Click the map above to enlarge. 1) The Emperors Palace: Few have ever seen King Vlad's dark visage on anything else, but the coin of the realm. Even the Emperor's inner circle, who tend to his needs and carry out his commands see only his shadow-cloaked figure on a gold plated throne made from the bones of his enemies and encrusted with blazing rubies. Servants of the King tell stories of footsteps echoing down the vast halls and disembodied voices speaking in strange tongues in the dark of the night.
The palace is filled with winding corridors that go nowhere and staircases that descend and ascend into blank walls. Hidden passages and rooms burrow in and below the palace, filled with strange artifacts, rare treasures, horrible death traps, and demonic beasts. Several brave thieves have made their way past the towering walls that enclose the palace, and slipped past the phalanxes of armoured guards, only to disappear within the twisting mazes inside- and never to be heard from again.
2) Bloodring Arena: Bathos holds many violent and bloody spectacles to divert the populace from its own woes and to entertain the nobility. The bloodring is a strange mix between the intellectual and the savage. The arena is laid out like a board game, with concentric rings intersected by spokes that lead to a center platform. Weaponless warriors attempt to breach the defensive circle and meet the champion at the hub- where a weapon awaits the challenger.
The players control the fates and destinies of the men on the board. When these men meet in adjacent squares they battle to the death. Balance and speed are crucial. When an unarmed challenger meets the outer defensive ring- he loses the majority of the time, but many dying men have carried their opponents into the pits twenty feet below- only to kill them on the upraised spikes imbedded in the floor.
The key to the game is not necessarily the combat; it is strategy. An expert player can sometimes maneuver the offensive men past the defensive ring and have them go unchallenged until they meet the champion at the center of the blood ring.
3) Graveyard: The graveyard rises above the mid-city, surrounded by a wrought iron fence. This is a burial place for solely the rich and noble. Past Kings are buried here amid rumored wealth. Ornate statues of fantastic craftsmanship guard the dead. City guards patrol the inside and outside of the graveyard and have killed many grave robbers intent on quick riches.
4) Mid City Governor's Keep: Irastos keeps a tenuous hold upon the title of governor. Balancing power between the guilds and fighting the other governors who would like to grab a portion of his tax revenues is a full time job. Irastos will do whatever it takes to maintain and increase his power. The keep itself is a well guarded bastion that, years ago, belonged to the wizard Lord Templar who was found dead in his locked room four decades earlier.
5) Old Bathos Governor's Keep: At one time this was the palace of the Emperor and only they knew what secrets were hidden in its chambers and catacombs beneath. Though some of these dark concealments have been discovered, others remain dormant or still hidden. The governor, Feltha, is getting on in years. In his younger days he was a ruthless and power hungry man. Though few know it, he has slipped into senility, and his young cousin Bramthi controls the governorship with equally ruthless abandon. Bramthi retains the Assassin's Guild to guard the palace, in addition to his regular contingent of private guard hired from the warrior's guild on a permanent basis.
6) Old Bathos Arena: Though the Bloodring is suitably violent, its intellectual aspects tend to attract a wealthier and higher-class spectator. For pure spectacle, inhabitants of Bathos attend this arena. Enemies of the king are fed to ravenous beasts, or thrown in the pits to fight trained and armoured gladiators with meager or no weapons. One of the most popular attractions is when massive aqueducts are opened and the arena is flooded while combatants battle for one piece of high ground that will keep them from drowning. After this event, boatloads of combatants are sent out on the waters to re-enact sea battles in truly realistic fashion. The gambling is heavy and fortunes live and die as the combatants fate is decided in the arena.
7) Under City Governor's Keep: This part of the city is the oldest of Bathos, even older than Old Bathos. It is also the most dangerous. At night, thieves and cutthroats roam the crumbling streets in packs. Stinking bars and houses of ill repute dot the landscape, and there seems to be no lack of customers. The streets are winding and crooked, jumbled upon each other in a bewildering maze where the unwary are trapped and then robbed or killed. Many refugees from justice make this part of the city their home and find it the ideal place to hide.
8) Bartertown: During the day this area is filled with thousands of merchants booths. They sell everything from grain and vegetables, meat and clothing to drugs and slaves. If enough time is spent, nearly anything can be found, and if the price is right, purchased.
9) Low Bathos Governor's Keep: Low Bathos is the epicenter for the cities religions. A few sects teach to treat others as you would have them treat you, but, unfortunately, those religions have few members. Many of the sects teach do to others before they can do unto you. These tend to appeal to the masses. Though many people make their homes in Low Bathos, they know that to venture out into the city unescorted and unarmed late at night is to make themselves a target for kidnapping and sacrifice by one of the local cults.
Trenchant is the high priest for the cult of Elkenah. He is also the governor of Low Bathos. Much of his time is spent in enforcing the will of his religion upon others who would resist its inexorable spread and growing power. His mystical powers make him a formidable opponent. Many of those who have dared to oppose him, have died from his mystical assassinations.
10) Hilltown Governor's Keep: Hilltown is known for being an enclave for the disenfranchised craftsmen and artists. During the summer, street festivals and entertainers attract inhabitants from the other parts of town. A wide variety of merchants make their home here, as well as several guilds, and a lot of former sailors, thieves, and others who have made their fortune and decided to retire here. One of those former Sailors is Icarod, one of three survivors of an expedition to uncharted isles, who came back with unimagined riches. Now he governs Hilltown. His free spirit often brings him into conflict with the other governors, and he chafes under the tax burden of the Emperor. His keep is defended by a contingent of ex-sailors and former pirates. Some of these are members of the Sailor's Guild. This use of personnel is strictly against the rules of the Warrior's Guild and has created much enmity and some violence.
11) Siege Rocks: This was a make shift defense line constructed of boulders, used mainly in ancient times. The citizens of Wharftown, believe the rocks to be haunted by the dead soldiers of past battles. Strange apparitions are sometimes sighted and wizards occasionally visit this area to learn information from the dead, and to draw upon its strange mystical powers.
12) River Gate: Though not as impressive as Straden Keep, this is an effective defensive against tribes of the interior that sometimes gather their forces and lay siege to Bathos.
13) Drowning Man's Prison: Even a short prison sentence can spell a death sentence if the criminal is sent to Drowning Man Prison. The place is infested with wharf rats, and when the river rises it often drowns the inhabitants of the lower levels of the prison. Other times the rats get hungry and eat unfortunate prisoners.
14) The General's Stronghold: This rather exclusive enclave holds a large number of officers. Low level military personnel are sometimes allowed in for certain purposes. All the comforts and vices of the big city are combined on a smaller scale within the walls of the General�s Stronghold.
15) Merchant Hold: A group of high-rolling merchants have set aside this small part of Bathos. Their homes and merchandise are kept under tight guard in this walled encirclement. Often, the really exotic goods pass through this area; stolen antiquities, strange mystical artifacts, and rare treasures. Outsiders are not tolerated.
16) Seagate: Bathos' fleet of ships are kept in this bay, behind the sea wall. The sea wall is fitted with defensive towers that are armed to repel any ship that has made it past Straden Keep or the River Gate.
17) Shiphaven Governor's Keep: Ship Haven is where a large part of Bathos' military complex resides, from the Emperor's fleets to his vast armies. The guards are careful who they let in to this area, but the Emperor's might is so impressive and his fortifications so massive that they sometimes get lax.
18) Straden Keep: This fortification is built upon an island in the center of the mouth of the Tiber River. On either side it bridges the river to the land. Every boat that goes to the port of Bathos must pass underneath the great arches of the Straden Keep. Enemies are showered by catapult, ballistae, flaming oil, rock, and arrow. During the last century it has proven a very effective defensive against sea borne attack.
Stilt Town:
This part of Bathos is not surrounded by a protective wall. In search of land to live on, inhabitants of Bathos have built on this floodplain. They have constructed this part of the city entirely on poles and stilts with interlacing bridges. Also, they have built massive gardens above the ground, and pump floodwaters up from below.
Tiber Side:
Wharves line the river on the Tiber side of Bathos, and the city is built heavily on this side of the river also. As one travels further out, though, it becomes primarily a collection of farmer's and their fields. Bathos gets much of its food and grains from other cities, but when shipments are late, the grain grown here becomes very much in demand.
Wharf Town:
This is a melting pot of the foreign and exotic. Bathos is the center of the known world and all goods and trades flow through it. Many bars reeking of spilled alcohol and sweat line the waterfront. Merchants do a lot of business in this part of town and the port is always busy with longshoreman loading and unloading ships. Captains are always looking for fresh blood to man their ships, trying to replace the ill or dead of their previous voyage. Stragglers need to be wary, however, because sometimes press gangs are sent out to recruit new sailors.
Emperor Vlad the Seventh rules the City of Bathos with an iron fist. He is as reclusive as he is powerful. Few ever see his face, but many die by his orders. Though anyone crossing the Emperor can expect to die in short order, he leaves the merchant, craftsmen, and populace to their own devices. If the hefty taxes that he wages are paid on time, then the Emperor is often satisfied. This heavy burden is not borne meekly, however, and many tradesmen and farmer at the brink of starvation have risen up in revolt. The Emperor thinks nothing of slaughtering the rebels wholesale and putting their bodies on gruesome display along Hang Street.