Mediterranea, painted for this archive

Tartessos

Place, City

Capital of Tharshesh and among the western hemisphere's biggest cities, a former Atlantean colony rebuilt after the Cataclysm, now perhaps the busiest port in the world and certainly the most corrupt. Its buildings are ramshackle atop Atlantean foundations, it is overcrowded and filthy, and taxes are crushing, but anything can be bought for a price, contraband included.

Also called The City of Tartessos

From the book

Tartessos, capital of Tharshesh and one of the biggest cities of the western hemisphere, was an important First Age Atlantean colony, half-wrecked by the Great Cataclysm and rebuilt in the Second Age. It has since become a great trading center and has fully deserved its reputation as the most crooked city anywhere in the civilized world. People joke that only its old Atlantean foundations keep it standing, and indeed the few surviving Atlantean buildings, though worn, are sounder than the flimsy Tharshi structures, some of which sag or lean alarmingly. The ghettos are overcrowded, the ancient sewers are hopelessly overloaded and the government does nothing, so much of the city reeks and its gutters overflow with refuse. Taxes are among the world's highest: 50-70% of income on pain of the dungeons, 20-40% tariffs on most imports and exports, no duty on liquor but 20% on everything else sold in the city.

Even so, it may be the busiest port in the world, rivaling Atlantis in revenue, and sailors and merchants pour in by the thousands. Its appeal lies in the local saying that anything can be bought if one pays the price, the one 'law' never broken. Magistrates sell forged residency papers, dockmasters wave through contraband, sentinels look away, and the governor is said to pay corsairs to spare his own ships. The usual bribe is at least 100 gold pieces for each level of the official being paid, so poor thieves are rare. Drugs, forgeries, rare artifacts, slaves and stolen goods are easy to find, and contraband is thought to be the city's biggest source of income.

A brawl brings 2-12 quick-tempered sentinels in studded leather with flails within 2-20 minutes, unless they were paid in advance; offenders are chained and held 1-6 days, though a bribe on the way, or at the guardhouse after a night's lockup, can free them. Murder or attempted murder means hanging in the public square after 2-8 days in the dungeon. Ten times the usual bribe may buy freedom if the victim was a nobody; if the victim was rich, his family may pay a Vicegerant to ensure punishment, and if famous, twenty times the rate may reduce the sentence to 1-20 years, while killing an important merchant official may be beyond buying off. 'Trial' is a private meeting with a Vicegerant, where usually only one bribe may be offered. Gambling, prostitution and drugs are legal and often officially sanctioned, religion is unrestricted, and the ghettos keep their own customs so long as they do not clash with Tharshi law.

The city holds the naval harbor guarded by two 40-foot stone lions and a chain boom, barracks, an armory, the Regent's heavily guarded First Age palace, the grim City Donjun, and neglected civic buildings like the library and hall of records. Temples serve Hesperus, Ishtar, Heru, Poseidon (with a healing fountain kept by Paladins of Avalon) and a sinister windowless tower of Set, near the looted ruins of the Temple of Atlas. There are magical shops and guilds, the Institute of Occult Studies, the wizard Arkon's pawn shop where every visitor must buy or sell under the eye of two brass golems, inns from the scholarly to the vicious, the lavish pleasure palace Zannibar, a 20,000-seat Colosseum, markets for black-market goods and slaves, and the squalid Lower End with its Turanian, Dravidian, Khitan and Gondwanan ghettos.

