Pietra, the City of Stone

Pietra, the City of Stone and Eastern Quadrant City, is the oldest of the four cities, founded in the year 1324 by the First Shah of Pietra, a man by the name of Rukh Almasi, who unified the small villages of the Eastern Continent into a larger force. Known for their high quality artisinal products, Pietra has sat as the seat of luxurious living. Glass, quarry stone, precious metals, fine cottons and silk, are all produced there. They have the highest grade smiths, and do lots of innovations with large scale forging. They have less of a technological bent than Elaennon, but they make up for it by having the highest quality raw materials for crafting money can buy.    

Layout

  Pietra has no strict layout for it's city, as it organically grew from its combined villages. The most notable districts include:

• Rainbow Way, an open air Bazaar where the all the worldly pleasures of the city are on full display flanking a path through a walkway paved with beautiful rainbow colored glass stones.

• The Plaza of Domes, a district of wealthy merchants and nobles from long descending lines, dotted with beautifully topped domes, with art depicting family histories, symbols of status, as well as religious iconography.

• Verdana, the Everflowing Garden, a district of canals and flowing waters that surround the palace, draped from head to toe with beautiful and exotic plants cultivated and collected from all over the world of Baelin.

• Everlight, the district that houses the massive smelteries of Pietra, at the top of which is the Burning Heart Church, home of the worship of Atvia.

Population

Pietra has a very mixed population of 1.1 million people, but is also known for having the largest human population within the quaternary cities. Many of the current inhabitants can trace their lineage back to the first villages that settled in the area, while others who migrated from smaller groups on the eastern continent.  

Government

Pietra is ruled by a Shah, a ruler with direct lineage to the first founder of the city. The current Shah, Sett Almasi IV, instituted new reforms in order to allow for a more democratic system. In the Reform Government, the Shah is still the final say of government, but this supreme authority is regulated by elected representatives, picked among assemblies of 100 citizens, which in turn reduce to representatives for groups of 100 lower representatives, allowing for a chain of representatives. This board, called the Lower and Higher Assemblies respectively, draft laws, bring issues affecting their constituents to the Shah directly, as well as select and confirm higher level officials to the Shah's Court.  This system is relatively new, with it's insuring issues, but is extremely popular with the common people of the city.