Sshamath

[DM Leverage]

Sshamath, City of Dark Weavings (Middledark, beneath the Far Hills)
- Forgotten Realms : Underdark -

Sshamath is a drow city ruled by wizards; the clerics of Lolth play only a minor role here. In stark contrast to many other Underdark cities, especially those controlled by drow, religion is marginalized and even disdained in Sshamath. The Art is king here, and the wizards feel justified in their exclusivity. The quest for personal power made this city what it is and continues to drive it. This pride and the superior attitude it engenders make Sshamath suspect among other drow communities, but its power makes it impossible to dismiss. Sshamath is also home to one of Faerûn’s most complete magic item markets.

Sshamath lies in the region known as the Gauth Grottoes, about 30 miles south of Darkhold and 7 miles down from it. The grottoes lie close to the Buried Realms, the Darklands, and the Northdark but are not directly connected to any of those domains.

[DM Leverage]

Sshamath (metropolis):
- Forgotten Realms : Underdark -

Magical; AL NE; 100,000 gp limit;
Assets 127,160,000 gp;
Population 12,047 free; Isolated (drow 98%, human 1%, deep Imaskari 1%); 13,385 slaves (goblin 39%, grimlock 19%, orc 12%, ogre 10%, minotaur 9%, human 6%, outsider 5%).

Authority Figures: The Conclave of Sshamath governs the city. This group consists of Masoj Dhuunyl; Urlryn Khalazza; Seldszar Elpragh; Malaggar Xarann; Felyndiira T’orgh; Krondorl Waeglossz; Tsabrak of the Blood; Shurdriira Helviiryn; Guldor Zauviir, the Master of Mages; Antatlab of the Shaking Stones .

Important Characters: Nurissa Vyllshan, leading proponent of the school of the Shadow Weave; Nym Mlezziir, Battlemaster of the Eastern Marches and therefore commander of the city’s patrols in the Gauth Grottoes and the ruins of Oghrann.

Defenders: Each school of wizardry represented in the Conclave maintains its own standing army of drow warriors, ranging from 100 to 800 fighters, fighter/wizards, and wizards. Most of the soldiers range from 1st to 5th level.

Sshamath is ruled by a Conclave made up of one representative from each college of arcane specialization and one that represents wizards who do not specialize (also known as mages) and those who study stranger paths of magic (such as deep diviners, elemental savants, and the like).

Recently, a college of shadow adepts petitioned for inclusion in the Conclave, but each new addition to the Conclave weakens the other members’ power, so all are loath to allow it on principle. Worse still, some shadow adepts revere Shar, and most Conclave members find their displays of religious faith in poor taste. However, the arcane power wielded by the shadow adepts is undeniable, and some among the Conclave would rather have the Shadow Weave wizards in sight than hidden from view.

Sshamath lacks the noble Houses of most other drow cities, but the arcane colleges fill much the same role. Each college has assumed certain privileges and duties within the city, and this arrangement has produced a tangled web of responsibility that can be difficult to unravel. For example, the College of Abjuration is charged with the immediate defense of the city, so it maintains the city guard and provides soldiers to garrison Sshamath’s gates. The College of Evocation is charged with scattering threats outside the city walls, so it maintains soldiers that patrol the surrounding tunnels. The College of Enchantment is in charge of the slave markets and overseers, so it sponsors guard detachments who scour Sshamath inside and out for signs of slave unrest or escapes.

No nearby enemies pose a threat to Sshamath, so defense is only a minor concern to the Conclave. Consequently, the city’s standing army is small compared with those of other communities of similar size in the Middledark. Each college dedicates certain members to defense, and each considers it a matter of pride to top the other colleges in defensive measures. The layers of arcane defenses in the rock around the city make Sshamath nearly impregnable. The most formidable of them consist of epic spells that harden the stone, lock down the city in a continual dimensional anchor, redirect teleport spells cast by strangers, and cause paralyzing pain to anyone within a 1-mile radius who seriously thinks about attacking the city or its citizens.

