Connects to: 29.14.01, 29.14.35, 29.14.36, 29.15, 51.29.01 and the Burning Lands.
It’s not a far jog from the South Gate of the City proper to the shore of Keening Sea – a massive freshwater body that serves a fishery, bread basket (29.15), water-source, and sewage outtake for the City of Shuttered Windows. The underground canals leading to and out of the City have access points to allow the Priests of the Temple Indivisible to bless and purify the waters, as well as allowing for crews to patrol the waterways for monster incursions.
Fish and turtles coming in from the sea must also be blessed and purified before it can be brought into the city. The numerous warves lining the shores are dominated by fisher-priests, who are responsible for keeping order on the docks and inspecting the catch of the day for taint. Each cluster of docks is practically its own village, and most residents have rare reason to enter the city proper.
Dwarf-made pumps pull water from the canals up into the highest spires of the city, powered by the labors of heretics found guilty of worshiping forbidden gods (usually, the Green Lady of the elves and the men of Thring). In practice, the heresy charges are brought against undesirables on the flimsiest of evidence whenever a new crew of workers is needed. If a heretical prisoner should die while serving his penance, his flesh is stripped and his skeleton animated to complete his full sentence. This is one of the few examples of necromantic animation allowed by City law and temple and is strictly regulated by the Necromantic Office. A sentence of a few hundred years has become not uncommon and there is speculation that the undead now outnumber living workers.
Originally, the waterworks were powered by summoned elementals, and some sections of the complicated system still have their original water-spirits dutifully pumping water upward. However, even spirits eventually fade, and since the Green Lady’s divorce (29.14.01), summoning replacements has become not only illegal but fairly dangerous (also, the arcane art of summoning in which elves specialize is a much more guarded secret than as it was when the waterworks were first constructed).
From the heights of the tallest buildings, the water falls in several open air streams, where it is diverted by sleeves to fall into homes and public cisterns. There are a few more elaborate fountains throughout the various tiers of the city as well, particularly in shrines. They tend to be fed directly by water being pumped upward. The largest of the waterfalls powers a system of waterwheels, which have a variety of purposes.
The Guild of the Waterworks, the Plumbers, dutifully maintains and expands the system. They are also responsible for the grueling task of raising the canal’s ever-sinking basin. The Guild traditionally employs dwarven citizens, but there are humans and halflings on the rolls as well. Those that make it past the apprenticeship of working on pipes in the occasionally dangerous lower levels enjoy very well-paided positions in the forges and upper tiers.
Connections:
- The waterworks is busiest during the heavy annual rainfall (29.14.36).
- The workers of the waterworks saved the City from invasion during the Gnawbone War with the gnolls of the Burning Lands (see the main Burning Land entry and 51.29.01).