Fissival

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Fissival
Ruler
Fissival's Three
Location
Izril
Inhabitants
Drakes, Humans
Affiliation
Drakes

Fissival, also known as the City of Magic and the City of Incantations, is one of the six Walled Cities of Izril.

Overview[edit | edit source]

Coat of Arms for Fissival in tower shield format, by Enyavar

Fissival prides itself in having the best magical academy of all Drakes, and is considered the most powerful among the Walled Cities with regards to anything magical. This focus shouldn't detract from the fact that as a Walled City, it offers its residents more than just magic. The non-magical libraries are possibly the most complete of all Drake cities, making Fissival also a center of non-magical academics, and the researchers of Oteslia often send Fissival requests for in-depth research from its libraries. They also offer education for [Scholars] there.[1] Fissival has a large minority population of Humans, perhaps the highest in the south, and has more non-Drakes than any other city in southern Izril save for Oteslia and Zeres.[2]

In military-minded Manus, Fissival is regarded as the weakest of the six Walled Cities, however... this doesn't stop Manus from still buying the finest Fissival magics.[3] Fissival can project a protective dome to cover the entire city.[4]

Geography[edit | edit source]

Fissival is in the eastern part of Southern Izril, at the far edge of the south-eastern coast. It is on top of a massive plateau bordering the ocean.[2] There are cities with a somewhat powerful military nearby, like Grailhess and Veish.[1]

Layout[edit | edit source]

The city of Fissival can levitate. Before, it could fly higher and even be transported in times of need. However, because the control mechanisms and most of the spells are defunct, it can only hover half an inch off the ground in the modern era.[2] Underneath the dais is mural of a Lung Dragon, with Drakes and some Gnolls riding on its back, chasing or flying with a white-scaled Dragon blowing her frost breath across distant cities. The cities have crest of other Walled Cities, some of which are gone and one has even been deliberately chiselled off.[4]

It has a series of mage-towers and checkpoints leading to the city proper. Those ancient towers, decorated with carved jade, colourful stone and old dragon motifs, can reach sixty feet in height and swivel to target threats. Each 'eye' on the dragons are gemstones that can project tier 5 spells. They are thought-controlled by tower-commanders upon a jade centrepiece. Some of the Dragons depicted are Lung Dragons.[2]

The opening of the city has gently-slopping walls that form the base of the entrance plaza, gently rising in a circle to thirty feet in height.

The buildings within seem shorter than in the other Walled Cities and have domed roofs. It has more Mage's Guilds than any other city. This may be because Fissival has the most space out of the Walled Cities, and thus less need for elevation.

The city's Grand Plazas have gates demarcating them from the rest of the city, and a huge four-faced sun-clock anchored to a central fixture at the center. They use Grand Spells that siphon a bit of magic from those in the vast spell circle to grant them enchantments at certain times of the day. The more people are present, the longer lasting and more efficacious the spell. The Bliss Plaza activates at noon and Strength Plaza activates at ten, before most labour-intensive jobs start. There used to be a Plaza for every hour of the day, but some failed and are no longer in use.[2]

In the heart of the city is the sprawling complex of the Draconae Scholarium. It is an inner city in its own right, possibly larger than Liscor, with high-elevation walkways like Wistram and Salazsar. Some of its towers are truly magical, like one covered in glass, odd half-spheres of crystal and an entirely cylindrical top that might be the largest scrying orb in existence.[2]

Grand Librarium[edit | edit source]

Fissival's Grand Librarium is located within the city's floating dais, making up its entire belowgrounds and stretching across the city. It is so vast that it is also used as a subway to travel. The entrances have huge spiral staircases large enough for six people to use shoulder-to-shoulder, and long slopping ramps. Descending into the entrances leads to an immense circular rooms. Spiral bookcases follow the patrons down to pick up or return books. Staircases head past forty-feet tall bookcases, and little crystals create temporary floors of light to the books. There are bathrooms placed on the outer layer of bookshelves, so that burst pipes wouldn't endanger the books. The Librarium also has public spellbooks, where giant spellbooks are displayed behind glass, allowing citizens to freely learn the spell before the page is changed the next day.[2] It and Fissival's base were made from a destroyed Dragonthrone.[5]

The Librarium has a problem with silverfish, which grow larger from the magic. Some [Librarians] live there and never leave. The greatest librarian is the Djinni Heorth.[2]

Society[edit | edit source]

Citizenship and Visitation[edit | edit source]

Fissival has three tiers of citizenship, with different rights and privileges: first, second, and third-class citizens. Non-Drakes cannot be born into First-Class citizenship and must have it granted for great merit. Third-Class Citizens are rare and are usually foreign students enrolled in Fissival or citizens of affiliated cities granted honorary citizenship.[2] Citizenship may be downgraded as a penalty for infractions of the law. Otherwise, Fissival prefers to exile its criminals instead of incarcerating them.[6]

Foreigners need to fill out paperwork to collect a visa to enter. Unless they're sponsored, they must apply for a visitor's permit in advance. Failure to leave the city before the visa's expiration results in a fine and expulsion from the city. The Foreigner's visa subjects the person to the same taxation standards as a Third-Class Citizen for the duration of their stay, and they cannot check out any books from the libraries.[2]

Magic[edit | edit source]

As a city devoted to magic and catering to magical needs, it trades more magical goods than Wistram and citizens often incorporate magic in their trade. Every citizen may learn magic, and its boast is that every citizen has a level in [Mage]. Every citizen is given ink and paper. Spells can be patented at the Scholarium.[2]

Trade and Taxation[edit | edit source]

Due to how many goods are sold in Fissival, sellers are heavily taxed on their profits unless they are First-Class Citizens or have a Trader's permit, which is expensive to maintain. Second-Class Citizens are taxed 15%, Third-Class and Foreigners without a license are taxed 30%. Products from Wistram or by Wistram mages also have a tariff.