Slavery is widespread in Sshamath, but residents may hold slaves only from those races that the drow consider too “primitive” to practice wizardry, such as chitines, goblins, grimlocks, minotaurs, and ogres. Members of these races who can use arcane magic are seen as anomalies or trick ponies rather than indications of wizardly ability for the race.

Golems, shield guardians, elementals, summoned creatures, animated objects, undead, and homunculi are quite common here. The leading wizards of each college usually have several of each in their service.

Surface elves, humans, and deep Imaskari are not only never kept as slaves by citizens of Sshamath, but any individual from one of these races who displays wizardly knowledge is considered free, regardless of who comes looking for her. Since only drow can be citizens of Sshamath, this policy has created a small, second-class ghetto of human and deep Imaskari residents who are free but not citizens. The Conclave does not allow this segment of society to get large, but it silently recognizes the value of these noncitizens as scapegoats or sacrificial lambs. Bards, sorcerers, and the practitioners of divine magic are second-class citizens in the City of Dark Weavings. The dark elves of Sshamath view power that occurs naturally or because of service to another creature as inferior to power won through personal achievement.

The near-complete absence of faerzress around the city makes Sshamath an easy destination for teleport spells. Teleporting into the city’s cavern is and normally punishable by confiscation of magic items, though certain important people are permitted to teleport there without penalty. Most travelers, however, choose to arrive in the entrance cavern above the city and descend through the main entrance around the pillar known as Z’orr’bauth.


Brief History

The traditional Lolth-worshiping drow of House Sshamath founded the city that bears their name in –4973 DR. For two thousand years, the city existed as a typical House-dominated example of drow society. Then a timely conjunction of events predicated a radical shift. First, the faerzress around the city disappeared, severely weakening Sshamath’s defenses. Second, a generation that included a great number of wizards and relatively few clerics grew into power. These two events led to a quick, bloody civil war that left all the matriarchs dead and the House wizards in control.

Over time, the wizards’ influence on society ushered schools of magic into prominence and the House system into irrelevance. Sshamath’s Houses still exist today, but a drow’s House is no more meaningful than his tailor—perhaps noteworthy, but essentially unimportant.

Predictably, the silence of Lolth has had no significant effect on this city. A handful of wizards from other cities left their Houses and fled to Sshamath when they discovered their matron mothers had no power to stop them. These wizards have been welcomed into Sshamath but shunted into minor roles in the various schools. It’s assumed that some number of them are spies or assassins, so they are watched carefully.

Important Sites
The great cavern that contains Sshamath has been compared to the inside of a pumpkin. Thousands of columns around the city hang like strings, lit faintly with faerie fire. Bridges connect the columns at different heights, creating a tangle of vertical and horizontal stonework across the cavern.

Z'Orr'Bauth
This stone pillar, nearly 2,000 feet in diameter, dominates the center of the city. A long, spiral ramp winds down around it, leading from the city’s entrance cavern in the ceiling all the way down to the floor. Hundreds of stone bridges stream away from the ramp to connect with nearby columns.

Dark Weavings Bazaar
This market on the cavern floor is similar to a surface bazaar, with hundreds of different tents selling a theoretically infinite variety of items. A few of the more prosperous traders house their shops in hollow stalagmites.

Nearly anything a wizard could want is here. If it isn’t, one or two high-end shops specialize in locating any given object. For an enormous fee, the locators can also send someone out to get it. They sometimes like to hire nondrow adventuring parties for such missions.

The Darkfire Pillars
Along the southern edge of Sshamath sprawls a region of stalagmites and caves named for the pillars of ever-burning darkfire that billow from its stalagmite chimneys. This area serves as home to the city’s greatest smiths. In the same way that the schools of magic segregate the city’s wizards, the craft guilds organize its nonwizards. These guilds are not under the direct oversight of the colleges, and each deals with several colleges that are directly concerned with their crafts. For example, the swordsmiths and armorers who comprise the Darkfire Guild work closely with the Colleges of Abjuration and Transmutation.