The eight districts of Vedycaer, from the crowded old heart of the city to the villas of the Palace quarter. All eight sit within the outer Imperial Walls; the older Old Walls wrap the innermost districts, and the Darkwater River cuts the city north to south.
Old District
The oldest and most crowded quarter, encompassing most of old Vedycaer inside the Old Walls. It is a warren of craftsmen, laborers, shopkeepers, taverners, and traders — and, below that respectable surface, harlots, thugs, and vagabonds. Its landmarks are the beating heart of the city’s commerce and muscle: the City Watch Headquarters, the Emporium (the great open-air market), the Merchant Guildhouse, the Mercenary Guildhouse, the Thieves’ Quarter, and the Mink Inn. Street rumor names it the home ground of the Caernathi Family. A fuller walk-through is on The Old District.
Festival District
Named for the games and celebrations at the Imperial Amphitheater, and the loudest, gaudiest quarter in the city. Plazas host street fairs, mummers, and musicians daily; Gambler’s Row and the Silk Pony Inn never really close. Three gladiatorial schools train here under their rival lanistae — those of Alestair D’Neith, Gustavus Thul, and the celebrated Maxwell Silvermane. The district’s dens and cantinas are said to answer, quietly, to the Sewer Rats. A fuller walk-through is on The Festival District.
Bridge District
The district of the three great bridges over the Darkwater. The Northern and Southern Bridges were thrown up by Sair after the conquest; between them stands Maril’s Bridge, a legacy of Caernath named for the heroic knight who fell defending it. Its other great landmark is the Citadel of Heaven, the oldest Sairan structure in the city — a vast domed temple to Numilvara, with catacombs beneath where saints and the great civil, military, and religious dead are interred. A fuller walk-through is on The Bridge District.
Plaza District
A district of arcades and piazzas, largely given over to commerce; its plazas serve as specialized marketplaces — cloth here, pottery there — that draw off the crush that would otherwise swamp the Emporium. It also holds the Obelisk of Heroes, carved with the four heroes of Numilvara and ringed with the names of the Sairan fallen, and the Courtyard of Nine Shrines, a small plaza kept by the followers of the old Sovereigns.
Tower District
The scholars’ quarter, along the west bank of the Darkwater. The Tower of Knowledge dominates the skyline of the whole city, overshadowing even the grand Public Baths below it. Alchemists, mages, sages, and other scholars keep their homes and workrooms here. A fuller walk-through is on The Tower District.
Temple District
The city’s religious heart, in the southeast. Behind its walls stand the Temple of the Binding Flame, the Temple of the Shieldmaidens, the Hall of Travelers, the Temple of Justice and its courts, the charitable Hospital, Almshouse, and Orphanage of the Goddess, the House of Mourning that tends the city’s funerals and wills, and the Shrine of the Ancestors over its catacombs. The Temple Barracks quarter the Knights of the Tiger Prince, Talavosh’s order, and most of the city’s clergy live in this district. Along the Boulevard of Icons, a row of shops does a brisk trade in talismans and trinkets.
Lake District
The district that rings Star Lake. Some of the wealthiest families in Vedycaer — Ambador and Drakomir among them — keep lakeshore estates here, and their servants and retainers fill the tenements at the lake’s southern tip.
Palace District
The seat of government, walled off behind the Old Walls and the Imperial Walls both. It holds the Prefectural Palace, the Prefectural Guard Barracks, and the Imperial Courthouse, ringed by the villas of the patricians, bureaucrats, and officers who run the Borderlands.