Io'Lokar
From the moment it appears on the horizon, the city is a beacon against the darkening sky. Walls of white rise and twist against the highest reaches of the black peak, gleaming in the day’s dying light. From one of the great towers that ring those walls, dark shapes shoot up—wyvern riders, from the look of them, winging into flanking position to shadow your approach. Atop the closest tower, dragons are perched, watching you idly. Beside them stand giants armed with mighty greatswords, the nighttime city beyond them blazing with spell-light as you begin your descent.
Throughout their long history, the dragons of Argonnessen have built no cities for their own kind. However, some thirty centuries ago, a great nondragon city called Io’vakas was founded by the Warders—a group of a dozen dragons dedicated to improving the lot of Argonnessen’s lesser races. With dragon magic and the labor of nondragon subjects collected from across Eberron, the Warders built a walled enclave deep in the south of the Vast. Under the tutelage of their draconic lieges, the citizens of Io’vakas—the Gate of Knowledge—became enlightened dragon worshipers with an advanced understanding of nature, science, and magic.
Today, Io’vakas is a mass of shattered stone jutting up from ground made barren by dragon fire. But each morning as the sun rises above those ruins, it reflects off distant towers against the slopes of a bare peak to the west. This place is very much alive; it is Io’lokar, the City of Knowledge—risen from the ashes of Io’vakas a thousand years ago.
Even among the nondragons of Argonnessen, Io’lokar is often thought of as myth. Beyond the dragon continent, many experienced adventurers have never heard of it. Argonnessen is a land of high-level and epic campaigns, and nowhere is this fact reflected more than in the City of Knowledge. From the highest to the lowest, the Io’lokari are unequaled warriors, brilliant sages, powerful spellcasters, and masters of the arts of a dozen races.
Most NPCs in the city have levels in three or more classes—a primary vocation (often handed down from parent to child), secondary vocations taken from interest, and a spellcasting class (typically adept or sorcerer). Children here take their fi rst class levels by early adolescence. The Io’lokari are the masters of vocations both great and mundane, and all reap the benefit of their advanced society. A lowly clerk living in the Freeward might well be a 7th-level expert/8th-level adept whose accumulated knowledge would make a Morgrave professor weep.
The people of Io’lokar do not have access to the full power of dragon magic. The fate of the giants of Xen’drik has ensured that no nondraconic culture will ever be granted such a boon again. Nonetheless, magic permeates every corner of the city and every one of its people, and a first visit to Io’lokar can induce awe in even jaded explorers.
Within the city, spell-light is infused into the air itself, rising and falling according to the time of day and the presence of passersby. Residents and visitors alike within Io’lokar’s walls can access the powers of flight (as a fly spell) and short-distance teleportation (as dimension door), though teleporting into or out of public spaces is considered somewhat rude. Magic tempers the climate and the seasons, feeds the city’s people, and hones the skills of its scholars, artisans, and workers to unnatural levels.
The Io’lokari are not given to ostentation or casual displays of power, however. The city has no floating towers or wanton exhibitions of sorcerous might. Though its walls and buildings are reinforced by arcane power, they were raised one stone at a time. However, within these nondescript apartments of multicolored marble can be found collected lore rivaling that of Morgrave, Wynarn, and Korranberg combined— all the product of a humble working-class people whose lives more closely resemble those of lords and kings.
LIFE IN IO’LOKAR
In the twelve hundred years since, the City of Knowledge has grown from a mountainside fort (part of what is now the Freeward) to its present form. Within its walls, scholars, crafters, and artisans from a dozen non-dragon races live side by side in common cause and culture. Though the Warders long ago stepped back to let the Io’lokari run their own affairs, the city remains dedicated to allowing non-dragon culture to flourish on its own terms.
