Liscor

Liscor is a city-state located in Izril, and it is inhabited by Drakes, Gnolls and Antinium. The city has around 85'000 inhabitants.

Geography

Detail map of Liscor's surroundings (Artist's rendition)

Overview map of the area south of Liscor (Artist's rendition)

Liscor is located 88 miles south of Celum, over 30 miles south of Esthelm, 116 miles away from Remendia and 118 miles away from Ocre. Furthermore, Liscor is located 435 miles south of Invrisil. It is about 380 miles north of Pallass.

The city sits on the Floodplains that are devide Southern Izril from the human-colonized northern half of the continent. It has a lot of natural defenses; the only way to reach it is from the north and the south. The mountains make it impassable, and the southern border is guarded by the highly dangerous Blood Fields. Furthermore, it is always flooded for the first two months of Spring every year, due to its natural geography and nonstop rainfall. During this flooded period, powerful monsters populate the flooded waters.

Natural dangers

About a quarter of all traveler's deaths around Liscor are due to goblins. It was also said that rain, undead and war are the worst dangers to Liscor. Both of these statements were made before the Dungeon beneath Liscor was discovered.

Demographics

Liscor had about 80'000 civilian inhabitants at the end of book 1, not counting the 4'000 members of the watch and the 2'000 members of the Liscorian Army fighting abroad. Whether adventurers were already included into either civilian or military numbers, is unknown. However, the city was unprepared to fit even more inhabitants inside its boundaries - and the population has dramatically increased after the dungeons around the city were discovered.

The Antinium in their hive below the city (according to estimates by Olesm and Zevara) number 9'000 soldiers and 24'000 workers. In case of a war, they are contractually obliged to mobilize in the defense of the city.

History

A millenium ago, there was already a city near the place where today's Liscor stands. That city fell to curruption from within. They built terrible weapons, loosed monsters in their walls, and the city turned into a dungeon deep underground, only to be forgotten afterwards.

Note: So far, nothing more has been revealed about the pre-history of Liscor before the latest decades. Since the humans invaded Izril more than 3000 years ago and slowly expanded their influence southwards, the city-turned-dungeon might have been the way of the Drakes to close the single remaining bottleneck that allowed easy entrance to the South. This likely means that "modern" Liscor was founded just a few centuries ago, long after the Human invasion of Izril and also after the ruin of the old city described above. Nobody in the city could tell much about the even more ancient dungeons/ruins below Liscor.

1st Antinium War

The First Antinium War is dated about 24 years before Erin's arrival near Liscor.

The Liscorian Army was commanded by General Sserys and regarded one of the strongest forces on the continent. They were available for hire as a mercenary force and thus away from Liscor fighting in the defense of the Walled Cities when the Antinium made a push towards the northern part of the continent.

Liscor was sieged by the Antinium who couldn't scale its walls. Sserys arrived from the south to relieve the siege but was stopped short before the city. A coalition army of Humans under Magnolia Reinhart could drive off the Antinium however. The rest of the war didn't touch the city of Liscor much afterwards, although the Army fought for longer time; and Sserys died at the end of the war.

2nd Antinium War

Ten years ago, the city was almost destroyed when The Necromancer unleashed his armies of the undead on the continent. With the help of the [General] Zel Shivertail, the inhabitants of Liscor were able to hold off the undead by themselves for months. (See: Necromancer's Siege of Liscor)

After the Antinium War, the city entered the contract with the Free Antinium Hive, who offered military assistance for the permission of staying in the city, which greatly increased the strength of Liscor. Moreover, they are to provide services and goods to the city.

Book 1

In the autumn when Erin arrived near Liscor and started her business at the first Wandering Inn, a drake shepherd had discovered ancient ruins ten miles to the southwest of the city. This attracted many adventurers towards the city. Many adventurers and merchants arrived from the human north half of the continent, among them five silver-rank teams that chose to explore these ruins. (see: Ruins of Liscor)

As the expedition of these five teams failed, they triggered Skinner's Attack on Liscor. The undead guardian of the ruins invaded the city and killed many inhabitants, but were driven off towards the Wandering Inn, where Skinner was slain. Afterwards, the ruins were checked and found mostly empty. However, another entrance to a seemingly separate dungeon was discovered, but treated with much more respect than the ruins. Even more entrances were found in the months afterwards. (see: Dungeon of Liscor)

Books 2 to 4

In the following time, the noble thief Lyonette, who had been present in the city ever since the humans arrival, caused her second fire in Liscor's marketplace. She was caught and banned from the city, but found shelter in the Wandering Inn, which had been rebuilt closer to the city after an explosion. In that same winter, Erin installed a Magical Door in her inn, first only leading to Celum. Also, a [Necromancer] Goblin Lord bypassed Liscor on his way into the human north.

