Alent (city)

This article is about the city of Alent in the Third Age. For other uses, see Alent.

Alent
Geographic Information
Alternative name(s)	City of Mages
Type	Settlement
Region	Central Libaterra
Size	Metropolis
Societal Information
Language(s)	Common
Race(s)	Humans Elves Dwarves Demons
Ethnic group(s)	Sarquil (1017 AE) Desert Elves (1017 AE)
Political Information
Government	Magocracy
Ruler(s)	Archmage Jemuel Council of Mages
Faction(s)	Anti Mage Police Dwarven Triad Magicracy of Alent Nightstalkers Order of the Black Rose Shadowstrike Sultanate of Karaganda Totenkopfs Union Workers
Historical Information
Age	Third Age
Established	1006 AE
Abolished	1017 AE
Predecessor	Lutherin
Successor	Imperial City

Alent, previously known as Lutherin, was a grand city located at the heart of Libaterra in the Third Age. It served as the seat of power for Archmage Jemuel and was the base of operations for the Magicracy of Alent which had named the city after an ancient kingdom with the same name. The city consisted of a mix of new buildings and old ruins which had risen from the ground in an earthquake, because the Reactor Core Explosion damaged the city heavily during the Great War. Alent was destroyed during the Battle of Alent at the end of the Second Great War when the Beacon of Alent caused a magical chain reaction known as the Catastrophe. The ruins of the city that were left behind on a small magically irradiated island became known as the Anomaly in the Fourth Age while the Imperial City, capital of the Andarian Empire, was built near the irradiated ruins.

History

Rise of Alent

"She always hated seeing the city in its current state, such a disturbing amalgamation of the familiar and alien, Lutherin landmarks crumbling away next to pristine Alent towers."

—Axikasha Keiran about Alent

Years before the Cataclysm, the city was named Lutherin. It served as the capital of the Locken Loyalists who supported the Locken Dynasty which ruled Libaterra until the end of the Libaterran Civil War and the subsequent Yamatian Invasion when the last known monarch, Queen Shyla Locken, went missing. After the Reactor Core Explosion damaged the city and made the ancient ruins of the Kingdom of Alent rise to the surface, the city turned into a mix of ancient buildings and newer buildings.

Jemuel and his cadre of mages took over Lutherin in the chaotic aftermath of the explosion and renamed it Alent to honour the ancient Alentian kingdom and its ideals of the greatness of humanity and pursuit of knowledge. After securing the city, the mages rebuilt parts of it and added towers and forges to the cityscape. The former House of Valour, the Locken Dynasty's ancient seat of power, was turned into a brothel, the Garden of Earthly Delights, to send a strong message to any remaining Loyalist that the old Dynasty's days had finally come to an end and that the magicracy had come to stay.

The City of Alent, the heart of what has become known as the Magicracy of Alent, has been expanding its territories steadily since the Cataclysm. New houses and towers are constantly being built in the city to accomodate more travellers and those who wish to settle in and follow the mages' pursuit of knowledge. The city received Sarquil refugees in the aftermath of the Second Battle of Vanna in the summer of 1017 AE. The arrival of the refugees was followed by the Alent Gang War when several criminal guilds in the city began a play for power, and the clash led to heavy involvement from the Anti Mage Police which tried to restore peace to the city's streets.

Fall of Alent

See: Anomaly

By the autumn of 1017 AE, Alent ended up witnessing growing unrest among its citizens. The unrest culminated in the devastating Threshold Riot in the East Side, pitting Alentians, Sarquil immigrants of the Sarquil Downs, and demons of the Threshold district against one another. Although the riot was ended violently, and the Alentians led the Raid on the Den of Chaos to wipe out the rebelling Threshold demons, the rebellions had left the city weakened by the time both the Crimson Coalition and the Northern Horde assaulted the city in a three-way battle known as the Battle of Alent.

The battle for Alent lasted for several weeks until it came to an abrupt end when the Beacon of Alent suddenly caused a magical chain reaction which destroyed the city and left behind only a small island with ruins irradiated by magic that became known as the Anomaly by the time of the Fourth Age.

Cityscape

Etemenanki

Alent during the Threshold Riot.

At the very centre of Alent stood a grand ziggurat called Etemenanki, also known as the Temple of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth, which separated the four Great Districts from one another. The temple was larger and taller than any other building in the city, and a beacon of pure magic, known as the Beacon of Alent, shot up into the sky through its throne room.

According to hearsay the Beacon first appeared after the Reactor Core Explosion, was a visible after effect of the explosion and had remained active because the mages couldn't find a way to shut it down without obliterating the city. However, those who spread such rumours knew not to spread them to any influential mages whose egos wouldn't appreciate such unsavory remarks about their lack of competence in dealing with such a magical phenomenon.

There was a security checkpoint before the ziggurat's throne room, and elite guards stood there ever vigilant with their magical crystal spears. The throne room itself was rather barren, but it did have a throne and an intricately carved map of the world on the floor next to the throne.

