Eye of the Mountain
Location: Outlands / Ringlands
Character: Today is much like yesterday. I have my routine. I’ll wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, work, go to my favourite bar, drink my favourite drink, speak to my friends, go home, go to sleep, repeat ad infinitum. Life is good when I follow my routine. It would be bad if I didn’t. Then I’d miss my quota and the Lord would have me punished and I’d loose something I own to make up for my missed work. Then I’d miss my drink at my favourite bar and the barman’s sales would go down, and he would miss his quotas and the Lord would have him punished. Life is good when I follow my routine.
Ruler: Lord Khulrewxes (planar beholder [observer] [it/its] / LN[E]), quite literally an eye tyrant. Khulrewxes is a powerful creature, with mind-numbing psionic powers and powerful magical powers. It acts as the mind of a mostly mindless city, the ultimate decision maker. Its goal? To amass all manner of knowledge and power. Its tool to accomplish this goal? The city of Eye of the Mountain. Already older than anyone can remember, Khulrewxes has created a working organism to fulfil its scholarly needs.
Behind the Throne: Khulrewxes allows no competition. It is the ultimate ruler for the city. To ease its own managing duties, however, it has appointed four representatives, one for each section of the city. The representative for the Arm Quarter is Oscar Fisc (planar human fighter [he/him] / LN). Oscar is respected by the working class of that quarter as a warrior and master blacksmith. The representative for the Head Quarter is Deborah Reah (planar human mage [she/her] / N), who is respected for her organisation and knowledge. The representative for the Heart Quarter is Dirk Indabek (planar tiefling thief [he/him] / LE), whose sheer wealth earns him the respect of his quarter. The representative of the Mouth Quarter is Omar Collovine (planar human 0-level [he/him] / LG), an expert agriculturalist and naturalist. Though all four are fanatically loyal to Khulrewxes and under his mental sway, they could be tricked in ways Khulrewxes couldn’t.
Description: Eye of the Mountain is a fortified city at the heart of the mountains Spireward of Rigus. There is an easy trade road leading to Thoth’s Estate and to Rigus, which is maintained to the best of the city’s abilities, given the shifting nature of the Outlands. Eye of the Mountain, being the brainchild of a single monstrous intelligence, is very organised. The city is divided into four uneven “Quarters,” each devoted to one of the town’s four main tasks. The Mouth Quarter is the smallest, made up of the homes of farmers who have fields outside the city walls. The next-largest is the Heart Quarter; the financial district and lifeblood of the city, where goods are traded. Next is the Head Quarter, devoted to producing scholarly works and the materials to produce said works, especially paper, ink, and books, blank or otherwise. The largest Quarter is the Arm Quarter, which manufactures weapons, armour, and tools, along with the daily necessities of the townsfolk. At the centre of town is the Iris, a circular compound of barracks, training facilities, and other martial structures. Fortified and defensible, the Iris is the home of the Mindguard. At the centre of the Iris is the Pupil, an oval-shaped castle where Khulrewxes lives and works. If viewed from above, the town would be roughly circular, its outer four Quarters making up the edges of the eye. The Iris and the Pupil are at the centre, giving the entire city the appearance of a gargantuan eye.
The four Quarters work together to maintain the city and to fuel Khulrewxes’ need for knowledge. The Mouth feeds the whole city. The Arm produces weapons and armour to be sold to Rigus or other military centres, as well as equip the Mindguard. This brings in money, which the Heart distributes to pay for renovations, repairs, and so forth. The Head trades blank materials to Thoth’s Library and Estate, in exchange for books and scrolls for Khulrewxes.
There are only two ways in or out of Eye of the Mountain, the Spire Gate and the Ring Gate. The Spire Gate faces the Spire, and the Ring Gate the gate towns. Both are massive stone structures, not easily opened but surprisingly easy to close. Anyone trying to get in will discover that the city has tight strictures on what gets in and what goes out. Trade caravans must pay a tax, unless they have come to trade with Eye of the Mountain. Weapons, armour, tools, and iron goods may not be sold by non-citizens. Weapons and armour especially are not tolerated in Eye of the Mountain on more than a personal scale, and shipments will be escorted from one side of town to the other, as well as be fined heavily. Khulrewxes wants no competition in his city.
Militia: The city has its own military force, known as the Mindguard. The Mindguard are made up of working men from the city, who are brainwashed by Kulrewxes himself. Being a psionic master, this takes no more than a half-hour per sod, and Khulrewxes converts an average of four berks to Mindguard soldiers daily. The Mindguard train heavily, operate with efficiency to rival the modrons, and are completely loyal. They neither request nor require pay, their basic needs taken care of by Khulrewxes. Because of their total lack of independent thought, they receive the same initiative bonus of a Master of the Mind among the Ciphers (+2). Unfortunately, they are notoriously uncreative, and require a sergeant to react creatively. These sergeants are quite rare, since they take as much as three hours to brainwash, must be more intelligent than the average soldier, and do not have the Mindguard initiative bonus. There is a sergeant present for every twenty Mindguard.
Services: If a body can stand the stifling conformity of the town, the burg is a good place to do business. Rare tomes, especially magical ones, can be sold to Khulrewxes for incredible prices. It is said that the payment Khulrewxes would be willing to shell out for a complete copy of the Book of Keeping would be beyond imagination. The town also produces excellent weaponry and armour, though the prices are a tad steep. [On average, weapons produced in Eye of the Mountain grant a +1 to all saving throws, but cost 200% the normal price.] Prices are never negotiable, on any goods in the city, as their prices are set by Khulrewxes and Dirk Indabek.
Local News: Seems Khulrewxes has been getting a bit of a headache of late. Numerous Wanted signs have gone up for the capture of any shapeshifters, archons, or formians in the city. Rumour has it that bloods from the nearby hidden burg of Mountainhold have been committing acts of sabotage and theft against Khulrewxes himself. Chant is that the eye tyrant is in communications with A’kin, the Friendly Fiend, to acquire magical, anti-shapeshifter weapons for his personal Mindguards.
Source: Belarius
