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--- geography:settlement:piam [2025/10/15 21:29] – external edit 127.0.0.1
+++ geography:settlement:piam [2025/11/23 11:19] (current) – patrigan
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 {{page>templates:infobox:settlement}}
-Piam, the white city. Built from white rocks carved from the bottom of the mountain range surrounding the [[geography:Blankwi Basin]]
+Piam is a radiant oasis-city built from pure white stone in the heart of the [[geography:blankwi_basin|Blankwi Basin]]. Founded by [[pantheon:deity:calli|Calli]], Sage of Sun, Wind, Loyalty, Knowledge, Darkness, and Protection, Piam represents freedom, artistic expression, wild beauty, and above all communal respect. Every soul is welcome here.
-==== Background ====
+The city gleams like a beacon against the desert sands — a blank canvas the people paint with spiraling banners, colored glass ornaments, and the music carried on endless winds.
+===== Background =====
+==== Founding and Legends ====
+Calli, the most loyal and calm of the Seven Sages, was said to wander the desert as a sandstorm with eyes — eyes that always turned away, shielding mortals from her true form. She arrived in the Blankwi Basin guided by her close companion [[pantheon:deity:guaar|Guaar]], Sage of Water, who revealed the underground lakes beneath the sands.
+Calli vowed to create life here, just as her “elder sister” [[pantheon:deity:arbia|Arbia]] had grown forests in Iaras. She shaped the basin, drew windpaths through the stone, and with Guaar’s help opened the aquifers that would sustain her new city.
+Piam grew around the oasis she revealed — a testament to endurance, beauty, and the belief that all people, no matter their origin, deserve a place to belong.
+==== Architecture ====
+Piam’s architecture resembles a desert Santorini:
+  * structures carved from bright white stone
+  * wind-channels carved into rooftops
+  * domes tinted pale green
+  * openings everywhere to let cooling breezes flow
+  * minimal glass (to allow airflow), but where used, it shines with brilliant color
+The city rises in tiers toward the **Upper Oasis**, an elevated garden fed by hidden water channels. The eight outer walls of Piam each hold a gate, forming the city’s circular protective structure.
+The underground level is just as important. Below the city lie vast aquifers: cavern-lakes filled with coral, crystal, singing stone, and ancient ruins. Each aquifer has its own culture and inhabitants.
+===== Culture and Faith =====
+Piam’s people are known for their expressive creativity and fierce mutual respect. Racism, arrogance, and cruelty are strongly condemned. While competition is common — especially in arts, performance, and martial skill — it is always paired with communal support.
+Music is a spiritual act.
+It is communication, memory, ritual, and magic.
+Though instruments are more common than pure voice magic, the winds themselves carry song, making Piam feel alive with shifting melodies.
+Worship of Calli is central:
+  * The sun creates the shadows — darkness is simply light’s echo
+  * Endurance is a virtue
+  * Loyalty is a sacred promise
+  * Knowledge is a guardian of freedom
+The city welcomes all other deities, with shrines to Arbia, Ignor, Loumos, Guaar, and more.
+=== Festivals and Traditions ===
+**Festival of Singing Winds (Mid Winter):**
+A massive multi-stage concert held just outside the city walls. Artists and travelers fill the desert with music, while Piam’s galleries unveil their finest artwork.
+**Blessing of the Sunstone (Mid Summer):**
+In the central plaza stands the **Great Sunstone**, a massive crystal absorbing sunlight year-round. Its outer layers are chipped away in ritual, distributing powerful enchanted fragments to the city, honored citizens, factions, and chosen travelers.
+This ritual renews the protective **Sunstone Barrier**, which shields Piam from elementals, Wild Colossi, and lethal sandstorms.
+=== Local Customs and Etiquette ===
+A unique formal greeting is intentionally left undefined for player choice.