Even after three thousand years, however, many of the city’s sages believe that the Warders had a deeper purpose in their creation of a non-dragon city within the dragon continent. In the same way that the dragons are said to shun Sarlona because they have seen that land’s destruction in the unfurling of the draconic Prophecy, some suggest that the Prophecy predicts the eventual destruction of all nondragon life on Eberron. Whether this destruction will come at the hands of the quori, some unknown magical or natural disaster, or through the actions of the lesser races themselves remains unknown. Either way, Io’lokar (and Io’vakas before it) might have been created as a safe haven for humanity—a place in which the scions of Sarlona, Xen’drik, and Khorvaire might live on.
Today, the city is home to the some of the finest crafters, artisans, and spellcasters in the world. However, mercantilism does not drive the art, craft, and magic of Io’lokar as it does in Khorvaire. Though the city has no effective gold piece limit, coin has no value here. Gems have use as currency only if they appeal to an individual Io’lokari’s eye. All Io’lokari work toward the continued survival of the city and the betterment of their own lives.
GETTING THERE
As with any location in Argonnessen, getting to Io’lokar by ground can be a daunting task. Travel by air is easier, whether on flying mounts or by magic. However, such flights are almost guaranteed to attract the attention of rogue dragons and other predators. Once characters have been to Io’lokar, greater teleport becomes the easiest way to and from the city. This method is typically used by Io’lokari abroad, and such travelers often teleport parties of strangers back with them. However, it is not financial gain that drives Io’lokari altruism, but knowledge and the prosperity of the city as a whole. PCs must convince an Io’lokari that their need to visit the city warrants such a trip—a DC 40 Diplomacy check.
Though the city controls no territory, the area around the mountain is patrolled by dragons loyal to the Warders. For the most part, Io’lokar’s immediate neighbors are at least indifferent to the city’s existence, but holds in the Vast can change hands with little warning.
Demographics
THE IO’LOKARI
With the exception of the kalashtar, all the advanced non-dragon races of Eberron were present at the creation of Io’lokar, and they remain a part of the city to this day. The descendants of lesser races gathered by the dragons of old from across Eberron, the Io’lokari have long since developed a culture all their own. Given names are a unique blend of Draconic and a dozen other languages, while surnames are unknown here. The folk of the city have an in-depth knowledge of their own genealogy (a necessity in such a closed population an Io’lokari knows which of his fellow citizens he is closely related to. Even so, he and his relatives are considered full family to the elves, orcs, lokumites, and all the other races they work alongside. Likewise, the goblins and dwarves working side by side in the Freeward would be culturally unrecognizable to their distant kin in Darguun or the Ironroot Mountains.
Like their dragon patrons, the Io’lokari are an insular society—many live their whole lives without ever setting foot outside the city walls. Those who travel typically do so for scholarly pursuits, journeying across Argonnessen and beyond. Io’lokar is hardly a prison, however, and high-level citizens often leave the city to take up positions as advisors or scholars with benevolent dragon lords or agents of the Chamber.
Although the high-level characters of Io’lokar would no doubt have little trouble establishing themselves as powerful lords in Khorvaire or Xen’drik, those lands have little to offer. A high-level Khorvairian might dream of wealth or power. A high-level Sarlonan might dream of ending injustice. Io’lokari dream of peace, friendship, and the pursuit of ever greater knowledge. Their city is the best place to achieve that. Io’lokar’s population has been effectively stable for nearly four hundred years, even with a steady number of immigrants. The city has high standards, and those unable to meet them usually have little interest in embracing its philosophies in the first place. High-level NPCs sometimes flee here from the holds of other dominion lords, typically infuriating their former masters. Often, refugees from the Vast come to Io’lokar in greater numbers than the city can handle. Once such folk are returned to health, it is thought that the Io’lokari quietly teleport them to the holds of more benevolent lords, but this has never been confirmed.
Of all those who seek the City of Knowledge, only serpentfolk and half-dragons are denied entry. Although the Io’lokari know that examples of nobility exist even among the serpent folk and the dragon scions, the dragons’ dedication to destroying these creatures makes their presence in the city too great a risk. It is rumored that persecuted half-dragons often pass through Io’lokar on their way to better lives in exile in Khorvaire or Xen’drik, but the Io’lokari shun the half-dragon cultists and dragon hunters common in Argonnessen.