Book 5

At the onset of spring, adventurers in Liscor's dungeon triggered the Moth's Attack on Liscor, which led nearly to the destruction of the city, but was fended off with help from gold-rank adventuring teams, Antinium, Celum's city watch, and adventurers arriving from Pallass. This event was broadcasted by magical spells and orbs all over Innworld and made Liscor's dungeon famous as an adventuring place. It was declared to be a gold-rank dungeon.

Some time later, Raskghar inhabitants of the dungeon started another attack on Liscor and abducted Gnoll citizens to gain strength from a blood ritual. Their plan was prevented, and their leader Calruz was imprisoned.

The Goblin Lord Reiss was then returning into the south, hounded by the human forces of Lord Tyrion Veltras who intended to lay siege on Liscor and kill all inhabitants on the pretense of pursuing the Goblins. This plan almost succeeded even when the forces of Liscor's goblins and their allies were able to kill most of Reiss' host. Only the intervention of Magnolia Reinhart saved the city from destruction, as she extorted Veltras' retreat with threats on the life of his children. (see: Goblin-Human Siege of Liscor)

Book 6

In early summer, the housing situation of Liscor had deteriorated so far that the population demanded to elect a new council who would sort out the problems by expanding the city walls. This lead to a fierce campaign between the parties of Lism and Krshia, who offered different solutions on how to manage this. (see: First Elections of Liscor)

Layout

Liscor is enclosed on all four sides by massive walls (40 feet high) with above-average magical defenses, second only to the famous Walled Cities. Citizenry is only allowed on the walls when accompanied by an officer. The city can be entered through gates from the south, north, east, and west.

The stone-and-wood architecture of Liscor has lots of gently sloping roofs and open rooftops, the streets are either made of dirt or paved with cobblestones

Park & Playground:

In the midst of the city there is a park with a playground occupying a part of it. The playground is like a jungle gym; long tunnels of smooth, polished wood connect towers that spiral upwards like a miniature castle. Monkey bars are set twenty feet in the air, above a floor that you have to climb up a long rope just to get to and a slide that curves downwards over thirty feet. The towering construction of wood and stone goes up four stories high. It has separate rooms with glass windows for children to occupy and play in walls with grips and even a huge rope bridge which sways and wobbles.

There are magical spells on the playing area, cast by a Wistram mage and checked upon each year. One of the spells freezes the air around the falling and slows them down to a crawl, until they softly land on the ground.

Land Marks

• The Wandering Inn (Inn Outside the City)

Buildings

Government Buildings:

• City Hall
• Liscor's Antinium Hive
• Watch’s Barracks

Public Buildings:

• Bathhouses
• Dancing Drake
• Stonesong Boulevard

Guilds:

• Adventurer’s Guild
• Cobbler’s Guild
• Mage’s Guild
• Merchant’s Guild
• Mason’s Guild
• Runner’s Guild

Inns:

• Firehearth Inn
• Tailless Thief
• The Wandering Inn (Outside the City) (Also a Land Mark)

Tavern:

• Furry Wing
• Saucy’s Bar
• Wishdrink
• a local [Teamaker]'s café

Streets:

• Ancestor’s Walk
• Cherile Walk (has a good [Baker])
• Dragondance Plaza
• Greas Street (rundown area)
• Hessal Street
• Market Street
• Sailtclaw Way (has a ball shop)
• Salpik Avenue (had Mella, the [Florist])
• Scaithi Walk (Southeastern Street)
• Servail Street (mainly Drake inhabitants)
• Silvershine Street (Northwest Side, many [Merchants])
• Tellshale Road (has the [Mason's] Guild)
• Thericiam Avenue
• Trader’s End (Northern Section, close to the Gates)
• Turnip Street

Government

Liscor is originally ruled by a civilian council made up of the 8 foremost important Drakes in the city. They decide what must be done from time to time and take care of bureaucratic measures. Liscor has no nobility.

