City of Lankhmar

[Finarvyn]

Originally taken from the "Scrolls of Lankhmar" blog, now apparently defunct. Feel free to add to this list and I can update this post to make it more accurate.

Lankhmar is known by many names. City of Seven-Score Thousand Smokes, City of the Black Toga, or if you wish to be blasphemous, City of the stinking black bones!

Climate:
Due to Lankhmar’s proximity to the Inner Sea, the River Hlal, and the Salt Marsh to the east, Lankhmar is plagued with all sorts of fogs and night-smogs from all the night-time smoke. It is not known as the City of Seven-Score Thousand Smokes for nothing. It also sees plenty of storms. The land to the south is hot during the summer.

Economy:
At the root of Lankhmar’s wealth is grain. Vast grain fields occupy the fertile lands to the south of the city. All harvested grain is brought to Lankhmar and stored in grain towers where it is to be sold by grain merchants.

Government:
The overlord is ruler of Lankhmar. Succession is by hereditary line, though coups are not unheard of. There is in addition an Inner Council and a War Council. Presumably, these bodies assist the overlord in the running of the government and the military. The overlord rules not over just the city, Lankhmar, but over the entire Land of Lankhmar.

History:
Over a millennium ago, Lankhmar’s empire ruled from Quarmall to the Trollsteps, Earth’s End to the Sea of Monsters, and Kvarch Nar was known as Hwarsh Mar. The city itself has stood on it’s current ground for over three-score centuries. Lankhmar is the oldest and grandest city in Nehwon, and is the height of civilization. It is almost also the most decadent, but that honor goes to the Empire of Eevanmarensee which is far-grown into the future.

Military:
Lankhmar has an army, navy, and marines. There are regiments kept throughout the Land of Lankhmar. Tovilyis, Kartishla, and Land’s End have been known to house them. The city’s soldiery is housed in the South and North Barracks. Lankhmar’s army has seen campaigns against Mingols and Mirphians. They have been successful against the spear-squares of King Krimaxius and his fortressed elephants. They have also fought against non-human foes such as the black behemoth and leviathan. The Rat Plague, however, was not their finest hour.

[Finarvyn]

Originally taken from the "Scrolls of Lankhmar" blog, now apparently defunct. Feel free to add to this list and I can update this post to make it more accurate.

Assassins’ Guild
Stories: The Assassins’ Guild is a subset of the Slayers’ Brotherhood.

Guild of the Grain Merchants
Stories: The Cloud of Hate

The Guild of the Grain Merchants is indubitably one of Lankhmar’s wealthiest and most powerful guilds as the grain trade is Lankhmar’s chiefest source of wealth.

Slayers’ Brotherhood
Stories: Ill Met in Lankhmar

Mercenaries for hire belong to the Slayers’ Brotherhood in Lankhmar. The Brotherhood also contains the Assassins’ Guild among its members.

Sorcerers’ Guild
Stories: In the Witch's Tent; Sorcerers’ Guild

Thieves' Guild
Stories: The Snow Women; Ill Met in Lankhmar; The Circle Curse; Thieves' House; Claws from the Night

The door to Thieves’ House stays ever-open and empty, pouring light onto Cheap Street every night.

sleepers’ Guild
Stories: The Snow Women

The Thieves’ Guild sometimes hires out women from the sleepers’ Guild by the half-hour when they need females for a mission.

[Finarvyn]

Originally taken from the "Scrolls of Lankhmar" blog, now apparently defunct. Feel free to add to this list and I can update this post to make it more accurate.

Citadel
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

The Citadel of Lankhmar stands atop of a rocky hill above the Inner Sea and Lankhmar Deep, along with the Rainbow Palace on the north end of Lankhmar.

Docks
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

The Docks run along the west side of Lankhmar on the Hlal River.

End Gate
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

The End Gate is the smallest of Lankhmar’s three southern gates, and has the least traffic.

Fountain of Dark Abundance
Stories: Bazaar of the Bizarre

The Fountain of Dark Abundance resides at one end of the Plaza of Dark Delights. It is described as …a squat black pillar from the rough rounded top of which a single black drop welled and dripped every twenty elephant’s heartbeats. in the Bazaar of the Bizarre.

