Welcome to Zenith – the city of tomorrow.  Zenith is the setting of a new campaign that my players and I are starting.  For this campaign, that we are calling “Broken Wing”, the goal is to have the entire long form campaign take place within a single mega-city urban setting.  

Setting Description:

The world of the Veil is a high magic setting that was designed to be a “What if we fast forward the traditional fantasy setting and created a society based on it.  The veil is a full world with many continents and regions to explore, but for this we are focusing on the largest city in the world of the Veil, Zenith.  A couple of notes that Game Masters who are looking to run campaigns in Zenith should remember:

• Zenith is by far the most technologically advanced city in the Veil.  In this city there are innovations of magic and technology that aren’t found in other parts of the world.
• Given the nature of Zenith, and it’s social structure, the city has a higher social class that is largely controlled by the Noble Houses.
• Zenith primary import / export is Dragon Essence and the technologies that are derived from it.

Key Districts:

The following are the key sections of the city and the districts for each:

The Spires:

The spires are where the upper echelons of Zenith live, and is home to much of the cities government. The spires are unique in that they actually hover over the city, and are connected to the rest of Zenith by the Rail system.

The following are the key districts:

• Core Spire: This spire at center is home to the major government organizations, including the Senate, the Quiet Council, the Bronze Court, and the central precinct of the Watch Brigade.
• Northern Spire:  Home to a location called as Servant’s Row, which is home to the higher-level individuals who work for the noble houses. This spire also home to the central bank for the Dukholm banking guild.
• Southern Spire:  Home to the estates for House Embersong and House Remmington.
• Eastern Spire: Home to House Azerath and House Karidark.
• Western Spire:  Home to the estates of House Herald and House Zaphresz.

The Inner Ring:

The inner ring is more the central part of the city:

• Arcane District: This district is home to the Scarlet Assembly, the wizard organization, and they are key organizations for both education and politics.
• Shimmer Alley: This district is home to many of the more entertainment type activities. Home to theatres, opera houses, and concert halls, this district is where most of the populace goes to relax. This is also home to many of the best bars, taverns, and restaurants in the city.
• Artist Square: This district is where many artists and musicians live within the city and is home to many small vendors and markets. This is also where when wealthier citizens decide to take on an artist as a their patron, they tend to put them up here.
• Terracota Arches: Upper Class Residential: This area is one of the 3 upper class residential areas in the city and got its name from the terracotta roofs and archways that are littered throughout the area.
• Silver Market: Market District: A section of the city that is known for the many markets both street and in building that account for most of the commerce in the city. This is where you can find vendors who bring in their goods to sell from both inside and outside the city.
• BiFrost Landing – Upper Class Residential: This district is known as Bifrost for two reasons, one being the major lightning rail station that supports inner ring, outer ring, and the shipping cargo to the spires, but also because it has a rainbow crystal bridge that leads to the station. This is a home to many of the wealthy who have built their wealth through business contacts.
• Athen’s Gate – Upper Class Residential: This district is known for being the lowest of the three upper class areas and is home to main who have worked themselves up to crossing into the upper class. Many who have obtained their wealth through illegal means tend to find themselves welcomed here.
• Green District: Given its name because most of the district is covered in woods and forests, and home to many parks that are a protected part of the city. Rumors say that there are ancient druids and primal forces in the deepest parts of the green.

The Outer Ring:

The outer ring is the section of the city built around the channel:

• Foundry District: A place where the house responsible for transportation has most of its factories which are key to building the airships and arcane gates that support the transportation of goods around the city and the world. The area is full of factories, and manufacturing areas that are constantly in operation and leverage the water nearby to help support the foundation of the world. The truth is that many people are employed by foundry and that it’s a good job for a lot of people.
• Eastern Gate District:  This is the primary district that most agricultural or outside vendors come into Zenith through. And most of the jobs in this area are around prepping the goods brought in, like food processing.
• Eastern Market District:  This is an open market for many of the agricultural goods that come into the city.
• Industrial District:  This district is responsible for many of the factories, that generate textiles and machine components used in other industries. Many of the industrial products found in the world are traced back to Zenith as its home.
• Old Town District:  This is the old town district, that has a lot of the more historic buildings and landmarks.
• Refinery District: This district contains the factories for refining dragon essence which comes from under the city in the vast majority.
• Mining District: This district is where most of the mining resources, other than dragon essence come into the city. This includes iron, coal, gold, and other metals and minerals. This is where a lot of mineral resources are worked with and refined.
• Scrapper’s Pointe:  This area is more of the working-class housing for many of the people in the city.
• Dust Point: This area is more of the working-class housing for many of the people in the city.
• University District: The University District is one of the foundational districts in Zenith. And it was one that Architect felt particularly strongly about. His belief in the need for a center of learning seemed to be a core value to building Zenith into the beacon of the future that he wanted it to be.

  The streets of the university district are stone streets, and the majority of the buildings have a green color to them, with copper accents. The key feature being the Emerald Towers which are by far the tallest structure. This is also the home Emerald Echelon, which is a monastic order that runs the Universities of the Emerald Towers and have dedicated themselves to the pursuit and sharing of knowledge.

• Docks District:  This district is responsible for where most of the sea commerce and traffic enters Zenith. The docks are a normally busy area and tends to see a wide variety of goods.

The Outer Regions:

The following are the regions outside of the city proper:

• Mossy Boulder Region: This is an area outside the city, and it has its own government of local Lords / Ladies that help manage these farming communities, but is responsible for a good percentage of the agricultural goods that come into Zenith.
• Ironside Island: Ironside Island is just outside of the city, and is known for being the most secure prison in the world. Ultimately this is where all threats to the city end up, whether it’s a humanoid who serves a sentence in a cell or a more powerful being confined to a inter dimensional prison cell.

  Known for the large dragon statue on the top that looks out over the waterways, this prison has never had an escape before.

• Thesvons Woods: The woods to the west of the city, that is rather large and dense. Large parts of this forest (away from the city) are unexplored.
• Slumbering Highlands: A mountain range to the north of the city, many of the mineral mines are in these mountains.
• Fortune’s Pass: A mining region that is home to many small mountain towns. The areas of fortune’s pass are beautiful most times of the year, and are very rural. The rocks and cliffs are covered with beautiful moss and shrubbery. The area is also heavily wooded with pine trees.

Undertown:

The Undertown contains the areas that have lower class and slum type areas of the city, technically all undertown is considered 1 district, which means they have less political influence to get help:

• Playground: This district is part of the undertown, and more of the dark mirror of the entertainment district. This is the kind of place where you can get anything for a price. Watch Brigade stays mostly out because they are paid up with, or have blackmail on, all the right people.

• The Narrows: This is the slums area of Zenith, and honestly not a place many want to stay, it’s largely residential but has a lot of street gangs and other problems inside of it.

• Darkmere: This district used to have a lot more in it, but it was hit hardest by the Weeping Plague, and large chunks of it are abandoned.

• Bone Gate: This is the home to more of the mining companies and support teams for the miners that are looking for dragon essence.

• The Jaw: This is the entrance to the large labyrinth of mines that exist deep underneath the city of Zenith and are responsible for gathering dragon essence.

The following is the map of Undertown, as it is hidden under the spires above:

Waterways:

The following are the waterways of note in the city:

• Valhalla Bay: This bay marks the entrance to Zenith, and is the largest waterway, it provides transportation for both import / export of goods as they move through the city.
• Zayx River: A river that enters the city from the north and leads to other major cities that are further north on the continent. It also brings down lumber most of the time from the North which is collected at the top of the city.
• Yggdrasil Channel: This channel is largely the veins of the city; it starts by taking water in from the Zayx River and Valhalla Bay and goes around the inner ring of the city, and then has smaller channels running between the districts.