The City of Brass

''Ah the City! The City! First and Best of any age, Queen among the planes! Only Sigil can match her variety and none approach her splendor. She is a ruby beyond any price and a more magnificent ornament you shall never find. ''-Kazrad Stonecarver, dwarven jeweler and interplanar merchant

The City of Brass is the oldest city in all creation, or so its masters would have you believe. The haven of the efreet after they split from their genie cousins, the City of Brass is certainly the oldest and perhaps the finest city on the Plane of Fire. It is a nexus for planar travelers, where there is just enough of the other elements to permit the presence of non-elementals, though only just. With numerous grand bazaars and ornate shops, the City of Brass is the mercantile center of the universe. Anything and anyone may be bought and sold here and Efreeti coins often find their way into the coffers of Celestia as well as the soul markets of Dis.

Perched on a vast basalt plate that has solidified from an immense volcanic field on the edge of a fiery sea, the City of Brass is a momentary point of peace in the churning tempest of the plane, and offers a modicum of hospitality for mortal travelers. Even so its climate is oppressive to all those without heat resistance and its culture even moreso; more than one traveler has found himself sitting in place of his merchandise in the Bazaar, after a deal gone wrong.

Locations
Arches: This area lies between the naval yards and the well-to-do neighborhood of the Foundry. Its most notable location is a bustling slave market.

Ashlarks: This residential area is home to many of the free nonefreets of the city, as well as a few of the least prominent efreet houses. The landmark feature here is Long Castle, home to the city guard.

Avencina: Avencina is a rowdy, lower-class district where many races mingle. It contains the Commoner’s Market, one of the city’s largest open-air bazaars.

Castings: In the shadow of the Furnace, this district is home to the barracks of the city’s slave army. A great monument in the form of a giant archway depicts the Efreet triumphing over most of the creatures of the Planes and the mortal world.

The Char: The smell of molten metal suffuses this business district, where metalworking businesses congregate. The area houses the Red Wyrm Smelter, which has several different slave-operated workshops and refines great quantities of ore brought into the city. The Forge of Manacles makes shackles for the city’s slaves, and Locksmith’s Row provides the fasteners. The massive Firespring creates fire elemental soldiers for the city’s defense.

Cindersweeps: This neighborhood houses lower-class, free residents for the most part. The notable features are the Military Dock, Drydocks, and the Keep of Fire Striking Steel. The fortress serves as an armory for the harbor garrisons.

The Foundry: The Foundry is the third most exclusive neighborhood of the city, boasting large, ornate mansions and beautiful memorials to past notable personages. Efreets not well enough connected to live near the palaces of the Furnace and not wealthy enough to live in the Plume reside here. In addition, the wealthiest members of other races live here, since only efreets are allowed to live in the Furnace or the Plume.

The Furnace: The most exquisite district in the City of Brass is the Furnace, a perfect hemisphere with the Charcoal Palace rising from its center. Government offices in the Red Pillar Halls surround the palace and accompanying areas, which include the Barracks of the Ring of Fire (the Khalifa of the Efreets’ personal guard), and the Eternal Flame Pavilion honoring the primordial Fire Lord, Imix.

Iskalat: This district contains public docks for planar dromonds, spelljammers, and other vessels that sail on the Sea of Fire. The Magma Gate allows entrance to the harbor, and from there to the city’s canal system. Anyone who makes a living from vessels (repair, provisioning, or housing/recreation for travelers) lives and does business here. The district’s a lively one, with many different races of planar travelers occupying the numerous inns and taverns. A notable landmark is the obsidian-walled Octagon, a great prison containing magic cells designed to keep even powerful casters carefully sealed away.

Keffinspires: The main feature of this merchant district is the Street of Steel, where numerous smiths manufacture and sell weapons, armor, tools, and other items. The smiths of this district include a sizeable population of azers. Marlgate: Located just south of the Ashlarks and north of Iskalat, this district holds the warehouses that store all that is worth having. The goods from the holds of planar dromonds are bought here and sold in bulk.

The Plume: Second in splendor to the Furnace alone, the Plume houses the wealthiest and most noble of the efreet houses. Only efreets can own or occupy property in this district. Magnificent buildings overlook splendid open courtyards. The district also houses the Castle of the Sun and Moon, where the city’s finest legions live and train.

Pyraculum: This area houses the City Market, which is larger and slightly more upscale than the bazaar found in Avencina. Artisans of different races live and work here.

Inhabitants and Culture
In the City of Brass, the Efreet are at home and they brook no insolence or opposition from outsiders. Although an astounding number for mortal cities, the few hundred thousand efreet who make there home here are merely the top of a massive hierarchy, including dwarves, fire giants, elementals and millions of enslaved or exploited genasi. Although not every efreet lives in luxury, all are considered superior to the greatest of any other race and all but the meanest failures among them have a place within the social order. Possessing a deep love of order and hierarchy, every efreet has a bevy of titles befitting its station and all are in service to one noble house or another. Although there are hundred of noble houses continuously scheming against eachother, the most significant among them, the Fourteen Flames, control most of the actual policy of the city and themselves vie for power with Bashmurga, Grand Sultan of the City of Brass and Khalifa of All Efreet. The noble houses themselves are organized along the lines of the mercantile ventures which earned the Efreet their place of prominence. Membership is a form of employment and, once accepted, the head of the house is responsible for providing for the member and protecting their interests. A slight against a single agent of a house is a slight against all and matters of honor are taken very seriously among the houses, with manufactured grievances often used as opportunities to wage war in the streets or in the city's draconian courts. The protection and dignity of one's house is of unparalleled importance and any leader who neglects to account for such will be thought of as utterly without honor, soon to find themselves alone and undefended.

Although the genies' culture is very rigid, life for the rest of the city's eight million souls is varied. Small neighborhoods and communities of strange races can be found dotting the city and fine examples of cuisine and craftsmanship exist from throughout the multiverse. Nevertheless, there is an ever-present shroud looming over the bustling and diverse metropolis. Efreeti law is scrupulously fair but devilishly complex and is often used as a weapon against mortals who have few allies and options. Two-thirds of the city's populace are slaves of one kind or another and unwary travelers are just as likely to find themselves in chains because of an errant word as they are an ambush.

Notable Individuals
Emira Basira, the Unquenchable Flame - Having recently exalted her house to the lowest of the Fourteen Flames, Basira is eager to exert her newfound power and hungry for more. A relative youth among the ageless Efreet, she has only ruled for the six hundred years but in that time has developed a reputation for ruthless dealing and a lavish lifestyle. Notably among those of her stature, she has taken no spouse from even a lesser house, leaving her score of children to squabble amongst themselves, fearful of the day she might elevate one of them as her heir. Jamra's mother.