The City of Devil's Hook, Part I: The Place

The City of Devil's Hook

The City of Devil's Hook is the largest city of the Cinderlands, the vast volcanic plain created by Mount Avernus, the colossal volcano which overlooks the entire city. The city is named for the massive black basalt cliffs that lead down from the main part of the city, or Hightown, to the port facilities, or Lowtown, upon which are several large jutting rocks, some of which distinctly resemble hooks. These hooks have been the traditional resting place of traitors and other odious criminals, impaled on spikes upon these outcroppings. The hooks are also occasionally bathed in the blood of suicides who fall from Hightown, nearly eight hundred feet up, onto the flats of Lowtown. 

Being possessed of the finest harbour for hundreds of miles around, the city of Devil's Hook has grown enormously in the last few centuries, swollen by refugees from the fallen Septiman Empire and from the mysterious calamities overtaking the Northlands. While this has helped the city become one of the greatest in the world, it has also resulted in seething religious tension. The followers of the Exiled Father do not coexist easily with the Lords of the Nine, nor dwarves, elves and halfmen with the human majority. In a generation, the urban population of Devil's Hook has more than doubled, from about 80,000 to about 200,000. 

The King in Crimson, Lord of the Nine Hells. Most-worshipped deity in Devil's Hook. 

The All-Father. Odin the Exile. A close second. 

Devil's Hook is best thought of as a city in three parts- two primarily urban and one primarily rural. Hightown is where the wealthy elite of the city live, where most of the great temples are located and the most elite markets. Though Hightown is surpassingly luxurious, it is not spacious- only the Grand Prince and his family live in a sizeable villa, with the rest of the elite crowded in well-appointed but modest townhouses. The Palatine Fortress is indeed an impressive structure though. There is a massive cave system which can be accessed from Hightown, which is rumored to be a tunnel to the Burning Lands themselves.  

Hightown is connected by an ingenious series of lifts with the teeming, ever-growing urban mass of Lowtown, where more than four-fifths of the population live, cheek by jowl. Most people live in rickety tenements four or five floors high, with some of the newer buildings reaching heights of nine or ten stories. Criminality and vice is rampant throughout much of Lowtown. The Thieves' Guild of Devil's Hook is a major power in the city, controlling not only thieving rings, but smugglers and all manner of other vices. Most of the seedy inns and taverns where adventurers frequent are to be located in Lowtown, with the Dead Dog, the Saucy Wench and the Devil's Chain three of the most notorious taverns. Lowtown is also, however, the nexus of perhaps the most important port city in the West. 

One of the Shipyards of Lowtown

On the other side of the titanic cliff which separates Hightown from Lowtown is a sprawling series of small fortified villages around which are great fields of grain, wine and other agricultural goods. The volcanic ash which is regularly belched forth from Avernus is an inconvenience to the rich nobles in Hightown but a titanic boon to Devil's Hook overall, as it ensures a fertile land. These agricultural lands are protected by another series of high mountains, which are augmented by large castles astride the two primary passes. As on the other side of those mountains is a vast burning desert, this ensures both Devil's Hook's security and self-sufficiency in the case of siege.

The city is ruled by the House of Varrus, a powerful and ancient family line of Septiman descent which left the ailing Empire about a century ago and come to Devil's Hook at the head of a mercenary army, many of whom were absorbed into the Devil's Hook military proper. The current Grand Prince, Octavian Varrus, has accumulated virtually untold wealth through his ownership of mining concerns in the mountains around the city as well as a personal trading fleet larger than the navies of many other merchant cities. It is believed that he acquired much of his wealth and influence through a dynastic bargain of sorts with the King in Crimson. He is also notable for his ttwin daughters- Aurelia Varrus, known as the "Angel" but a brilliant political conniver, and Cornelia Varrus, the "Demon", known to be a powerful magic-user and unusually for a woman, a feared military tactician. He also has a son, Trajan, who is believed to be a bit of a fop and generally useless. 

They say that he managed to get a fair bargain out of Asmodeus himself. 

Don't be fooled, she's already been responsible for four assassinations. 

Any commentary on her reputed relationship with Proserpina, Lord of the First is scurrilous and should be immediately dismissed.



Well, he's handsome. You have to give him that.

The City of Devil's Hook is one that is full of potential adventure and danger. Adventure Seeds for the city, as well as some specific locations of relevance to an adventure, will be outlined in Part II.