Rails
The City of Trains
Rails is the birthplace of The Iron Tracks, and the largest producer of Trains in all of Zol. Located in The Free Cities of Alderun, the city is built from striking red brick and mortar. There are dozens of different manufactures for all things train within Rails. Metal forgers, Iron Light Artificers, lumber craftsmen, textile workers, glass makers, and merchants are a dime a dozen in Rails. This makes for cut throat competition.
What would appear as a quaint, busybody town to an outsider, is known as a devious and plotting economy to the locals. Underselling, and outsourcing, and insider trading are what fills the day in Rails. While deception, sabotage, and even assassination plagues its nights.
Rails is also one of the few cities that have The Iron Tracks running directly through the cities center.
# Overview
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Main Opportunity | An extremely industrial city with a the utmost appreciation for craftsmanship. Its economy, made up from guilds of merchants and laborers, thrives due to Zol’s dependence upon The Iron Tracks. Most production and maintenance of Trains in Zol occurs in Rails. |
| Main Challenge | The city’s fast moving businesses are in constant competition with each other. Over the years this has spawned cutthroat competition between mobs that secretly run most of the city’s commerce behind the scenes. Additionally, the constant coming and going of trains from all over Zol makes this city a smugglers paradise. Many think of the city as a brilliant red hub of trade, but many of its corners have been saturated with crime, blackened by soot and smoke. |
| Climate | Temperate |
| Cuisine | Multicultural, Imported goods |
| Export | Labor, Trains |
| Size | Medium |
| Outer Villages | Many |
| City Leader | Grand Artificer Janeesa Query |
| Primary Language(s) | None |
| Majority Racial Group(s) | None |
| Majority Religion(s) | Zolaen-Centric |
# Major Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Distinguishing Features | Central, Busy, Industrial, Good Economy, City Trams |
| Architecture | Red clay brick buildings interwoven with complex pipeworks |
| Color(s) | Violet and Yellow |
| Symbolism | A circular train track |
| Defenses | City garrison, War-trains, Dual action turrets |
# People Groups
| Group | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Workers | Social class | The common folk of the city. Metal workers, low-level artificers, warehouse workers, and things of the like. Few people in the city are of extreme poverty due to the highly available work. |
| Grand Artificers | Social class | The overseers of train related work within the city. These artificers, accredited by the academic institutions of Zol, are hired by guilds to lead workers in their day to day escapades. These individuals are considered of the highest social class. |
| Rail Merchants | Social class | Individuals who manage the business side of the rail trade. Writing invoices for repair, purchasing and selling raw material, and selling rail cars. These individuals belong to the middle and high class depending on their success. |
| The Iron Union | Workers Guild | The largest workers guild. Largely known to be backed by The Iron Mob. Known to be by the people and for the people. |
| The Artificers Guild | Workers Guild | A guild under the support of Kerketh Academy. Members must be accredited by one of Zol’s academic institutions. |
| The Merchants Guild | Workers Guild | A guild made up by nearly a quarter of the city’s merchants. Largely known to be backed by the Dragonkin Mob. |
| The Rail-works Guild | Workers Guild | A guild made up of common workers, skilled artificers, and merchants. It runs an educational institution for the purpose of training those who wish to enter the rail trade. While smaller in size this guild is quite influential as all conductors of The Iron Tracks are members to it. Known to be backed by the Volden Mob. |
| The Iron Mob | Criminal | Headed by Paros Dalth, a mean, no nonsense human man. This mob frequently employs members of the guild it backs, The Iron Union. This gives them the largest number of goons out of all the major mobs. |
| The Dragonkin Mob | Criminal | Headed by Astos Belkan, a proud and well dressed dragonborn man. This mob is the richest of its peers due to its backing of The Merchants Guild, giving them the highest quality of resources. |
| The Volden Mob | Criminal | Headed by Vellen Volden, a seemingly scatterbrained and silly artificer who is swift and brutal when it comes to running her mob. This mob has the most loyal and almost cult-like following as many members of its backed institution, The Rail-workers Academy are recruited into the mob during their education. |
| Small-time Mobs | Criminal | Around 2 dozen mobs of varying sizes that frequently rise and fall similar to a feudal system. |
# Goods and Services
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Brick Keep | Keep | They city’s keep |
| Rails Convergence | Teleportation Circle | The city’s main teleportation circle |
| Rails Station | Train Station | The city’s train station. Uniquely located within the city’s walls |
| The Foundry | Guild | Headquarters to The Artificers Guild. Owned by Kerketh Academy. Located between Trackmaker Lot and the Upper Ward. |
| The House of Iron | Guild | Headquarters to The Iron Union. Located in Trackmaker Lot. |
| The Rail-workers Academy | Guild | Headquarters to The Rail-workers Guild. Located in the northmost end of Trackmaker Lot. |
| The Coin Coupling | Guild/Wine House | Upscale Winehouse and central meeting place for The Merchants Guild. |
| Trackmaker Square | Market | The city’s hub of train related trade. |
| The Honeysquare Markets | Market | Markets interspersed all throughout the Honeysquare district. Home to trade not directly involving Trains. |
| Meadwalk | Market | The Tavern District, and neutral ground between mobs where fighting is not allowed. |
| The Iron Spike | Tavern | A large tavern associated with The Iron Union. |
| Staggers | Tavern | A small tavern associated with the Artificers guild. |
| The Hardened Tooth | Tavern | A medium sized tavern associated with the Dragonkin Mob. |
| The Needed Rest | Tavern | A large tavern associated with the Rail-workers guild |
| Rick’s Magical Imports | Magic Shop | A magical emporium run by the mild-mannered Rick Latia, a middle aged, dark skinned, human man. |
| The Tramway | Misc. | A system of small train like cars that move citizens all about the city free of charge. |
| The Yard | Misc. | Located in central Trackmaker Lot, The Yard is the hub of train manufacturing and repair. |
# Authority
The city is overseen by the Alderian Seat Grand Artificer Janeesa Query. A tall and proud human woman, fairly young for an Alderian Seat. She, her nobility, and her garrison keep a general appearance of order to the city, despite the heavy mob presence. This is because the mobs themselves hold each other at knifepoint.
Soon after the origin of The Iron Tracks, crime surged in the city. This continued for a few decades of chaos as profitability of The Iron Tracks grew. Eventually it reached a point where some criminal organizations that backed legitimate trade were able to become wealthy. Enough so that they were able to dig in with a sense of permanency and order.
When this occurred bloodshed between mobs and the garrison changed from frequent, chaotic and brutal, to well-planned, swift, and impactful events. Mobs have to tread carefully as to not being wars between them. This makes Rails a strangely ordered city, despite the massive criminal network.
# Laws
The city subscribes to the Alderian Laws.
# Modern Importance
Rails is Zol’s eastern hub of all things related to The Iron Tracks. This is because the original development of the tracks began within this city. It became a hub of skill, and commerce for the trade. Other city’s attempted to begin their own versions of this trade, but nearly all merchants and craftsmen all flocked to Rails as it was much more profitable. The only other comparable city is the western city of Ryze in Laenwalde.
This pattern over time has developed a methodology for Trains. All planned routes of trains over time are planned to pass through Rails and Ryze. When they arrive maintenance and improvements are done before they are sent on another planned route. Because of this, if a train car has an issue far from one of the cities, it is usually abandoned.
Since most land based shipping occurs via train, Rails is also a hub for criminal smuggling.
# Historical Importance
They city’s name Rails was originally pronounced Ra-ee-liss, but after the creation of The Iron Tracks, foreigners mispronounced the name due to the rails which Trains move upon. The misattributed name sake stuck.