Invisible Fortress:Sijan

Sijan, the City of Tombs, is a quiet place. There are no festivals to break the silence save those celebrated for the dead. Graveyards stretch for miles around the outskirts of the city, which is constructed in shades of black, white, and gray. Towers rise above low tombs and wide, empty roads. Taverns and feast halls for the living are located below ground; life pulses under Sijan, while death walks its streets.

History

Nobody seems to know exactly how old Sijan is. Some scholars claim that it stood before the beginning of the First Age, while others suggest that the myth of an "eternal Sijan" is promoted by its inhabitants in order ot increase its mistique. However, there are a few crumbling tombs outside the city walls which are old enough that not even the morticians of Sijan have records of their age or who lies in them.

Throughout the centuries or millennia Sijan has existed, it has remained consistently neutral among conflicts in the region. Sijan offers its services to all who can afford them, and offers aid to none. Only once in recorded history has any foreign force occupied Sijan: in RY 75, the Morticians' Order granted the Realm's "request" to station a talon of one of its legions in the city, so long as they did not interfere with the city's day-to-day operations. The Imperial garrison vanished without a trace two years later. Nobody knows what would happen if Sijan were roused to anger and military action. Nobody is interested in discovering the answer.

Although Sijan joined the Confederation of Rivers, it refused all military parts of the alliance. The Morticians' Order hires a few scales of Seventh Legion troops from Lookshy to patrol the borders of its territory and discourage banditry, but they make it clear that this is a private contract, not part of the alliance membership. The Morticians' Order does not care for the petty squabbles of the living, and who would be crazy engouh to invade the City of the Dead?

Although Sijan had no involvement with the fall of Thorns save their normal duties burying the dead, Thorns and the Mask of Winters invite suspicious questions about Sijan. People look from the Deathlord and his undead troops to Sijan and its haunted tombs, and wonder if there is any connection between the two. The denizens of Sijan knows that these questions are slander. The city exists to care for the dead, not to use them.

Sijan's neutrality is extended even to the Mask of Winters and other Deathlords; they even prepare and embalm concubines and other special-order corpses for them. Sijan will happily provide services to the Realm, although adherents of the immaculate philosophy will not make use of them, for that would be heresy. The immaculate faith demands no mausoleums, no grave goods, no death money, and no sacrificed servants, all common services of Sijan.

Geography

West of Sijan is the River of Tears, while the Avarice River lies to the south. To the north is the Black Chase forest. Two bridges across the Avarice lead to the Plains of the Dead. Only the living are permitted to cross the eastern bridge, called the Rising Bridge or the Bridge of Mortals. Only the waking dead are permitted to cross the western bridge, called the Setting Bridge or the Bridge of the Fallen. Both bridges see significant traffic, though generally at different times of the day.

The Plains of the Dead

The vast cemeteries of Sijan stretch for miles on the opposite side of the Avarice from the city proper. They are littered with enormous tombs, some the size of a small town themselves. Some are built for a single hero or ruler, while others hold populations of towns or armies. Down from these enormous tombs there are also villa-sized crypts for noble houses, modest family plots, and even singular graves. Sijan offers services for nearly every income level.

Nature is always trying to reclaim the burial yards of Sijan. Much of the daily traffic across the Rising Bridge consists of morticians traveling into the Plains of the Dead to care for the lands.

The Black Chase

The Black Chase is a forested Shadowfell pocket. Sounds are hushed, and it is easy to get turned around in these woods. Paths change and seldom cover the same ground twice. Attempts to blaze new trails fail, as marked trees and footprints shift to new locations.

Two roads pass through the Black Chase: one follows the eastern shore of the River of Tears, skirting the forest itself, and is reasonably safe in the daytime; the other leads deep into the heart of the forest, and no sane mortal would dare follow it.

The forest is the primary source in Creation of black ash wood, which the Sijanese frequently use for paneling, furniture, coffins, etc. The wood resists damp and rot, seemingly indefinitely. Woodcutters living near the forest make a living collecting deadfalls and cutting living trees, though they are careful never to venture far into the Black Chase, and always return home well before nightfall. Outside Sijan, black ash wood is viewed as unlucky by most, although some collectors become obsessed with the material. They pay high prices for the small amounts that reach the market, and sometimes are even willing to pay more than gold. There is a story of one collector from The Guild who was resolved to panel his entire manor with black ash, and allegedly sacrificed five daughters to demon benefactors in order to afford it.

