VEL-KHAR-BEL-SKAR

The Noble Levels  ·  The Upper Terraces  ·  Vel-Khar Household  ·  Kharak-Bel-Khar

“The blue-white gem formations of Kharak-Bel are visible in the cliff face above the gateway from the surface approach -- the outermost edge of seam systems that run throughout the northern spur's geology. I have stood outside the gateway and looked at them. They are the finest specimens of blue-white crystal I have seen outside a museum collection, and they are, by account, the least impressive specimens in the hold. I find this information useful for calibrating my expectations. I have not yet had occasion to revise the calibration upward, as I have not been inside.”

— G.C.P.S.A., Descriptio Aethermarchae, 1197 A.P.

The noble levels at Kharak-Bel occupy the upper terraces below the Thane's Tier, shaped by three centuries of Vel-Khar household development in the cold northern spur. They are less developed than the equivalent levels at the older holds -- three centuries rather than eight to twelve -- but have the particular character of levels that know what they are becoming. The gem-garden formations of blue-white crystal are the defining aesthetic feature, three centuries of cultivation producing formations whose quality Bera describes as what a gem garden looks like when the material has not yet decided what shape it prefers.

Demographics

The Vel-Khar extended household and the noble bloodlines of three centuries of Kharak-Bel settlement occupy the upper terraces in the standard configuration. The gem-cutting guild masters are the noble level's most commercially significant residents, their skill the hold's primary export and their social position correspondingly elevated relative to equivalent guild masters at holds whose commercial base is more diverse. The research archivists who support Skarra's giant contact project have their residential section at the noble level's edge, their proximity to the tier above reflecting the seniority of their function.

Points of interest

The gem-garden formations of the noble terraces are, by external account, the finest developing blue-white crystal cultivation in the seven holds -- what Thalgrimm's formations were eight hundred years ago, growing into designed shapes with the particular quality of crystalline mineral that the northern spur's geology produces and that is found nowhere else in the range. The gem-cutting guild's senior assessment hall on the lower noble terraces is where the most significant gem specimens are evaluated before cutting -- a process whose standards the guild has been refining for three centuries and that produces the finished stones that command the prices they command in the Roman and dwarven market.

DM ONLY

The noble level research archive section -- the residential and working space of Skarra's senior research archivists -- contains the working documents for the giant oral archive translation project. These are distinct from the restricted section at the Thane's Tier; the noble level section holds the working translations, the cross-reference indexes, and the draft analysis documents that the archivists produce before submitting their conclusions to Skarra above. The working documents are in a more accessible state than the tier's restricted section -- they are research in progress rather than completed intelligence. A scholar with the right background and access to the noble level would be able to read the working documents and understand their significance without Skarra's direct involvement. The archivists would object. The archivists' objection would carry weight proportional to how much Skarra had told them to expect this kind of visitor. She has not told them to expect any visitor. She has also not told them not to.

Architecture

Three centuries of accumulated Vel-Khar presence produces noble levels that are accomplished in construction and relatively sparse in accumulated decoration -- the rune-walls carry three centuries of dynastic record, the gem formations are vivid and well-cultivated without the centuries of deliberate design development that the older holds' formations have received. The effect is of a residential district that is genuinely comfortable in its current state and clearly intended to become something more complex over the centuries ahead. The gem-cutting guild's senior masters live here, their residential chambers adjacent to the assessment spaces where the hold's primary manufacturing output is evaluated before moving to the Duum-Vel-Khar for distribution.

Geography

Six tiers below the Thane's Tier, the noble terraces are proportionally smaller than at Thalgrimm or Karneth, reflecting Kharak-Bel's smaller total population and its three-century history. The gas output at the noble level is higher than at comparable levels at other holds -- the northern spur's thermal character requires continuous elevated heating throughout the residential levels, the noble terraces receiving the same treatment as the tier above.

Type

District

Population

~18,000 noble caste residents and Vel-Khar household staff.

Owner/Ruler

Skarra Vel-Khar