The Golden Lamprey
Stories: Ill Met in Lankhmar; The Price of Pain-Ease; Beauty and the Beasts

The Golden Lamprey is a tavern that stands on the northeast corner of sleeper and Cash streets.

Grain Gate
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

At the south end of Lankhmar, the Grain Gate sees all the grain-loaded wagons that enter the city that are the chief source of Lankhmar’s wealth. The Grain Gate is twenty feet thick and thirty feet wide.

Grain Towers
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

The Grain towers stand tall along the docks on Lankhmar’s west side and store Lankhmar’s grain.

The Grand Gate
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

The Grand Gate is Lankhmar’s biggest and most glorious gate, and stands at the south end of Lankhmar.

The Great Library
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

Nothing much is said about the Great Library other than various land deeds are kept within.

House of Hisvin
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

Hisvin the Grain Merchant lives across the Street of the Gods from the Temple of the Gods of Lankhmar and next to the Grain Towers.

House of Ivlis
Stories: Thieves' House

The house of Ivlis is a narrow stone structure on the Street of the Silk Merchants next to Thieves’ House. It has a secret passage on the upper floor leading the the Guildmaster’s room in Thieves’ House.

House of Muulsh
Stories: Claws from the Night

The house of Muulsh is a square, flat-roofed building three stories tall. It it located along with houses of wealthy grain-merchants, but spaced a little further apart from them. An abandoned and forbidden tower looms over it on the side nearest the river Hlal and warehouses lie along the other side.

House of Nattick Nimblefingers
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

Nattick Nimblefingers keeps his shop on Plague Court between the Street of the Thinkers and Crafts Street. His door is kept well oiled.

Marsh Gate
Stories: Ill Met in Lankhmar; The Circle Curse; The Price of Pain-Ease; Lean Times in Lankhmar; Swords of Lankhmar

The Marsh Gate is on Lankhmar’s east at the end of the Street of the Gods and leads out to the Salt Marsh and it’s only means of travel, Causey Road.

North Barracks
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

The North Barracks are on the northwest corner of Lankhmar.

Park of Pleasure
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

The Park of Pleasure is somewhere on the south end of Lankhmar.

Plaza of Dark Delights
Stories: The Price of Pain-Ease; Bazaar of the Bizarre; Swords of Lankhmar

All business in the Plaza of Dark Delights is done at night under cover of dark and with no more than a whisper. Is a market for Lankhmar’s more illicit goods. At one end of the Plaza is the Fountain of Dark Abundance and the other the Shrine of the Black Virgin. The Plaza lies in the south of Lankhmar. It is seven blocks south of the Marsh Gate.

In the Plaza of Dark Delights, which lies seven blocks south of the Marsh Gate and extends from the Fountain of Dark Abundance to the Shrine of the Black Virgin, the shop-lights glinted upward no more brightly than the stars glinted down. For there the vendors of drugs and the peddlers of curiosa and the hawkers of assignations light their stalls and crouching places with foxfire, glowworms, and fire-pots with tiny single windows, and they conduct their business almost as silently as the stars conduct theirs.

There are plenty of raucous spots a-glare with torches in nocturnal Lankhmar, but by immemorial tradition soft whispers and a pleasant dimness are the rule in the Plaza of Dark Delights. Philosophers often go there solely to meditate, students to dream, and fanatic-eyed theologians to spin like spiders abstruse new theories of the Devil and of the other dark forces ruling the universe. And if any of these find a little illicit fun by the way, their theories and dreams and theologies and demonologies are undoubtedly the better for it.

- from Bazaar of the Bizarre.

Rainbow Palace
Stories: The Price of Pain-Ease; Swords of Lankhmar

The Rainbow Palace stands high upon a stone outcropping above the Lankhmar Deep on the north end of Lankhmar. It is constructed of stones of many colors and is lit by lanterns of different colors and is topped off with square minarets. It is the home of the Overlord of Lankhmar.

The Rat’s Nest
Stories: The Cloud of Hate

One of an endless number of taverns in Lankhmar, the Rat’s Nest is doubtless frequented by many of Lankhmar’s more unsavory characters.

The Sea Wall
Stories: The Price of Pain-Ease

The Sea Wall protects Lankhmar on its north side. It runs eastward from the Citadel and Rainbow Palace, and the aristocratic district lies along its southern side.

