Sharn is the most populous city in all of Khorvaire. The city literally towers atop a cliff above the mouth of the Dagger River in southern Breland. Sharn is known as the City of Towers, for its impressive skyline of tall towers, but has also been called many other names, including the City of Knives, the City of Lost Souls, the City of a Thousand Eyes, the Gateway to Xen'drik, and the Gateway to Perdition.
Sharn looms atop the cliffs overlooking the Hilt, a bay at the mouth of the Dagger River in southern Breland. The city sits upon the foundation of an ancient goblinoid city. Below that, a rumored lake of molten lava rests, but its presence can be felt only in the lowest parts of Sharn, the Cogs.
The inhospitable outcropping that Sharn sits on allows the city to grow only in vertical height. This might have been a problem for other cities, but Sharn happens to be located within a manifest zone linked to the plane of Syrania, the Azure Sky. The manifest zone enhances magic that creates flight and levitation. This allows Sharn to have towers that rise nearly 1 mile in height, transportational flight, and even a section of the city that floats above the highest towers on clouds.
Sharn is a vertical city. It is divided up into five distinct plateaus: Central Plateau, Menthis Plateau, Northedge, Dura, and Tavick's Landing, as well as the Cliffside district built into the sides of the cliff near the Dagger River. While each plateau divides the city into districts, the city is also stratified vertically and divided into several sections. The lowest wards of the city are called the Cogs, and if one were to walk to the heights of Sharn they would pass through the Depths, the Lower City, Middle City, Upper City, and then finally they would need to find some method of travel to the highest section of Sharn, which is Skyway. Generally, the higher one is in Sharn, the wealthier the citizens are. Each section of the city is further divided into smaller districts.
With several hundred thousand people inhabiting Sharn, it's no surprise that the city is one of the most culturally diverse cities in Khorvaire. From the lush red carpets of Upper City theaters to the dank taverns in the lower slums, Sharn's cultural offerings cater to the needs of the wealthy and to the very poor. Many districts are inhabited by particular races and offer many of the culinary and commercial offerings from nations abroad. Although Sharn may not have as much political or economic clout as Wroat, the capital of Breland, it is indeed one of the most important cities in the country for its wide array of cultural offerings.