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You live in and around a great city known as the New City of Ipsar. Ipsar is one of a dozen sub-capitals, which govern whole continents for the world spanning Empire. This city is carved into the symmetrical slopes of an extinct volcanic cone. Its streets rise in increasing splendor to the summit, where an imperial sub-palace sits like a crown. The golden domes and alabaster walls of the sub-palace can be seen from anywhere in the city and from far into the hills beyond.
No one actually lives in the sub-palace, since it is the home of the Emperor when he visits, but the elite of the ruling class hold many balls, ceremonies, and other celebrations there. Around the sub-palace and the summit are administrative buildings, where actual governance takes place. Many homes of the wealthy elite are also located near the summit. Lower down are the homes and shops of wealthy merchants, jewelers, master armsmen and armorers, theurgists, dyers, etc. At the lowest levels are the common citizens, divided among many ghettos by religion or strongly defended cultural identities.
The land surrounding the New City of Ipsar is Celtic by long tradition, and most peasants still worship the Celtic gods. The druids govern these people and protect the balance of nature within these lands. Other cultures also impinge upon these lands, as a legacy of the millennia of ancient warfare and invasion by foreign lands. Within Ipsar, the Empire citizens recognize Ademis' pure teachings, but many diverse cultures are represented among the ghettos that girdle the city.
Other features of the land include: