Ostirmirk

"'It's Ostirmirk, baby! If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere! And if you can't make it here, try some of Nirt's Patented Fish Oil! Guaranteed to give you extra brain juices and make you smarter! Now for the low, low price of fifty gold!'""--Nirt, goblin salesman"Ostirmirk is the largest human-dominant city in northern Ascaria. An urban sprawl, the city is ran by the three dominant trading guilds, with order and peace kept between them as they work towards mutual profit.

Located on Ascaria's eastern coast, Ostirmirk is in a prime location for seafaring trade, with individual companies under the trade guilds maintaining contracts with as many nations overseas as they can. Importing as much raw material as they can while exporting everything from mercenaries to poetry, the city's culture has become a veritable melting pot, accepting and embracing all races and walks of life, with the only limitation being one's compliance with the local laws.

The Founding of Ostirmirk
Ostirmirk's origins are shrouded in mystery, with suspiciously little in terms of written records of its founding. The only surviving document details that the three trade guilds came together on what would become the city's central structure, guided there by their gods with the promise of prosperity. What started as a humble village became the tremendous city that now dominates trade throughout Akuhara.

By our modern calendar, according to this surviving document, Ostirmirk was officially founded on March 15. This date is known as Founder's Day, and has since been celebrated as a city-wide holiday, complete with a lavish annual festival.

The Trade Guilds
While Ostirmirk's economy is built on the backs of hundreds of individual companies, each of those companies are in turn licensed and overseen by one of three major trade guilds. Most of the city's major functions (from the postal service to the city guard) are operated and maintained by the trade guilds. Under certain circumstances, however, certain individuals may be expected to forswear guild loyalties in the interest of ensuring equality. Such instances include the creation of laws or pursuing a career in Ostirmirk's local religion.

The Blazing Fists
The Blazing Fists make up Ostirmirk's military division, a duty they tend to relish whenever they are deployed. Ostensibly, the Fists' primary duty is to that peace is maintained throughout Ostirmirk, and as such they provide the majority of the troops that serve in the city guard, while also preparing and training their own private military to ensure that the city is prepared to survive in the event of a war with another nation.

While Ostirmirk's laws prohibit direct military action or intervention in the rest of the world, the Blazing Fists are known to supply the highest bidder with mercenary troops. Those who find success in such tours of duty are often promoted and given command of a small squad. From there, they may pursue any number of positions within the guild's hierarchy. Some choose to become seasoned drill sergeants at the guild's barracks, while others may pursue a career seeking out criminals with the city guard.

The Blazing Fists' current commander is Torgrim, a massive steel golem who takes a no-nonsense approach to military strategy and has little patience for sitting behind a desk. While there are some who would call him cold, none would dare call him cruel, for he values the lives of his troops beyond perhaps even his own. Rumor has it he was present at the founding of Ostirmirk, but he claims he was built long after such an event.

The Marble Hearts
The Marble Hearts house some of the most skilled craftsmen and artists in all of Ascaria, and they know it. If it exists, they can duplicate it, and if it doesn't exist, rest assured that, if given a week and the proper materials (or inspiration), they will make it exist.

While the guild's ability to produce weapons and armor is enough to scrape by, the Marble Hearts are far better known for their ingenuity. The Hearts are always pushing the boundaries of clockwork science, and many of the higher-ranking officials in the guild have their estates patrolled by ticking automatons. Aside from engineering, the guild is also a stalwart patron of the arts, with many writers and painters seeking sponsorship from the higher-ups to complete their latest Edda or ode.

The Marble Hearts are currently overseen by Larissa of Ostirmirk, a human woman who loves nothing more than a good poem. She spends much of her days compiling her works into collections, changing her mind, reorganizing her works, and then repeating the process. In the event that she actually manages to settle on a singular work and ship it off to her publishers, it is a virtual guarantee that it will be a bestseller.

The Lidless Eyes
Where the Fists may enforce and the Hearts may create, the Lidless Eyes act as the organizers and discoverers of Ostirmirk. Tireless in their quest to categorize and uncover more information about the world around them, the Lidless Eyes are masters of influence and subterfuge, walking a delicate line between what the public sees and what goes on behind closed doors.

On the surface, the Eyes serve in various auxiliary positions within the other guilds while also providing certain public services. They are expert record-keepers and librarians, and their ability to deliver messages quickly and quietly is second to none. However, beyond that lies a hidden superstructure, a guild that traffics information and spies all over the world, with agents embedded into governments as far as Arakujii or as close as the Eyes' sibling guilds, always watching and always reporting.

Rumor has it that the Eyes are overseen by a shapeshifter who goes by the name of Mr. Pun. Those who speak of him mention that he is very rarely ever seen in-person, choosing to act through underlings and magical projections. However, given his supposed mastery over certain memory magics, it's often hard to tell when one actually has come into contact with him, or even who is secretly a sleeper agent for the Eyes.

Religion
The people of Ostirmirk are not particularly devout, and lack any particular religious holidays. That being said, it's often commonplace for people, from the lowly dock workers to the highest CEOs, to pay their respects to the ten gods and goddesses of Ostirmirk's local pantheon before undertaking a major project, lest their fickle whims doom them to a regrettable fate. At the same time, each guild chooses to officially donate the exact same amount as the other two to the local temples, out of fear of appearing to sway the gods' to their side and being cursed with terrible fortune in return. It's also considered immensely disrespectful to become a priest of a god/goddess while still maintaining guild affiliations, meaning that when someone chooses to become a priest, they must first forswear all former loyalties to the guild they once served.