Shoppe of Jengao the Gem Merchant
Stories: Ill Met in Lankhmar

Jengao the Gem Merchant keeps his shop on Cash Street between Silver and Gold. It has no alleys or roof access.

Shoppes of Rokkermas and Slaarg
Stories: Ill Met in Lankhmar

Rokkermas and Slaarg are famous stone masons and sculptors whose shops stand across from each other on Cash Street near the intersection of Gold Street. Their shops are connected by a second-story passageway. Various statues, pillars, and porticoes decorate the bridge and the two buildings and are used as advertisements.

Shrine of the Black Virgin
Stories: Bazaar of the Bizarre

The Shrine of the Black Virgin lies at one end of the Plaza of Dark Delights.

The Silver Eel
Stories: Ill Met in Lankhmar; Thieves' House; The Bleak Shore; Claws from the Night; The Price of Pain-Ease; The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar; Under the Thumbs of the Gods; The Frost Monstreme

The Silver Eel bustled with pleasantly raucous excitement. Fighting men predominated and the clank of swordsmen’s harness mingled with the thump of tankards, providing a deep obbligato to the shrill laughter of the women. Swaggering guardsmen elbowed the insolent bravos of the young lords. Grinning slaves bearing open wine jars dodged nimbly between. In one corner a slave girl was dancing, the jingle of her silver anklet bells inaudible in the din. Outside the small, tight-shuttered windows a dry, whistling wind from the south filled the air with dust that eddied between the cobblestones and hazed the stars. But here all was jovial confusion.

- from The Bleak Shore.

The Silver Eel is a tavern on Dim Lane frequented by Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser. It has various private meeting rooms and booths. It appears to have gone through many owners throughout the stories.

South Barracks
Stories: Swords of Lankhmar

The South Barracks can be locked from the outside during times of mutiny to kill the soldiery within.

Spire of Rhan
Stories: Bazaar of the Bizarre

Spire of Rhan

Temple of Aarth
Stories: Lean Times in Lankhmar

Aarth’s Temple is the richest and grandest temple and stands the furthest towards the Citadel end of the Street of the Gods excluding the Temple of the Gods of Lankhmar.

Temple of Hates
Stories: The Cloud of Hate

The Temple of Hates is a subterranean hall, below the streets of Lankhmar, where worshipers of the Hates meet to summon the Cloud of Hate. It can hold at least five-thousand worshipers.

The single-halled subterranean temple was so long and wide and at the same time so irregularly planted with thick pillars that at no point could a person see more than a third of the way across it. Yet it had a ceiling so low that at any point a man standing tall could have brushed it with his fingertips–except that here all groveled. the air was swooningly fetid. the dark bent backs of the hate-ensorceled worshipers made a kind of hummocky dark ground, from which the nitre-crusted stone pillars rose like gray tree trunks.

- from the Cloud of Hate.

Temple of Ilala
Stories: Under the Thumbs of the Gods

Not much is said of the Temple of Ilala.

Temple of the Gods of Lankhmar
Stories: Lean Times in Lankhmar; Swords of Lankhmar

The Temple of the Gods of Lankhmar is a squat, black building with a tall bell tower standing at the end of the Street of the Gods closest to the docks and the grain towers. Ringing the bell will wake the dead gods.

Temple of Tyaa
Stories: Claws from the Night

One of the accursed and forbidden structures in Lankhmar, the temple-tower of Tyaa stands over the river Hlal with the house of Muulsh and warehouses along it’s other sides. Home to one of the old gods in Lankhmar that were bannished from the city centuries ago, it is now forbidden under pain of death to enter. The temple did house a revival of Tyaa and her birds for a time, but now is abandoned once again.

Thieves’ House
Stories: Ill Met in Lankhmar; Thieves' House; Under the Thumbs of the Gods

The front door of Thieves’ House is ever-open and always lit. Home of the Thieves Guild, Thieves’ House stands on Cheap Street between the Street of Thinkers and the Street of the Gods across from Death Alley and backed by Murder Alley. The front entrance is guarded by thieves in a hidey hole above the door inside as well as a trap door in the floor somewhat along the hallway. All other exits are guarded. There is at least one on an alley and there is a roof-hatch. The guild also keeps members stationed along the street and roof-tops who communicate by whistles. The building itself is a labyrinth of passages and rooms some of which are no longer used and have been long forgotten even by the thieves that live there.