The City

Sijan itself is divided in two: the area which belongs to the dead, above ground, and the area which belongs to the living, below ground. While living morticians and visitors may traverse the streets of Sijan, the buildings are all tombs and mausoleums. Workshops, housing, taverns, etc. stay out of sight, under the streets.

Upper Sijan, as it is often called, is not empty, however. While living people do not dwell there, morticians must pass through to tend to crypts, arrange funerals, and perform the rites and various duties demanded of them. Visitors wander the streets marveling at architecture or seeking tombs of importance to them. At night, morticians move among the towers and graves with bobbing lights. There is no clear order to the placing of tombs and monuments throughout the city; while most streets are wide enough for a funeral to pass, narrow alleys cut between buildings or small groves of willow and pine trees. It is easy to navigate towards the high towers in the center of the city or outwards to the Black Chase or either of the two rivers, but finding a specific location within the upper city is a challenge for newcomers.

Stairwells are placed throughout the upper city, granting access to Lower Sijan. There are no guards at the top of the stairs, but the bottom will usually have a sentry chanting prayers to appease any passing spirits. Some of the stairs are wide and broad, permitting passage of funerary processions, while others are narrow and small and can barely be navigated by a single person. Sentires at the stairs do not bar entry, for Sijan welcomes all who require their services... or who might require them in the future. However, the stairs do have gates to bar access to obviously dangerous or violent arrivals, and the sentries have bells to ring as alarms.

Below the Surface

Lower Sijan is older than Upper Sijan. While some scholars claim to recognize First Age craftsmanship in the city, others claim it is far older. The air of Lower Sijan stays fresh and cool. The walls are smooth black ash, marble, onyx, or obsidian, with polished floors from centuries of foot traffic. Glowing crystals keep the heavily-trafficked corridors and rooms well-lit, while more traditional torches and lanterns light the less commonly-used areas. The lower city hums with everyday urban noises, but they are complemented with chants and hymns for the dead.

The living city forms a set of concentric rings. The innermost ring is for receiving guests and administrating the city's business. This area includes the city's libraries, great halls used for major ceremonies, and workshops for embalming and necrosurgery. There are also taverns, brothels, and other accommodations for living visitors.

The next ring, a mile further out, contains the living spaces for the native living Sijanese. Each family has a shrine to their ancestors in addition to any tombs on the surface. Lecture halls, temples, and classrooms where junior morticians learn their trade are located here along with storage for spices, chemicals, and the various implements of death required by the Morticians' Order.

The third ring houses strange rooms and hidden secrets. Some are tunneled down from locked tombs on the surface. Others spiral away from the city for miles. Doors are sealed with magical materials and ancient curses. There are temples only opened once a century in order to perform a rite which keeps ancient, powerful dead appeased. There are passages where even the most experienced and skilled morticians fear to tread. There are patrolling guards which turn visitors away from these areas, but there are no regular wardens. The inhabitants do not need them. They take care of themselves, and they take care of anyone fool enough to wander in.

Outsiders in Sijan

Given the number of visitors, clients, and corpses pass through Sijan, a wide array of accommodations are required. These stay in the center of the city, close to the main administrative facilities. This area is the liveliest part of Sijan, with visitors who are a little bit too loud and a little bit too lively, in an effort to ward off the chill of death and the shadow of ghosts that permeates everywhere.

Clients who come to arrange contracts or who bring corpses with them get room and board for free. The precise accommodations afforded to them is commensurate with the visitor's station. These benefits only extend until the end of the funeral or arrangements are made. Visitors who come to Sijan for other reasons must pay as they might in any other town. Prices are similar to any other town in Creation, and there are almost always rooms available.

Sijanese treat all visitors politely, but the degree depends on their reason for visiting. Clients and those visiting ancestors or revered historical figures enjoy every courtesy. Scholars or others with a plausible reason for visiting are directed to the appropriate location to satisfy their reason for visiting and then left alone to get on with their business. Pure tourists get a cooler reception, although local guides will point them towards Sijan's museums to occupy themselves. Disrespectful requests such as a desire to "see the skeletons" result in the locals stonewalling them–politely–and call the Black Watch if necessary. Anyone foolish enough to insinuate that he is a tomb robber or associates with the sort of people who would maliciously disturb the dead for any reason will find Sinjanese slamming doors in their face and immediate calls for the Watch.

