Cities of Sigmar

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Cities of Sigmar
Stormkeep inside City 01.jpeg
City of Sigmar with a Stormkeep and a Realmgate
Grand alliance Order
Associated factions Collegiate Arcane
Darkling Covens
Dispossessed
Freeguilds
Ironweld Arsenal
Order of Azyr
Order Serpentis
Scourge Privateers
Shadowblades
Main grouping Free City
Major characters Doralia ven Denst
Galen ven Denst
Tahlia Vedra
Zenestra
Allies Daughters of Khaine
Fyreslayers
Idoneth Deepkin
Kharadron Overlords
Sylvaneth
Stormcast Eternals
Races Aelf
Duardin
Human
Ogor
Seraphon
Stormcast Eternal
Sylvaneth
Mounts Black Dragon
Demigryph
Drakespawn
Deer
Griffon
Horse
Phoenix
Vehicles Steam Tank
Gyrocopter
Gyrobomber
Creatures Gryph-Hound
War Hydra
Kharibdyss
Spell lores Lore of Cinder
Lore of Dark Sorcery
Lore of Eagles
Lore of the Ghurish Heartlands
Lore of Illumination
Lore of Leaves
Lore of Smog
Lore of the Phoenix
Lore of Whitefire
Prayers Prayers of Morrda
Artefacts Darkling Covens Armoury
Dispossessed Armoury
Freeguild Armoury
Greywater Fastness Armoury
Hammerhal Armoury
Living City Armoury
Phoenicium Armoury
Wanderers Armoury
Archetypes Trade Pioneer
Excelsior Warpriest
Darkling Sorceress
Black Ark Corsair
Battlemage

The Cities of Sigmar also known as the Free Cities were cities built by the forces of Order after the Realmgate Wars. Most of these cities are built around Realmgates, many of which have a Stormkeep. These Stormkeeps will most often be garrisoned by the same Stormhosts that conquered the lands upon which the cities were built.[1a][10a][17b][47a]

Contents

Founding of the Free Cities

In the wake of the Realmgate Wars the foundations of the first new Free Cities began. The Seeds of Hope in the Everspring Swathe, comprised of Living City, the Phoenicium, and Greywater Fastness would be the first of these bastions of Order. Soon after the Twin-Tailed City of Hammerhal would be built around the Stormrift Realmgate, on both the Ghyranite and Aqshian sides, it would become the greatest metropolis of Sigmar's Empire outside of Azyr. The cities of Tempest's Eye, Hallowheart, Anvilgard, and Brightspear in the Great Parch would be raised mere decades later, but quickly rose to match the Seeds of Life in grandeur.[52a]

These cities and all those that were built afterwards were constructed at the behest of Sigmar himself, strategically built around Realmgates or on Geomantic Nexuses, though often both, along the ley lines of the Mortal Realms. In his grand war efforts to drive back the forces of Chaos, Sigmar works tirelessly to determine what resources and strategic locations will most benefit his expanding empire. When an ideal location is selected, Sigmar will send forces from his Stormhosts to lay claim to these locations, as they are rarely unoccupied. Though the cities are typically founded to lay claim to Realmgates and Geomantic Nexuses, the forces of Azyr seek to claim any resources that can benefit Sigmar's empire and crusades.[37a][52a]

The first of the Cities of Sigmar would have their groundwork lain during the Realmgate Wars, when the Stormhosts of the Sigmar valiantly fought to wrest control of the Gates of Azyr from the lingering legions of Death, the vast war hordes of the Orruks, and the manifold forces of Chaos. Around the claimed Gates of Azyr, and many other Realmgates besides, the Stormcast Eternals built their mighty Stormkeeps, these great bastions allowed the Free Peoples of Azyr to follow without fear of the horrors of the Mortal Realms.[10a]

These early colonists erected settlements around the Stormkeeps, build new defences around them and work the fields. As the years wear on these frontier settlements around reclaimed Realmgates grow into some of the most magnificent and important metropolises scattered across the Mortal Realms. First among these great cities are the Seeds of Life known as Living City, The Phoenicium, and Greywater Fastness built in the Realm of Ghyran. But it would be Hammerhal that became the grandest of the Cities of Sigmar. Hammerhal, also known as the Twin-Tailed City, is constructed around the Stormrift Realmgate, it is a sprawling city that stretches across both Capilaria in Aqshy and Verdia in Ghyran.[10a]

But these great cities were just the first among many. The Stormhosts continue to liberate Realmgates and construct their citadels around them. These Stormkeeps are as varied and diverse as the Stormhosts themselves. Soon after mortals will arrive and begin the arduous work of making the plans made by the greatest architects and engineers of Azyr a reality.[10a]

It is the Lord-Ordinators and Lord-Castellants of the Stormhosts who work tirelessly to identify ancient ley-lines and fonts of magical energy upon which a city's Stormkeep will be laid. In some cases, depending on the size and importance of a city, additional Stormkeeps will be constructed to ensure the city is well-defended. The grand city of Hammerhal has no less than six Stormkeeps.[17b]