No matter what their moral bent, the Io’lokari take a decidedly neutral approach to the affairs of Eberron. Like the Warders who first brought their ancestors here, the folk of Io’lokar are emphatically devoted to the Prophecy. However, unlike the dragons of the Chamber, the Io’lokari are content to watch history unfold on its own terms. A party seeking aid in Io’lokar to prevent some Khorvairewide catastrophe and another group hunting the epic magic with which to cause that catastrophe would likely both be met with indifference.
This is not to say that Io’lokar is inhabited solely by distant aesthetes or self-obsessed scholars. The folk of the city are a rich and varied lot, and Chamber sympathizers, sages skimming secrets from their colleges, and adventurers who have developed a taste for profit can all be found here. The appearance of a band of Khorvairian adventurers causing trouble might be all it takes to bring such characters out of the shadows.
Industry & Trade
For the people of the City of Knowledge, wealth lies in the life of learning and wonder that each new day brings. Goods and services are traded on the basis of effort alone—a day’s labor from a city street sweeper is considered equal to a day’s labor from the highest-level spellcaster, warrior, or sage.
Many high-level adventurers from Khorvaire have trouble adjusting to the idea that wealth built up over a lifetime is all but worthless in Io’lokar. In the taverns of the city, the Io’lokari drink for free, trading their day’s work for the labor of brewer and barkeep. Visitors to the city have no such capital, though PCs can typically trade a first night on the town for tales or songs of the outside world. Characters staying longer in the city need to establish what goods or services they can offer that are worthy of barter.
The Io’lokari want for very little, but fine jewelry, magic weapons, magic armor, and wondrous items usually retain their value in the city. This value is relative, however, and does not scale in the same way as gold piece pricing. A tavernkeeper willing to barter a month’s lodging for a magic weapon makes no distinction between a +1 dagger and a +5 holy vorpal short sword of wounding. Either option satisfi es his desire for a magic blade, and is thus fair trade for the PCs’ need for a comfortable room and good food.
Districts
THE CITY WARDS
Io’lokar consists of five walled wards rising up the slope of the mountain. Like the draconic culture on which it was modeled, rank and respect for power are the heart and soul of the city. Wards are defined by the work that goes on there and the relative power of their residents.The Freeward
Io’lokar’s lowest ward seems misnamed to many first time visitors, since the people here are no freer than anywhere else in the city. However, the original translation from Draconic involves the concept of “freedom” from authority and power. The people of this ward are thus the lower castes—the mundane servants, laborers, smiths, crafters, and clerks who keep the city going. Most visitors need this fact explained to them, however, because the Freeward bears more resemblance to a noble’s enclave than any Khorvairian working-class borough. Buildings here are a riot of color and architectural styles, and the nighttime streets are alive with music and light.
Visitors to the city are initially welcome in the Freeward and nowhere else, but because the city sees few travelers, inns are nonexistent here. Most taverns feature private dining rooms easily converted to short-term residences for the right barter price. Alternatively, PCs can seek lodging in private homes.
The wall gates that lead to the upper wards are unguarded, and citizens of Io’lokar move through the city at will. However, strangers are easily recognized, and will be stopped and questioned as to their business. Those not in the upper wards at the invitation of a resident are politely directed back to the Freeward. A second warning often fi nds characters deposited by force outside the city gate.
Typical Residents: Characters of 11th level or lower; barbarians, fighters, rangers, and rogues of 8th level or lower; characters with NPC class levels only; visitors to the city of any level.
The Terrace
Io’lokar’s second tier is home to the city’s professional warriors and scouts, and to lower-rank spellcasters. Most of the guides and explorers that a PC party might seek in the city can be found here. The spellcasters of the Terrace are those whose talents keep the magic items and imbued spells of the city functioning. Magic crafters of all stripes can be found here, and the ward is alive with artful illusions and magical entertainments day and night.
