Processional

This grand avenue of the Free City is at once the center of its commerce, the heart of its culture, and the thread that binds its citizens together. It begins at the Highway Gate, at the terminus of the Old City, and runs more or less straight north, past many of the city's grandest buildings, to its final end at the gate house of the Grand Citadel.   The Processional is not paved, but its surface of hard-packed sand might almost be paving stone for all its durability and weather resistance. The roadway is slightly mounded in the center of its 120-foot width, insuring that even the heaviest of downpours runs quickly into the gutters. The Processional itself seems immune to mud and ruts-an unusual feature here, where the smaller avenues routinely soak up rainwater and become mud-clogged morasses.   During its course, the Processional passes through the Black Gate and the High Gate. It runs through the heart of the Low Marketplace, and forms one side of the High Marketplace. The roadway splits around the vast roanwood tree in the city, once used for hanging criminals and ever afterward called the Hanging Tree. The tree serves simply to provide shade and greenery now. Beyond the tree the road curves slightly to cross a wide wooden bridge over the Millstream. From there it climbs gently, almost imperceptibly, to the slope below the Citadel. For its final stretch the roadway climbs a man-made embankment, carrying it gently up to the gate house of the Citadel.   During the daytime it teems with carts and wagons, pedestrians and riders, even the occasional shepherd or herdsman driving some of his stock before him. The patrols of the City Watch are common here, for this is the thoroughfare used by those patrols as they march to the far comers of the city and back. Preceding and following the changing of guard patrols (see the Citadel description for times) the Processional sometimes has the look of a military parade ground, as more and more patrols come together on their way back to the Citadel. Indeed, the Processional might well have been designed with parades in mind. During major festivals, as well upon special occasions such as the arrival of an important ambassador or the celebration of a newly appointed Lord Mayor, the entire length of the broad avenue becomes a parade route, and virtually the entire city population turns out to watch.   For occasions requiring a truly grand expanse of open area, a Great Square is created in the High Marketplace. Tents are struck, and even the temporary merchants' huts are folded down and moved aside. The result is actually a pair of wide plazas, with the one closer to the Citadel being slightly higher than the one closer to Garden Gate.   These are used for the annual review of the Free City troops and militia as well as for occasional maneuvers or festivals.