Valorum

While Valorum still acknowledges the solons' leadership, they must make do on their own.

An ancient order of warriors dedicated to Zelentium were the first to defend the city against the attacks from other sentient races but also from the creatures that stalk the fires of civilization. They fought side by side with the god of death's companions: wolves and hawks.

The Hawks became the foot soldiers and city guardians, while the Wolves (which came to be called more officially the Council of Sabina) became the city's governmental officials.

The citizens of Valorum pay only 12% of the evaluated cost of their owned land into their government as taxes, but since many of the people are farmers, hunters, or otherwise use the land to make their living, it mostly covers anything needed by the city (though it doesn't exactly have a huge budget either).

Even though it is part of the Cactsian Empire, Valorum is far enough away from the seat of power that they have fostered good trade relations with not only other Cactsian cities but also border towns in Valsáth and Dopplefen.

It is known particularly for its alcohols - and particularly its rum, known as aminum.

Domaedo

Worldly possessions do not have much place in the land of the dead and most can only take what is buried with them. Most of this is used to pay for services before their journey's end - and most of it is in Domaedo, the Temple of the Crescent Moon.

In the underworld, this is where the gold that the souls are buried with can be used to buy trinkets to ward off the creatures that lurk in the dark, blessings from the priests of death, passage down the rivers of life, and more. In Valorum, Domaedo is the marketplace, and the Temple of the Crescent Moon sits as the economic center of the city. A white building inlaid with opalescent stones and a gold crescent moon marking the entrance, it is the bank of Valorum and run by the Council of Sabina.

Urban Utopia by Jedd Chevrier

The Grand Felicity

Open walkways with clear ponds and bubbling streams with colorful fish that glimmer beneath the surface. Purple hyacinths that bloom with a fragrance that is heady and aromatic planted under bowed cypress trees.

The Grand Felicity is the maker's street - the craftsman's district - yes, but it is also the resting place for unburdened souls.

Children, particularly principled and honorable individuals, and those who have reconciled their souls can find rest here.

Of course, the Grand Felicity is built only to reflect what the educated think that the underworld looks like, but many take comfort as they take a lunch under the shade of the cypress, watch the goldfish lazily swim in the streams, or eat honeyed sweets and drink wine in the warm afterglow of a summer sunset that this is what awaits them on the other side.

Hawk's Keep

The legions of death (or the creatures that lurk beneath the green leaves) are no match for the soldiers of Hawk's Keep. A large wall separates the district from the rest of Valorum, with the keep itself sitting on the far outer edge of the district. Walls face out into the jungle that are patrolled all hours of the day in night with sentries perched in outposts on the walls shaped like they are standing in the mouths of grotesque creatures that infest the underworld.

The rest of the district is far less dramatic: taverns and shops and even the homes of the Hawks crowd the streets of the district, which is meant to be as chaotic and deceptive as the Labyrinth, an area of the underworld where a soul makes it's reckonings with its regrets and shortcomings.

Theta Nigrim

The place that souls must begin their journey in the underworld.

An old ziggurat that is said to be a portal to the land of the dead, Theta Nigrim loans its name to all the district it sits within. The first people to come to this place in the Letalis Jungle recognized the danger (and potential) of this place, and built the ziggurat to house the portal. The city grew up around it, and though the ziggurat has long since become an abandoned place that it is forbidden to step within, the culture that cloaks itself in death and burial continues on.

The buildings of Valorum are made of wood and plaster, roofed with thatching that are changed out with the seasons. "Thatching Days" are city holidays, where the citizenship helps each other swap out the old roofing material and place the new thatch down.

Most families live in single-story homes, placed on stilts to help keep out flooding during the rainy season.

Almost all buildings will have large openings and windows to allow airflow through the structures.

Valorum is in the heart of the Letalis Jungle.