Blackangel

This large city is located on the Southwest coast. It is near the Plaguelands, a desert filled with terrible packs of undead led by tyrannical necromantic warlords. This busy port was originally settled by the Twin Kingdoms long ago during the period of the Verdant Empire. Since then, members of all three heritages have settled here. It has grown growing in economic importance and is now the home to several colleges of magic and lore, laboratories, libraries and higher institutions of study as well as a number of institutions devoted to the arts.

Blackangel exports several important goods. The Blackangel river drains into the ocean here, allowing many raw materials harvested inland to be delivered down river for manufacturing. Citrus and vegetables from the nearby farms are shipped throughout the area. Blackangel has had a strong shipbuilding tradition that has faded as carpenters have had to go farther east into the Stony Mountains for good timber. Iron and copper mines in the Stony Mountains are now more important materials from the area. There is a lot of manufacturing done here as well, and those goods are shipped to several ports across the Serene Expanse.

The city got its name from a legend that the original settlers of this area were saved from an attack by a giant sea squid by a holy angel with wings as dark as coal.

• Lord Mayor Wormbly - The aging leader of the city-state of Blackangel.
• Kaja and Phil Wormbly - Lord Wormbly's two children, each subtly working for their fathers' favor to be named heir to the throne. Kaja is currently the favored child, but Phil schemes tirelessly to try to discredit his sister's efforts to seal the deal.
• City Council - The Wormbly royal line rules with the help and advice of a city council made of people elected across the spectrum of race, creed, and station. This council is a newer body, only coming into being in the past century or so as a concession to get in the continent-wide war against Corvax. It gives a small percentage of seats to the lines of Blackangel nobility. Unfortunately, the king doesn't always listen to their advice and the council has the power of the purse since they collect taxes throughout the city state leading to an occasional political stand-off. It should be noted that both the king and the council have soldiers at their disposal should their disagreements ever turn violent.

There are five main noble houses each supported by a number of the other thirty lesser noble lines of Blackangel. All these noble lines are traced directly back to the founding of the city early in the Radavanian Age of Plunder.

• Agin Lamarck - This lesser Blackangel noble of ancient lineage specializes in Radavanian history, specifically genealogy and heraldry.

• Justice Gore - Justice Gore is the dragonborn head judge who along with six others makes the seven judges of the Tower of Justice, the symbol of Blackangel's might and dedication to freedom for its citizens.
• Chief Lazar - The chief is a tiefling in charge of Blackangel's constabulary known as The Towers. This police force is divorced from the forces of the Lord Mayor or any other nobles' mercenaries. The chief's charter is to keep the peace and protect the citizens of Blackangel against threats from within and without.

• Aya Glenmiir - An elven research wizard in the employ of the Library of Mantor who is an expert in the study of the weave.
• Marten Foss - A one-armed retired dwarven adventurer who runs a fighting school in the College Hill district.
• Ellie Finnbuckle - Headmistress of the Arcane Academy in the College Hill district.
• Callum Plumb - Administrator of the Fool's Echo Bardic College and Theatre

• Dorothy - A lovely tiefling woman who seems to know a whole lot about the goings-on in the underworld of Blackangel.
• Rat Bastards - A newer gang that uses lycanthropes as enforcers.

• Engineering (Sanitation) Guild
• Beverage Hill (Food and Drink) Guild
• Tern Hill (Trades) Guild
• Glendale (Hospitality, Luxury) Guild
• Labor (Hard Labor) Guild

• The Towers
• The Devil's Own
• Wormbly Huscarls
• The Eldritch Legion

• Magic Council
• Wings of Umber Orphanage

• The Osculatory - Kissing club for nobles located at the top of Beverage Hill
• Nightingale Inn - A damp and gloomy inn just outside the west city walls
• The Laughing Lass - A place for bawdy song and dance that transforms to festhall when warm located in the Long Beach neighborhood
• Braundo's Best - Sells live eels, dancing and brawling in the rough Mansat Mouth district
• The Magister's Club - An exclusive, upscale club that caters to academics and magi in the Temple District
• Grindle's - A pricey but basic drinking hall popular with merchants in the Tower district
• The Calamity Clam - A club for mercenaries near the docks of the Long Beach district
• Swab the Sad Singing Fishbone - A bawdy music club near the river bordering the Empire disctrict
• The Rendezvous - A pricey establishment with semi-private booths located near the Arcane Academy in the College Hill district
• Smurf's Study Hall - A “hole in the wall” student hangout at the base of College Hill

Unless described otherwise in their detail pages, all these establishments are located in the College Hill district of Blackangel.

