Gulg

Gulg is a city only in the loosest definition of the term; it consists of a cluster of forest villages enclosed by a single wall. Most buildings are made of thatch or mud, and roads are little more than trampled earth, worn down by the feet of generations. 

Gulg is roughly divided into small communities called Dagadas, each of which comprises five to fifty huts. A dagada is enclosed by a wall or fence (wooden, stone, plant, or mud) and is built around a well shared by the dagada’s residents. Each well is monitored by one (or more) of the Queen’s Scribes. 

Lalali-Puy is an absolute monarch in the purest sense: All property inside the Mopti Wall is hers, and she holds the ultimate power of life and death over all citizens, from the lowest slave to the greatest Judaga warrior.

Urik

Hamanu considers himself a warrior king. Providing he finds the battle worthy of his skills, he often leads his troops into combat personally. So far, he has earned his boasting rights - his armies have never been defeated when he was leading them. 

Hamanu's palace stands inside a great walled fortress in the center of Urik. This fortress covers a square mile, serving as both the administrative center for his templars and the base for his army. It contains a drill field, a barracks, and an armory filled with obsidian-edged swords, spears, and bows and arrows. From this fortress, Hamanu can personally send more than ten thousand slave soldiers led by a thousand lance-carrying half-giants into battle.  

Urik's economy depends almost entirely on obsidian quarried from the Mountain of the Black Crown. It also relies heavily on Tyr's iron to make the tools necessary to quarry the glassy stone efficiently.

Nibenay

The city of Nibenay is named after its founder, the sorcerer-king Nibenay. Called the Shadow King by his subjects, Nibenay is a bizarre and enigmatic figure. His subjects see him so rarely that the city is constantly filled with rumors that he has died. Whenever these rumors result in a civil disturbance, however, Nibenay appears long enough to impress upon his subjects that he is still very much alive - usually by singlehandedly crushing the rebellion. 

The Shadow King lives inside a walled sub-city located in the center of Nibenay. No free man has ever seen his palace in person, but according to ru- mor it sits atop an artificial mountain of stone slabs. The palace itself is supposedly a giant bust of Nibenay's head. The front of the castle is carved into a stone relief of the Shadow King's face. The sides and rear of the palace are covered with life-sized representations of dancing women, strung together as if they were locks of his hair.

Tyr

Tyr is ruled by the sorcerer-king Kalak, who calls himself simply King Kalak or, as he sometimes prefers to be addressed, the Tyrant of Tyr. A pragmatic and ruthless man, Kalak is perhaps the most honest of all sorcerer-kings. He rules by the might of his magic and tremendous psionic powers, placing his own security and the stability of Tyr above all other considerations. If Kalak's attitude seems unjust or inequitable, it is at least predictable. The residents of his city understand that the best way to insure their own survival is to do what benefits Kalak. The surest way to find themselves working in the slave pits is to oppose Kalak's will. 

As a consequence, Tyrian society has functioned very efficiently for the thousand years that Kalak has ruled the city. The Tyrant of Tyr has always made his home in a magnificent palace adjacent to the gladiatorial stadium. The eastern wall of this palace overlooks the arena itself. During the games, Kalak himself can often be seen sitting on one of the hundred balconies that overlook the arena, accompanied by a handful of templars and other favorites.