The Wastes of the West Pt 3: Cities of the Shallow Desert

Cities dot the desert, interrupting the savage wilderness with savage civilization.  Though the desert is deadly, the cities may very well be more dangerous.  These are places of tyranny, crime, and mystery made all the more treacherous for their beauty and appearance of safety, and these are only the ones you will find int he Shallow Desert.  The Deep Desert has stranger and more sinister places yet.

Tyre: The Golden City, the City of Devouring Sands, the City of a Thousand Lanterns, all these are names for Tyre.  This is a beautiful city, made of up shining minarets with countless lanterns flying from their towers.  Tyre is ruled over by the beautiful Goddess Queen Delila to whom worship is mandatory.  She is a powerful sorceress and self-proclaimed deity.  The city's inhabitants are inclined to worship her anyway because those born in the city stand under a curse.  The sands surrounding Tyre devour the souls of those born there upon their death, trapping their souls within creatures of burning sand.  Delila's magics bind the souls of the departed in the lanterns around the city to save them from the curse.  Few who are born in Tyre leave for fear of leaving the protection of Delila's lanterns.  It is said that those who commit a crime in Tyre are thrown into the cursed dungeons below the city where they become inhuman beasts.

Carain: The peculiar city of the Thrall Masters stands in a volcanic crater.  Its monolithic buildings are made of gray-black volcanic stone and in their shadows walk the Thrall Masters and their terrible Thralls.  The Thrall Masters of the Carain School are experts in stitching together parts of different creatures into servants of their liking.  The Thrall Masters are notoriously amoral, using life, sentient and otherwise, in their experiments without a qualm.  They are terribly stuffy men in odd box-like hats except when they go to the Arena.  It is said that a long time ago, outsiders came to the city and began the Arena where the Thrall Masters would do battle with their most horrific monstrosities.  This is a place of wanton cruelty and sinister mystery.  Travelers, beware making business arrangements in Carain, for some deals might truly cost you an arm and a leg.

Jagged City: The Jagged City lies in a great canyon.  The city hangs on the rocky walls of the canyon, crisscrossing over the gap with latticed wooden causeways.  This is a city with no law.  No one really founded it and no one really rules besides the occasional gang leader that rises up above the rest.  This is the place for all kinds of sin mortals might indulge in.  Prostitution, gambling, arenas, and slavery are all big-ticket industries here.  Thieves wait around every corner and everyone wants you to pay for protection.  So put on your best "hardened criminal" face and prepare to brawl because, like most jagged things, this city won't let you out without cutting you up.