Ancient, full of strange temples which have been built and rebuilt for millenia. The city has had several Icons over the years, but they come and go. With the rise of a new icon for a new age, the city is either full of fanatics and idiots or miracles and the faithful, depending on if you like the Gods of Light or not. This is the above all the city of The Priestess. Santa Cora is a port city, but its central location is the Cathedral, built over older churches which clustered around the place where allegedly the gods first spoke to humans and plotted with the Emperor to overthrow the Wizard King. The city is a sprawling mess, spreading out in a lump from the harbor which juts southeasterly from a coast that runs southwest to northeast. It has been wrecked and rebuilt many times, including major programs by the Hierophant and Silver Cleric which allegedly had holy purpose.
In Santa Cora, this is a day to celebrate the children of the Empire. Every child wears a paper crown and is addressed as 'Prince' or 'Princess' by the inhabitants. The Children make simple decorations, proudly, or at least stoically won by the city's Hallowed Gargoyles. Then everyone moves in a giant parade to the Shrine of the Child Empress, found in the World Neighborhood, and sacrifices and prayers are made, then the Priestess and all the priests and priestesses, even those of Dark Gods, give out candy to the children. The Crusader once appeared and helped; it is rumored the Prince of Shadows comes every year in disguise. Then the kids all sing terribly and everyone goes home.
There is a rain of light from the sky 24-7 into a now dry fountain in the middle of a circular plaza, surrounded by book makers and sellers. Anyone who enters it vanishes; some are never seen again; others land in far reaches of the known world. It appeared when the Gods instituted the reign of Empress Ursula I at the end of the Seventh Age. It is rumored the Priestess can control it or even visit the Gods with it. She has used it at least three known times.
This is a working class district in the northeast corner of the city; it is the center of cheese making in the city; the smell roughly defines Cheesetown; while Santa Corans favor cheeses others find foul-smelling, even Santa Corans find it hard to cope with the perpetual stench of this small district. Cheese makers and the poorest people who are not actually indigent live here. The smell deters crime, so it's a clean, honest district if you have a poor sense of smell.
This district is crammed with churches and the Great Cathedral. This includes the Dark Gods, as the Priestess, though she united the priesthoods of light, is not willing to tear the Empire apart in a war with the Dark Gods... who are Gods after all. Or so people assume. There are several very unusual churches here, mostly from foreign lands. The most unusual church after the Great Cathedral, though, is the Shrine of Unknown Gods, which offers sacrifice and prayer daily to every god and goddess not known by the Empire. Just in case.
Here is an area in the middle of Santa Cora which blocked by wooden barricades down the middle of the street and warnings in many different languages. It's a small neighborhood about 3 blocks by 3.5 blocks with a small tower at the center. The reason it is blocked off is because within it is always the day Santa Cora fell to the gnoll army. The day ends, then it starts again from the top. For centuries now. Nothing inside from that day can leave, but anyone going in is likely to die horribly at the hands of the gnolls. The screams as afternoon comes have driven the property values around it way, way down. Still, some have braved the place and emerged with valuables, as apparently LOOT can leave, just not creatures. They say the Priestess will fix it some day. They say all sorts of things. Some of them may even be true.
his district is home to communities of exiles from lands which the Empire was once in contact with. They have churches of their own in the Navel and here they live in little neighborhoods where everything is as close to home as possible. The best Shove in the Empire can be had in this district and Little Masque definitely has the best masks.
Located in the World Neighborhood, this bar is home to Ascolais exiles, who dress like seventeenth century France, a bunch of drunk, useless fops who are in theory nobles but in practice desperate for money, sex, and wine. If you want to play Five Card Dance, Buy the Card, or Sudden Trump, this is the place to go. Or if you want to say you fucked a nobleman. Or you like good wine. Or you're a government spy, which are oddly common here.
This version of the page was edited by John at 2020-06-02 00:54:25. View the most recent version.