The 8 New Council Members:

1. Krshia Silverfang
2. Raekea Silversmith
3. Elirr Fultpar
4. Lism Swifttail
5. Jeiss Sielmark
6. Alonna Swiftwing
7. Tismel Lischscale
8. Zalaiss Holmfyre

The 8 Former Known Council Members:

1. Stales Greenscale - Current head of Liscor’s Merchant’s Guild
2. Yalla Aldrake - Landlady
3. Ulseil - Head of the Merchant’s Guild
4. Fleiss - Guildmaster of the Merchant’s Guild
5. Unknown - The Foremost [Mage] (Usually Head of the Mage’s Guild)
6. Unknown - Unknown
7. Unknown - Unknown
8. Unknown - Unknown

Military

Liscor's walls are about 40 feet high and so fortified that they allowed the Drakes to repel the Antinium host in the First Antinium War for months and later the hosts of the Necromancer. (Note: Apparently, the Antinium didn't have siege weaponry, while Az'kerash tried to use gigantic Bone Constructs to scale/approach the walls but failed.) The siege weapons of Laken Godart were able to damage them, however.

Liscor's City Watch can take care of any monsters that appear, as they are known to have highly skilled and strong members who could be considered Silver-rank or even Gold-rank adventurers, like Relc. The City Watch consists of 4000 members, but has been reduced by recent attacks on the city.

There are several mages in the city but none are particularly strong. Magic isn't much practiced in the area in the first place, making it likely that generally few mages come from Liscor compared to other places.

If it is being attacked by a foreign army, Liscor can recall its own army, the Liscorian Army, who act as mercenaries for other nations, for appropriate payment. They can field two thousand Drakes and a few hundred Gnolls at any given moment. Unless the walls could be breached in a week or less, the army would come running right back and smash them. They are currently located east, fighting near a Walled City.

Lastly, in time of war or during a crises, the Antinium will defend the city and help out with construction and other jobs.

Notable Known Inhabitants

Drakes:

• Relc Grasstongue
• Selys Shivertail
• Olesm Swifttail
• Zevara Sunderscale
• Tekshia Shivertail
• Lism Swifttail
• Drassi
• Peslas
• Belsc

Gnolls:

• Krshia Silverfang
• Tkrn
• Ishkr
• Elirr
• Beilmark

Antinium:

• Klbkch
• Free Queen
• Pawn
• Ksmvr
• Bird
• Garry
• Belgrade
• Anand
• Purple Smile
• Twin Stripes

Beastkins:

• Hawk

Humans:

• Erin Solstice

Trivia

• [Mages] possessing even a single level in the [Necromancer] class is usually killed on sight in Liscor.
• In the public bathhouse in Liscor, Drakes and Humans have to pay only 5 coppers for entry, while Gnoll's and other Beastkin have to pay twice as much because of their fur.
• Their written language isn't english, as it is the case in Celum.
• The Gnolls in Liscor are forbidden from howling, unless there is a full moon.
• Over a quarter of the deaths of travelers on the roads around Liscor are due to Goblin attacks.
• During the Antinium Wars the Antinium never managed to reach Liscor.
• It is said that the three most dangerous things to Liscor are rain, the undead, and war.
• During Skinner's attack on Liscor with over 40'000 (in the first draft: 400) undead, over 80 [Guardsmen] and nearly 200 civilians perished before the Hive was mobilized. The Antinium had lost 65 Workers and 47 Soldiers, after they helped.
• The fee for selling something on Liscor's street is 5 silver coins for a profit of over 4 gold coins.
• Liscor has two people capable of a [Courier’s] speed — Hawk and the Gecko.
• Liscor is considerably bigger than Celum and Esthelm.
• Crime in Liscor isn’t very profitable, as no criminal wants to arouse the wrath of the Antinium. Something about an Antinium Soldier smashing through a wooden door as ten more burrowed out of the ground tended to discourage many thieves and muggers.
• Watch Captains, such as Zevara, hold a higher position of authority than in Human cities. Among Drakes, the Watch Captain generally shares the same rank as members of a ruling Council and is usually given complete authority in local military matters.
• The city council devoted funds to the park and playground as a matter of public benefit, so that the residents can relax and enjoy themselves when confined to the city during the spring months.
• In the early chapters the distance between Celum and Liscor was around/over 100 miles and in the newer Timeline the distance is 88 miles, leaving the True Distance of both cities uncertain.
• Corusdeer meat is Liscor's local specialty.
• The relationship between Liscor and its army has always been strained.
• Having light pink scales, at least as a male, would likely lead to being humiliated growing up.

Gallery

Jason Yao