Westcrown: City of Twilight

For eight centuries, Westcrown was a bastion of civilization and a symbol of national strength in Chelish eyes. As the city served as the centre of Aroden's faith, all Cheliax deemed the City of Nine Stars to be Aroden's next home in the mortal world. Westcrown rivaled Absalom as a destination of pilgrimages during the Age of Enthronement. Yet, with Aroden's unexpected death, the once shining City of Nine Stars became the City of Twilight as Chelish citizens lost hope. Decades of bloody strife followed, and the only direction out of the chaos seemed to be the orderly tenets of diabolism. A city that once sybolized a people's power now projects a people's disappointment and despair. Hope has dimmed in the city, and mysterious creatures walk the night streets instead of Aroden's clergy. Westcrown remains influential in its mercantile and military might, but also humbled by its lost faith and tarnished reputation.

One of the most varied and sophisticated cities of the Inner Sea, Westcrown is an enigma. By day, this city reminds many of any city or country they know, either because of the varied architecture or because people from across Avistan and Garund now call Westcrown home. The many religious sites, whether active or debased, continue to draw the pious, the curious, and the devious. Even the ruins of the northern city draw interest among those looking for less-than-legal materials or rare treasures amid the dangerous rubble. But once the sun sets, only the foolish walk out of doors in Westcrown, for an unknown menace prowls every darkened lane and waterway.

City Geography

Westcrown is divided into three great regions, called Paregos. Each Parego is divided into several smaller regions or sectors, called Regos. The three Paregos are:

Parego Regicona - The Floating Palace
Westcrown island, comprising eight smaller canal-riddled islands. Surrounded by Regiconan Walls, few citizens of Westcrown see anything more of Parego Regicona than the grandeur of the tallest buildings rising above the walls, like the former royal palaces and the grand opera house. The Regicona is home to Westcrown's noble families, most of whom cling desperately to the opulence of times past. Twelve major noble houses stand as the powers of Westcrown, including houses Drovenge, Oberigo, Salisfer, Grulius, Arvanxi, Julistarc, Dioso, Tilernos, Phandros, Khollarix, Rosala, and Mezinas.

Rego Corna - Crown Sector
Encompasses the former stronghold of power in Cheliax - the Imperial Court of Cheliax and its attendant holdings and homes.

Rego Laina - Blade Sector
Triam and Islatra comprise the large central pair of islands in Blade Sector. The name of the sector stems from the many famous nobles, smithies, and armouries situated therein.

Rego Aerum - Treasure Sector
The home of true rarities for sale in Westcrown. It is the youngest territory in the city.

Parego Dospera - Despair's Altar
The Parego Dospera refers to the abandoned ruins and downtrodden slums of the northern shores of Westcrown. The northern sector (Rego Cader) is entirely a ruin, only kept in vague control by the rundottari on the walls around it. The southern sector (Rego Crua) acts as a buffer zone between it and "civilized" Westcrown.

Rego Cader - Dead Sector
The northern ruins used to be Rego Plea (formerly home to house slaves, servants, and lesser trades) before Aroden's fall. The bulk of abandoned or ruined buildings are now squats or partial homes for barbaric humans and dens of thieves.

Rego Crua - Blood Sector
Once held all slave trade and wide array of less-desirable businesses, from tanneries to slaughterhouses. Several 'low trades' still operate here, though to a lesser extent since the fall of Aroden.

Parego Spera - Hope's Altar
The Spera contains the still-thriving sections of the city, once looked down upon by the city's elite and now recognized as its money-making lifeblood. Unlike the Regicona, trade and coin rule here more than politics.

Rego Scripa - Scribe Sector
Once the centre for the bureaucratic work of the Chelish empire. Cartographers, trade warehouses, and ship-related businesses now populate this sector.

Rego Pena - Coin Sector
Houses the more lucrative trades and many houses of dubious standing, politically or monetarily. Also acts as a home to a rising class of rich merchants.

Rego Sacero - Priest Sector
Contains more shrines and ecclesiastical real estate (extant or ruined) than fire other Chelish cities combined. Lord Mayor Aberian Arvanxi resides in a palatial estate (widely referred to as Aberian's Folly) in the Rego Sacero. The Arodennama, a 90 foot tall statue of Aroden at the top of the 200 foot plateau called Aroden's Rise, is the first thing visitors arriving by sea view upon entering Westcrown. The Arodennama predates any known history of the area and all other extant structures in Westcrown.

- from Council of Thieves: The Bastards of Erebus, Paizo Publishing, 2009