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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6974810" data-attributes="member: 4937">Places in QaybarPlaza of the Vanquished Flame: This small plaza is dominated by a tall pillar, upon which rests a cage of metal and glass.  Inside is a large crystal urn, which holds an ever burning flame.  According to popular history, an efreet lord of a particular evil and foul disposition, who has been imprisoned within the urn as symbol of the Jann's liberation from bondage  More partisan Jann when passing the pillar spit maledictions at it, with hopes for the urn's occupants eternal suffering.  It is said that if anyone could open the urn, that the occupant would be required to fulfill three wishes for the one who released him.  However, any attempts to claim such wishes have failed disastrously, owing to large number of lethal magical traps which protect the urn, and the general unwillingness of most of the inhabitants of Qaybar to see such attempts succeed.  Some more cynical Jann doubt the urn contains anything at all, and believe the whole thing is just as sham designed to promote nationalist feeling and weed out inhabitants with some pro-Efreet sentiments.  As one of the best lit areas of the Souk on dark nights, it is a place of congregation for those seeking refuge from the shadows or loneliness, and many taverns and public houses line the sides of the plaza.  The Well of the Washed Wound: In the days when Qaybar was ruled by Efreet overlords, a gate to allow embassies and traffic between allies the Nine Hells and the Efreet Lords of Qaybar was created, in the form of a vertical shaft which descended into the nether planes which was in those days called 'Well To The Hells'.  After the revolution, this gate was dispelled, and the bottom of the well blocked with many layers of stone, and the whole cleansed with great effort and filled with holy water, lest the Efreet's allies use the portal to undermine the new regime.  To secure these arrangements, three Hound Archons agreed to watch over the well with an eternal vigilance, so that it might not provide access to the Prime Material plane for invading fiends.  The well is now capped with a dome of stained glass, and its guardian's take care that no foul or unclean thing ever is allowed to touch the sacred water within lest its pollution weaken the cities defenses.  The archons have been known at times to bring a silver dipper of the well's water to beggars or other supplicants who show no trace evil in their disposition and grant such aid as they are able, but they generally are suspicious and gruff toward all who interrupt their duties.  From time to time, the well becomes polluted from below - an event instantly detected by its guardians - showing that there are still forces at work that wish to reopen the old gate.  After which, the water must be cleansed and blessed anew.  Once per year, those of good will within the city, assemble to renew protections upon the glass dome and the water within.The Tourmaline Tower: This three sided tower of great height rises above the guildhalls and workshops of the glassblowers and glasscutters of Qaybar as an example of the pinnacle of their craftsmanship.  The glassworkers of Qaybar are known for their ability to create glass which mimics the properties of more valuable gemstones, with the best examples being able to fool even well-trained eyes.  The costume jewelry of the artisans of Qaybar, it's resin jewels and its cut glass, is held as without peer anywhere - as is its merchant's ability to pass fakes off for more valuable pieces.  Even so, the very best pieces are esteemed highly enough to be considered works of art in their own right.  Formed of great rough slabs subtly colored glass, carefully joined and supported by means that are closely guarded secrets of the guilds, the great tower rises above the surrounding city like a vast uncut crystal with bands of pink, yellow-green, smoky black, and pale lavender.  When the sun light passes through the tower it casts strangely colored shadows on the city walls.  Mystic rites of the glass guilds such as the elevation of members, the teaching of the guilds sacred and secret lore, and the yearly requests for blessing by patrons of fire, earth, and the arts, are held publically upon the stairless towers summit and more often within its shrouded base.  