The Warrens - Chittiki Homelands

Nestled into the foothills between the Eastern Basin Wall Mountains and the The Dead Basin Desert, an underground city lies mostly hidden from view. This is the Warrens - the ancestral home of the Chittiki people. It is also the home of some of the most advanced artisans who work with precious metals and gems to create jewelry that is sought after across the whole world. When the powerful and affluent people of Cartyrion hear about the Warrens, their thoughts turn to necklaces, bracelets, tiaras, and pendants featuring the finest filigree work known.

Unique Techniques

Chittiki jewelers have perfected techniques of etching and bonding metals and precious stones that allow them to produce truly unique pieces. Tiny filigrees of gold and silver are laced across the faces of large polished emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and even diamonds. These fine swirls of precious metal are bonded into channels etched into the stones with the finest of care.

Two factors contribute to the success of the Chittiki artisans. The fine, dexterous hands of the Chittiki are perfect for the precision required for the work. But it would still not be possible without a special solvent called Spitter's Milk collected from deep within the Dead Basin Desert by Chittiki known as the Harvesters. This substance is a powerful acid secreted by a creatures called Spitters that live only in the acidified lake at the center of the desert. While Duagan craftsfolk may be recognized as the best gem cutters in the world, it is the Chittiki of the Warrens that are recognized as the best gem decorators.

The acid is used to etch fine channels into the cut and polished faces of precious gems, another secret substance is used as a bonding agent to secure the most finely drawn wires of gold, silver, and platinum the world has seen into the channels. Unique and, if the customer is willing to pay the price, customized decorations on gem faces are possible. The second largest industry in the Warrens is only of concern to local Chittiki: it is the production of Caravaners. Thee contrivances, designed to be fitted atop the Two-Frilled Sandrunner Lizards that are the Chittiki beasts of burden, are used by merchants to bring their goods to far-off places. For some, espcially among the Sandfolk nomads, they are homes.  

About the City

Geography

The Warrens are essentially a vast network of tunnels, galleries and rooms dug into the foothills on the eastern edge of the The Dead Basin Desert, where the desert meets the mountain range known as the Eastern Basin Wall. This complex was carved out by the first Chittiki to be Awakened on Carytrion. Extending deep into and beneath the hills, this complex stretches for many miles in a north-south direction, with the vast expanse of the desert to the west.

Intra-city Organization

The city is divided into three districts, though the boundaries are not distinct. They are more or less denoted by the color and composition of the rock into which they have been carved. In the south is the Red district of sandstone. The limestone of the northern part of the city identifies the White District. In the region where one stone type gives over to the other in striated patterns shifting from mostly white to mostly red, the Striped District can be found.

Infrastructure

With regard to roads, there is one wide, well-traveled route that runs above ground north to south with the tunnels of the city just the east and the desert to the west. Within the city itself, there are a few long. wide avenue tunnels that extend the length of the complex. Numerous other street tunnels branch off these, with shops, businesses, and residences opening onto them. These avenues and streets are wide enough to accomodate Chittiki pulling or pushing cart-like vehicles to move things around the city. Still smaller alley tunnels branch off the streests; these lead to smaller shops and more residences. Being carved under the hills and mountains, the city is very much three-dimensional, with sloping passages linking various levels.

VIsitors to the Warrens will possibly notice that, despite being a city of tunnels, it is remarkably clean. The Chittiki are, by nature, a fastidious people, and they have devised an ingenious way to deal with their trash and other waste products. Beneath the city is a second network of tunnels, all carved so that they flow downward toward centrally located pits. These pits are occupied by Otyughs, who consume pretty much everything that makes its way to them. The sewer system of Baron's Point was modeled after that of the Warrens.

Architecture

A first-time visitor to the Warrens, coming off the trade roads linking the city to both Baron's Point in the east and the Sandhold in the southwest will see a number of large buildings built on the steep hillsides facing the desert. These buildings, all featuring impressive collonades, are built of sandstone blocks mined from mountains not far behind them to the east. The visitor is likely to wonder, though, how such a relatively small number of buildings - there are no more than twenty - could house the population of Chittiki that is purported to live in the Warrens.

What is not immediately obvious is that these buildings are merely portals to the vast network of tunnels and chambers that is the true extent of the Warrens. These "streets and buildings" are carved out of the soft rocks that comprise the foothills and the mountain range beyond. Walls, floors, and ceilings are straight and smooth.

In the southern part of the Warrens, the predominant rock is a reddish sandstone, but as one travels north, this begins to be streaked with deposits of white limestone. Eventually, in the far north, the stone is almost completely limestone. It is these colors that demark the three districts of the city: the Red, the White, and the Striped districts.

Demographics

Chittiki far outnumber other permanent residents of the Warrens, though there are a number of Goblin folk, and a lesser number of Kobold folk, that make their home here. A number of human and Duagan merchants have residences in the Warrens, but these are temporary places for them to retreat to when their business takes them from their homes in either Baron's Point or the Sandhold.

Other Industry

While not as well-known around the world, the Warrens is also where the best of the best in another area of industry can be found: the making of Caravaners. Thee contrivances, designed to be fitted atop the Two-Frilled Sandrunner Lizards that are the Chittiki beasts of burden, are used by Chittiki merchants whever their lizards can go. To the nomadic Sandfolk culture of Chittiki who call the desert itself "home", these conveyances are their primary domiciles.

Government

The Chittiki government is a unique mix of traditional government styles. The Chittiki people elect a Mayor, but this position is much more than just an administrator of the Warrens. The Mayor, elected for life, is essentially the Chittiki president or king. He or she is concerned with the welfare of all Chittiki everywhere in the world.

The Mayor has the power to appoint regional Advocates who act as reporting agents, but also handle matters of concern to the Chittiki in places far beyond the Warrens. The number of Advocates, and their exact assignments, are left to the discretion of the Mayor. Reports from advocates find their way to the Warrens, where an army of clerks working in the Red District review them. Information is filtered and consolidated so the Mayor can be aware of important goings on around the world.

The Mayor also appoints Council members with the Warrens; it is they who handle the actual day-to-day issues of the complex itself.

Chittiki voting is itself an interesting thing. "Elections" are announced, and take place over the course of an entire year in order to give every Chittiki everywhere on Cartyrion a chance to have their vote cast. If the Chittiki are greatly displeased with the performance of the Mayor, they can call for a "no confidence vote" to depose the Mayor and select a new one.