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Zerburg
"City of Floating Factories"
The current Lady of Zerburg is human, not gnomish. The city is dominated by gnomes but also has a fair number of humans. Lady Ryriana the Righteous is a diviner and retired adventurer who is well known for her knowledge of alchemy and thus respected by many gnomes. Zerburg is a very unusual city to visit. It has three levels of buidings. The first level is a network of tunnels underground, the second is an odd-mixture of buildings on the surface, and the third is wooden-buildings floating in the air above the city, suspended using balloons filled with hydrogen. Unfortunately, sometimes these flying buildings crash and explode, as hydrogen is explosive. The floating structures are anchored to buildings below them and usually have rope ladders (sometimes bucket elevators) for transporting people or items. The gnomes in Zerburg have a strong interest in building things, although often they don't work as intended. There is always another gnome who has invented a 'new-and-improved flame-thrower', a new drill or tool for going through rock or some other strange gadget, weapon or tool. Such items aren't cheap (or that well made) but they are still sold alongside more conventional weaponry (and sold with fire-resistant pants). The bazaar in Zerburg is indeed bizarre as there are always new weird items for sale. Such is life in Zerburg. This is a city of alchemy factories (sometimes floating factories) that mass-produce acid (useful for dissolving stone) and other alchemical goodies. Any factories which handle explosives are fortunately required by law to be built underground in case of a disaster. The School of Illusions is one of the city's many floating buildings, except in its case it is made partially of shadow magic (making it lighter in weight and the illusion hides the ugly hydrogen balloon from sight). Most of the building is made from wood, but some illusionary parts of it appear to be made of stone and other materials, thanks to permanent shadow magic. The school is known for its many secret doorways. Elves and half-elves are not allowed in certain parts of the building because of their sharp hearing which can detect secret doors. Many gnomish illusionists study at this school and are familiar with its professors, layout, etc. Zerburg's best exports are actually fish and wood. Years ago a pair of now famous gnomes invented new ways of chopping down trees (it was originally supposed to be an automated statue carving machine) and ways of catching fish (it was supposed to be an ogre-catching machine). Other gnomes took those designs and have since improved and modified them. Needless to say, a gnomish fishing boat is actually quite scary looking. In the center of Zerburg is Zerburg keep, which is a very large dome-shaped castle with numerous entrances. This is perhaps the most dangerous place for a thief or intruder to step foot in. Its traps are legendary, deadly and nigh impenetrable. Some of its traps are reputedly quite embarrassing, which means they are not all deadly and people have been forced to turn back (and thus lived to tell the tale of how some gnomish trap grabbed them from behind, slicked them in tar and dropped them down a chute filled with feathers).
Cities and Towns of Korovia
Roknar ~ Shorin ~ Silekva ~ Sturvek ~ Sylvania ~ Toravek ~ Trollhaven ~ Tuirn ~ Weyvin ~ Yeksereannia ~ Zerburg
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