Praag
Praag is one of three largest cities in the land of Kislev and is also known as the Cursed City. [1a]
Praag is the most northerly of the cities of Kislev and is located on the river Lynsk, where Kislev borders the lands given over to Chaos.It is an unfortunate city: having fallen once to a Chaos incursion, it has since been regarded as cursed. [1a]
Contents
Government
After the third attempt by the city to secede, its Ungol rulers were replaced by a Gospodar representative of the Tzar, answerable only to that power, they were given the title Duke of Praag and reside in the New Palace. [1b]
History
The city acts as a gathering point for the horse tribes to the north, and as such has a high Ungol population. Three times the city has attempted to secede from the control of the Tzars, and three times they failed, twice by being starved into submission by trade embargoes from the south and once by military conquest. It is now ruled by a Gospodar governor responsible only to the Tzarina herself.[1a]
Praag has suffered several sieges in its history. Not all these sieges have been withstood, and several years ago it finally fell to the forces of Chaos. Amid a destroying storm of Chaos which had swept through the city, the servants of Chaos entered, slaying women and children. The city's grandeur melted into a nightmarish travesty.[1a] As always, the tides of Chaos receded, but the city had become the foulest of nightmares. Molten glass flowed, rows of houses melted into caverns and all manner of new shapes. Even the living had been reformed so that living flesh became jumbled with the stone of the houses. Those who had escaped the fall of Praag returned to find the city had been utterly corrupted.
King Zoltan of Praag ordered the city burned to the ground, so that the foulness would be cleansed. A new city was built whose stone walls stood as strong as those of Kislev. Soon however, the terrors of the old city began to grow back, polluting the new buildings. The nightmarish reality steadily returned, until faces appeared in the walls and grasping hands arose from the pavement.
Only through vigilant burning and rebuilding is any sanity retained. The reputation of Praag is grim, and travellers tell sickening tales of its horrors.
A later Chaos invasion was halted in the streets of Praag when its warlord, Arek Daemonclaw, was slain by Gotrek Gurnisson.[2]
Locations
- Gates: The city has three mighty gates in its huge defensive wall. [1b]
- Gate of Gargoyles: Northern gate with many vividly carved statues, the number of which seems to change every time someone looks at them. [1b]
- Mountain Gate: Eastern entrance, where those heading towards the Worlds Edge Mountains depart from. A Temple/tavern, Kalita's Favour is situated here. [1b]
- Water Gate: Southern gate, which allows both boats and road traffic to enter the city. A Temple/tavern, Kalita's Favour is situated here. [1b]
- Glubograd: The Deep City built by the Dwarfs in the early days of the city, whilst during the rein of Z'ra Zoltan, the area under the Citadel and the Old Town was filled with catacombs to give a refuge when and if the walls failed. It was equipped with war machines, sorcerous defences and cunning devices to provide light, water and food. [1b]
- Merchant Quarter: It is packed with docking ports, guildhouses, markets, storefronts and warehouses and is constantly crowded, day and night. The craftsmen and silversmith here made the city famous but there are also bakers, farmers, furriers, grocers, silk and spice merchants, tanners and Dwarfs. [1b]
- Noble Quarter: The south-eastern corner of the city. [1b]
- Novygrad: New Town, constructed in the 1700s IC its closeness to the north gate meant that its narrow, streets were the first and hardest hit of the entire city, and no rebuilding can fully reclaim it from Chaos. The poorest of the poor live in these streets where sickness kills too quickly and Sunworms and Chaos Slime get the rest. [1b]
- Starograd: The Old Town sheltered inside the original walls of the town are the oldest buildings, packed into the tight, winding streets that all too often lead nowhere. A visitor can find proscribed book sellers, magic ingredients, foreign wonders the most exotic bordellos and drug dens. [1b]
- The Old Town Hall: This lofty, many-roomed building now acts as the city’s sanatorium. [1b]
- Butcher Bigfeast’s hall: The heart of the small, but very noisy, Ogre ghetto where Ogres waiting for the the next trade caravan to head west can dine at Butcher Bigfeast’s hall. Eating is often broken up by plenty of violent brawls as it is a place where Ogres can be Ogres. A sign on the door reads “No slims! No stunties! No twigs! [1b]
- Temple of Dazh’s Blinding Luminescence: A massive temple which rivals the one in the capital. Like all temples to the God, it is circular and open to the sky, filled with golden images of their chosen deity. Unlike most temples to Dazh, its exterior walls have fine stained-glass windows, depicting the God and his many companions and legends. [1b]