• The Arcane Academy
• Cadre of the Iron Lotus
• Fool’s Echo bardic college and theatre
• Method of Mulfando
• Order of the Silver Stars
• Troupe Umbra Theatre
• Library of Mantor

Unless described otherwise in their detail pages, all these establishments are located in the Templa district of Blackangel.

• The Tabernacle of Erathis
• The Holy Library of Ioun
• Bright Star of Aurora
• Shrine of the Nine
• Clubhouse of Avandra

• Tower District - This district is the base of operations of the town guard as well as administrative and judicial center for the city. It is dominated by the imposing Tower of Justice which serves as military and constabulary headquarters as well as the political and judicial center for the entire city-state. Every two weeks, one of seven judges oversees a public trial held to resolve any outstanding complaints or crimes.

• Temple District - This is where all the religious parts of the city are held, including the statue of the black angel that gives the city its name. Temples here include a large and hearty church of Ioun the goddess of magic and knowledge, a small yet tasteful shrine to Aurora and a gaudy tabernacle in praise of Erathis the deity of civilization.

• College Hill - This neighborhood holds all the schools and libraries of learning such as the Arcane Academy and the Library of Manthor at the crest of this hill. Farther down the incline, one might find amusements and clubs of all kinds. There are theatres, dance halls, brothels, gladiator pits, and even a few low stakes games of chance can be found in this area. Although it is clean and seems safe from the side of patrons, it harbors a darker lifestyle behind the scenes.

• Hollywynd Hills - This area affords a beautiful view of the rest of the city including the docks. It is an exclusive area with its own guards meant for only the wealthiest of the people of Blackangel. While the newly rich merchant class that has made Blackangel the trading hub that it is, populates the lower elevations, the truly elite are found closer to the top. One might also find the finest of clothiers in this area including cobblers, clothworkers, and tailors guilds.

• Beverage Hill - Named for all the taverns and inns that serve Blackangel Beer, a bitter brew that includes more hops than usual as well as an assortment of fine wines from the hills to the North. Here, folks can also find guilds dedicated to making food and drink such as bakeries, breweries, butchers, fishmongers, poulters, vintners, and weavers.

• Monika Beach - This is a soft, sandy beach for the wealthy to see others and be seen. Inside are canals through luxurious shops, clubs, and parlors designed to cater to the most refined tastes. It is surrounded by high security and acts as a resort of sorts for the well-heeled of the city.

• Mansat Mouth - This rocky wasteland where the Blackangel river dumps into the ocean serves as Blackangel’s heavy industrial area. One might find the more disgusting industries located in this area such as slaughtering animals and tanning skins. It includes a lower-class residential area that houses all those who work in the industrial occupations nearby. While the people here are not wealthy, they are also not the most desperate. There is a large amount of neighborhood solidarity, and one would find that the common folk here tend to look out for one another despite a surprising lack of law enforcement.

• “The Empire” - This slum is dominated by lower classed people, mostly the native lizardfolk. It is mockingly named as a reference to the Verdant Empire that once ruled all the Plaguelands centuries ago. It is an area where only the desperate want to live, and houses most of the laborers who toil in the shipbuilding industry or take dockworker jobs.

• Littleton - This ethnic enclave of halflings features buildings that cater to the diminutive folk and their tastes. It is built in a depression in the city, around the water reservoir of Blackangel. Littleton is famous for the tiny boats in that lake and the quaint, tiny shops that surround it. Here one might also find craft guilds such as carpenters, masons, wheelwrights, chandlers, smiths, and upholsterers.

• Long Beach - Once the site of the ship-building power of Blackangel, this industry has moved elsewhere because timber has been harvested far to the North. Now, Long beach is the site of the docks and shipping that goes on in Blackangel. This area is dominated by the Blackangel lighthouse, a structure carved to look like a curling sea squid, with the beacon at its head.

Radavan is roughly the size of the continental United States in our world, so as a shorthand there is often a real-world American city analogue to the city-states of this continent. For example, Blackangel is analogous to the weather and geography of Los Angeles, CA.