Because of the high tariffs, Second-Class Citizens are granted a weekly supply of eight food cards, an ink pot and ten sheaves of parchment. Third-Class Citizens also get food cards. These are funded by the taxes. Lower-class citizens also trade goods under the pretext of giving gifts to avoid the steep taxes. Food cards are not traded, as they count as legal tender.[2]

Mage Academy[edit | edit source]

Fissival is home to the Draconae Scholarium of Fissival, the foremost magical academy among Drakes.[7] Drakes pride themselves that they don't have to rely on Wistram, which is traditionally still considered to provide a superior education to even Fissival, even factoring in the recent decline of Wistram under the Golem tutelage of Cognita. Other than Wistram, Fissival has never lost access to its vast spell libraries. Meanwhile, the "good old times" when Drakes would naturally prefer Fissival over Wistram, are probably wishful-thinking of the uneducated.[8]

Fissival makes good mages while Wistram makes great ones, but Fissival produces mage on a much wider scale.[2] There are classes devoted to learning such as [Students], [Teachers], and [Professors] at the Scholarium, which while unoptimal for levelling as a [Mage] makes them better at teaching magic. But despite its boast of having trained every class of [Mage] known to the world, it no longer trains [Blood Mages], [Necromancers], [Chronomancers], or [Shamans][4]

While there might be a bitter rivalry to be "the best" within the magical community, Fissival and Wistram are on good speaking terms, exchange mages and consult each other.[9]

Teleportation Network[edit | edit source]

Fissival's teleportation network was once used to connect all of the Walled Cities, and let them sent resources and reinforcements to one another. It is managed in the Teleportarium, below the Draconae Scholarium, which is also where the enchantments that permit Fissival to levitate are managed. It is a vast underground space filled with cargo docks and magical sending spaces. The network can reconfigure itself and has one of the most complete maps in the world, which includes Izril's new lands in perfect detail. The indicators on the map glow green for a ready delivery, red for a problem, and orange with a violet center for an abnormal status.[4]

When Fissival could fly, it could connect to every Drake City it had a direct line of sight with, increasing its range with altitude.[4] In the modern day, the network has degraded, only able to reach Salazsar and closer city states. Fissival gains 2% of the profits form the cities using its teleportation network.[10] One in forty-thousand deliveries go astray,[11] and goods transported through it sometimes overheat until they explode, had physics imparted on them in dangerous ways, or went missing, and so no one risked sending anything expensive or living through it anymore. The reasons for this degradation is due to Fissival refusing to maintain it during past quarrels until it could not be repaired,[12] Fissival no longer being able to fly on its own, and part of the network being repurposed to steal the magical potential of Gnolls.

Government[edit | edit source]

The ruling body of Fissival are Fissival's Three. They are the Draconae Magis, the Draconae Pricepe, and the Draconae Duxel. They oversee magic, governance, and war.[2]

Current Members:

  • Draconae Magis
  • Tierres - Draconae Pricepe(?)
  • Hexa - Draconae Duxel(?)

The Mage Lords and Ladies, and other high spellcasters of Fissival, wield equivalent power to human nobility. They rule from the Draconae Scholarium, and often convene in its largest courtyard.

Military[edit | edit source]

Fissival employs magic-heavy armies that rely on mage-barriers,[13] and are famous for engaging in long-range, magical combat.[2] Rechargeable sidearms in the form of wands are standard for Fissival soldiers.[14] However, they are less effective when engaged in melee combat.[2]

Having access to both siege construction and great magic, they employ siege weapons called Mage Throwers. They are shaped after catapults, ballistae, and other siege weapons but are designed to throw magic. Some don’t obey the laws of physics, and others behave like Drake siege weaponry but hurl magical firepower. Some are so strange as to be completely odd, like a wide, serrated turret that simply casts an enlarged [Razorwind Disc] and cuts anything in half for two hundred feet.[13]

Fissival is one of the only Walled Cities (alongside Manus) to have incorporated [Wyvern Riders] into its military.

3rd Army - Brigadoon Mages[15]

Residents[edit | edit source]

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • Manus and Fissival were the last Walled Cities to get their first mention in the Wandering Inn storyline, only revealed by name in Chapter 5.08.
  • Grimalkin graduated from Fissival[18]
  • While it has never been explicitly stated, the magical [Message] sending protocols that are set up to allow strategic consultations between the Walled Cities, are probably maintained by Fissival. These protocols are, by the way, secret and the exchanged messages are hard to obtain for even the highest-level outsiders.[19]
  • Sap Strings, syrup spread over a stick in various patterns and cooled with air-magic, are a local treat.[2]
  • Fissival has a celebration in the fall called Magician's First Eve, where magic is on full display.[4]
  • Tourists used to stick their fingers in Fissival's gap and pretended they were lifting the city. It is now prohibited by the Watch after too many people lost their fingers doing that.[4]
  • Six young Dragons or a full Dragon could lift Fissival up.[4]
  • Fissival's street food is considered mana-heavy, and is not liked by those that don’t need mana.[20]

References[edit | edit source]

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