Typical Residents: Characters of 12th to 15th level; sorcerers and wizards of 8th level or lower; clerics and druids of 10th level or lower; bards, monks, and paladins of 8th level or lower.
The Sunward
The first of two tiers that wrap the mountain slope on all sides, the Sunward is home to higher-rank spellcasters, lower-grade academics, and the city’s most respected entertainers. Its cobbled streets are quieter than those of the lower tiers, but the ward’s theaters draw audiences from across the city.
Typical Residents: Characters of 16th or 17th level.
The Height
This stately ward is a hub of academic and scholarly tradition, and is thus the virtual heart of Io’lokar. The city’s four great colleges are here, as are the apartments of their wizards, sages, and loremasters. More so than in the lower wards, the architecture here ref lects the soaring stone and crystalline style seen in the draconic observatories of Argonnessen
Typical Residents: Characters of 18th or 19th level.
The Bastion
At the apex of the mountain, the walls of the Bastion protect the chambers and residences of Io’lokar’s powerful residents. These are the sages and scholars who direct the work of the colleges, plan the city’s sanctioned expeditions to sites across Argonnessen, and magically monitor the actions and intrigues of the dragons of the Vast. Unlike in the lower wards, the Bastion’s wall gate is guarded by four of the Arnaaracaex and powerful magic wards.
Typical Residents: Characters of 20th level or higher.
History
The creation of Io’vakas thirty centuries ago was preceded by centuries of debate and anger among the dragons of Argonnessen. With the Chamber still in its infancy, most dragons opposed the Warders’ plans for empowering the lesser races. The idea of sharing even a small amount of draconic knowledge was anathema to many dragons, the fate of Xen’drik still sharp in their memories. In the end, though, the Warders prevailed. Io’vakas was built in the Vast with the tacit blessing of the Conclave and the Eyes of Chronepsis, and for two thousand years, the city thrived. Then the serpentfolk came from Sarlona, and the doomsayers proved correct.
When the serpentfolk arrived in exile, the best among them were invited to Io’vakas. There, they joined the other non-dragons of the city in a bountiful life that included worship of the fifteen ascended spirits of the Sovereigns—a gift of faith to the non-dragons from their dragon masters. However, at least one sect of the Io’vakas serpentfolk sought more power than the Sovereigns could grant. In secret, this group claimed the direct worship of the Dragon Gods—and the deepest mysteries of dragon magic—for themselves.
When this blasphemy was eventually discovered, the dragons who opposed the Io’vakas experiment demanded a swift and final response. Refusing to distinguish between those who transgressed and the bulk of the loyal serpentfolk, or even the Io’vakas citizenry as a whole, draconic might was unleashed. Under a storm of lightning, frost, and fire, Io’vakas was leveled. A dozen or so serpentfolk escaped to the catacombs beneath the city; the rest of the serpent race, including all the priests, was destroyed. From ruined Io’vakas, a pathetic few non-dragon survivors fled to the plains beneath a sky darkened by gathering rogues, anxious to add these so-called scions of knowledge to their own herds.
Then Arnaarlasha, a noble gold dragon great wyrm of the Warders, descended to the wasted plain. She and a dozen elder dragons loyal to her formed a protective cordon around a thousand desperate survivors of the city. On foot, they shepherded their charges across hostile territory to the slopes of Mount Erishnak, a granite peak in the center of Arnaarlasha’s own adjacent territory. To the assembled rogues and the Soldiers of the Light who had pounded Io’vakas and her inhabitants to rubble, Arnaarlasha declared the surviving non-dragons free subjects of her dominion. Over the year that followed, high on the mountainside, Io’lokar was raised.
