Dar Myan

The major features of this section of Dar Myan are detailed here.

Wall and Gate: Dar Myan's wall is about 80 feet thick. The sides and top are honeycombed with military posts, storage facilities, and barracks. Bulges in the wall form larger command posts and troop rallying points. The command posts, set every 500 feet in the wall, are the only places where the wall can be entered at ground level inside Dar Myan.

Dar Myan's gates are immense, swiveling slabs of stone and sentira that can be closed and locked by the effort of a few soldiers using the machinery within the towers flanking the gateway.

Gate Monolith: At the gate, this imposing edifice stands as a tribute to the might of the Inspired and the industriousness of Dar Myan's people. The monolith here powers nothing—it is held in reserve to defend the eastern walls of the bastion.

Trades District: In this district of the bastion, people practice crafts to supply their fellow citizens, as well as Riedra's military and nobility, with needed finished goods. Priests of the Path of Inspiration live among and guide the common folk. Raw materials are barged in from the river to the channel here and unloaded at warehouses. No barge traffic passes the first bridge on the channel. Excess production is shipped out the same way.

People's Monolith: In the center of the trades district stands the People's Monolith. This hanbalan powers the conveniences of city life and is a broadcast center for the Soothing Voice (see page 48) in the eastern reaches of the city. The people of the trades district are allowed to come here for spiritual inspiration, and all of them gather here for the annual Feast of the Founding, during which the monolith is disconnected from the power grid and used to gather energy for the city's Inspired overlords. Similar monoliths exist in the city's other districts. Each has a raised platform, a spacious hall underneath for public functions and meals, and pools of purified water churned by small fountains. These pools also serve as public wells, though some areas of the trades district actually have running water.

Military District: Across the channel from the trades district is a military district where soldiers train and live. The common folk who provide the military's mundane needs also work and dwell there. Bridges into this district are heavily guarded and regularly patrolled. Only those who have proper identification and essential business enter this zone. Across the channel from where barges unload in the trades district is a similar facility for military supply and troop deployment. Comparable sections of the city near the central fortress provide shelter for lesser nobility, centers of learning, and training grounds for the elite agents of the Thousand Eyes and the Dreaming Dark, although few beyond the Inspired know the true nature of the Dreaming Dark facility.

Honor's Monolith: Honor's Monolith is a power center for the military district and a center for spirituality among the soldiery. Soldiers gather here for speeches from their Inspired leaders and to march with pride and respect to the People's Monolith. Furthermore, the open area around the monolith is used for special training and troop inspection. The pools here serve the same function as those near the People's Monolith, but one can serve secondarily as a facility for training in aquatic combat.

Fortress Palace: The central fortress of Dar Myan houses the living quarters of Lord Baalnakosh and his staff. Within the compound are facilities for all the needs of the Inspired ruler, as well as a monolith for his personal use. Baalnakosh's palace is kept comfortable throughout the year by the power of the monolith, but the hashalaq sometimes uses the hanbalan for other purposes. The wall around the fortress has two gates—east into the military district and north into the Chosen district.

Response to intrusion is fast and brutal. At the first sign of trouble, military forces mobilize and the citizens lock down their quarters and workshops. But the city's roads and alleys are easy to hide in, and the troops tend to go to obvious trouble spots (such as a nonfunctioning monolith). Dar Myan's people are likely to fear anyone brave and capable enough to take out a monolith, but they are unwilling to aid intruders.

Stealth, speed, and evasion are the best approaches. Hiding within the city is a possibility, but when the situation calms after a raid, Baalnakosh has his troops do a systematic search of the bastion.

Within Dar Myan, intruders have a 15% chance of an encounter every 10 minutes. If the city is on alert, the chance rises to 50%. The typical meeting is with a squad of four 2nd-level warrior bastion guards led by a 3rd-level fighter. Specialist squads include two or more 2nd- to 4thlevel fighters, a 2nd- to 5th-level rogue, and a 2nd- to 5thlevel psychic warrior or psion. Psionic troops are always Chosen or Inspired (usually tsoreva or tsucora quori). A standing force of Taskaan shifters is also available. Finally, a troop of soldiers of the Sleeping Sword is largely made up of 2nd-level Chosen and Inspired psychic warriors and soul knives—the Inspired shock trooper (Magic of Eberron 144) is a good base for a psionic squad. Such units are usually led by a tsucora dreamblade.

The channels and canals of Dar Myan are its weak points—the arrogance of the Inspired is another. A clever assault squad could breach the bastion at the river and come in by way of the channel. Then it's a matter of assaulting the proper points in the city to complete a mission's objective.

Curfew occurs at two hours after sundown every day. Lights are shut down then, and any person caught on the streets is subject to arrest and punishment. Even so, illicit activities do take place in the dark of Dar Myan's nights.

Raiding Dar Myan for treasure is not an ideal heist, but riches can be had within the bastion. Storehouses of the trades district house all kinds of mundane wealth and commodities. Of more interest are the military district's special equipment stores (and similar caches in the places that intelligence agents train). In the noble district, treasure can be had aplenty in the form of art objects, jewels, and psionic items. Here also are stores of ancient Sarlonan lore and magic of bygone ages. The same can be had within the palace of Baalnakosh, but who would dare trespass there for gold and trinkets?

Dar Myan's map could be used for a section of any bastion in Riedra. It can also be the foundation for your designs of Riedra's infrastructure and settlements. The focus here is on how the monoliths are integrated into the culture and construction of the cities. Many adventures could hinge on taking out the monoliths in a fashion that allows some type of assault on the Inspired or an important military or intelligence facility