Apex Citadel

The first thing travellers notice when they arrive at the city, is the mountainspike which the city is named after on the wester part of the city. It's almost as if there's a building at the top, but nobody knows how to get there. Some say one of the gods reside there, watching the world, waiting for it to come to peace. Waiting for the world to earn back the presence of the gods. Others say one of the most powerful mages made the ground under his house rise up into the air, forming the apex. But until somebody finds a way to get to the top, they're all just rumors.

With the city reaching to the sea, the sound of the waves crashing into the cliffs and the sound of the waterfall of King's River is always to be heard when you find yourself in the eastern part of the city. The King's River, running through the city, is surprisingly pristine. It is said to be so clean because of all the beggars and low-life scum sifting through the river underneath Rivergate Bridge, looking for something valuable. Anything that's shiny can be sold in the slums, usually for something else shiny, but in some cases it can get you food. When it comes to the slums, in general whoever is born there, dies there.

The city is built between de spire and the sea, the noblemen living on top of a plateau against the spire. The barracks and facilities of the city guard and imperial, then royal, army can be found in the caves underneath the noble neighbourhoods. The soldiers and guards used to live in fortresses on top of the cliffs, but the noblemen didn't trust the people living in the caves underneath their houses. The king ordered the caves to be abandoned, those who didn't leave got arrested. They would later be used as slaves to excavate the caves and to build new buildings for the guards and soldiers. Those who didn't die because of the dangerous work, got executed when the building was done.

The now empty area on the cliffs was too small for all the evicted people to live, so those without a home started building their slums in the other caves, below Old Town and Rivergate. The king thought the beggars living under Old Town lived were too close to the South Market. Once again the caves were ordered to be abandoned and those who didn't leave got captured, used as slaves and executed.

The messenger sent to the caves underneath Rivergate never returned. The king waited for three days and lost his patience. And ordered half his army to clear out the caves, killing everybody they set eyes on.