The place
Ilvaren rises in white terraces around the Receiving Ground and the ancient Well. Six avenues climb toward the center beneath aqueducts and pale water towers; layered streets, ramps for jar carts, covered channels, markets, bridges, and drains occupy nearly every level. From the lower wards, the River Palace seems close, though the ascent can take hours. The city’s rings turn inward, and even later buildings press against old spillways and hydraulic foundations. Greenery is carefully trained rather than abundant, while dry fountains become market stalls, workshops, or shrines—evidence of a capital constantly adapting ceremonial architecture to ordinary need.
People & culture
Ilvaren holds palace households, Church offices, Water Office clerks, engineers, porters, market traders, craftspeople, petitioners, guards, and crowded lower-ward families. Its residents are not casually wasteful: shopkeepers catch condensation, washing water is reused for trees, and cistern queues shape neighborhood life. The culture is formal and record-heavy, yet highly inventive at street level, where civic monuments become cobblers’ stalls and empty cups become offerings.
