Tiz-ah-Kor: The Metaplanar City

This is the first entry in a series on a setting I've been working on, particularly focused on the city of Tiz-ah-Kor. I hope you enjoy reading what I've been working on, and I hope to post weekly updates on Tiz-ah-Kor for those who are interested. Originally the location for a session of Dungeons and Dragons I ran, my idea for Tiz-ah-Kor is to create a setting agnostic location where storytellers and players could explore while also having the ability to access other settings from published game systems. This first installment is primarily about the geography and basic structure of Tiz-ah-Kor; future installments will include prominent places, people, and organizations, as well as short fiction that should be more entertaining for people less interested in lore and more interested in stories. I'm always interested to hear what people want to know more about, so feel free to comment if you have questions or are interested in something in particular.

Tiz-ah-Kor: The Metaplanar City

Grand obsidian spires tower over the city of Tiz-ah-Kor, a strange domain that never seems to remain in one place for long. Traveling through various planes or dimensions, Tiz-ah-Kor is a composite of many eons of civilizations leaving their mark upon its limited area. The city of Tiz-ah-Kor is largely an accessory to its primary feature, the obsidian spires of the entities known as the Watchers. Timelessly ancient and masked in enigma and silence, the Watchers dwell, if such a term is appropriate, within these featureless spires, lacking physical form or any apparent presence- only the sense of mental pressure emanating from the spires reveals the presence of such entities.

The inner circle is the domain of the Watchers, and mortals rarely tread there. Even the most curious inventors, wizards, scholars, and clerics are unsettled by the sense of imposing mental pressure, and the only mortals who regularly enter the inner circle are the Blades of Obsidian, a small force of around a hundred mortals who have been selected by the Watchers from their many domains to serve the city in perpetuity. Regardless, these Blades avoid the inner circle if not summoned by the Watchers, despite the presence of pristine barracks built for them within the inner circle among the obelisks in which the Watchers dwell. Anyone who attempts to destroy or damage one of the obsidian spires is destroyed by supernatural forces, but nevertheless there are a few spires that are broken into pieces or seem to be entirely inert, while others are charged and full of energy. The spires extend for roughly a half mile from the central point of the inner circle, with ruins and debris from broken spires filling another half mile until the central ring begins to form. Within this roughly mile radius from the center, the mental presence of the Watchers is too intrusive for long term settlement, with most mortals who remain there for more than a few days complaining of stress, disrupted sleep cycles, ominous visions, and a loss of the sense of self.

The central ring is marked by the area where the Watchers’ mental presence becomes less oppressive. Although the entire city is under the Watchers’ surveillance and authority, the sense of intrusion that is experienced in the inner circle is greatly dissipated in this ring, and depending on their sensitivity to the phenomena most people experience nothing more than a sense of being watched on occasion. This area is the safest place for most people who would dwell in Tiz-ah-Kor, and a population of roughly three hundred thousand dwells in various structures and communities within this ring, itself roughly four miles in span. Although the Blades of Obsidian ostensibly keep the peace, other officials and hired mercenaries and adventurers often solve most problems, as the limited number of Blades, and their service on the front lines of Tiz-ah-Kor’s borders, keeps them from effectively dealing with petty crime, property disputes, and governmental issues. The Watchers play no part in the mortal government of Tiz-ah-Kor, but the central ring has a mayor who can hold an audience with the Watchers if necessary, though the process is apparently highly unpleasant. Certain individuals outside the Blades have attracted the attention of the Watchers, and they benefit from boons that manifest from the Watchers supernatural power- artefacts of legendary might, resources conjured into existence, and even structures hewn from the same durable and mysterious black material that makes up the spires of the Watchers.

The fringes of Tiz-ah-Kor are lawless, dangerous places that only the Blades and powerful adventurers often travel. Since Tiz-ah-Kor travels between planes, dimensions, and realms, it often accumulates creatures, invaders, and natural hazards in this outer extreme of the city. While a massive wall separates the inhabited portions of Tiz-ah-Kor, erected by some civilization that is remembered only for this achievement, from these wastelands, legions of invaders have found themselves trapped when Tiz-ah-Kor travels at the whims of the Watchers. While the Blades, with the help of skilled adventurers, magicians, and scientists, could probably tame these wastes and make them hospitable, they also serve as a defensive barrier against further invasion. Magical anomalies, haywire technology, savage wildlife, and the remnants of invasion forces turned to banditry all serve to harass and harry any who would seek to plunder the city of Tiz-ah-Kor or assail the Watchers.

The final region of Tiz-ah-Kor is the below the city itself. An ancient, obsoleted sewer system runs underneath Tiz-ah-Kor, connected to caverns that are relatively exposed to the planes that Tiz-ah-Kor visits. These caves are a source of great wealth and danger. On the one hand, the interaction of Tiz-ah-Kor and the existing matter and energy that is displaced when Tiz-ah-Kor manifests on a plane creates fields of powerful crystals imbued with energy that can be used for magic or science. These crystals and other valuable minerals seem to grow back whenever the city travels, as it filters and assimilates matter from its destination to root itself into reality for a time, making it an incredibly lucrative place to mine or scavenge. On the other hand, since Tiz-ah-Kor anchors itself into these realities, there can be incredible dangers ranging from poison gas, intense heat or cold, hostile creatures, or the void of space itself that can make the tunnels incredibly dangerous. While the Watchers project a field of protection around the city to ensure that the environment remains suitable for life, anyone too far below the city is in danger of exposure to whatever threats Tiz-ah-Kor would regularly protect them from.

That’s all for this week’s installment of the City of Tiz-ah-Kor. Please look forward to more content.