Chipping pieces of the tower, something sometimes undertaken by visitors believing the tower to be a single massive gemstone, is considered in very bad form, and earns the fool an appropriately lengthy and painful lesson.The Smoke Medina: The most dangerous portion of the city is the tangled medina that surrounds the open souk in the bazaar district and has fingers which seem to reach impossibly into many other quarters of the city, not all of which would seem to be adjacent. It's narrow dark streets that sometimes turn into tunnels as they pass underneath buildings twist unpredictably and are lined with small shops with wares which during the day spill out into the streets. During the day the streets are always filled with reeking odors and the smokes of small cook fires, lamps, and hookahs, which bewilder the senses and assault the nose with everything from the reek of offal, to sulfur, to cloves, cinnamon and saffron. But the most famous aspect of the smoke medina and the true reason that it gets its name is that every night at midnight, the buildings of the medina and the alleyways subtlety shift and twist, forming new paths and connections. Thus paths which the morning before or even the moment before led to familiar environs may lead to completely new portions of the city. The exact twisting's of the medina have so far as anyone knows never been mapped, but they do not appear to be completely random, for those born to the Medina seemingly have the knowledge to cope with the difficulty of awakening in a new city every morning, and are able to recognize the city as their own and find paths appropriately. Those not born to the medina however, frequently become lost, even those native to the city, and as such many avoid it and not only because of flies and unpleasant smells. Travel at night in the pitch dark alleys and tunnels after the shops are boarded up is to be especially avoided, and far more horrible fates than being robbed have been said to befall strangers that dare the medina near midnight. At night the alleyways become the lair of rats, and there are said to be run down sections of the medina which even the locals avoid, where charnel smell emanate from empty dilapidated homes, where the sky is seldom and then never seen, and where few or perhaps no paths return to inhabited stretches. Tales abound of mad-eyed travelers who disappear for weeks, only to return famished with hunger and thirst and feverish with horrors they claim to have escaped. Some few indeed disappear without a trace. The Smoke Medina is home to the lowest and poorest classes and castes of the city, including many of its non-Jann inhabitants as well as its most unsavory sorts. However in its back allies can be found amongst the many cons and scams some of the most exotic items for trade in the city, and many of its best deals, thus many a merchant will dare the medina particularly if they are engaged in some more illicit trade, following after the scent of profit.The Musalla of the Great Caliph: Not everywhere in the Smoke Medina is without honor.   When the city was under the rule of the Efreet, the Jann partisans plotting against their masters relied on the mazes of the Smoke Medina for secrecy and evasion.  The headquartered themselves in the humblest abode they could find and gathered allies and weapons.  In these efforts they were assisted the most by emissaries of the Great Caliph of the Djinn, who say in the Jann an opportunity to stake at the power of his hated rival.  After they achieved victory, the leaders of the rebellion decreed that the house that had been their sanctum and meeting hall should be converted into a shrine honoring the Great Caliph and the Djinn.  The exterior of this building is unremarkable and the markings of its curtained entrance easily missed in the gloom, but the interior has been decorated with the highest craftsmanship available to the Jann.  The main shrine is not large, but rises 60’ up to a domed and windowed cupula surrounding a skylight, and the entire chamber is lit with exquisite lamps and censers which burn with a most pleasing aroma.  All the walls have been carved and adorned with delicate tilework of light blue and white, depicting winds blowing endlessly around the room.   These winds are carefully designed so that their eddies form a script in the Auran language which circles around the walls of the building, praising the many virtues of the Great Caliph of the Djinn.   The floor of the shrine is glass of the most translucent sort, placed several feet above an exquisite painting so that, unless the viewer makes careful note of the occasional stray parakeet dropping, the room appears to have no floor at all, but to float in the night sky.  In the center of the shrine is a great censer of frosted glass about 4’ in diameter which floats magically about 7’ above the floor, and which forever releases a fragrant smoke.  Small offerings of incense and spice or blessings and prayers written upon papyrus are placed in this censure.   A caretaker is appointed to the shrine, and lives in small apartments off of the main chamber, and four smoke sylphs – or Enenra - serve as the caretakers staff.   A small flock of multicolored parakeets are suffered to roost in the cupula and on the roof of the shrine, and their chirps, whistles, and songs, can be heard at most hours.  A second small wing of the shrine, opposite the quarters of the caretaker, contains a small museum explaining the places history and honoring the Jann and Djinn fighters that once gathered here.</blockquote>

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