Athaios

According to a recent census, the city's approximately 400000 residents, are comprised of native races in the following proportions: 40% Earthborn Eambri, 15% Geon, 10% Chypheloi, 8% T'a, and 8% Awakened Earth Elementals; and outsiders in the following proportions: 17% Builders from the Frostmere, and 2% visitors from other realms.

Although the city is nominally governed by the Great Temple to Athai, and the High Moradeikon is considered the nominal head of government, the day to day management of the city is left to a semi-autonomous elected secular High Council. The Temple does not directly collect taxes from the citizens, but does own several public utilities and bedrock economic entities which contribute a large portion of their revenue to the Temple. The High Council has the authority to collect taxes, but has historically opted to instead impose levies as public infrastructure projects make funding necessary.

At the heart of the city, surrounding the Athaikathion is the Temple District. The Great Temple to Athai stands at the foot of the Athaikathion, surrounded by the lesser temples to the most prominent gods of the collective Orochthan pantheon. Elsewhere in the district are other smaller temples dedicated to the lesser-known gods who are nevertheless worshipped by those with enough means to fund the building of a temple.   To the north of the city is what is called the District of the Living Earth. Though some might argue that a section of forested wilderness within the city walls hardly qualifies as a district, this area is the residence of the various awakened earth elementals that call Athaios home. It is also in this district where the city's guardian, the Elemental Lord Tephron, dwells, slumbering until such time as the city requires protection from an existential threat.   East of the Temple District is the Merchant Quarter and the newly built Junction, which facilitates trade with the wider Shardscape. A narrow strip south of the Merchant Quarter plays host to the artisans of Athaios, affectionately known to frequenters as Sculpture Street, and derisively known as the Avenue of Melodrama by others. West are the waxworks, where all variety of products manufactured from kiepheloi wax and honey are made. A smaller Industrial Junction has been squeezed into an abandoned building in the middle of the district to facilitate direct exports to external markets, though the Industrial Junction has not seen as much traffic as the surrounding businesses might have hoped.   South and southwest of the Temple District are the residential districts. At one point separated into three distinct areas for the nobles, the middle-class, and the destitute, the walls have since been taken down. In modern Athaios, the area has been split into thirteen separate administrative districts, and wealth is more or less evenly distributed through the area.   Outside the city walls, in the West, Southwest, South, Northeast, and Southeast are the Stonetowns—settlements built by the Builder refugees from the Frostmere. Although the subject of continuing controversy among inhabitants of Athaios, and the targets of several outbreaks of violence in the last few decades, a tenuous status quo has been established between the city's administration and the residents of the Stonetowns.