Maro

Maro is a city of 12,000 people and is the easternmost point in Avulte.

Government

Maro is governed by the Assembly Arcane, an oligarchy of the 180 most powerful mages in the city. This is determined at the biannual Dueling Festival, a two-week procession of mages' duels that anyone is free to enter. The 180 finalists of the Festival gain (or, more likely, retain) the right to vote in the Assembly Arcane.

The Assembly elects both the city Regent and Maro's Green Court representative. The Assembly also votes on laws.

The Regent runs the day-to-day of the city, maintaining the infrastructure and keeping the population mollified.

The Towalta Company, a mercenary corps, provides defense from forces east and also serves as the City Watch.

Education

There are two arcane colleges in Maro:

• The University of Wëstal, a school of pact magic
  • Fought with the Green Court in the civil war
• Taving College, a school for sorcerers
  • Fought on the side of the peasants in the civil war

The two schools absolutely hate each other, and still bear their war scars to prove it

Architecture

• Buildings are mostly made of carved limestone and adobe, painted to be highly colorful
• Hanging gardens, arches, and domes are common
• Most buildings are tall and narrow, with flat roofs
• Most of the "streets" are actually canals, engineered to overflow deliberately into the countryside rather than flood the city's basements
• Earth elemental trains run along the upper edges of the city walls, providing rapid transport

Districts

Eastreach

• Poor and run-down
• Slums

Landmarks:

• Temple of Nethra, a dilapidated and weatherworn temple with peeling paint
• The Muckwells, a sewage treatment complex
• The Docks, the principle entry and exit point for goods in Maro. Surrounded by warehouses.
• Abandoned Apartment, a burned-out old building reputed to be haunted.

Westreach

• Bustling and commodity mercantile
• Taving College is located here

Landmarks:

• Cottage of the Hive, a tavern built and staffed by a bee colony blessed (or cursed) with sentience

North Bank

• Wealthy
• University of Wëtal is located here

Lostarch

• Bustling and artisanal mercantile
• Old core of the city; streets are dense and twisting, buildings are extremely narrow and close together

Landmarks:

• The Chained Monument, an ancient carved slab of obsidian leaning dangerously, held in place by adamant chains. The air around the Chained Monument is always freezing cold, providing a welcome respite from the midday heat.
• Cloudtop Forge, a famed smithy
• The Seal and Spider, a tavern
• Uzafan's Aromatics, an apothecary and potion shop
• Samtha's Vestments, a tailors' shop

Aerie

• Maro's red light district
• Kind of weird architecture
• very few windows
• few colors in the paint; mostly white
• Gambling, opium dens, brothels – Aerie is outside the city walls for a reason

Landmarks:

• Sarie's Arena, the one and only site of gladiatorial combat in Maro. Everyone usually lives.
• Sandstorm Dancer, a wrecked river barge that now serves as a gambling den

Catomin Fields

• Maro city cemetary

Landmarks:

• Arava's Tomb, the massive domed tomb of a dragon who died defending the city
• Cemetary of Pots, a field covered in the half-buried urns of the ashes of the dead
• The Solemn Tome, a bookstore staffed by ghosts that only appears occasionally

Cloudchapel

• Isolated, weird rich people

Dawnring

• Primarily administrative – many offices and assistants for the Regent are located here
• Quieter than the rest of town