Arnaarlasha never spoke of what drove her actions that day on the plains, nor will she ever do so. Four hundred years ago, the great wyrm’s death marked the city’s darkest hour, and a turning point. Within a day, Io’lokar was besieged by a coordinated attack of rogue dragons’ intent on claiming Arnaarlasha’s territory and razing the city. Beneath arcane defenses honed over six centuries, the city’s mages stood fast. Alongside the Keepers, flights of wyvern riders launched themselves from the Moontowers, harrying rogues in the air as they rained arcane fury against their reinforcements on the ground. After four days, the rogues retreated. Io’lokar stood fast, and its victory in the Battle of Arnaarlasha’s Fall is celebrated to this day.
Throughout the great battle, the Eyes of Chronepsis and the Light of Siberys were conspicuous by their absence, a display of indifference they maintain to this day. As long as the Io’lokari are careful to stay within the boundaries of behavior proscribed for them when Io’vakas was new, the Conclave seems content to leave the city be. However, both the Io’lokari and the Keepers accept that the city exists at the Conclave’s whim. If any non-dragons seek the forbidden lore of dragonkind once again, or should any serpentfolk presence be again tolerated, no force of will or lesser magic will be enough to save them.
Points of interest
Presented below are just a few of the sites of possible interest to PCs looking to use Io’lokar as a base of operations for an Argonnessen campaign. Io’lokar is unlike any Khorvairian city, however, and traditional shops and places of business are all but unknown here. The difference between a tavern and a house with a large living room and a jovial host is often irrelevant to the Io’lokari.
1. The Moontowers: Jutting from the city walls like upswept spears, the thirteen Moontowers serve as watch points and guard posts for the Arnaaracaex. Connected to the city by great arched stairways, each tower is ringed with dragon skulls magically embedded into the stone, a dark reminder of how seriously the Arnaaracaex take their duties. The great towers also provide landing sites for dragons and other flying visitors and are where any visiting dragons lodge while in the city. Beneath the top-level living quarters of the stone giants lie a series of spacious draconic guest chambers accessed from the outside tower walls.
The Arnaaracaex keep a constant watch for agents of the dominion lords who openly challenge the city, but for the most part, the dragons stopping in Io’lokar are long-range travelers seeking a safe layover in the Vast. Such dragons are an excellent source of intelligence and campaign hooks from elsewhere in Argonnessen.
Dragons also sometimes come to the city seeking non-dragon agents for missions of the Chamber or individual dragon lords. The rare Io’lokari adventurers are particular about the types of assignments they accept, so foreign parties are coveted as heroes for hire—especially those willing to be paid in treasure the Io’lokari disdain.
2. Public Markets: Expert crafters display wares of incomparable beauty and quality in the city’s many markets, and virtually any magic item of the DM’s choosing can be found at a crafter’s stall. However, the markets of Io’lokar operate exclusively on the city’s system of commonwealth and barter. For the most part, city folk simply take what they need of their fellow citizens’ wares, knowing that the work they do is fair trade for these goods. New visitors to the city can attempt to barter their own services or goods but are often limited to looking on enviously as the Io’lokari shop.
3. The Steelbenders: This loose affiliation of weaponsmiths and armorsmiths (typical expert 15/warrior 5/magewright 3) resembles many of the crafter and artisan enclaves of the Freeward. Its residents live in palatial second- and third-floor apartments above well-appointed workshops whose anvils ring from morning to night.
Many of the city’s crafter enclaves open their homes to visitors with demonstrable skill in the same areas. In addition, the smiths here trade their services for foreign arms and armor they have not seen before (including weapons of Xen’drik and Sarlona). Like most smiths in the city, members of this enclave work only on magic armor and weapons.
4. House of Life: This enclave of adepts and clerics is one of many spread throughout the city, its members studying together and spreading well-being among their fellow citizens. Healing is just another part of the overall system of barter in place within the city. However, members of this house freely cast healing, restoration, raise dead, or even resurrect for strangers if convinced that a party can ultimately offer something to Io’lokar in return (Diplomacy DC 40).
