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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6977677" data-attributes="member: 4937">Locations in QaybarPiazza of the Bubbling Mud - Located in the heart of what is otherwise a more industrial sector of the city, the piazza of the bubbling mud is one of the more popular plaza's in the city with the lower and middle classes.  The centerpiece of the courtyard are the famous Mud Fountains of Qaybar, a thermal feature left over from ancient times which in reality is a sort of natural mud pot or mud volcano.  This feature has been contained within a great stone pool, with steps leading down into it, filled with hot mud.   In the center of the pool is clay fountain built up by erupting mud, and sculpted at times by members of the potter's guild to give it fanciful forms.  The mud in this portion of the pool is boiling hot and large bubbles form and explode in it, but near the edges of the pool it is but near scalding hot and can (just barely) be tolerated by human much as a very hot bath.  Bathing in the mud is a popular pastime with certain members of the city, and visitors also come to bath in the mud, for it is attributed various healthful and beneficial properties - from killing parasites such as lice, to clarifying and beautifying the skin, to curing skin ailments or even leprosy.  It is not uncommon to see many children of various backgrounds, races, and from families and clans which would not normally associate playing on the edges of the pool, and laborers in certain trades strip to essentials and bath in the pool in the cool of the early evening.  Only the very wealthy - and especially those that make much of their ties to the Djinn - eschew the pool and the courtyard entirely.  The plaza has been surrounded on four sides by arched and vaulted colonnades of fine stone, and the plaza has been tiled with multicolored tiles in various patterns.  Vendors and hawkers of fruit and beverages set up small portable stands within the plaza in the afternoons, and some of the buildings round about have been converted to serve travelers and pilgrims: a small hospital that tends to the poor, a bathhouse that among other services covers clients in mud taken from the pool to those who feel public bathing beneath their dignity, and a public house and tavern.  The guild hall of the Potter's Guild is also adjoining the plaza, and membership fees are used to ensure the courtyard remains fair to look upon and the fountains are not abused.  This includes paying for two guards to keep order in the plaza, and the city watch also regularly patrols the courtyard to see no disturbances arise.  In the middle of one side, between two buildings a small aqueduct carries water from other parts of the city and forms a cascade, beneath which bathers may clean themselves of mud.  The muddy water then flows through a channel to guardians in another part of the city, which benefits from the silt so carried.  When on the plane of fire, the pool becomes so hot that only a stout hearted Jann can endure it, and it becomes eventually baked hard and issues only hot air.  On the plane of water it both cools and becomes much less viscous, and on the plane of earth it becomes so much thicker and heavy that it is difficult to pull oneself from the pool without aid.  On the plain of air, the pool's fountains run only water, and the remaining mud settles beneath a layer of hot water and grows less and less until the pool is nearly clear.  Most agree the fountains are of the best quality when on the Prime Material plane and so the use of the fountains is presently near its peak.  The Courtyard of the Oasis of Fire: The newest of the cities several wondrous plazas, the Courtyard of the Oasis of Fire was created about 2 centuries prior by a secret alliance of guilds of trades that practice arts related to fire - smiths and forgers, potters and brickmakers, and distillers and alchemists.  The Courtyard was then a center of great controversy sparking several major riots and veritable war within the streets when the plans for it first came to public knowledge, forcing the Emir to intervene.  After prolonged negotiation in secret council, the Emir reluctantly let his valuable but disgruntled subjects proceed with their plans, for hitherto it was highly illegal to practice certain sorts of fire magic within the walls of the city.   The Courtyard of the Oasis of Fire is oblong in design, and was created when the aforementioned alliance secretly purchased buildings in one of the poorer and more neglected portions of the city and demolished those that did not accommodate their design.  In the center of the courtyard is a wide and deep well, likewise oblong, filling much of the courtyard save for a wide boulevard that encircles it, with the edge of the well being boarded with a richly carved stone rail to keep passerby's from falling in.  Within this well, about 10' below the surface of the street, is a pool of fiery lava kept hot by some arcane means.  This pool is kept stocked with creatures from the elemental plane of fire, mostly a great chorus of small fire frogs, numerous fire lilies that produce colored flames, lava grass, a host of small fiery insects whose larva infest the pool, but also a few fire carp, and even a small flame serpent.  So hot is the pool that the entire courtyard is heated like a great oven, so that beasts and humans and those not resistant to fire find it torturous to enter the plaza and deadly to remain long.  A great column of hot air rises far above the plaza, and it is not unusual in the day to see great birds soaring on its currents high above.  Though the plaza is quite hot by mortal standards, it is uncomfortably chill by the standards of the creatures that live in the pool, which quite confines them to the lava and the air immediately above it.  Occasionally a few fire flies will rise like sparks or candle flames 5' above the level of the plaza, but most quickly dip down again to avoid being snuffed out.  Owing to the poor neighborhood that the plaza was built in, at first it remained a refuge only for those in the city that enjoy fire and heat, but after the initial controversy died down, a strange thing happened.  Because the plaza was uncomfortable to all but Jann, it soon became fashionable, in that the oasis of fire 'kept the riff raff out'.  Young fashionable Jann began coming in parties at night, and it became a romantic thing to bring ones paramour to the decadent part of the city where the plaza was.  