The City of Ixtol

        Ixtol, like many of the czath cities in this region, isn't really a czath city. The reptillians merely inhabit the half-sunken ruins of an old Creator metropolis, Toxli. This shining city was once a part of the great Midland Seaway, a tropical port of magnificent beaches and resorts amid the hyperspan highways that spanned four hundred miles of the Eastern Sea. When the end came, most of the causeway collapsed, and many of the floating, domed cities along its length sank into the ocean. One of the only surviving relics of the Creator era is this particular ruin, half of which is now below sea level. Immense, ruined towers jut from the ocean and litter the seaside. Toxli was a tiered city, and much of what remains on land is a series of overgrown, rubble-strewn marble plazas. The majority of the land structures were leveled by massive earthquakes, and reclaimed by the jungle. Everything else has been claimed by the czath, who dwell within the crumbling structures as they would caves.

        The czath living here are constantly at war with the skoles who roam the Waning Veldt to the south. Unlike many of the territorial disputes of the past, however, this is simply a war of attrition. Minor skirmishes will occasionally errupt into full-scale battles on the open plains, with both massive species engaging in the wholesale slaughter of opposing forces. These battles rarely spill over into the ancient city, however, as the skoles have no wish to engage the czath in their own element.

The Slaves

        Most of the slaves that pass through Ixtol are on their way to Harrow, to be traded to the Spiral. Those skimmed off this stock remain within the ancient city to serve the czath and the few gorgs who reside here. Most of these are young and healthy enough to be worth saving (or serving; czath are canibals). Humans, lutrai, and koba are most common - czath hate skoles far too much to have them around as slaves. Though the gorgs do try to maintain an accurate accounting of business here, it is made next to impossible by the impatient, dim-witted reptillians, who often have a hard time counting anything before noon. One group in particular takes advantage of this haphazard accounting.

        Chainbreakers from Shadowpool have set up within the city, posing as slaves in order to spy on what they consider to be the last stop before eternal damnation. Some of the most daring rescues are carried out here, where the security is relatively disorganized (and none too bright). Such raids are often carried out in the middle of some greater skirmish, when most of the czath are occupied fighting the skoles to the south. This infuriates the reptillians to no end, and forces any gorgs who want to maintain any sense of fiscal order to hire Arcanar wizards to keep track of their stock. This is often done with a special type of runic brand, a sigil placed on the back of the slave's neck, set to explode under certain conditions (death of the master, moving more than one mile from the master, and so forth).

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