Quartz 4

The Free City of Gax

4 min read

The Free City of Gax

A colossal city of fire, coin, and ambition, Gax rises from a volcanic island as the beating heart of global trade—where everything is for sale, nothing is forgiven, and power is measured in contracts rather than crowns.

Overview

  • Status: Independent Free City

  • Government: Oligarchic Mercantile Rule

  • Ruling Body: The Five Families of Gax

  • Primary Culture: Cosmopolitan

  • Religion: The Pantheon (All tolerated)

  • Allies: Anyone with coin

  • Rivals: Anyone without leverage

Geography

Gax occupies a massive volcanic island at the crossroads of the world’s most important sea lanes.

  • Terrain: Volcanic slopes, terraced districts, natural harbors

  • Climate: Warm, humid, ash-flecked skies

  • Seas: Southern Sea and major trade routes

  • Natural Feature: Mount Calyx – dormant volcano beneath the city (officially stable)

The city is built upward, outward, and downward, layered over centuries of expansion.

History

Gax began as a fortified harbor and grew into a city too valuable to conquer.

  • Rose to prominence through trade during the post-Uprising era

  • Became neutral ground for merchants, mages, and mercenaries

  • Repelled multiple invasions through economic pressure alone

  • Codified rule under five dominant merchant dynasties

Gax has never been ruled by a king—and never will be.

Districts of Gax

Every district belongs to someone—even if no one admits it.

The Five Families of Gax

House Chevalier

Weapons, Sorcerers, Prestige

  • Manufactures arms of unmatched quality

  • Trains and exports battle-mages

  • Publicly refined, privately ruthless

House Ceillini

Illicit Goods, Gambling, Vice

  • Controls underground betting and pleasure dens

  • Launders coin across continents

  • Nothing moves in Gax’s shadows without their cut

House Chang

Magic, Artifacts, Secrets

  • Dominates arcane trade and relic acquisition

  • Operates sealed vaults and private auctions

  • Knows more than it sells—and sells very little

House Bruce

Mercenaries, Shock Troops, Muscle

  • Supplies disciplined mercenary companies

  • Prefers direct action to intrigue

  • Feared for loyalty once paid

House O’Malley

Mercenaries, Enforcement, Street Power

  • Controls dockside muscle and urban warfare

  • Specializes in “problem resolution”

  • Keeps grudges longer than ledgers

The Families are in a constant underground war—never open, never ending.

Wizards Hall of Gax

If magic is power, this is where it learns restraint—or doesn’t.

  • Loose confederation of archmages and scholars

  • No single leader, only consensus and reputation

  • Magic of all kinds permitted—within reason

  • Acts as mediator when the Families risk open war

Duke Elric Strangeways, benefactor to the party, is a member—though he rarely resides in the city.

The Great Coliseum – The Colossus

The largest arena in the known world.

  • Gladiatorial combat, monster hunts, naval battles

  • Political theater disguised as sport

  • Victors become legends—or commodities

Entire wars have been decided in the stands.

Culture & Customs

Gaxian culture prizes success, adaptability, and plausible deniability.

  • Values: Profit, reputation, leverage

  • Food: Everything—from street skewers to imperial feasts

  • Social Structure:

    • Wealth outranks birth

    • Reputation outranks law

  • Traditions:

    • Contracts sealed publicly

    • Duels handled privately

  • Taboos:

    • Breaking a signed deal

    • Killing a Family heir openly

    • Threatening trade routes

Crime is legal—if done correctly.

Law & Order

  • No city guard—only contracted enforcement

  • Family justice supersedes public courts

  • Wizards Hall intervenes in arcane disasters

  • Assassination is illegal only if proven

Gax does not promise safety—only opportunity.

Relations with the World

  • Infernal Empire: Profitable… and watched carefully

  • Heterland: Naval partners

  • Valin: Useful but provincial

  • Iron Union: Respected, feared

  • Osweg & North: Sources of muscle and myth

If Gax closes its ports, the world feels it.

Notes for Players

Gax is huge, loud, dangerous, and fair in the worst way.

You can buy anything—if you can afford the consequences.

Choose who you work for carefully.

Every favor here comes due.

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