Punth: City of Compartments III

Why are you in the City of Compartments? If, that is, you aren't an agent of one of the neighbouring powers, or a Hydraulic Dwarf. 

Firstly, it is one of the few places to access the Qryth on vaguely equal terms. That doesn't mean that they will talk to you, or that their incentives and behaviour are so very different from when they are in Punth itself. But for the dilletante Qryth scholar from the Empire, there's no better place to get started. 

Secondly, it is lightly governed. The Masters of the Aqueduct have no brief to prevent drunkenness, dissipation, gambling or prostitution (for instance) in the City, unless they interfere with the supply of Precious Municipal Fluids. This is not to say that everyone else in the City appreciates an incessant Bacchanal, or that religious leaders in one compartment or another might not rouse opinion against them and apply their own preferred solution. 

Thirdly, it is a commercial crossroads. It is one of the few places outside Punth you may find Phahk or other specialist Punthite commodities. Likewise, Dwarven handicrafts, Nirvanite textiles and Mariklyne cattle are all present. It might not be as varied a selection or population as one of the great port cities of the Stained Sea, but it certainly stands out in the region. If nothing else, there is little to beat the Saltire Market, sitting at the intersection of the two aqueducts, lit by numerous hanging metal lanterns to extending trading hours into the night.

Fourthly, it is somewhere that you can be Ka-Punth and not be bound to a quite-possibly bloody, small-minded, manipulated or djinn-haunted society. If a unified Ka-Punth society comes about, it may well  be because of an intellectual renaissance in the City of Compartments.

Fifthly, it is a refuge from the lower levels of law enforcement from both the Empire and Punth. It's not a place you could hide a traitor, but for a thief or an unlucky brawler or a dealer in outlawed minor magics, it's a good spot.

***

There is a subtle difference between those born in the City, and those who are driven there; an ease with the vertiginous tenements and the looming shadow of the aqueducts, the sparing use of water, an impatience with any law not related to bodily necessities. Some of them will in time realise the strangeness of their upbringing - but it is not known how many of them care to leave.

A sketch map of the City of Compartments - as it might have been in at past one period.