The kingdom's sprawling capital, now a contested warzone where the Council's tower-strongholds overshadow merchant quarters, market plazas, and labyrinthine slums where the Threadbare Collective holds true power.
The Crux was built to last forever—and it nearly has. Its center is dominated by a crown of wizard-towers, each one a fortress housing a different Council faction. Between them, merchant districts sprawl with warehouses, counting-houses, and trading posts controlled by the Cartel Syndicate. Beyond the formal districts, the slums sprawl endlessly: ramshackle districts built into the ruins of older buildings, connected by rooftop pathways and underground tunnels where the Threadbare Collective holds sway.
The city is segregated by elevation: towers and towers above, merchant palaces in the middle, slums below. But power doesn't follow height anymore. The Collective controls supply lines, the Cartels control money and violence, and the Council controls only the dwindling magic that holds the towers up.
The streets of the Crux are a constant negotiation: every deal, every theft, every spell-casting happens in the shadow of three factions watching each other. Some call it the most dangerous city in the world. Others call it the last, best hope that Duskward might yet be saved.