To accommodate this sudden influx of wealth, the buildings around about the plaza began to cater more and more to the wealthy, and in consequence used this wealth to improve their appearance and make their businesses more attractive to the very well do to of society.  Within a few decades, the plaza became a gentrified island within one of the cities poorer quarters.   One of the cities finest accommodations for visitors without contacts, The House of Mash'al now adjoins the plaza, and their are a variety of purveyors of fine goods and wine and tea houses also along the plaza.  Entrance to the plaza is through a number of covered arcades, with a series of baffles that serve to cause the air to wind about and cool to a mere desert blast on a very hot day.  There is also a bathhouse offering hot baths for those that enjoy both heat and steam.  On the outside of these arcades in several languages are words announcing the courtyard and the great heat within.  The area though fashionable, still remains potentially dangerous, and cutpurses, ruffians and pick pockets able to tolerate the heat are known to hang out in the arcades or even in the plaza itself.  Likewise, the controversy of the plaza has not wholly died, and occasional brawls still breakout here, and at times certain members of water factions vandalize the oasis by creating water within it, to the detriment of the wildlife that call it home.  For these reasons, and perhaps others, a small guard is at all times kept in the plaza.The Madrasas of The Honorable Waifs of the Palace: Located on the palace grounds itself, the Madrasas of the Honorable Waifs of the Palace is a venerable and traditional institution whereby the Emir adopts into his household very young orphans or abandoned children of purely human blood and educates and cares for them.  The Honorable Waifs are entitled to a suit of good clothing, a portion of the leavings of the Emir's table, and an education by the finest tutors including at times those that serve the Emir's family.  The Waifs come from both genders and are segregated only in their private quarters adjacent to the Madrasas itself.  They are attended to by nursemaids from the most reputable of families, often those with familial connections to the family of the Emir himself.  The Honorable Waifs are given light duties within the palace and schooled in etiquette.  Above all duty, citizenship and loyalty to the Emir are stressed.  At about the age of 13, the Waifs are normally discharged with a blessing, a small purse of coin, and a letter of introduction attesting to their good character.  Only those who have demonstrated the worst character and indiscretion despite strict discipline are discharged without these honors.  Once discharged, many Waifs immediately apply for and often receive apprenticeships in one of the civil offices of Qaybar.  Leaders of the scouts of the Emir's army often are promoted up from the ranks of the Honorable Waifs, and many posts in government are filled by them.  Others decide to make their own fortune or gain apprenticeships in one of the cities many artisan guilds.  There is much quiet speculation regarding the waifs in some quarters as to why the Emir would associate with such base born persons as human orphans, though most agree that whatever else it shows the good character of the Emir and his suitably magnificent munificence and mercy.  Those in the highest councils of The Coiled Madam know that The Coiled Madam designs to place one of her own who would be loyal to her into the ranks of the Honorable Waifs, but the exact purpose of these schemes is known only to The Coiled Madam.The Billet Yards: The passage of the city of Qaybar provides many unique economic opportunities.  One of the most important of these is access to the Elemental Plane of Stone, with its seemingly infinite mineral riches.  To fully take advantage of this resource, The Ancient and Arcane Society of Quarriers, Stone Cutters, and Stone Masons – more frequently called just the Stone Masons Guild - maintains a great storehouse of stone within the city.  This storehouse is as large as a whole city block, and yet the great building is but the upper floor of several layers of equally vast spaces connected by shallow ramps and supported by natural pillars left in the stone.  During the years in which the city rests on the Elemental Planes of Earth, explorers, dowsers, prospectors, and those able to communicate with the native inhabitants hurriedly seek out the most valuable seams of ore and stone in the small caves and stone layers surrounding the city.  When suitable sources are found, a great many laborers are hired to assist the Guild in carving out and carting away such stone or ore as would be profitable.  Sufficient ore and stone are carved out and laid away to supply a fully cycle of the cities journey and also to sell to merchants on other planes that find such stone rare and valuable.  These excesses of stone are cut to standard sizes and stored in the billet yards.  Because the Masons and many of their buyers believe stone cut directly from the Elemental Plane of Earth is dangerous to use, stone and bars of metal are laid up for a full cycle so that they are ‘seasoned’ and in this way any dangerous taint or traits in the stone removed by exposure to the other planes.  The stone masons employ two tribes of stone giants, who have long been suffered to dwell in Qaybar, to rotate the stones to ensure they are perfectly and equally seasoned, much as lumber is seasoned on the Prime Material plane.  These giants make their home in halls hewed out on the sides of the lower portions of the Billet Yards, and are seldom seen in the city save on feast days of the stone masons when they participate in their parades and sacred rites.  The giants are largely well satisfied with their accommodations, as they are well fed from the tables of the masons and allowed to keep a certain portion of the ores and stone cut when on the elemental plane of earth for their own uses and profit.  A few giants do however leave to join kindred thus keeping the population relatively stable.  Seasoned stone is bought in lots by buyers in a counting house adjacent to the billet yards, and auctions of lots of rare stone and metal are frequently held there.  The Ancient and Arcane Society of Quarriers, Stone Cutters, and Stone Masons also have their Guildhall – a building of great magnificence displaying stones of every color – adjacent to the billet yards, but only paying members and visiting recognized masters of the craft are allowed to see the splendors within, and observe their arcane and mysterious rites.</blockquote>

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