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III: Outlying Districts

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THE BENDING JUNGLE Ten miles South of Urd Thlol, in the disputed region of Urd Avalor (see Section I), lies a league-long thicket of bamboo. It has no business existing in the Mesonorthern climate, and no one knows how it came to be there. In the year 220 of the New Empire, invaders from Ning Verrawn — best known for their cavalry assaults — came sailing up the Glomefall in tall ships, catching the Thlolian Army offguard. They had almost succeeded in breaching the city's defenses when a huge group of bamboo farmers, who had seen them sailing by, arrived to turn back the invasion. The tough, springy bamboo for which the Jungle was named has many uses. To this day, many farmers harvest it with machetes; and it was this long-practiced blade-swinging skill that enabled the bamboo farmers to fight off the men of Ning Verrawn. Ever since then, a paramilitary contingent of machete-wielding martial artists called Harrowers have been the city's second line of defense. BABBLEBROOK A town
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II: Inner City

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OVERVIEW  The walls of Urd Thlol, according to authoritative accounts, were built by dragons in the time of the Ancient Kingdoms, and are legendarily unbreakable. Any working catapult, however, can of course launch missiles into the city beyond, and so the area immediately inside the wall is a long, nebulously bordered strip of real estate that runs the entire length of the Eastern, Northern, and Southern Quarters (the Westside being protected by the Glomefall River). This area, known for being bombarded by the projectiles of would-be invaders — none of whom have ever succeeded in their assaults — is home to various criminals, fly-by-night organizations, and abusers of alcohol and drugs. It is, like any municipal system, formally divided into zones and neighborhoods; but in practice, the entire strip is simply called Drunkard's Lane. Beyond the Lane is a large section of Urd Thlol where the corners of the four Quarters meet. This section is known as the Inner City, and it is a thri
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I: History and Geography

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"In those days, Urd Thlol was undisputedly the strongest city in the Mesonorth and one of the strongest in the entire continent. Its power was, of course, primarily due to its unbreachable walls, a mysterious remnant of the time before the Cairn Years. . ." - from The Ruination of Avalorium On the Eastern banks of the Glomefall River, twenty miles North of the Avalorian border, looms the ominous city-state of Urd Thlol. Built on the bones of a city that fell before the collapse of the Ancient Kingdoms, it is encircled by a wall of mystical black stone exactly four miles in diameter, which contributes greatly to its grim and menacing appearance. The nature and composition of the stone has never successfully analyzed or duplicated, but until the Night of the Wolf-Wind , it could not be damaged by any weapon or weather known to the continent. The ruins were discovered and resettled in the year 214 of the New Empire. Originally subject to the central authority of the capital at T
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