[Finarvyn]

Originally taken from the "Scrolls of Lankhmar" blog, now apparently defunct. Feel free to add to this list and I can update this post to make it more accurate.

Bones Alley – A narrow alley that runs behind the Silver Eel. It is known for it’s stench.

Carter Street – Carter Street runs north and south curves along with the wall. It is one street to the west of Wall street which runs along the wall. It is known to intersect Dim Lane. To the west is Cheap Street.

Cash Street – Cash Street runs east to west from Wall Street to at least Nun Street. It is somewhat in the middle of Lankhmar. It is intersected from west to east by at least Nun, Silver, Gold, Pimp, sleeper, Cheap, and Wall Street. Parallel to the north is Crafts Street.

Causey Road – Causey Road leads out of Lankhmar from the Street of the Gods and the Marsh Gate and runs through the Salt Marsh and over the Sinking Lands eastward to Ilthmar.

Cheap Street – Cheap Street runs south from the Street of the Gods to at least it’s intersection with Cash Street. It is intersected from south to north by at least Cash, Dim Lane, Bones Alley, Crafts, Street of the Thinkers, and the Street of the Gods. Parallel to the east is Carter and to the west is sleeper Street.

Crafts Street – Craft Street runs east and west and is at least intersected by Cheap Street and Plague Court. To the south is Cash Street and to the north is the Street of the Thinkers.

Curio Court – Location is unknown. It is a market for curiosities.

Death Alley – Death Alley forks off west from Plague Court north of the Street of the Thinkers, and terminates at Cheap Street just across the entrance to Thieves’ House.

Dim Lane – Dim Lane runs from Cheap Street east to Carter Street.

Fools Gold Court – Fools Gold Court branches off of Pinchbeck Alley.

Gold Street – Gold Street runs north and south and at least intersects with Cash Street. Parallel to the west is Silver Street and to the east is Pimp Street.

Murder Alley – Murder Alley backs Thieves’ House on it’s west side. It’s extent is unknown.

Nun Street – Nun Street runs along the Grain Towers near the Docks north from at least Cash Street to at least the Street of the Gods. To the east running parallel is Silver Street.

Pimp Street – Pimp Street runs parallel to Gold Street to the west and sleeper Street to the east. It intersects with at least Cash Street.

Pinchbeck Alley – The location of Pinchbeck Alley is unknown. It has at least two intersections, Fools Gold Court and Sequin Court.

Plague Court – Plague Court runs north from Bones Alley, crossing Crafts Street and the Street of the Thinkers, and then forks with Death Alley leading to the west and itself continuing eastward. It’s terminus is unknown.

Sequin Court – Sequin Court branches off of Pinchbeck Alley.

Silver Street – Silver Street runs north from at least Cash Street to at least the Street of the Gods. This last intersection is often frequented by junior executives and star operatives of the Thieves Guild, as well as freelancers brave enough or with immunity from the Guild.

Specter Alley – Specter Alley is somewhere near the Marsh Gate off of Wall Street.

Street of the Gods – The Street of the Gods runs from the Marsh Gate to the Grain Towers and Docks just past Nun Street. It is known to be at least intersected by Silver, sleeper, and Cheap Streets as well. It is famous for it’s nightly religious activities, and as a testing grounds for gods.

Street of the Silk Merchants – The Street of the Silk Merchants runs along the buildings backing Thieves’ House.

Street of the Thinkers – Also known as Atheist Avenue by moralists, the Street of the Thinkers runs parallel to the Street of the Gods to the north and Crafts Street to the south. It is at least intersected by Cheap Street and Plague Court.

Wall Street – Wall Street curves alongside the east wall of Lankhmar. It runs at least as far as the Marsh Gate and the Street of the Gods to the north and as far south as Cash Street.

sleeper Street – sleeper street runs north from at least Cash Street to at least the Street of the Gods. It runs parallel to Pimp Street to the west and Cheap Street to the east.

[Finarvyn]