The city of Sel-kai rest on a series of islands interconnected by bridges. The water is as much a way of getting around as walking, boat, barges and gondolas moving about beneath and beside the streets and walkways. The waters are quite unhealthy in some parts of town, so most will not swim in it (fewer people than might be expected know how to swimin Sel-Kai). As a wealthy city overall it is a beautiful place, where architects and artists have had free and supported reign for many, many years. It shows.
Sel-kai is further defined by being a center of trade. Goods of all sorts from every direction moves through the city, some of it through illegal channels of course. Trading houses are powerful, and acknowledged as nobility. The city is also cosmopolitan, with peoples of many races and nations walking the streets. This also means that it is a place where money talks - even if the place is not totally without honour. Sel-kai is a city of very little black & white. It's all shades of gray ... but including black and white.
All social classes share the city, from the poor and destitute to the opulently affluent. Violence is a risk, as mercenary units, swashbucklers, guardsmen, mafia operatives, vigilantes and street gangs can all be encountered on the streets and waterways of Sel-kai. Social graces are important - more so the higher up the social ladder you have climbed. Style counts.
Everything can - and does - happen in Sel-kai.
The city of Sel-Kai with it's famous extension Eidolon has a history that stretches back more than 4000 years. Located on the northeastern point of the great continent of Emer, it has risen out of the chaos and turmoil that was the aftermath when the Great Empire of Emer collapsed on itself.
The city has been built through the efforts of trader captains who plied the waters around Emer in the years from app. 1600 to 2000. during this period Sel-Kai established itself as a regional power in northern Silaar.
As traders built the city, their guilded structure of management and administration has become the backbone of society. The early power structures established the council of guilds as the governing body. Over the years this system has evolved. The Council Chairman has aqquired the title of Prince and this office has legislative and administrative powers. The Council has become a legislative and affirmative body, and now has two forms: An inner circle of influential guilds and a Grand Conclave where guilds and other groups are represented. An independent judiciary has been added. The prince further entertains a Privy Council of five ministers who run the daily administration of the realm. It is capitalist, self-perpetuating oligarcy run as a relatively tight and efficient ship.
Sel-Kai's trading prowess alone might have been enough to ensure it's fame, but two fantastic and related events/inventions has propelled the realm into legendary status: In 4205 the first of the famous Skyships take to the air. They are what they sound like - ships that fly in the sky. This is facilitated by the use of the magical alloy Xenium that - combined with enchanting efforts - posses anti-gravitational properties. Over the following years full merchant and military fleets of these ships appear, and in 4650 a structure appears to match these fantastic vessels: Eidolon rises into the air above Sel-Kai and sets not just a building but a full city section in the skies over the city. it is to function as a port for skyships and a home/playground for the wealthy and influential. The Palace of the Prince of Sel-Kai relocates to this fantastic structure.
Down below the river that flows around Sel-Kai make changes to the land and slowly transforms the foundations of the city. Wishing to retain the close relationship between city and river, the people build and fortify their houses in a manner that creates the city of structure-covered islands that we know today.
Furthermore, Sel-Kai and Eidolon as they appear today are products of the principle of "what's the fun in wealth if you cannot show it?". The merchant barons and government of Sel-Kai have been art patrons for millennia, and it shows! The city sports the influence of artists in almost every corner and nook, more so in the wealthier parts of town. Villas, bridges, statues, parks, interior decoration, architecture - there's very few places that rival the artistic wealth of this city.
Similarly, scolarship and science has a great place in the city with many colleges devoted to study and learning, both mundane and magical.
Today, Sel-Kai/Eidolon is a central and important place on Kulthea. Trade from all over the known world eventually passes through here, and where trade go, people go. And information. In addition to this, Sel-Kai has it share of internal power struggles, and the stakes are high in this high-profit environment. The machinations of the powerful can be felt at every level of society. The realm and the city also has it's shady elements, and the police forces regularly squre off against everything from youth gangs to mafia structures.
And sometimes even the dread of the Unlife or some of the powerful organisations such as the Loremasters make their presense felt. In times past a great Dragon was supposedly sighted flying near the city, and for a time it was feared that the devastating power of one of these creatures might afflict the realm. But it was spared.
The people of this cosmopolitan place are many (ca. 135-140.000) and diverse. However, some general rules of thumb can be assumed about race and status.
The upper classes of Sel-Kai are dominated by the Laan racial group. This is a tall, caucasic people that tends towards fair skin and dark hair. They are imposing figures.
Elves are a minority. Those who live here are mostly Loari, who match the Laan for appearance and status. There is tension surrounding this group as some in the city feel that the Loari are creating a dependency on technological wonders while serving the agenda's of Namar-Tol, their home realm. Erlini are also quite common in and around the city and realm, although they tend to mingle with the more common peoples. Linćri - most with ties to the Land of Lys - are also seen regularly in the city, mostly in circles of high society.
