Market and Guildhall Ward
From The Hub
| Market and Guildhall Ward | |
 | |
| Location: | Sigil |
| Ownership: | The Lady |
| Purpose: | Commerce/Guildhalls/Negotiations |
Some folks can't tell where the Market Ward stops and the Guildhall Ward begins. "Isn't it all just the same?" they ask. Pretty much, berk. Pretty much.
The Market and Guildhall Wards mean business: nonstop, round-the-clock trade conducted by the multiverse’s premiere merchants, craftsmen, and jink jugglers. Sandwiched between the Lady's Ward and the Clerk's Ward, this is Sigil's most cosmopolitan area - if it walks, crawls, or flies, and has jink to spend, it's welcome here.
A cutter'll know that it's not as easy getting around this 'burg as it used to be, not since the Harmonium patrols began to enforce the Pedestrian Protection Act in the Guildhall and Market Wards. Though the act has always been on the books, nobody used to care much if somebody knocked down an old tiefling or if a coach crushed a bubber. But as soon as the merchants started to get nailed, well, suddenly everybody decided that bodies in the streets were bad for business. Nowadays, running down a pedestrian earns a reprimand at best, a fine at worst. And if the pedestrian dies, especially if he's a big shot, a cutter may find himself in the Prison, polishing Mercykiller boots with his tongue.
The merchants of the Market Ward define freedom as the unrestricted right to get rich. People are instruments of commerce to be exploited at the least possible cost. It’s war, pure and simple, and bashers who want to survive better know the rules.
- Etan the Quick, Tout
Contents |
Warehouse District
The Guildhalls, or Sigil's craft guilds, are all located along Copperman Way. Side streets off of Copperman host other big businesses and residences in various capacities, however, the majority of the Warehouse District is exactly that: warehouses. This district tends to have a few more Ciphers, and tends to be more residential, insofar as a district of warehouses can be residential. But this district also lends itself to several racial neighborhoods, including Ghundarhavel (bauriaur), Curly-Foot (halflings), and Git'riban (githyanki). Those living on the Guildhall/Warehouse side of Duskgate Road, the Ward's informal boundary, are called Guildhallers.
In the old days, this ward (and really even all of Sigil) was much more noted for its guilds. But eventually these organizations stopped working only to promote the economic interests of their members and started to promote their other ideas (or just plain stopped workin for their factions). Just after the Great Upheaval of the Faction War most of the guilds fell apart. Sure, some of the most powerful and essential linger on, but without the support of the factions in Sigil, nothing survives. As a consequence, the Market and Guildhall Wards essentially became two parts of the same whole and cutters refer to the two areas mostly as the Trade (Market) and Warehouse (Guildhall) Districts.
Notable Locations
- Planar Trade Consortium head office
- Alchemist's Guild
- Council of Innkeepers
- Courier's Guild
- Delver's Guild
- Escort's Guild
- Freemen's Guild (Builder's Fellowship)
- Guild of Teamsters
- Inquisitor's Guild
- Magecraft Guild
- Mechanist's Guild
- Order of Master Clerks and Scribes
- Planewalker's Guild
- Stoneworker's Guild
- Transportation Guild
- Curly-Foot - halfling racial neighborhood
- Ghundarhavel - bariaur racial neighborhood
- Git'riban - githyanki racial neighborhood
- Woodman’s Retreat
- Deadfinger's Ale House - Favored by thugs
Notable Residents
Trade District
The Trade District's where a basher finds the basics: food, medicine, clothing, tools, transport, weapons. Here are players for a dice game or recruits for an excursion to Mount Celestia. And for a body in search of exotic merchandise - wood for a magic wand, polish for an Arcadian emerald, healing syrup for a tiefling with an upset tummy - well, if it ain’t here, it ain’t anywhere, period. The area is also home to the Great Bazaar, a plaza where a body can shop for a month and not visit the same merchant’s stall twice. Noted for its open-air cafes, the Great Bazaar’s a perfect place to creature-watch.