5. Union of the Spear: This citadel of brass-edged stone is the home of Io’lokar’s far-ranging wyvern riders. Spear squadrons spend their time performing aerial reconnaissance in territories that magical observation cannot reach. Members of the order also hunt monsters that threaten non-dragon settlements, though they are forced to grudgingly ignore the rogue dragons who too often do the same. Tensions between the dominion lords and Io’lokar run high at all times, and the Io’lokari tread carefully in the Vast.
Service in the Spear is a worthwhile option for combat-oriented characters seeking a place in Io’lokar. PCs who have the Mounted Combat feat and 15 or more ranks in Ride can ask to join a Spear hunting flight as auxiliary troops. Those taking a lead role in slaying a creature of the same Challenge Rating as their level will be invited to join the order. Once within the Spear, characters are trained in the dragonrider prestige class.
PCs adventuring in Argonnessen might find themselves befriended (or even saved) by a flight of wyvern riders from the city. Such an encounter is one way to bring a PC party into Io’lokar for the first time.
6. Necropolis Gate: For thirty generations, the people of Io’lokar have lived and died within their city walls. At the end of a nondescript lane, an unlocked black onyx gate opens to a well-worn spiral staircase leading down into the mountain. Along miles of magically carved corridors stand the burial chambers of the Io’lokari. Their placement follows no pattern; old and new tombs can be found side by side throughout the complex. No map or plan of these caverns exists—the Io’lokari who come here to meditate know where their loved ones lie. Though few contemporary city folk have ever explored the full extents of the necropolis, it is rumored that its thousand-year-old caverns connect to an even older series of caves where the remains of great dragons are entombed. If this draconic ossuary has any connection to the Warders’ placing Io’lokar here, it remains unknown.
7. The Dragon Green: Public parks and green spaces are spread throughout the city. In addition to providing space for quiet reflection and meditation, each park features a shrine to one of the Sovereigns. Folk of the city often choose a number of shrines for meditation, many making a regular progress through the city to pay fealty to each in turn. The enormous park known as the Dragon Green contains shrines to all fifteen Sovereigns and is specifically designed to allow dragons to join the city folk in celebrations, lectures, and other public events.
Additionally, the Union of the Shield uses the Dragon Green as its primary training grounds, and tournaments of skill are scheduled here weekly. Such fairs are a combination of a typical combat or spellcasting competition and a tournament arcane. Lethal force is not only tolerated but actively encouraged in such events, with defeated combatants raised in short order. Characters new to Io’lokar should expect an invitation to a tournament as a means of demonstrating their worth and skill. Refusal is a grave insult and carries a –10 penalty on Diplomacy checks made within the city. Victory in a tournament is a good way to gain status, however, granting a +5 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy checks within the city for one week.
8. Union of the Shield: This three-story fortress of polished marble marks the headquarters of the military order charged with the defense of the city. Unlike its counterpart Union of the Spear, the Shield is not an order of full-time troops but a citizen militia under the command of some two hundred career officers. In the absence of a soldier class or a standing army, the people of Io’lokar are an army unto themselves.
The Vast is full of dragons who would be pleased to see Io’lokar join Io’vakas in ruin. As a result, the Io’lokari begin military training at a young age, making good use of the base attack bonus granted by their multiclass levels. Io’lokari who do not have martial weapon or armor proficiency from another class often take levels in warrior.
Though crime within Io’lokar is all but unheard of, officers of the Shield keep the peace alongside the Arnaaracaex. Mostly this means monitoring unauthorized use of the high-level magic that suffuses the city, from adolescent casters summoning epic monsters to accidental arcane conflagrations tearing through upscale neighborhoods. In emergencies, citizens and visitors to the city alike are called to service.
9. Lightstorm: This actors’ enclave is typical of many in the Sunward—a communal place of study and residence for the bards and illusionists whose work is central to Io’lokar’s theatrical traditions (typical bard or illusionist 15/warrior 3). The Lightstorm and other bardic enclaves have a great interest in the lore of the outside world, and a party led by a bard (or PCs willing to pretend that the bard is their leader) can often seek lodging in such enclaves while in the city.