The lower classes are domianted by the racial Shay, one of Emer's indigenous peoples. They are a shorther people than the Laan and generally have darker complexions while matching the Laan for dark hair colour. A group that is less evident but still common in this strata are Talath peoples - tall and light. Beyond these distinct groups there are of course broad sweeps of people that are racially and culturally hybrid. Furthermore, you can find at least one person form almost any but the remotest parts of the world in Sel-Kai on any given day.
Two languages will get you around: Shay is know by all in the realm but some visitors, and Erlin - the language of the Erlini - is known by quite a few people, especially those who run in international circles. Shay can be called the common tongue of the continent, while Erlin is the common tongue of the world.
Getting people and cargo from the ground to Eidolon is done mostly by small balloon-boats at set ferry-points. Messages can be carried by resident Hirázi (winged people), who come to the city from their wilderness tribes to make money in this way.
Non-Sel-Kai/Eidolon specific stuff.
Sel-Kai/Eidolon counts as part of the region of Silaar, the northeastern-most part of Emer, the greatest continent of the world Kulthea.
From Kulthea it's easy to see and feel the Sun by day. By night the dominant disc of the sky is the great moon Orhan, which is believed to be the home of the benevolent gods of the world, takes the sky. Orhan is not the only moon, however. A smaller disc, Varin can also be seen at night. The pases of these two moons together have provided for a calendar system of five yearly 70 day months/seasons (marking the Orhan movements), each of seven 10 day weeks (marking the movements of Varin).
The year starts with the month/season of Winter, and progresses through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Fall. Orhan is new on the 1st of each month, and full on the 35th.
The days of the week fall as follows:
| Erlin name | English translation |
| Orhayen | Moon-day - Varin full |
| Buryen | Fire-day |
| Usivyen | Water-day |
| Melyen | Earth-day |
| Ordyen | Air-day - Holy day |
| Maryen | Dark-day - Varin new, a day of probable bad luck |
| Kyayen | Star-day |
| Kindagyen | Cloud-day - another day of probable bad luck |
| Aryen | Sun-day |
| Purlyen | Wind-day - Holy day |
However, official recordkeeping does not acknowledge the week or Varin as such. Official date record notes the Era, Year, Season number and Day number: Ex: 4586*4*34 is TE 4568, Orhan 4, Day 34 is Earthday the 34th of Autumn, 4568 Third Era.
The Kulthean day is 25 hours long. The day is divided into five quintars of five hours each. Each hour conforms to earthly standards.
The story about the moons of Kulthea does not end with Orhan and Varin, however. A minor moon, Mikori, also orbits, and Orhan actually seems to be large enough to have it's own sattelite, Tlilok. Not much can be said about these two moons.
One moon remains, though: Charón. Known as the Third Moon and the Dark Moon, Charón is belived to be the habitat/prison of the malevolent deities of the Kulthean mythologies. It takes 21 days to go through it's phases. Almost all cultures of the planet assiciate Evil Things with this celestial body. Charón orbits the poles rather than the equator.
Coinage
Four types of coin are generally common on SW and Sel-Kai/Eidolon:
On Gods and such
On at least the continents of Emer and Jaiman there is a general mythological consensus about the following:
Deities with worldspanning powers and influence inhabit Orhan and Charón. Other than these entities, many areas of the world itself fall under the dominion of gods and spirits with local scope and powers.
Spirits and entities also inhabit other planes of existence: The alien planes of exsistence in The Void, The Pales and the Inner Planes are all inhabited by creatures and spirits of varying persuasions and eccentricity. They are commonly labeled Demons.
The Orhanic Panteon:
Some lesser Ohanic entities
The Pantheon of Charón
Some lesser entities of Charón
The Unlife
Also tied to these things is the concept of the Unlife. It is not tied directly to the dark deities as such, but is believed to be an intangible ominous force in the world, one that seeks to pervert and destroy for no particular reason or purpose other than destruction itself. It is often connected with tales of people seaking great powers only to find that they have fallen prey to fates worse than death. The Unlife never sleeps in it's drive for death, destruction and destabilization.
Famous Organisations
The Loremasters - an organisation of people seeking and spreading lore among the lands. Little is generally know about their motivations, but they are generally thought of a benevolent.
The Navigators - Several different guilds of these people exists. The Navigators are magicians who are superbly expert at the magics of travel and navigation. They can be hired almost anywhere in the world to take you almost anywhere else. They are all business - expensive business - and have a record of Neutrality in all things.
Monks of the Changramai Monestary - The Changramai Monestary is the most famous institution that teaches fighting arts in the world. Devoted almost exclusively to barehanded combat, the changramai monks are generally hailed as the most skilled fighters, strategists and tacticians in the world. They are sometimes seen as bodyguards for the very affluent.