At a glance

Region: Tharshesh
Government: Governed directly by the Prefect; corrupt magistrates and Vicegerants
Taxes: Income tax 50-70%; tariffs 20-40% (none on liquor); 20% sales tax; property tax 10%
Bribes: Usually 100+ G.P. per level of the official
Law: Brawls bring 2-12 sentinels (studded leather, flails) within 2-20 minutes; 1-6 days in a guard post; murder punished by hanging after 2-8 days in the dungeon; bribes 10x (or 20x) the usual rate; gambling, prostitution and narcotics legal; no religious restrictions; ghettos keep their own customs
1. Harbor Entrance: Two 40-ft stone lions; a chain can close the harbor
2. Tharshi Naval Facilities: Navy docks, off limits to others
3. Navy Barracks: Naval housing and training
4. Equipment Sheds: Two run-down navy warehouses; 12+ marine guards
5. Marine Barracks: Marines' quarters with a crude brig below
6. Army Barracks: Mercenary army housing and training
7. Armory: Army arms store; 24+ guards
8. Stables: Army horses, chariots, wagons
9. Port Facilities: All visiting ships must dock here
10. Warehouses: Decrepit; rumored contraband store
11. Watchtowers: 30-ft towers, 12 sentinels and a sergeant, holding cells
12. The Palace: Refurbished First Age building, home of the Regent; 200+ elite guards
13. The Library at Tartessos: Neglected; 1-3% chance per day of finding information (1% for magical/alchemical)
14. Bonding/Licenses: Import/export license 500 G.P. per year; storage 5% of value per month
15. Hall of Records: Taxmaster's office; 1-6 days to find records; property tax 10%
16. Bonding House: Cargo inspection within 12 hours of arrival; extra 5% tariff on magical/alchemical imports
17. Seaman's Guild: 5-100 seamen seeking work; guildmaster approves hirings
18. Shipyards: Repairs; buys, sells and leases ships
19. The Seahawk Inn: Cheap, rough sailors' inn; good for gossip
20. Bawdy House: Sailors' brothel guarded by Nubians; 1-10 G.P.
21. The Port Tavern: Merchants' tavern with music and dancers; average
22. City Donjun: First Age dungeon with torture chambers; 50+ sentinels
23. Temple of Hesperus: Amazon priestesses; men barred
24. Temple of Ishtar: Sheban high priestess; gold vessels
25. Shrine of the Immortals: Khitan mystic and seven monks
26. Temple of Poseidon: Restored by three Paladins of Avalon; healing Fountain of Poseidon
27. Temple of Heru: Qaddani pyramid-temple with astrologers and priests
28. Temple of Set: Windowless 40-ft black basalt tower; thirteen cowled figures seen at night
29. Ruins: Looted remains of the First Age Temple of Atlas
30. Arkon the Collector: Atlantean wizard's pawn shop; every visitor must buy or sell; two brass golems
31. Alchemical Supplies: Equipment and ingredients, few mixtures
32. The Compleat Enchanter: Magical supplies; powders of conjuration 100 G.P. per creature level
33. Alchemist's Guild: 200 G.P. per year; lab 10 G.P. per level per month; goods at standard +20%
34. Institute of Occult Studies: Library 10 G.P./day (25 non-members); tuition 50/100 G.P. per month; membership 1,000 G.P. per year; scrolls 100 G.P. per level per spell
35. Antique Books: Atlantean scholar appraises writings for 20 G.P.
36. Historian: Research 10-2,000+ G.P.; 1-12 days
37. Scribe: Translation 20 G.P./page; copies 10-20 G.P./page; dictation 5 S.P./page; notarization 1 G.P.
38. The City Institute: Non-magical learning, 20 G.P. per month; free average library
39. The Scholar's Inn: Quiet, multilingual, above average
40. Acheron: Qaddani-style inn of a sorcerer; 2-5x prices; Scythian guards and a manticore
41. Zannibar: 'Pleasure palace'; 100 G.P. entry plus 200 G.P. per upper floor; 5-10x prices; 20+ gladiator guards
42. The Tharshi Gardens: Overgrown park, dangerous at night
43. Tartessos Repertory Theatre: Performers' lodgings 1 S.P./month; cheap shows
44. The Baths: Baths 1 C.P., laundry 2 C.P., a shave and haircut 5 C.P., oils 1 G.P.; a brothel operates here too
45. Amphitheatre: Seats about 2,000; rarely used
46. Colosseum: Seats about 20,000; weekly races and gladiator games; entry 2-20 G.P.
47. The Colosseum Tavern: Gladiators' haunt; 2x prices; contraband below
48. Public Square: Beggars; weekly public executions
49. Trade Guilds: Guild houses for hiring laborers
50. Clothier: Fine attire at 5x; back room for commoners
51. Costumes: Masks 1-2 C.P. to 75+ G.P.; 2-3x prices; custom 5x
52. Clothing Importer: Foreign apparel at 10x
53. Furrier: Furs 5-200+ G.P.; buys hides
54. Jewelers: Free appraisal; buys at 60-80% of worth; custom work up to 10x
55. Fragrances: Scents and oils at 2x
56. Apothecary: Herbs 2-3x (up to 10x for rare imports)
57. Tharshi Imports: Ebony and teak about 25 G.P./lb; ivory 20 G.P./lb; crystal, rattan
58. Metal Works: Copper ingots 1 G.P./lb, iron 1 S.P./lb, lead 1 C.P./lb; sheeting 2-8 S.P./sq ft; cages about 100 G.P. per 10x10x10 ft
59. Armorer: Armor and shields at 2x; fair to good
60. Bladesmith: Blades at 2-3x; good
61. Bowyer/Fletcher: Bows at standard +10%; custom about 2x
62. Mercenary's Guild: 20 G.P. per year; hirelings at standard plus 10 G.P. per level fee
63. The Sword and Scabbard: Rowdy mercenary tavern; average prices
64. Trader's: Adventuring gear at +50%
65. Tharshi Transport: Carts, wagons, chariots at 2x
66. Woodworks: Shelves 10-200 G.P.; cabinets 20-200+ G.P.; chairs 1-10+ G.P.; tables 2+ G.P. per sq ft; lumber 1+ S.P. per sq ft
67. Livestock: Horses, camels, elephants; imports 2-3x
68. Tanner: Leather goods; custom 2x
69. The Bestiary: Young monsters cost about 200 G.P. per level; exotic pets include piranha (20 G.P.), spiders (10-100 G.P.), venomous snakes (20-200+ G.P.) and constrictors (25 G.P. per ft)
70. The Lower End: Causeway to the seediest quarter and the ghettos
71. Tattoo Parlor: About 1 G.P. per square inch; includes scarification
72. The Mediterranean Inn: Foul smugglers' den at -50%; opiated wine
73. The Black Market: Always-open illicit market; 2-10x prices
74. The Slaver's Market: Slaves 50-5,000+ G.P.; sometimes non-humans
75. Turanian Ghetto: 1,000+ Turanians; open hashish trade
76. Dravidian Ghetto: Meluhhans and Veddeans; rumored assassin cult
77. Khitan Ghetto: 5,000+ Khitans; largest and cleanest; martial arts school
78. Gondwanan Ghetto: About 4,000 from Qaddan and Nubia; necromantic Qaddani temple

Index 'Tartessos, the City of' p.89 (city map); text pp.90-94. Map key (78 locations) is summarized in facts.