City elements

The city is going to need some fleshing out too.  That's more likely to be needed, and of course I only have a week left to do it.  Less than that, since I'm going to be busy on other things for the next few nights.

The city of Denethix was once one of the many city-states ruled by tyrannical wizards.  Its hideous wizard, Feretha, was a horrid being twisted by magic and evil - his head was black and leathery, and covered with eyes, and his hands were red-taloned claws.

Feretha's last days were spent experimenting with his mind-replacement device.  He would scoop the brains out of his living human test subjects, replacing their minds with a cable running to his computer console.  He hoped to create an army of mindless computer-controlled slaves, and use them to crush the neighboring wizards and steal their super-science.  Sadly, a diet high in cholesterol finally caught up with him, and he had a stroke.  The captain of the wizard-guard, and the hapless victim, were the only witnesses.

The captain and the slave knew what had to be done - cut their former master's brain out of his many-eyed head, and hook him up to the machine.  The neighboring wizards would swoop down on the city in a heartbeat if they knew Feretha was dead.  With Feretha's still-living body hooked up to the computer, they could take incoming holographic messages from his wizardly neighbors and foes, convincing them that he was still a potent threat, and that Denethix was best left alone.

Under the control of these two, Feretha began issuing many strange decrees.  He became incredibly curt and distant from his wizard colleagues, angrily cutting off their holographic communications.  He began ignoring the affairs of his many human slaves, effectively freeing them to do as they would.  He announced the establishment of an elected council to handle most human affairs, as he could no longer be bothered with mere mortals.  He still maintained his city-guard, under the strict control of the captain, and the council was presided over by his appointed vizier, that lucky slave who witnessed Feretha's de-braining.

The two have strangely not aged since this event, over 50 years ago.  The people know how good they have it in Denethix, and aren't making much of a squawk over piddling little necromantic issues like eternal youth.  The few insurrections have been dealt with harshly by the wizard's guard.  Upsetting this apple-cart is in nobody's interest, the two true leaders of Denethix reason.

Denethix needs:

a. The main wizard tower.  I just need an idea how it looks like externally.  I'm thinking a gigantic sphere atop a massive structure of beams and girders, with an elevator leading up to it.  The rest of the city would have been nothing but decrepit huts used as slave quarters a half century ago, and has grown organically since then into a variety of more permanent structures.

b. The Street of Temples.  The gods will have many established temples dedicated to them.  I'm thinking Blibdoolpoolp for the Great Sea Mother and primary fertility goddess.  Because hey, lobster!  What says fertility like lobster?  Every other deity imaginable will have a temple of some size or another on that street, each with a God's Eye.  Personal visits from the gods will be common.  Also present:  the Cult of Science and their nuclear bomb (yeah I know I'm risking a lot putting that into a campaign...), and the Church of Starry Wisdom.

c. Inn of Alabaster Surprise - I don't know what the surprise is.  Nice name for an inn though.  An exceedingly decadent place of perfumed baths and exotic pleasures.

d. The Street of Tormented Flesh - The slave markets.  Things are better in Denethix than in most city-states, but yeah, there are certain moral issues that still need to be worked out.

e. The River Pristine and The River Effluent - it's got one name coming in, another going out.  Guess which is which?

f. The City Underfoot - sewers, full of escaped slaves and horrible pooh-eating mutants.

g. Bank Inviolable - the bank.  It's inviolable, because of the giant machine-gun toting robots that WILL ruin your day if you step out of line.  Finest banking services to be found in Post-Apocalyptic Earth.

h. Palais Immaculate - the palace of the Vizier, one of the two largest buildings in the city

i. Palais Indomitable - the palace of the Captain of the Guard, and its headquarters.  He keeps his troops handy.  This is the other of hte two largest buildings in the city, aside from the tower of Feretha.

j. Palais Public - the meeting place of the city council.  It also houses the many bureaucracies that govern Denethix.

k. The Street of Upright Living - the residences of rich merchants, councilmen, and tax collectors

l. The Street of Worthy Servitude - residences of craftsmen

m. The Street of Lesser Men - residences of the poor

n. The Bazaar Incomparable - the commercial quarter.  In the center is a square full of tents selling anything or anyone imaginable.

o. The Academy of Elevated Thought - Denethix's university, dedicated to sorcery and super-science

p. The Street of Students - troublemakers here.  Students, drop-outs of mild means, and less-affluent professors from the Academy make their residence here.

q. The Street of the Alien - non-human residences, virtually a ghetto.  Wealthy demi-humans prefer to live on The Street of Upright Living, but the rest tend to live together here, away from the prejudiced, ignorant human lower classes.  The odd moktar or two also makes his home here.