A basher’d have a tough time finding a square yard of ground without a merchant standing on it in the Trade District. It’s shoulder to shoulder shopping, night and day, with everything from Tvashtri crossbows to bariaur hoof cleaners hawked from caravan tents and rickety stalls. To prevent customers from bumping into each other, pans of burning oil set out by merchants who care about their patrons dot the streets with light (and fill the air with noxious smoke). To keep customers dry, there're canopies and umbrellas (an iffn a berk's of the sensitive type, a tout can be hired to hold one overhead for a bit o' jink at an hourly rate). And to keep'em broke, there're ale stands, games of chance, and a multitude of Sigil’s slickest pickpockets.
Most Trade District merchants specialize in a particular type of item. For example, one merchant may sell nothing but armor, another nothing but cheese. To find a particular item, a cutter’ll have to wander around the Trade District, ask a resident for help, or make an appointment at the Hall of Information in the Clerk's Ward, or use one of the normally crowded information kiosks. The Bureau of Commerce officers there have a very good - if general - idea of the merchandise available in Sigil. Sadly, and much like dark available there, the chant is long on numbers and short on the whos, wheres, whys, and hows. But those specifics are how the many Escorters always present at the Hall of Information make their jink on a daily basis.
Those living on the Market/Trade District side of Duskgate Road, the Ward's informal boundary, are called Marketers.
Notable Locations
The Trade District's wealthiest merchants live along Copperman Way, while the Guildhall Ward’s elite make their homes on Dancer’s Court. Well-patrolled and brightly lit, Redwind Road's a favorite haunt of street peddlers, particularly clothiers and weapons dealers. Turtle Lane’s noted for its baths and spas, while Risvold Street claims the Market Ward’s finest food shops. Knights of the post and other bobbers tend to nest along Newt Street, making it a good place to play high stakes dice games, sell stolen property, or get beaten up.
- The Bronze Bezants
- Ensin's Discount Elixirs
- The Great Bazaar
- Zakk's Corpse Curing
- Xanist's Inventions
- Yawning Rat Inn
- Masty’s Wine Sellar
- The Dark Sigh
- Airion’s Boarding House
- Turby Inn
- Hynighter’s Horses on Redwind Road
- Severed Head Weapons
- Seawind Theater
- Waft
Notable Residents
Gymnasium District
With its gold-flecked marble walls, plush velvet carpets, and onyx chandeliers, the Great Gymnasium is perhaps the most luxurious of all the faction headquarters. The Ciphers take their relaxation as seriously as their physical training. Here, more berks have their backs in hammocks than their noses in books. Sounds louder than whispers are considered unnecessary noise - unless a berk's in the workout rooms.
While goods and services are the hallmark of the Trade district and business administration and operations are the province of the Warehouse district, the Gymnasium district is where the elite and wannabe elite of the commerce world come to wheel and deal. This urban quarter is full of resorts and meeting halls, teahouses and sports facilities. This district is without question the domain of the Ciphers, and in as such, it's function by and large mimics the Great Gymnasium itself. Buildings here are plush and constructed of stone and marble; velvet carpets and steambaths are likewise par for the course. Big business interests in Sigil are given leave in the Gymnasium District to - again, in the style of the Ciphers - approach their relaxation with the same attention to detail that is necessary in business dealings.
That being the case, it's little surprise that there's heavy traffic between the Gymnasium District and the Clerk's Ward at all hours, particularly at the beginning and end of the workday however. This is an area where deals get made over a game of squash between business officers, where meetings are held over lunch, and where corporate moguls and their employees come to for training, team building, or just to kick back at the end of a day.
Needless to say, the area is patrolled regularly by private security forces to keep out unwanted visitors - from the Hive Ward or Lower Ward for example. Only the Lady's Ward is less tolerant of the lower class.
Notable Locations
- Chirper's
- The Great Gymnasium
- Imel’s Happy Tongue
- Feathernest Inn
- Singing Vortex
- Fat Candle
- The Flame Pits - Bathhouse & Inn
- Zilargo's Aerial Tours
- Hiland Pastries