10. The Black Stage: The largest of Io’lokar’s amphitheaters is known as the Black Stage for its shadow magic augmented performances. Music, drama, and oratory are the cornerstones of Io’lokar cultural life, and performances in the Terrace’s many theaters are attended by all the folk of the city. Epic dramatic works incorporate illusion and planar magic in their production, while incomparable musical and oratory performances make use of illusion and mild enchantment effects to heighten the audience’s perceptions. Lost works of pre-Inspired Sarlona, ancient Xen’drik, and the Dhakaani Empire are often heard here, possibly revealing ancient lore or adventure hooks.
PCs can also seek to perform on the city’s stages—the Io’lokari are always hungry for new tales and ballads from distant lands. In addition to performers bartering their efforts for lodging and other favors, a DC 40 Perform check grants a +5 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy checks made within the city for one week.
11. The Gardens: The homes of Io’lokar are universally stocked with wondrous items that produce hearty food and drink, and the chefs and tavernkeepers of the city take such magic beyond the sublime. Nonetheless, the Io’lokari are as passionate about gastronomy as they are all other arts, and city folk supplement their magical fare with the bounty of the gardens. High-level druids use their spellpower to augment permanent magical effects that produce a full harvest each and every day. Produce is available at the public markets from dawn to dusk.
Druids are rarer within the city than other spellcasters, and druid characters can easily find a place in the ranks of the city’s gardeners. However, the magic that forces an entire season’s growing into a single day involves not only a powerful plant growth effect but planar magic tapping into the power of Lamannia, the Twilight Forest. Planar disturbances that open up rifts to Lamannia are a constant risk, and many fiends and elemental lords have attempted to use Io’lokar to establish a foothold in Argonnessen.
12–15. The Colleges: The four great colleges of Io’lokar represent a storehouse of theoretical and historical knowledge greater than any in Khorvaire. The colleges are divided into disciplines defined by the dragons when Io’vakas was first built: the arcane sciences (area 12, including arcane magic, alchemy, and astronomy), the natural sciences (area 13, including divine magic and biology), the conscious sciences (area 14, including psionics and psychology), and the unconscious sciences (area 15, including history, sociology, and dream study). Study of the Prophecy is spread out among the four colleges since the Prophecy touches all aspects of the world.
Spaced around the Height, the four colleges are multistoried affairs of granite and marble. Each features a huge open courtyard at which morning and afternoon lectures are given by resident sages or dragon scholars visiting the city. All citizens of Io’lokar are welcome to these events. The City of Knowledge gets few visitors, and its scholars take no chances on useful lore being overlooked. In particular, recent events and developments in Khorvaire, Xen’drik, or Sarlona are of great interest to the Colleges, and PCs who have information to share might find themselves invited to lodge at the Height foran extended time.
PCs might also find themselves in possession of information whose value they do not fully understand. Like the draconic scholars they model, the sages of Io’lokar often draw lines of meaning between apparently unrelated events. The PCs’ previous adventures might carry dark portents and could lead to the Io’lokari requesting the party’s aid on an upcoming academic mission.
16. Masters’ Hall: These are the council chambers of the Masters—those Io’lokari of highest level who choose to dedicate themselves to the administration of the city. The council is an unelected body whose membership changes month to month—any Io’lokari of 20th character level or higher is free to join. Council meetings are open to all citizens, but strangers wishing to speak to the council or observe debate are carefully vetted by both interrogation and divination. The dragons of the Warders sometimes observe or offer guidance to the council, with such sessions held on the Dragon Green (area 7). Citizens pack the lawn and line the walls for such special events.
Demographics14% human, 13% dwarf, 12% goblin and hobgoblin, 11% elf and half-elf, 11% lokumite, 10% orc and half-orc, 10% halfling, 10% gnome, 8% skinwalker, 1% other.
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