1. The Old District

Argued by many to be the original centre of the village, Old District has become the centre of political power in Avandigor. This area contains the mainstay of the Order members within the city, along with the Town Hall, where representatives of the various interest groups within Avandigor will meet occasionally to discuss the city's requirements. The Arcane Guild always send a representative to preside over these meetings, and the currently sitting member is Garen Wildheart. The current leader of the Council (and by default the non-magical community of Avandigor) is Ritter Carnavon.

This area also holds much of the official imperial presence, and multiple counting houses, tax collectors and other officials both work and live within it's confines. The Old District is predominantly made from high quality marble from the western empire, a gift of the imperial family some 75 years ago. Some elements of the buildings are beginning to show wear, and some rebuilding work has commenced in this area

2. The Port

The main area of naval commerce within the city, the port is always a loud, swirling mass of people, especially towards the coast. Things tend to quiet and slow down during the night, but the areas of The Crowns closest to the port are not highly sought after, and many of barracks for locally stationed order troops are held here.

As befits it’s poorer clientle and locals, this area of town is mostly made of locally sourced wood and stone, thought most buildings are built from wood to keep costs down for when the inevitable damage is done by the patrons of the many bars and taverns that line the streets here.

3. The Crowns

Originally built to provide housing for the students and professors of the Arcane Guild University, this area has grown into the largest area of the city by far. This was partly due to the increasing number of research professors and those who simply didn’t want to leave the city once their student years had finished. However, the other reasons that this area of the city has grown so much is twofold – the Crowns Guard and the research institutes.

The Crowns Guard are part army, part town watch. They began life as a military force stationed in the city by the Imperial Family, but slowly shifted responsibilities to function more as a town watch, with a more military focused structure, discipline and traditions. Formally recognised by the Empress Diamant II in 604 AP to be under the purview of the city, all ties with the Imperial family were cut – they now officially served the city alone.

The research institutes have no formal collectives or groups, but instead are a loose collection of professors who work together towards a common goal. It is not uncommon for those who complete their studies at the University to join an institute aligned with their own interests as soon as they become a professor. Some of the biggest developments in new spells and magical technology have come from the institutes. There are a number of these institutes currently conducting investigations in “Lostbridge”.

As the largest area in the city and home to many magically inclined folk, The Crowns are an area of eclectic taste and style. However, as per the rest of the districts, all buildings are made from a single substance – Quarzite. This mineral is compressed quartz crystal, produced by the application of transmutation magic and is provided by a number of the research institutes as material for construction and inclusion in magical foci.

4. Diamond Row

Diamond Row sits nestled on the eastern hand side of the city, and is a fledgling area that is just beginning to develop it’s own identity separate from Anchorbridge. With the relative nearness of Orillion and Avandigor’s status as a Southern trading hub the Empire, a small collection of Jewel crafters took up residence in the east of the city.

Originally just there out of necessity, the jewel trade has been so successful that they have begun to carve out an area all their own. As a new area not yet formally recognised, the area is made almost entirely of the local wood sources, though the quality of the building work done is excellent, with smoothly varnished dark wood being the predominant material.

5. Anchorbridge/"Lostbridge"

Anchorbridge serves as the housing district for the support staff and craftspeople of the city. Though of a number of the more “essential” staff are housed in the Crowns themselves, the rest find housing in Anchorbridge. The cleaners, bakers, maidservants, sadlers, etc. of the city were housed in a district carved from the local rock of the cliff side below the Arcane Guild.

With the newer introduction of the constructs able to complete a number of heavy lifting or low finesse jobs within the crowns, there is concern that some of the others jobs may soon be replaced. Of far greater concern is an event that occurred 26 days ago, which has yet to be explained or put right. Since then, a significant portion of the workforce has been missing from work, and around 2 weeks ago, members of the Crowns Guard were stationed at the roads that serve as entrances to the district, preventing most from entering it. In the weeks since that day, a new name has begun to be used for the area: Lostbridge.

6. Kinew's Crossing

The story goes that when Elrew Bailey, the first Archmage of the Arcane Guild, finally found the town that he had been searching for, he arrived on the wrong side of the River Uralgar. Being a fishing town, they had no great need to cross the river other than via boat, and no bridge large enough to bring over Bailey’s followers existed.

