Architecturally, both artificially and naturally, the city
was widely considered to be one of the marvels of the world, and those that
didn’t quake before Sarnath’s rather sinister reputation certainly did when
confronted with their spectacular works.
The city itself is located upon the northeastern edge of Azand, at a near right angle of land with the
north and east sides facing sea, the north being sheer cliff and the east cliff
mountainous but tapering down to hills and eventually sea level. The south and
west parts of the city consisted of a massive hillside leading down to a plain
and the Bay of Sarnath.
The plain of the city was enclosed by a mighty wall befitting
the majesty of Sarnath, though like much of the city little of it remains
standing today. Beyond the walls one would find the one of the poorer sections
of town for here the menial free workers worked and lived and to the east lay
the bay and the associated rabble as well as the lower markets. To facilitate
the moving of materials to the higher city, an intricate system of elevators
existed in the eastern cliff face and the remains of the system can still be
seen today.
Further north at the beginning of the slope lay entrances to
the great mines of Sarnath, where it was said veins of any metal of worth could
be found and slaves lived and died without ever seeing the sun. So extensive
were the mines that an undercity existed below the hill of the city and its
plain and here were slave pens holding thousands upon thousands as well as a
whole other complete city for the poorest of the poor and the thieves and the
outlaws.
It is said that the richest of the rich also paid many
visits to the subterranean portions of Sarnath as it was also a place for
perversions that even the Forgotten Pantheon were said to frown upon. Though
impossible to determine for sure, especially since the doom and the collapse of
many of the tunnels, some scholars have guessed that the Undercity of Sarnath
may have consisted of more than a half the city itself.
Further up the hill lay the homes of the middle class,
merchants and artisans and further still near the top of the cliff were the
homes of the even wealthier merchants and their interests. As for the hill itself there was no exact
distinction between the lower, middle, and upper hill as they gradually ran
into one another, but of course, higher was better.
The Grand Square of Sarnath sat upon the flat cliff top and
there was the Low Fane of the Forgotten Pantheon, a cathedral where the rich
and the most devoted of the gods came to worship. Also in the Grand Square and
the surrounding areas were many manors and establishments for the exquisitely,
yet not unbelievably rich.
Those mundane geographical details were of course not what
made Sarnath the city of its age and perhaps any age.
That distinct honor belonged twofold, to the Abyssal Pillar
and the Bridge of the Ecclesiarch. The Abyssal Pillar, also called by many
other names before the rise of Sarnath, so named for the seemingly unnatural
deepness of the waters surrounding it, is a massive natural pillar of stone
rising from the sea about a mile north off the cliffs of Sarnath. The pillar’s
exact dimensions are impossible to determine with any degree of accuracy due to
the extreme depth of the waters surrounding it, but it is estimated that it
rises nearly a mile above the waves. None know how far it extends into the abyss.
Atop this pillar sat the Sarnathi seat of government, the
High Fane of the Forgotten Pantheon and the Palace of the Ecclesiarch. Though
now much of the pillar has collapsed into the sea, taking portions of the
palace with it, for centuries the pillar and the magnificent structures upon it
were undeniable proof of Sarnath’s power.
The now ruined, broken spires of the
palace were said to have risen beyond the clouds. The High Fane was said to
have been carved with the faces of their lost gods in exquisite, terrible and
larger than life detail. Now those marvels are gone, lost in the abyss some
say, yet others claim they can still be seen in the Bay of Statues of the much accursed
King Eater Island.
Perhaps even more majestic than the pillar itself was the
mile long bridge connecting it to the main land, the Bridge of the Ecclesiarch.
Before the creation of Sarnath there was said to be a natural arch of
impossible proportions connecting the pillar to cliffs, yet it was still too
small for the Sarnathi.
The massive arch was added to, tunneled into, and reinforced
both with engineering techniques that have not been seen since as well as an
untold number of enchantments until nothing of the original arch remained. Though
the pillar may have inspired with its natural might, the massive bridge truly
showed the power of Sarnath as it was men not gods who truly built it.
Upon the bridge lived the wealthiest of the wealthy and
their associated pleasures. Grand homes, lavish ballrooms, exclusive social
clubs and boutiques, though the slaves and oversees required to make all the extravagance
possible needed to commute as space on the bridge was far too exclusive to hold
mundanities such as servant quarters, excluding of course the much renowned brothels and their workers.
Here the men of power lived and sometimes ruled, though the
true seat of power still lay on the pillar itself. Sometimes these great men even
found the inner resolve to walk the full length of the bridge and make
their voices heard, though more likely it would be a slave making the walk for
them.
And now too the Bridge of the Ecclesiarch and all of its
wealth and decadence is lost to the Doom of Sarnath, a final tribute to the
paid to the Forgotten Pantheon and the abyss for which the pillar was named… [End
of Excerpt]
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