Halirand
Location: Mechanus
Among the many gears of Mechanus, there is one which is somewhat different than all the others. A gear which lies away from the reach of the modrons. On this gear there is a city. This city, Halirand, is like most cities on Mechanus laid out in perfect order by lawful minds. It’s even ruled by a lawful government. There is one aspect of Halirand which makes it unique: the people here actually invite chaos into their city. That’s right, this kingdom of law invites chaos into their own perfect society. The reason is an interesting one, but first, a closer look at the kingdom itself is needed.
The cog which Halirand lies upon is exactly one miles in diameter, although the burg extends to several nearby interconnected cogs as well. On the centre point of the main cog lies the Chancellor’s Hall. This large building is where the Lord Chancellor Mirkel (planar human wizard (conjurer) [he/him] / Fraternity of Order / LN) and the rest of the bureaucrats run the city. The government has a pretty tight grip on almost all aspects of Halirand, which consists of some 9000 inhabitants. The Lord Chancellor keeps things under control with the aid of the guard captain Drerek Montlem (planar human fighter [he/him] / Fraternity of Order / LN). Drerek is a strict kind of fellow, like most people on Mechanus. He is a famous hero to the town, as he helped establish it many decacycles ago. Despite his old age, Drerek looks as though he’s in his mid forties. The chant is that he has access to some mighty powerful anti-aging magics provided by the Lord Chancellor.
The best-known aspect of the burg however is the aspect which makes Halirand special. The Lord Chancellor of the city is also the head of a none-too-secret organisation known as the Tamers of Chaos. It’s quite a boastful name for any group, but somehow these bashers manage to pull it off. The Tamers are a sect of some one-hundred conjurers, warriors, and psychics who study the nature of chaos. In three laboratories around the Chancellor’s Hall the conjurers and psychics dare to summon chaos into the perfect order of Mechanus. In one laboratory slaadi and other minions of chaos are summoned, ensnared, and studied. In another many objects, mundane and magic, which are of a chaotic nature are studied. In the third laboratory are several very powerful containment units which are used to hold captured samples the very chaos stuff which composes Limbo. How the sect is able to summon chaotic creatures into Mechanus against the usual ymagical restrictions is dark—perhaps they’re using a rare portal, or a hitherforto unknown spell key, or some kind of artifact.
From these various research centres the Lord Chancellor hopes to find the law in chaos, and learn to bend it to his will. Of course, even with all the guards and wizards around the experiments don’t always stay under control. The experiments sometimes get more lively than the bureaucracy would care for. At least once every cycle some kind of slaadi horde or other unfortunate unleashing of chaos matter seems to cause havoc across Halirand. But after every incident the city guards clean up the mess and the citizens rebuild, simple as that. The Lord Chancellor, however, has been growing disturbed as of late. It seems the Tamers progress over mastery of the chaotic matter is progressing far too slow for his liking. He’s gone to hiring out of town help.
This new bunch of hirelings seem to be getting the job done much smoother and speedily, but they aren’t exactly fitting in with the locals. They’re causing for trouble then they’re worth, in the locals views anyway. Just within the past week the city guard captured an Anarchist who was trying to get the citizens to revolt against the chancellor. All is not well in the burg, and the Lord Chancellor knows it.
Source: Jason Black