Description
Architecture
The city is a remarkable, vast and intricate work of entwined styles. Constructed of various types of stone, most of which gray and white. The entire city is constructed with the elves’ affinity for nature in mind, with abundant and sometimes even dense vegetation abounding, and an elaborate aquatic system fed from the waterfall that runs through the city. The city is made up of grand structures both short and tall, and there are even several spires that stand tall from each tier of the city.
The city, built upon a steep mountainside, rises along with it and, having been both carved into the mountain and bolstered from excavations deep into it, each tier of the city is vast on their own. Each tier was ringed with its own formidable wall, complete with gatehouses, turrets, and towers. It truly proves itself as both a city of luxury and a fortress all in one.
Visible from the encompassing valley, the city is set against a mountain, and the water falls and finds its way alongside and through the city. Cresting out and around the southern face of the city from the mountains at the north is a tremendous stone wall several stories high, with two smaller gates, and one large gate, all built of stone, etched with luminescent markings and hung by some unseen force. Not visible until venturing far into the city and up onto the upper tiers are large entrances into the face of the mountain, all adorned beautifully with the same markings as the city's outer gates.
Long corridors stretch deep into the rockface until an enormous chamber is revealed, which is known as the Under City. It is marvellously carved out complete with roadways, paths, and dwellings and other structures carved right out of the rock itself. Another underground system exists behind and beneath the Temple. At its depths therein are the Conclave’s grand archive, sealed to all save for the Conclave themselves or those given explicit permission. This section of the city is the most exclusive location there is, and many have gone their entire lives without ever seeing it.
Points of Interest
City Square
Entering the city through the main gates, one comes to a wide-open square with a carefully laid stone under foot. At centre stands a grand, ascending fountain, and all-around stand buildings of stone decorated with vine and leaf. Though from either of Sharyrdaes’ other two gates would lead to the same place, this would be only after passing by many tall homes. At one time this square could be found in a bustle of activity, with shopfronts dotted here and there and even more than a couple taverns for any travellers, who were once a plenty. At one time the sun shone here.
Now, in the wake of the eventide, it is desolate and broken, like much of Sharyrdaes.
The Under City
Only after traversing far into and up onto the higher levels of Sharyrdaes is the Under City made accessible. Entering in through one of two archways fit for giants and traversing down wide and tall corridors, after a short while one comes to a vast chamber. Therein can be seen a series of levels both ascending and descending, and carved into the rock’s very face round about there were made dwellings, whose interiors were made to mirror those structures built outside in the open. At the great chamber’s centre there was yet a tall and wide pillar of stone which stretched from the distant bottom to the ceiling above, and within this too were made structures.
At the Under City’s floor is the under city square, which is illuminated by four great
shards of the Shorai, all set in place by some unseen force.
The Temple Shorai
It is said that when the Patriarch discovered the Shorai, it stood proudly upon a great plateau that sprung out from the mountainside. It was in this place that he and his followers, whom he called Aerai, laid the foundations of their great temple, named after the great crystal itself, and then all Sharyrdaes.
The temple is an impossibly vast structure, both tall and wide. Of Sharyrdaes’ seven levels, the temple makes up much of the upper two. It is made up of first a singular, expansive structure, with several smaller (albeit not by much) portions built directly from that. At its rear, it marries into the rockface seamlessly and its interior carries on into underground construction both behind and beneath the temple.
The temple serves not only as a place of worship to the Celestial Pantheon, whom the Aerai observe, but it serves also as a place to visit and dwell with the heart of the Shorai. More than this, the temple also serves as the home of the council and the Conclave, and it is here matters of state are decided. While at one time the council met in the enormous and tall tower that once stood from the temple’s peak, this tower now lies in ruins, strewn across Sharyrdaes as rubble upon where it had come crashing down. The council now convenes in a great chamber beneath the temple.
The Shorai
Aeraesar’s most hallowed artifact, the Shorai is nestled deeply within the safety of Sharyrdaes’ temple. Though to outsiders it would have perhaps little use as anything other than a wonder, to the Aerai it is a most sacred thing to be cherished, respected, and cared for with admiration.
The Archive
The Archive is a place lost to the Aerai, the memory of it having been stolen away. Unbeknownst to them, its place is deep beneath the temple, sealed away by some dark force.
The Aerai of today speak of their Archive, but mistake this for the respectably vast library they retain access to. While this library is a font of great knowledge, it is nothing compared to what is hidden from them.
