Hearthtown
Location: Mount Celestia / Lunia
Hearthtown is a crossroads of Lunia, where travellers from across the multiverse find their feet as they arrive in the Silver Heaven. Situated on a sprawling island in the Silver Sea, Hearthtown is one of the go-to harbours for inter-planar vessels, and usually the first stop a ship makes after arriving on the plane. The docks bustle with boats and there are portals aplenty, all bringing visitors from the far reaches of the Upper Planes and beyond.
Now, this city is something of a grand metropolis, boasting three circular districts, each with its own flavour. The outermost is the Ring of Welcome, and it’s got white marble walls guarding its flanks. A bit like the bouncers at a fancy Lady’s Ward tavern, these walls ensure only the invited guests make it out of the harbour.
Then comes the Ring of Trade, the true heart of commerce in the burg. It’s a bustling marketplace, and one of the biggest in all of Lunia. You want exotic items from distant realms? Look no further, Hearthtown’s got you covered, friend. It’s a hub where buyers and sellers haggle, barter, and trade, and where the wonders of the Upper Planes are on full display.
But the innermost circle, the Ring of Sanctuary, that’s where things start to get Celestial with a capital C. There’s a temple of Hestia, the Lady of the Greek Hearth, nestled here, radiating wholesome homely energy. And then there’s the Teleportation House, where planar travellers can hop from Hearthtown to some of the other sites of Lunia. Its hallways bustle with folks coming and going, touts selling the secrets of which portal goes where, what the keys are, and offering to sell those too for the right price. This place is also used by the Knights Hospitaller, on their missions of mercy to bring parcels of food and Good News to sods in need across the planes. At the heart of it all, in the Inner Sanctum, resides Kamaryss, the ruling Deva. She’s a being of pure grace, making all the decisions that shape the fate of Hearthtown.
Hearthtown’s island location on the Silver Sea in Lunia is very much deliberate, cutter. It’s not so much about the archons being wary of interplanar visitors (although many of them are) but more about practicality and control. While the Lunian locals are hospitable and welcoming, they do take their responsibility to defend Mount Celestia seriously. Placing Hearthtown on an island allows for better control over the flow of interplanar visitors. It’s not so much about barring folks from the Threshold as it is about ensuring a structured and orderly process for arrivals. The island serves as a natural screening point where archonic authorities can assess and facilitate the entry of travellers, providing a degree of natural security. It’s easier to defend an isolated location against potential threats or incursions.
The presence of numerous portals in Hearthtown is no accident. It’s strategically designed to serve as a nexus for planar travel up to higher layers of Mount Celestia. These are tightly controlled however, with only archons or their trusted allies allowed to know the dark of the pathways to locations beyond the Prime Vallation.
Source: Panjatogo and Jon Winter-Holt. This location is homebrew.