+Other customs include:
+  * respecting stillness during strong winds — a sacred moment to Calli
+  * offering water freely to those in need
+  * avoiding loud conflicts in public squares
+  * reverence for singers, defenders, and scholars
+===== Government and Power =====
+==== Sage Rule ====
+Piam has been under martial rule since a long-ago incident with the [[organisation:faction:shadows_of_spefur|Shadows of Spefur]]. The Sage holds primary authority, supported by:
+  * **The Order of the Sages** — guardians of law, desert rangers, and water protectors
+  * **The Beholders** — scholars who guard ancient ruins and maintain magical security
+  * **The Windriders** — scouts and rumor-gatherers riding trained desert beasts
+Sage **Aleto of the Whitemane**, a Katari Leonin, rules with strict discipline and great humility.
+==== Sage Selection ====
+Candidates must survive the **Trial of the Desert**, a brutal endurance test submitted by the Beholders, the Windriders, and the Order.
+They traverse the desert with minimal supplies while assaulted by magic from afar.
+Many perish; the survivors earn the right to be Sage.
+===== Economy and Trade =====
+==== Exports ====
+  * Legendary colored glass (world-famous)
+  * White stone
+  * Desert dyes and powdered pigments
+  * Sunstone fragments
+  * Crystal from aquifer walls
+  * Water-brewed wines
+  * Desert spices and perfumed oils
+==== Imports ====
+  * Metal (from [[geography:settlement:rudiana|Rudiana]])
+  * Wood (from [[geography:settlement:iaras|Iaras]])
+  * Food (mostly from [[geography:settlement:kalzendil|Kalzendil]])
+  * Arcane tools (from [[geography:settlement:rurua|Rurua]])
+  * Illicit goods traded with [[geography:settlement:borunoa|Borunoa]]
+===== City Relations =====
+**Kalzendil:** deeply respected, major food supplier
+**Rudiana:** close ally, imports white stone & ores
+**Iaras:** good relations; Piam attempts reforestation aid
+**Rurua:** strong arcane partnership (Beholders active in both cities)
+**Toru:** trusted maritime ally
+**Borunoa:** dangerous trading partner; careful diplomacy
+**Tractas:** welcomed when near the basin’s entrance
+===== Geography =====
+The [[geography:blankwi_basin|Blankwi Basin]] is filled with ancient ruins, shattered boats from a lost lake, shifting dunes, and elemental dangers. Long ago, the basin was a massive lake at the heart of an advanced civilization using steampunk-like technology. A catastrophic explosion shattered the mountain rim, draining the lake into the sea.
+Piam was built atop these ruins — some still buried and active.
+==== Climate and Environment ====
+  * Extremely warm desert climate
+  * Strong, constant winds
+  * Cool interiors due to white stone and airflow design
+  * Underground areas are temperate and humid
+  * Elementals, Wild Colossi, scorpions, sand-spirits, and ruins litter the region
+  * Nomads rarely travel here except when Tractas passes the basin entrance
+==== Travel and Access ====
+Travel is hazardous due to elementals, shifting sands, and ruins. Access routes include:
+  * Eight city gates in the outer walls
+  * Windrider patrol paths
+  * Desert runner routes
+  * Narrow canyon roads carved through ancient stone
+The Sunstone Barrier protects Piam from the worst of the desert’s wrath.
+Piam endures as a city of light, wind, song, and unity — a place where creativity and loyalty shine as brightly as the desert sun.
+===== Notable People =====
+{{page>templates:list:notable_character}}
 ==== Notable Features ====
@@ Line 11: / Line 137: @@
 A headquarters for [[organisation:faction:the_beholders|The Beholders]]. The tallest building in Piam.
 === The Salted Stirge ===
-A local inn, the PCs have spent a lot of time here.
+A local inn.
+{{page>templates:list:sublocation}}
 ---- struct data ----
-metadata.blurb       :
+metadata.blurb       : The Great City in the barren Desert.
-metadata.tags        : Great City
+metadata.tags        : great_city
 location.area        : Blankwi Basin
 settlement.type      : Great City
-settlement.primary_demographic :
+settlement.leader    : Aleto of the Whitemane
+settlement.government : Martial Sage Rule (Meritocratic)
+settlement.primary_demographic : Beastkin (Katari, Faun), Humans, Elves, Coralfolk, Others
+settlement.alias     : The White City, Oasis of Winds, Calli’s Refuge
+settlement.touchstones : Santorini, Silk Road Oases, Arcane Desert Cities
 ----

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