Instead, the Archmage to be created several sheets of stone that were tethered to the banks and each other to provide a large enough bridge. Though this original bridge was rickety and required careful crossing, the followers made it across into the town proper by nightfall.

Whether a true story or not, a formal bridge was constructed in this area of the city, symbolically using some of the magically created stone in it’s construction. Though Archmage Bailey is now long dead, this bridge (and it’s surrounding area) has been symbolically named after the sitting Archmage ever since.

As often happens with areas of such historical significance, the houses in this area have steadily become exclusive to the noble houses in the city. Additionally, the many embassies of the Orillon peoples are situated here. As befitting it’s elite status, the most recent rebuild of the area introduced the use of Blackstone, a dark rock that is shot through with traces of silver.

7. Twilight District

As befits a place of students, nobility and emissaries, Avandigor has a thriving nightlife, and the Twilight District is where these luminaries of the city will gather for drink, food and shows. There is sometimes a tense balance between the three groups in the area, as students are generally looking to blow off steam, nobles to take in the high life and emissaries to further their causes. There are those that bridge two, or even rarer all three, of these groups and they feel these conflicts of taste more than others.

Still, the theatres, taverns, inns, restaurants, concert halls, and houses of the flesh make a roaring trade, and the district feeds a huge amount of gold back into the city in the form of tax on these formal venues for such varied tastes. Due to the nature of these taxes (and more specifically breaks in such tax for following a certain line) the area is built almost entirely from polished granite, the pinkish rock giving the buildings longevity to sustain the many events and parties that take place there.

8. Redbridge

With the ocean so nearby, and many of the nobles having been raised from trading or fishing folk, there is a lively pleasure cruising industry operating out of the city of Avandigor. Many nobles own their own pleasure ships, with one or two even paying for trips on the relatively new airships created by the members of the Guild.

Redbridge has therefore grown into an upmarket shopping and cruising location almost exclusively for the noble elite of the city, though some of emissaries’ may be invited as guests on such pleasure cruises. As an area for the elite, it is bedecked in diorite, an unusual stone of black and white hues. This is in contrast to the original colour of the area – a deep red caused by the deposits of clay left exposed by historical flooding.

9. Cobbler's Barrow

The Cobbler’s barrow is so name for the sponsorship provided for the initial construction of the buildings. Looking to strike out from Anchorbridge, a few of the cobbler’s banded together some of their profits to petition the political council to allow them to build in the previously unused area south of the river. As the area was not often used (and was more liable to flooding than other areas of potential buildings, the town happily took the meagre sum in exchange for said position.

Since then, the cobblers have grown the area, and many of the tailors, buckle makers, glove makers, weavers and other creators of clothing have joined the cobblers further, spreading to the east. Some 100 years ago, a noble house offered to purchase the land opposite from Redbridge to expand the pleasure scene there, doubly so as the as shops there almost exclusively worked on noble clothing.

Due to it’s liability to flooding and the ease of access to it in the area, many of the houses are formed baked clay stones, giving the area a reddish hue.

10. Avandigor Arcane Guild

Also see Arcane Guild

The Guild is a centre of all life for Avandigor, and is the seat of one of the High Mages of the Arcane Guild. Due to the location and it’s historical significance, it is the premier place of leaning for the Arcane Arts, though certainly not the only place that such training takes place.

The main building of the guild is built up on the cliffs that overlook the city of Avandigor, it’s imposing silhouette casting it’s shadow down upon the city so that long time citizens are able to tell the time of day simply by which parts of the city are in shade.

The three towers and surrounding walls are inaccessible from all directions save for a single staircase, around 10 feet across that ascends directly up to the gates of the Guild. It is said that these gates are protected by magic, preventing any but those who are permitted entrance into the guild from ascending. As the years have gone on, the staircase has had more and more pathways, roads and even buildings constructed in the arched recesses underneath the ascent. Some claim that it is possible to fit one of the Guild’s towers in the spaces underneath some of the highest archways.

 Due to the time of it’s construction (and lack of rebuilding), the guild is one of the only multi-material structures in the city, using a variety of materials used elsewhere in the city below.