Taverns, brothels, and similar businesses in Sijan depend more on visitors than on the natives. They swing between charging as much as they can get away with (since they are the only sources of entertainment beyond the museums) and slashing their own prices (to undercut their neighbors). Friendly locals can point visitors to a business which is currently charging low or reasonable prices. Local tradition also holds that it is meritous to expose outsiders to Sijanese culture, so a local may even put up a visitor for the night themselves while the gently remind the newcomer that death is part of life.

The Morticians' Order

The Funeral Order of Righteous Moriticians and Embalmers functions as Sijan's government. The city has less need for governance than most cities, but much more need for scheduling. All of the natives understand the necessity of appeasing the dead buried there, arranging funerals for new arrivals, and preparing for future arrivals. "Sijanese" is as much a vocation as it is a nationality.

There are three divisions within the Morticians' Order, called Observances. The leaders of the Observances meet once a month to decide the course of Sijan's government; the council includes the former (deceased) leaders of the Observances, as well. This council is mostly ceremonial (something the people of Sijan are used to in many aspects of life) when compared to their duties administrating their respective divisions.

All members of the Morticians' Order wear grey gowns with thick shawls. Silver bracelets indicate the mortician's rank and Obersvance.

Funerists

The funerists are the masters of ceremony, rite, and ritual. They are the supervisors and designers of the city's funeral services. Each funerist knows the burial rites for dozens of cultures, rituals to appease the dead, and what observances should be afforded a client based on their status in life. Occasionally, a new settlement in the Scavenger Lands commissions a master funerist to design burial rituals for their people. Funerists are learned scholars, trained memorizers, practiced public speakers, and talented performers.

Mortwrights

The mortwrights prepare bodies for final disposition. They boast the world's best embalmers, morticians, necrosurgeons, and fleshcrafters. This Observance is full of practical artists used to working with skeletons, corpses, and broken bodies, able to visualize the ideal face and body for any given corpse. The mortwrights have more contact with minions of the Deathlords than any other Sijanese, to whom they adopt a strictly professional attitude. No matter how admirable the skill of the Deathlords' necrosurgeons, the mortwrights treat the intended applications of the work as none of their business.

Deadspeakers

The smallest of the Observances, the deadspeakers manage contact between the living and the dead. They serve as mediums to communicate with spirits, and as guards for the techniques to raise the dead or perform exorcisms. Deadspeakers do not themselves like to perform exorcisms, but as much as the living must be punished for despoiling the dead, sometimes the dead must be prevented from attacking the living.

Family and Custom

Sijanese value their families, both alive and dead. It is a chain that stretches backwards through history, and which living members will build into the future. The dead guide the living, while the living honor the dead. Marriages are made for life, and children are expected to care for their parents in old age.

Marriage is a strictly civil contract, often arranged. When a young couple develops attraction prior to marriage, the families are expected to arrange a marriage and pretend that had been the plan all along. If the families refuse to arrange a marriage, such as due to a feud between ancestors, the children's only recourse is leaving the city.

Children are loved and cared for, and expected to either take up the same trade as their parents or else join one of the Observances. Apprenticeships start at approximately age 12; if a children is taking up the same trade as their parents, they will nonetheless apprentice with someone else so that their work can be viewed with objective eyes. Apprenticeships may be changed at will for three years, at which point the child is expected to settle firmly into a career.

Children become legally adults at 20. Those joining an Observance take their mortician oaths, while others often take over the family trade. Marriages also do not occur before age 20.

Some Sijanese opt for a graceful suicide as they feel age creeping upon them. Others work until they drop. Those extremes and everything in between are accepted in Sijan.

Work and Trade

Morticians either negotiate contracts through their Observance, or directly with their client. One of the roles of the Observances is to ensure that all of their members find reasonable employment; Sijan certainly has enough business to meet the goal. The regular living needs of Sijan are met by booksellers, tailors, smiths, innkeepers, grocers, etc. that the living require. The Observances fund some of these–morticians often employ their relatives. Trade is slow but regular; nobody becomes wealthy as a butcher in Sijan, but nobody goes bankrupt either. Sijanese shops are quiet and polite, and they eschew bargaining. Outsiders setting up shop in Sijan find themselves accepted by the community.

The docks form the most visibly busy part of the city, and are a district unto their own, which the natives do not really think of as being a true part of Sijan. Black hearse-galleys come and go, sending out morticians and bringing back clients. As Sijan's location makes for an excellent hub of commerce, however, foreign boats outnumber the Sijanese boats ten to one. Most merchants and sailors never go past the dockside warehouses and hostels. Sijan's funeral influence nonetheless reaches down to the docks, and the dockside saloons are much quieter than their equivalent establishments in other cities.