The first City, the greatest City. A gem encrusted pyramid of 7 tiers in the process of growing an 8th that stretches nearly a mile into the sky and casts hundreds of square miles of earth into shadow. With this City the Archaeomancers declare that they cannot be ignored.
The City of Jewels is – like all the Cities – constructed from materials directly teleported up from out of the ground and transformed into all the structures that make it up. It is easily the biggest of the Cities and certainly has the largest population. Said population is divided according to the tiers of the city – those residing at the top constitute the ruling class and gradually move down through nobles, military and tradesmen to the bottom two civilian tiers.
Nobody in the upper levels bothers to think of or mention the currently half-formed 8th tier of Quartz – a level permanently cast into shadow and often shaken by tremendous earthquakes as the city steadily rises; that nevertheless boasts a huge and growing population as folks from all over swarm towards the City of Jewels and its reputation for wealth and relative safety (at least compared to the other Cities). Once they gain entrance though many find themselves wishing to leave again in short order. Immigrants are forbidden entrance to the higher tiers for at least two years after arrival. Living conditions are little better than a massive slum that never sees the light of day and though work is plentiful nearly all of it is backbreaking labour in the mines or the fields that pays just well enough to help one survive the next day of the same gruelling tasks.
Higher up things are just as rigid – it is near impossible for someone born into a military family to have a career in anything but the army for example. Although living conditions are far better in the upper levels there still exists an under-currant of dissatisfaction with the way the City works, especially amongst the youth. However any that willfully disobey the laws of the City are prone to disappearing without warning, and where they go is the stuff of nightmarish rumours. The only exception to this is the Quartz tier – since it is only partially formed the magical observation that covers the rest of the city does not function there, and the labyrinthine slums combined with the dense population make effective policing impossible. Whether Quartz is populated by terroristic thieves or devote freedom fighters very much depends on which side of the barriers you stand.
And finally there exists the Firewall. A ring of magic that encircles the entire city. It has no effect whatsoever on those who enter from the outside – but once inside any attempting to leave without court-granted permission (in the form of an enchanted bracelet) are exposed to the temperature of the sun for a fraction of a second – the resulting pile of dust is then transported to the fertiliser mounds for re-use.
You guys might have come to this city fairly recently or lived your entire lives there, you can be a resident of either the lowest tier of Quartz or the second lowest tier of Topaz (if curious the levels are Quartz, Topaz, Opal, Pearl, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire and Diamond listed in order from the bottom-up). What's important is that for whatever reason in whatever capacity you find yourselves at what looks to be the start of a severe riot deep in the heart of Quartz...