- The Bow and the Bard: The most expensive inn in Praag, and famous for its small number of rooms (13), the smallest of which is always kept empty by the taciturn landlord, Tolya Tolyeviska. [1b]
- The Citadel: A imposing fortress with lead-lined, rune-scored defences which bear countless scars of war, but remain solid. Beneath the Citadel is the Square of Kisses, where the armies of the city assemble, but only during the day. At night it still rings with the maddening screams of the thousands of men who died there when the north gate fell. The Citadel also serves as a Watch House. [1b]
- The Fire Spire: Built as a place of magical learning by Z’ra Rudolf II, its occupants helped defend the city but the tower lost its top two stories in a explosion and the rest was twisted and tormented in the conflict and is now avoided by all. [1b]
- The Furnace: As the dead walked the streets, the people of Praag began burning their dead in the chambers of a huge furnace that was previously used for creating cannon balls. [1b]
- The Magnus Gardens: Created in honour of Magnus the Pious it contains many marvels amongst its winding paths and narrow streams. At the gates, there is a statue of the Emperor, around which the townsfolk gather on Weeping Day. [1b]
- Academy of Music: The Academy accepts students into its small, stately chambers. [1b]
- Celestial Observatory: It is now abandoned. [1b]
- College of Art Still accepting students into its small but stately chambers. [1b]
- Temple of Ursun: Situated in a large, forested area it is a collection of great boulders within which is a deep cave whose tunnels extend far below the frozen ground. [1b]
- The New Palace: [1b]
- The Old Palace: It was destroyed by Warpfire strikes during the siege forcing Z’ra Zoltan to move out. There have been seven attempts to rebuild it but each time the structures burned down soon after being erected and now, this gigantic black ruin sits like a dark spider upon the Grand Parade. [1b]
- The Red Rose: A infamous bordello thanks to V.I. Tiodorov’s play The Strange History of Doctor Zhiekhill and Mister Chaida. It is run by Madam Zorna, famous for her energy and fiery wit and many of her girls are skilled in dancing, singing, or sword-juggling. [1b]
- The Salyak's Arms: Standing next to the Temple of Salyak, it is a flop-house, hospital and orphanage housing the sick, the wounded, and the destitute. Orignally a massive inn, a century after the Great War, it was purchased by a generous benefactor and presented to the Temple of Salyak. [1b]
- The White Boar Inn: Situated near the Red Rose, a rough drinking establishment which has gained a reputation as a hiring place for those desperate or foolish enough to head East into the Dark Lands or north into Troll Country. [1b]
Legends
Many tales in both the Empire and Kislev speak of a beautiful girl who will save the world from Chaos if only she can be freed from her glass prison. Some claim it is the Goddess Shallya, others say she is Genevieve Dieudonné (Which the vampire heroine herself fiercely denies if in earshot). Perhaos the most famous version is by Anton Denisovich, a great opera The Girl in Glass where the girl is the Goddess of Purity buried beneath Praag and who can only be freed by the kiss of a cursed Chaos Warrior who eventually does so due to his love for her, despite knowing she will destroy him when she is freed. The opera ends with the total destruction of the Chaos forces and the salvation of Praag. Unscrupulous Kisleites seek to exploit visitors by offering people a glimpse of the real Girl in Glass, for a moderate fee. [1b]
Magic
Chaos is so omnipresent on the streets of Praag that any spellcaster, even the Ice Witches may feel its sting and be in danger of their magic running out of control or worse. Wise Women are welcome, but almost none step onto its tainted soil unless they absolutely have to and it is race for a Ice Witch to dwell long in the city. [1b]
Notable
- Humans
- Ivan Valeriki Kolarabinikov: Duke of Praag appointed after the Storm of Chaos.[1b]
- Urosh: Chief Priest of Ursun. [1b]
- Vampires
- Evegena Boradin: Boyarrina and member of the Lahmian Sisterhood. [3a]
- Konstantin Kiraly: In the 20th century IC considered Praag his domain, but was killed in the Great War against Chaos. [3b]
Quotes
| Horrible place. Half ruined. Rife with plague. And it smells funny. They have gold, though.
~ Franziska Hedengelt, Dwarf Merchant. [1b] |
Sources
- 1: Realm of the Ice Queen (2007),
- 2: Beastslayer (Novel) by William King, Needs Citation
- 3: Ulrika the Vampire (anthology): Bloodforged (novel)
Uncited
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st Edition) (1986, 1989, 1995), pg. 279
- Warhammer Armies: Kislev (6th Edition) (2003), pgs. 1-2
