lock. The runes were all in check and glowing softly, but he saw the faintest scratches in the metal.
“Add in that he’s probably got mithril tools, that stuff might not show up in there, but these crackers love their tools more than anything.”
“Here’s one, Krazzlik Gordash, a goblin, his brother’s a sorcerer. He mainly specializes in smaller lockboxes according to this. No mention of tools, but he may have picked up a new set”.
“Nice guess but no. Books out of date, Krazzlik and his brother got caught trying to do a job in Mithril heights. The Brother’s in the Vault, Kraz is feeding the ghouls in the necropolis. What else ya got?”
“Here’s one, Jonathan Quillan, Halfing , suspected alliance member. Last year it was suspected that he pinched an enchanted crowbar from the Streetbuilders, which would let him open that safe door. Alias Johnny Quickfinger”.

[jagadaishio]

Bravo on the latest instalment. I agree, Graveyard Shift really should find its way into the Arts and Crafts forum. It may be a good idea to wait until you're finished with the story, though.

[UserShadow7989]

Place of Intrest: Founder's Museum
Location: Primordium

The Founder's Museum was created shortly after the Primordium was completed. The Museum contains many artifacts and items from the city's history. While there are many recent items relating to big events, the name comes from the handful of items that are believed to be from the city's early days. There is little known of the items that can't be discerned just by looking at them, and even the museum itself doesn't have much information about the items. Founder's Museum lists a name, where the item was found, and several theories about the owners and what they used for it. If these stories are true or just folk lore, and what the items are is up to the DM.

The Museum is patrolled by several constructs, and while there are daily tours the security is tighter then Fort Nox ever dreamed. Alarms that teleport the would-be thief straight into a holding cell when tripped. Very thick walls of admantium. Placement of varrying runes in layer after layer. Constant montioring by five high level wizards via scrying at any time. Several imitations of the items scattered throughout the facility, ensuring that actually stealing what you were looking for is a guessing game. Teleportation is blocked at all times using several redundant layers of enchantments. The building's walls are covered in detection spells and turrets of the highest quality, to deter riots or anyone bold enough to seige it. To top it all off, dozens of constructs patrol the building in perfectly timed shifts and paths that ensure no inch will be unmonitered for even a second. If all else fails, the wizards will raise an alarm, attracting the attention of any and all available Eternal Guards.

Stealing so much as a change purse from an inattentive tourist while in this building will be difficult, to say the least. This may serve as an epic level challenge for an evil party. Beating back a small army of thieves alongside the building's defenses then capturing the crooks responsible is also a quest for do-gooders or mercanaries.

[Strawman]

Some stuff that could be in the museum-
Whether each object is as described or a fake depends on the DM's preference.

A warhammer that was used by one of the Streetbuilder's original members. Possibly an artifact or at least a powerful magic item.

Fossils that were dug up by miners. The fossils might be ressurected, introducing some original or old creatures into the campaign.

The original cornerstone of one of the city's early layers.

A magically preserved painting of a miner's family during the early years of the city.

Preserved weapons from the army of the small nation that attacked the city.

The official directives of an organization (at its conception) on a document signed by the founding members of the organization. A hall in the museum could contain one of these for each organization that is important to the city. Of course, secret or illegal organizations probably would not have one. Some organizations may have lost theirs over time.

The design plans for the big tower.

Paintings of various important events in the city's history.

Sculptures of important people in the city's history.

[Vadin]

Some stuff that could be in the museum-
Whether each object is as described or a fake depends on the DM's preference.

A warhammer that was used by one of the Streetbuilder's original members. Possibly an artifact or at least a powerful magic item.

Fossils that were dug up by miners. The fossils might be ressurected, introducing some original or old creatures into the campaign.

The original cornerstone of one of the city's early layers.

A magically preserved painting of a miner's family during the early years of the city.

Preserved weapons from the army of the small nation that attacked the city.

The official directives of an organization (at its conception) on a document signed by the founding members of the organization. A hall in the museum could contain one of these for each organization that is important to the city. Of course, secret or illegal organizations probably would not have one. Some organizations may have lost theirs over time.

The design plans for the big tower.

Paintings of various important events in the city's history.

Sculptures of important people in the city's history.

Most people think this, and most people are wrong. Nearly every group, legal or criminal, is on register here. No one but the curator and the curator's assistant are allowed to view the Full Index, however.

The museum doubles as a neutral ground for the various groups within the city. Some of the biggest treaties have been secretly negotiated while two seemingly innocent civilians stand observing an exhibit and mumbling between themselves.

[BRC]

City Backstory
Saint Merkel and Saint Baltin

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The City is very crowded, and sanitation and health services are often rare. It is not uncommon, therefore, for plagues and disease to be a problem. One such disease later named “Saints Foe”, was especially deadly. It swept through the city, laying waste to vast numbers of people. Some districts or levels barricaded themselves off to prevent contamination, and it was not uncommon for “Purge Squads” to start fires in areas with suspected cases, in order to contain the disease. It seemed as if the city was about to fall into anarchy.
Then, an elderly cleric named Merkel arrived in the city, or maybe he was already there. Nobody is sure, people aren’t even sure which church he belonged to, as most of the good-aligned churches claim he was a member. What everybody does agree on, is the Speech,
Merkel went out and toured the city. He sought out those districts most ravaged by the disease, lending help where he could. Then, he wen’t back to the temple district, and called for every cleric, alchemist, healer, or person who could wrap a bandage to come to the temple square. Once there, he stood atop a simple stage and described what he had seen, and he told the people who had gathered what he intended to do about it.
The next day, the first Holy Hands set out from the temple district, to stop the disease in any way they could.
Meanwhile, some people noticed something. With all the deaths, the population of the necropolis swelled. The Undead could also easily carry the disease, while not being affected by it. Some people put two and two together, and began to suspect that the disease was created by the Undead, to turn the entire city into a necropolis. Fear turned to anger, and before long one of Merkel’s followers, a man named Baltin, was up on the same stage, calling for a crusade. Many people rallied to his banner, and before the council could do anything about it, they had a war on their hands. People from all over the city joined what soon became known as “The Holy Swords”. Many people could not aid the Hands, because they lacked the skills needed to help against the disease, but provided they could swing a club, Baltin had need of them. In the end it got so bad that Gravelbore himself was forced to leave his citadel and take to the field.
Then, suddenly, when things looked their worst, the disease stopped. Some say that Merkel developed a cure, others say that Baltin killed the undead responsible for it, and others say it simply ran out of people vulnerable to it. All that is known is that, suddenly the Holy Hands found themselves receiving no new cases, and the ones still in their care started getting better. Also, after that day, which is currently celebrated as a festival, neither Merkel or Baltin was seen again.
Both movements lost a lot of people. With the disease gone, most simply went back home, though those that stayed to continue Merkel’s work became the Holy Hands. All but the most fanatic members of the Swords left, and those that remained, unable to continue their crusade, made peace with the undead and became the police force of the temple district, and bodyguards for the Holy Hands.
Both Merkel and Baltin, since nobody knew which one of them truly defeated the disease, were both made Saints by every church in the city.

BTW, the Museum gets my Seal of Approval.

[Owrtho]

I think he meant they probably didn't have documents signed by the original founders of most illegal and secret organizations. Not that they don't know of them or have current documents from them.

Edit: Also, BRC, you should remove one of the boths in the last sentence. As it is it sounds kinda odd. That may also be one of the best posts I've ever been ninja'd by.

Owrtho