Nostellian is the largest city in Illhad'or, located along its northeast coast on the Sam'nirin Strait. It is best known for its height, as the city's six terraces stand more than twelve stories tall at their highest point.
The city is highly regarded as a hub for trade, industry, and innovation, and is the birthplace of many new technologies.
Geography
Nostellian is partially constructed over the water of the Sam'nirin Strait, and extends along its coast. While many of its outer regions and satellite neighborhoods only cover the ground level, it quickly begins to expand upward the further one travels toward the center of town.
Weather
Due to its location on Illhad'or's eastern coast, Nostellian's weather tends to be humid and mild. The ambient temperature tends to be rather warm, however, due to the rising heat from the furnaces and numerous steam pipes. Despite the winds of the area, the central regions of the city tend to be stuffy and lack air circulation due to the relative dearth of full-height staircases.
Society
Nostellian has often been called a place where anyone can go unnoticed, even those with noted eccentricities. This, along with its large population and quick pace, is part of why it has become a destination for those of any profession, affiliation, or societal status.
While Nostellianites tend to be fiercely proud of the inclusivity of their city, they are also quick to judge based on one's status within the metropolis. Much of Nostellian's politics are divided between topside and bottomside, with the former hailing from the third level or above, and the latter below. Beyond this delineation, each terrace has its own neighborhoods, cultures, and traditions, though these are occasionally picked up by other regions due to the movement of its populations.
Religion
Due to its diversity, Nostellian's various neighborhoods host a variety of different temples, shrines, and places of worship. Despite this, worship of the various deities of the Seldarine is widespread and popular, even among the large human population. Festival days of the Elvish tradition are generally celebrated by all.
Other popular deities and figures of worship include Oghma (and other gods of knowledge) and archdevils such as Asmodeus.
While there are no places of worship associated with The Traveler in Nostellian, he claims a reasonable number of believers in the city.
Government
Nostellian functions as its own state within the Illhad'orian Council, with its own Junior and Senior Councillors. Below its Councillors, the city also maintains its own representatives for its many districts.
Since the murder of Councillor Sharlett Gladomain in the summer of 1346, the position of Senior Councillor has remained open. The Junior Councillor position is currently served by Councillor Ilyrana Yesphyra.
History
Nostellian began as a single-tiered industrial city sometime around the year 200, constructed by House Selinaria as a homebase for the manufacture and shipping of building materials. After Selinaria's merger with House Athyelan and the city's relative stagnation, much of its property was purchased by House Sylnaerith for use in further manufacturing. Lacoraethiel Sel'simus Sylnaerith would continue this trend after the house's fall, taking advantage of the human population the city attracted to construct specialty goods and weapons for the ongoing war effort.
The city would grow unmitigated for centuries, expanding along the coast and upward onto its iconic terraces as the population exploded beyond its original capacity. It reached its current height of six terraces in 1312, and further expansion of the sixth level has been largely blocked due to local unrest.
The Hellion
Somewhere around the year 1305, a series of murders began in Nostellian's Pitchbends neighborhood, a bottomside workers' housing area. The unknown figure behind the killings was dubbed "Nostellian's Hellion," and a number of rumors sprung up as the killings continued, imagining the Hellion as a silent, shapeshifting fiend with an indiscriminate taste for blood. In 1331, dwarf Matthew "Madman" Maddigan plead guilty to the Hellion murders and was sentenced to 800 years in the city's Furnace Prisons, which he continues to serve.
Omari Rose would later take up the Hellion title in Maddigan's absence.
Notable Inhabitants
Jexel
Eona Prinkett (Eon)
Elaandra Blackthorpe
Mercredi
Rauli