The Gods
The gods of Ostirmirk are as follows:
 * Acobi, the Chastened Maid, goddess of oath and abandon. "No one bound the Chastened Maid save for Herself. Her shackles are Her own Design."
 * Garmuth, the Crippled Duke, the god of purpose and folly. "Despite His lack of senses, the Crippled Duke gives council to the humble and the wise."
 * Hense, the Veiled Widow, goddess of pain and pleasure. "They say the Veiled Widow is smiling beneath Her robes, Her body all scratches and scars."
 * Lemaign, the Mason King, god of hope and despair. "Before each battle, soldiers prayed that the Mason King grant them high morale."
 * Micia, the Lorn Mother, goddess of loss and longing. "The Lorn Mother gave away Her heart, and bears the Heart of Marble in its stead."
 * Olak, the Carefree Son, god of chance and whim. "Alive forever in a single moment, the Carefree Son plays beyond the reach of time."
 * Jevel, the Tower Keeper, god of health and atrophy. "Half the Tower Keeper's face is that of a youth in His prime, and the other, an old man."
 * Pyth, the Wakeful Bull, god of commotion and order. "The Wakeful Bull, patient yet temperamental, adorns the City's walls with His likeness."
 * Roathus, the Gorging Host, god of thirst and plenty. "The Gorging Host grows ever larger yet remains insatiable, His eyes awash in tears."
 * Yudrig, the Morning Stallion, god of impulse and bravery. "The Morning Stallion affects the wishes of all people upon the break of each new day."

The Dockyards
While Ostirmirk does not have an official navy, the docks are always abuzz with activity, with fresh cargo from faraway lands being loaded and unloaded onto ever-expanding ships. While not every captain is of noble repute, it is exists on Akuhara and it's reachable by sea, odds are you could find someone willing to take you there.

The Ostirmarket
The beating heart of Ostirmirk is the Ostirmirk Market, a bizarre bazaar of mythical, proportions. Located in the city's center, merchants will ply their wares as citizens browse for the latest deals. Moreover, foreign merchants will also be selling at the Ostirmarket, attempting to get a good word in with the trade guilds in hopes of receiving a lucrative contract. A vigilant watch is suggested when perusing, however, as thieves are known to pick pockets of the unwary.

The Drunken Whaler
Ostirmirk's laws prohibit direct military intervention in areas that don't encompass the city. As a result, a tangle of shipwrecks off the coast has been hollowed out into a tavern, which is now rife with pirates and other ne'er-do-wells. Called the "Drunken Whaler," this haven for criminals is always kept under heavy watch by the Blazing Fists, but remains outside of their jurisdiction, and therefore has become a cheap, relatively safe place to spend a night for those with a checkered past.

The Peeled Grape
Located approximately thirty stories above the city streets, the Peeled Grape is a tavern best known for extreme extravagance, masterful service, and gouging prices. While technically not associated with any trade guild, the Marble Hearts are frequent sponsors of this particular locale, and their influence shows when well-known musicians and poets perform every evening. Despite the severe price point, the Peeled Grape's staff and patrons have garnered a reputation for rumor-mongering; juicier gossip in all of Ostirmirk cannot be found elsewhere.

The Maestro's Library
A joint project between the Marble Hearts and the Lidless Eyes, the Maestro's Library is a vast collection of tones, scrolls, and tablets. From public records to steamy romance novels, the Maestro's Library has it all, with an array of staff keeping things quiet for those who need silence to concentrate. Rumor has it that the Lidless Eyes also stash secret messages in the books, using the library as a location to give their agents instructions.

Aside from the mundane, the Library also has several magical tomes, which are occasionally lent out to the spell-crafters of the trade guilds. At the same time, the Library is home to the Ostirmirk College, a school dedicated to the study of nearly any unknowable subject, including the study of magic and the stars. The upper levels of the Library are dedicated to practicing the magical arts, and on the uppermost floor there is an observatory with a magical telescope, allowing the viewer to gaze at the cosmos from nearly any angle.

The Temple of the Ten
A simple, small building dedicated to Ostirmirk's pantheon is located just north of the Ostirmarket. While humble in structure, the Temple is adorned with homemade offerings to the gods. Priests and oracles of the gods make their home in the temple's meager living quarters, keeping an aura of humility to stay in the good graces of their respective gods.

The Pit
There is a rumor that there was, at one point, a joint project between the Blazing Fists and the Lidless Eyes. Some claim that, at one point, the two guilds found an archdemon slumbering beneath Ostirmirk, and to avoid its terrible wrath, they were forced to create a gladiatorial arena beneath the city streets, keeping the fiend sated with bloody contests of strength. They say that the Eyes used it to investigate seedier organizations within Ostirmirk, and the Fists used it as a recruitment ground to bring on their toughest, meanest shock troops. One hopes that there is no validity to such statements.

The Barracks
The Blazing Fists keep their armory, recruitment offices, and proving grounds close together, although this collection of buildings is often referred to as just "the Barracks." The Fists are always recruiting, taking in those who hope for a life of adventure and beating their own brand of discipline into them. While being one of, if not the most, secure locations in Ostirmirk, the Fists keep a full company of troops on standby, manning the walls and performing drills. While the immediate purpose is to keep the troops on their toes in the event that their deployment becomes a necessity, it also serves as a propaganda device, as the Blazing Fists in all their finery are truly an impressive sight.