Fort Lupis - Example of a Steam Sage City Fort Lupis is what would be considered in the "mid-range" level of industrialization for the Steam Age. Established as the main crossroads and switching station for all the major locomotive traffic coming from the Old Kingdom's Grombli Industries and going out to the world, Fort Lupis has six major railways, two south, two west, one east, and one north, and a handful of noral trade roads from all over. Origionally, Fort Lupis was only a small military post, consisting of fortified walls, a half dozedn siege cannons only, and a central watch tower. When it was purchased by Grombli Industries, the city was formed. The initial watchtower of only a few floors, was reconstructed to a ten story, iron framed colossus using dwarven technology, though it still only has three internal floors. The origional walls were strengthened, but the Fort now only serves as the barracks for the police. The surruodinging city has grown in response to the railways. Immediately surrounding each railway is a storage district of warehouses, inns, and bars for traveling merchants who are switching trains. Those wealthy enough to own their own rail-car generally have it pulled from the tracks and moved to a nearby warehouse, as cars generally are not in town for more than a few days, there is no official rail-yard. Outside the "Rail District" is where the normal cityscape begins, a sprawling mass of buildings one to five stories tall, with the shorter buildings near the edges of the city. As the primary "merchant district" is in the center of the city, just outside the main switch station, the cirt has an almost bowl design when viewed from the iron watch-tower. Telling the difference between wealthy and impoverished sections of the city, even though both exist as large buildings outside the "merchant district" only the wealthy can afford buildings with the glorious "raised rail" system allowing transport to adjacent buildings, and down to the "merchant district" directly, by foor or small rail-car, without being bothered by local street vagrants. Unlike most Steam Age cities, Fort Lupis lacks the illustrious spires raised by nobles as a sign of wealth, as the government is a council of appointed officials, provided by Grombli Industries. Also, the city's connection to Grombli Industries makes it difficult for factories to be started, thus most successful machinists are usually in some way working for, or paying tribute to, Grombli Industries. The lack of spires and major factories leaves the main watch-tower the most prominant figure of the city, and at all hours of the day the tower reflect light, standing out as a beacon on the horizen. Aside from the main city, the handful of fithy rich people (the old nobility) and current government officials have estates outside the city limits. Such places are usually exploited as commercial farmland, or, in government cases, testing areas for scientific constructs. During all seasons, the streets of Fort Lupis are illuminated by both natural and artificial lighting, with the artificial ranging from city-owned lamps, to locally provided magic lights, and during the winter, companies and home owners are expected to provide their own street clearance of snow, as the government only provides it for the railways and main trade roads. Many merchants have organized communities to work together for un-official city maintainance, thus most important streets are keps clean. Unfortunately, this does not often cover the homes of the less fortunate, who often fall prey to wiley vagrants using the bad weather to their advantage. Within the Fort Lupis' city limits, communication is done either by magic pigeon, or runners, the only social class granted access to the "raised-rails" other than the wealthy, normal pigeons and similar courier animals are concidered unreliable and dangerous within the city, as the poorer citizens have a tendancy of catching and eating such creatures. Communicating outside the city is primarily run through the rail companies as a sort of capitalist mail system, thus runner/couriers are often the first choice any citizen. There are no illegal weapons in Fort Lupis, and most laws only support the wealthy and government-employed. Generally, the only crimes one is committed for officially are outright murder, damaging government property, and assaulting government officials; however, most companies enforce their own laws and employ thier own police force, without argument from the government unless the company threatenes other businesses. Like street cleaning, many companies band together to have communal protection. Although Grombli Industries wil sell weapons to anyone, prices in Fort Lupis are high, 15% to 50% higher then the normal if bought from the official merchants, thus usually only the wealthy and government-employed (who get a discount) can afford firearms. Commonly, local tinkerers will construct lower quality firearms for a lower price, but these are almost always low calibre and hand packed, as local sanction decrees only Grombli Industries can sell cartrige weapons. As for transport, most is done by foot or horse. At a fair pace (forced march) one could walk across the diameter of the city in just over a day, assuming one wasn't assaulted first. Wealthy individuals can often afford "steam-wagons" which are little more than steam engines with wheels, to carry them about. Most such wagons are usually magically, or technologically protected from theft, and any official parking location is usually constantly under survielence. The underworld of Fort Lupis is almost as grand as the "merchant district". Actually, many of the merchants double as crime lords, constantly seeking to undermine their competition. Many of the previously mentione merchant alliances are little more than thieves' guilds who run protection rackets. There is one primary shadow guild only spoken of in secret throughout Fort Lupis and that is the Pendragon's Society, one of the world's most feared Assassin's guilds. Although no one officially, and very few otherwise, know who is actually in the guild other than guild members, it is fairly well known that most of the guild's hiring happens in Fort Lupis. Generally one comes to the city, making their intentions known about town, and they are approached by a busines man who arranges the deal. Generally, there's a fiar chance they actually work for the Society, since imposters are quickly terminated.