Skuld
Skuld, City of Shadows, City of Eternity, is the oldest surviving city in the Forgotten Realms, with the possible exception of Underhome, the dwarven city in the Great Rift. In nine years, the city will celebrate its 3500th anniversary. It boasts that in that time no invading army has ever breached its walls, and that no invading army ever will, for Mulhorand is eternal.
While it is generally agreed that Waterdeep is the most splendid city in the Realms, an inhabitant of Skuld would argue heatedly with that statement. The Skuldians say that no place in the Realms can match the grandeur of the City of the Gods, the great towers in which the manifestations of the gods are housed. This may be true, but the rest of Skuld is squalid and decrepit, especially by comparison to the inner city. Ancient homes with patchwork repairs line the city streets. The markets are small and cluttered in comparison with those of the northern cities; even the palaces of city officials are rundown. And, probably most damning of all, Skuld is not a cosmopolitan city. Elves, halflings, and gnomes are forbidden in its streets, unless they have a letter of entry issued by city bureaucrats or one of the temples.
Half-elves and dwarves may enter, but they may not bear weapons or armor unless a special (and expensive-ten gp and up) permit is issued by the city authorities. As most half-elves and dwarves who do enter Skuld come as part of mercenary companies, this is a good revenue-generating rule. Visitors to the city are confined to either of the two merchant's wards or the shipyards, and they may not enter the rest of the city. All wards are surrounded by high walls and heavy, well-guarded gates.
Trade comes in by sea or by the road to Maerlar. A low seawall serves as a break against tidal waves, natural or otherwise, and protects the city at a distance of three miles from shore. On the eastern side of the city, there is a large cluster of tenements that have built up around the walls. This is the slave section; though it's outside the main wall, it is considered to be part of the main city. Entering through the sea gate, there are two shipyards: the naval yard, which contains Skuld's fleet of 20 old and rotting ships, and the merchant yard. Seagoing traffic docks at the merchant yard. Visiting crews are housed in inns located near the docks; this is a rough-and-tumble place.
Licensed merchants may operate businesses and store cargo in the adjacent warehouse district. The warehouse district was once accessible by drawbridges over the River of Shadows, but that gate has long been closed. The merchant district contains shops, inns, moneychangers, and stores that supply adventurers, except for weapons and arms; only priests of Horus-Re or Osiris are allowed to sell weaponry. The eastern gate leads to the road to Maerlar. This is the most heavily guarded of the gates. A garrison of 500 mercenaries from Chessenta are housed between an outer and inner gate as a precaution. The greatest threat to Skuld, in the opinion of its leaders, comes from adventuring parties, not armies. Adventuring parties can find some inns and stables, but at inflated prices. This opens into the palace district, where the wealthy of Skuld live, and the palace itself, from which the vizier of Mulhorand and his bureaucrats rule the city and advise the pharaoh. To the south of the palace district is the crafts district, where goods are manufactured (often by licensed foreigners), and the eastern merchant ward, where more goods are bought and sold.
The central ward is the people's ward. Here more than 40,000 people are housed: 20,000 slaves (mostly slaves to the privileged) and 20,000 freemen. The dwellings can only be described as a sprawling slum, with a few dwellings preserving the distinctive decorative style of Old Mulhorand. There are temples and shops intermixed with the dwellings in this area. The temple of Osiris, on the southern wall adjacent to the merchant and warehouse districts, is the gateway to the catacombs, where the dead of the city are buried. A number of monsters are known to live in the catacombs and, most notably several families of werecrocodiles and rakshasas. The most impressive building is the twin temples of Horus-Re, whose huge pillars rise well above the surrounding houses. Between the temples is the gate to the City of the Gods, shaped in the symbol of Horus, and a large prayer tower from which the god-kings make pronouncements, usually once every century.
The god-kings dwell in huge towering palaces in the city where only priests may go. Each palace is an architectural marvel, built thousands of years ago by long-dead slaves. The tallest tower is that of fallen Re, where the corpse of his manifestation is entombed. A secret passage connects the palace of the pharaoh, incarnation of Horus-Re, with that of his manifestation, and here the incarnation comes for counsel. There are reputed to be arsenals of magic within this inner city.
Goods coming into the city are heavily taxed, unless the merchant is chartered by the god-king of Mulhorand, in which case his goods are exempt from taxes. The priests of Horus-Re control the charters and line their pockets with the moneys gained from them. Guards in the city are all mercenaries from Chessenta. They may not possess weapons or armor within the city unless they have a permit from the bureaucrats; they may not cast spells without permission from the temple of Thoth, which charges heavily to grant this right.
There are no establishments that cater to adventurers, though one can usually find work at taverns in the merchant district as a bodyguard or armed escort for caravans. It is possible to join the city guard, though one must swear total fealty to the god-king and his priests.
The punishment for crimes is often death by decapitation, performed publicly in front of the temple of Horus-Re. Capital crimes include murder, blasphemy, entering a forbidden area, lying to a priest of Horus-Re, assault against a priest, theft from a priest, cursing a priest, killing a slave without due cause, theft of a lord's property, entry onto a lord's estate without permission, and assault against a guard. There are trials, and sometimes the defendant can get off with forced expulsion from Skuld and a bane spell.
The city is supposed to be ruled by the vizier, the strong right hand of the pharaoh. In truth, the vizier is too busy to run the city, so its affairs are handled by a high-level priest of Horus-Re; it is not considered to be a very great honor. The current chief administrator of the city is Ceianre of the House of Horus. The captain of the guards is traditionally appointed by the priests of Anhur, but the priests of Horus-Re have usurped that function, giving it to Teldartham (8th-level fighter), a champion of the Horus-Re priesthood. The city itself has an unofficial brotherhood of guardians from the priesthoods of Anhur, Osiris, and Isis: its leader is believed to be Halcaunt (13th-level paladin), a worshiper of Osiris. This brotherhood believes that the cult of Set has a base somewhere in Skuld, from which it is conspiring to destroy Mulhorand. The Brotherhood of Skuld has made some contact with famous adventuring parties and personalities, most notably the Simbul.
Skuld has a total population of about 95,000.