Within the ziggurat near the throne room was the Lyceum, a large circular chamber with several podiums and tables, where the Council of Mages met to have formal debates on matters related to magic, administration and warfare.

Etemenanki also held high security jail cells on its highest floor as well as in some of the lower floors. The lower level cells were reserved for dangerous criminals whereas the higher level cells were for political prisoners holding a noble title of some sort.

The lowest levels of the ziggurat housed the cryo chambers which had six floors and hundreds of rooms where bodies of the deceased were preserved in freezing magic fields for further study. The walls of the chambers were white and have crimson pictograms depicting lizard folk sacrificing hearts to a glowing figure. The chambers were rumoured to be the very chambers where the Sirithai were sleeping in before the Cataclysm woke them up.

Four Great Districts

In addition to the city centre where Etemenanki was located in, Alent also had what were known as the Four Great Districts surrounding the central ziggurat from all cardinal directions. These Four Great Districts were named North Side, East Side, South Side and West Side.

North Side

The North Side had the mage quarters. The cityscape in that area was dominated by a multitude of impressive mage towers. Apart from North Side proper, the district also has two sub-districts known as the Northeast Side and the Northwest Side.

Northeast

"The truth is that the only real darkness in this place is the darkness you bring in it yourself. Every sin, every repressed memory, every stray fear and blind rage. Everything people want to ignore about themselves. What's in here was always there, it's just a bit more...insistent in its existence in Threshold."

—Javan al-Kassis about Threshold

The Northeast Side, commonly known as Threshold, lay between the wealthy North Side and the poor East Side and acted as a clear marker separating the two from one another. The district had labyrinthine alleys, shacks and an almost oppressive aura of magic. The aura tended to drive most trespassers either suicidal or insane as the denizens' magic accesseed the trespassers' memories and twisted them into perversions of themselves.

In the middle of the Threshold lay an ancient, crumbling Alentian tower which had survived from the First Age and which had emerged from the ground along with other old buildings after the Reactor Core Explosion. Most Alentians avoided the Threshold due to its ominous reputation and its eerie inhabitants who were actually demons in disguise who had hidden themselves from other Alentians in order to not cause panic. The Thresholders were led by Jahi Gallu, a higher demon who was an old acquaintance of the founding members of Alent and whose people had helped contain the Reactor Core Explosion which had once engulfed Lutherin.

The Thresholders' true nature was made known to the rest of the Alentian populace in 1017 AE, which led to the Threshold Riot when the Sarquil refugees attacked the demons who retaliated and forced Alentians to intervene.

Northwest

The Northwest Side, located on the border between the North Side's mage quarters and the West Side's mercantile quarters, had many inns and eateries (including the likes of the Scholarly Chef and the Bookworm's Inn). It also housed the city's brothels. The most notable brothel was the Garden of Earthly Delights, a white manor which used to be the House of Valour, the former seat of power for the overthrown Locken Monarchy.

East Side

The East Side had barracks, Anti Mage Police headquarters, some farms and homes of the lower class. It was largely underdeveloped and more open than the rest of the city. The Sarquil refugees settled into one of its ethnic subdistricts, informally known as the Sarquil Downs, after the Second Battle of Vanna.

South Side

The South Side had the engineer's quarter, and it was dominated by several large, nondescript buildings with very high security. It also housed Alent's airship armada which was under construction within the grand engineering halls.

West Side

The West Side had the mercantile district, the forges and the docks. It had a busy market with many exotic items brought from the far corners of the Libaterran continent. Many festivals, most notably the Feast of Paedün, were held in the city square located in this district.

Landmarks

• Anti Mage Police Headquarters - located in the East Side
• Catacombs - ancient passageways underneath Alent
• Engineer's Quarter - a high-security facility and factory located in the South Side
• Etemenanki - a grand ziggurat in the very centre of Alent which acted as the seat of power for the Council of Mages, dividing the city into the Four Great Districts
• Garden of Earthly Delights - the former House of Valour which had been turned into a high-class brothel after the Reactor Core Explosion
• Matron's Tower - a crumbling, ancient tower located in the middle of the Threshold district in the Northeast Side
• Scholarly Chef - an inn secretly financed by the Union Workers located in the Northwest Side

Miscellaneous

The Anti Mage Police patrolled the streets to keep things in relative order among the mages. They possessed great magical powers with which they could subdue even the strongest mages if needed. They could even arrest councillors if they had enough evidence for his or her crimes although this rarely happened.

After the creation of the sound-suppressor spell, Alent had become eerily quiet at sunset. Not to mention that the city's black mages had decimated the Alentian rooster population long ago.

See also

• Alent (nation)
• Alent Gang War
• Anomaly
• Anti Mage Police
• Battle of Alent
• Beacon of Alent
• Catastrophe
• Lutherin
• Magicracy of Alent
• Raid on the Den of Chaos
• Reactor Core Explosion
• Threshold Riot
• World Map (Godslayer Era)