The city of Lathe is a major metropolis in the southwestern Cinder Coast, built on a large volcanic island north of the Bay of Kings. The main portion of the city is hollowed inside the husk of a gigantic primal spirit slain in antiquity that has turned to stone. The behemoth is a staggering four miles long and slightly arthropodic in shape, a monstrous centipede of segmented carapace with over-sized pincers and a mane of jagged spines. It lays curled about the large volcanic island’s highest peak - Mount Valiant - with its head at the edge of the basin and its serpentine bulk spiraling around the mountainside until its tail disappears into sea. The carcass is partially encrusted in volcanic ash from previous eruptions, but what truly keeps it affixed to the now-dormant volcano is a massive spear hundreds of yards in length that has nailed it into the cliffside through its thorax and heart. The spear’s shaft is wrapped in pieces of red and white cloth along its entire length, but sometimes when the wind blows strong and shoddily fixed strips of cloth tear loose, one can see it gleaming with the brilliant gold of orichalcum.
Lathe is separated into six districts, five of which are inside the carcass and one inside the volcano. The districts are connected by sloping ramps, tunnels carved into both petrified behemoth and the mountainside, sluggish stone elevators powered by magic and wide openings between layers through which dynasts and sorcerers flit on wings and gusts of Essence.
The Districts[]
- Whitecrest - The skull. Home to great observatories, opulent academies and the sorcerous Hall of Aruspicy.
- Heartworks - The thorax. The spiritual and cultural heart of Lathe dotted with temples, theaters and mansions.
- Caldera The volcano: The Realm's seat of power in the region, host to Dynastic châteaux, museums and enclaves.
- Jade Soma District The abdomen: Lathe's commercial district, the center of both business and pleasure.
- The Haunches The hindquarters: The city's harbor rife with marketplaces, brothels, seedy bars and everyday folk.
- The Lily Pits The tail: Dangerous slums riddled with the poor and the sick forced to work in labor camps to survive.