The City The Primordials Built

     In the First Age maps displayed Chiaroscuro as the gem of the South, boasting over 300 square miles of beautiful cityscape which was said to resemble a crab from the air.  Now the city still occupies that same land, but where once mighty towers and buildings stood are now just the shattered ruins.  But even these ruins were reclaimed and now serve as tenements for those that cannot afford an abode in some of the few surviving First Age towers.

Credit to the people at Forgotten Suns RPG group and the Cartographer's Guild

     The First Age was without a doubt the heyday of Chiaroscuro, but even during the Shogunate the city thrived as a metropolis.  The Great Contagion decimated the population though, killing nine out of ten people.  After the Fair Folk invasion was thwarted by the Scarlet Empress, people filtered back and the Seven Tigers began using the city to muster their invasion forces to retake the Blessed Isle.  Once again, Chiaroscuro was the focal point of a disaster as the Scarlet Empress used the Realm Defense Grid to destroy the Seven Tigers and their forces.  Her attack was swift and brutal, leaving only ten thousand alive.  In RY 211, the Delzahn Horde made Chiaroscuro their home taking it for themselves, turning the ruined city into the trade mecca it is today.

From Compass of Terrestrial Directions IV: The South (page 17):

     Chiaroscuro is the largest city in the South, and only Gem exceeds its wealth. In many ways, Chiaroscuro exemplifies life in the Second Age: a fabulous wreck displaying the glories that Creation has lost.  The Exalted built their Chiaroscuro of magically strengthened glass, from the vermilion glass streets to the stained-glass mosaics and windows that adorned homes and shops. Towers of multicolored glass rose dozens or even hundreds of stories.  Immense breakwaters of blue glass framed the largest and finest harbor in the South.  

     The old city lies in ruins now, its towers shattered into shining rubble, but a new Chiaroscuro grows amid the wreckage. Instead of magical carriages, the blood-red streets carry horses, camels and the sedan chairs of the wealthy. Dozens of ships still leave and dock every day in the blue glass harbor, traveling between Chiaroscuro and the rest of Creation. Countless caravans bring other goods by land. Chiaroscuro’s population is much reduced from its heights in the Old Realm, but at more than a million souls it remains the largest city of the South. Its people do not grieve much for the past. The city thrives once more as the hub of Southern commerce. Tens of thousands come every year to seek their fortunes. 

     If you can make it in Chiaroscuro, its people say, you can make it anywhere. But if you can make it in Chiaroscuro, why would you bother to leave?

     The city is technically a Realm a Satrapy, paying tribute to the Scarlet Empire, though the true power behind the city is the Tri-Khan.  Indeed, it is the Delzhan who have built the city up to its current glory.  If Nexus is the merchant hub of the East, then Chiaroscuro is the hub of the South.  Almost as much wealth and goods flow through Chiaroscuro as in Nexus.  Nations as far away as the Haltan Republic and the Haslanti League send goods to this fabulous city.  Factors from every city in the South are sent to Chiaroscuro to make sure they are the first to be able to secure some of the exotic goods that arrive from across Creation.  However, not all of these goods are exotic luxery items.  Chiaroscuro is not self-sufficient and only produces grain for but a small fraction of their population.  Staples must be imported from the Lap, An-Teng and Varangia to prevent starvation.

Nation Stats

Realm Forces around Chiaroscuro

Geography of Chiaroscuro

• The Harbour
• The Countryside
• The Outskirts
• Demesnes and Manses

Important Locations in Chiaroscuro

• The Old City
  • The Field of Gold
• The New City
  • Out-of-Towner's Quarters
  • Palace of the Tri-Khan
  • Immaculate Temple
  • Imperial Garrison
  • Temple of the Sky
• The Plaza
• The Undercity
  • The Undermarket

Cultures in Chiaroscuro

• Delzahn Culture
• Dynastic Culture

Important People in Chiaroscuro

• Government
  • The Tri-Khan: Yejouj Khan. A shrewd politician by any standard, Yejouj Khan has managed to increase food production in Chiaroscuro through canny deals with the Delzahn nobles.
    • The Delzahn: The Three Ancentral Tribes
  • The Imperial Satrap: Cathak Zuriel.  Not much is known about Zuriel's effectiveness as a Satrap or his policies regarding Chiaroscuro, given his political inexperience not much is expected from him.
• Religion
  • The Immaculate Vartabed: Brother Savage Flames. An aging but mighty Immaculate master of the Glorious Path of the Fire Dragon who sees it as a personal failure his inability to convert the Delzahn to the Immaculate Faith.
  • Cult of Grandmother Bright
    • Grandmother Bright.  A powerful goddess, widely considered the deity of Chiaroscuro.
  • Cult of the Kha-Khan
    • Delzahn Shamans 
• Military
  • Delzahn Horde
  • Countryside Mercenaries
  • Imperial Garrison:  The 25th Imperial Legion
    • Dragonlord Tepet Lisara.  An ambitious young officer who amuses herself by setting new recruits on suicide mission or tedius tasks, depending on her mood.
      • Imperial Medium Infantry Dragon