Once plans are determined for the structure of the Stormkeep, the Lord-Ordinators and Lord-Castellants get to work implementing them. Working alongside them are human masons, artisans, and work gangs as well as Dispossessed labour-clans and even small groups of aelves. With the inventiveness of the Duardin, the adaptability of the Humans, and mystic mastery of the Aelfs at their side the Stormcast can raise their awe-inspiring fortresses.[15b]

After the Stormkeep is complete, engineers of the Ironweld Arsenal and regiments of the Freeguild will arrive to erect temporary defences, such as earthen emplacements and wooden palisades, around the Stormkeep. Months will be spent testing these defences and building upon them where needed.[10a] In addition, Freeguild bastions will be constructed at key, strategic points; each of these imposing citadels capable of housing thousands of soldiers.[17b]

Once these defences are secure members of the Devoted of Sigmar begin their arduous task of cleansing the area upon which the great settlement will be built of the foul taint of Chaos and undeath. Sigmarite priests will pray to the God-King as great lines of Flagellant will strike themselves with barbed flails, the blood of these faithful will seep into the earth and burn away the taint within it. Agents of the Collegiate Arcane and Sacrosanct Chambers will then work to purify any lingering traces of taint.[10a]

Once the lands have been sanctified and purified, the next task is clearance. Trees are felled to make room for tents and barrack-halls, which will serve as domains to the early colonists, dams are built, irrigation systems are implemented, and the ground is made ready to be turned into farmland.[10a]

Once the land has been cleared and sanctified, the labour clans of the Duardin, the Dispossessed and Ironweld, build the roots of the city. These foundations often take the shape of a twelve-pointed star in honour of Sigmar. Starwater, blessed metals, and realmstone will often be used in the construction of the outermost walls of the city, as an added protection against daemonic and ethereal incursions.[10a]

In the months that follow the city will begin to take shape. Walls will rise in concentric circles, with the Stormkeep as the central-most defence. Next, the citizens of the city will build the first streets and thoroughfares, with statues of great heroes lining them. Soon after the first major wave of settlers will arrive, most of whom will be Azyrites but there are often many Reclaimed, the untainted natives of the regions around the new city, as well. Once they are settled in, the sounds of industry will earnestly begin to echo through the streets.[10a]

Eventually, the population will outgrow the plans for the city and inevitably more land is cleared and sanctified, new walls are built and streets are extended. Oftentimes the cities may grow faster than resources can be developed and slums will spring up beyond the outer walls of the city. These slums may be beyond the protection of the walls, but many local magnates and criminal enterprises will work to build crude walls and palisades around them.[10a]

This entire process can take decades, or far longer, and generations of settlers and citizens will be dedicated to building their city. But the result is a settlement that can claim to be among the greatest in Sigmar's burgeoning empire.[10a] Such cities become a haven for the many varied cultures and races of the Free Peoples, who live and work side by side.[17b]

Each Free City is drastically different and shaped by its history and the lands around it. The nature of the Stormhost that first founded their city, the factions and cultures that followed in their wake, the arcane and mundane industries that the surrounding land can support, the dangers that surround these newly built bastions of Order, all these things and more will shape a free city, it's people, cultures, and even its policies.[37a]

For every Free City that has withstood the trials that the Mortal Realms have thrown upon it and grown into a great bastion guarded by sturdy walls, numerous others have been ground to dust by the battles that rage across the Realms. The ruins of these failed cities dot the lands of countless nations.[52a]

Expanding Beyond the Walls

The Free Cities of Sigmar's empire are not merely solitary polises, whose people cower for safety behind the imposing walls and Stormkeeps constructed to protect them. Rather they are the centre of, often extensive, civilizations. As a free city swells in size and population, many townships, mines, watchtowers and other signs of civilization will spring up around them.[10a][47a][47b]

Freeguild Fortresses will be built throughout the territories controlled by the free cities, many of them garrisoned by Freeguild soldiery, to defend these nascent settlements.[47a][48a]

A Dawnbringer Crusade.
Equipment of a Castelite Freeguilder

Dawnbringer Crusades

In recent times grand caravans, known as Dawnbringer Crusades, flood forth from the walls of the Cities of Sigmar to explore the Mortal Realms and establish new settlements known as Sigmarite Strongpoints. As with the Cities of Sigmar, scores of these colonization and reclamation attempts fail but those that succeed greatly expand the borders of Sigmar's Empire. Some even grow to become Free Cities, with their own Grand Conclaves, n their own right.[49][52b]

A Sigmarite Strongpoint under construction.

Strongpoints

Sigmarite Strongpoints are frontier settlements built on the outskirts of the Cities of Sigmar and their territories. Such settlements serve a multitude of purposes such as extending the influence of the City, securing vital resources, colonising new territories, or the reclamation and resettlement of lands lost in the Age of Chaos. Should a strongpoint prove particularly successful it may even grow to become a City of Sigmar in its own right.[52b][52r][52s][52t]

Government

Grand Conclaves

The governing body of a City of Sigmar is known as a Grand Conclave. These august bodies are modelled after the Lords of the Heavenhall of Azyrheim, which was the first Grand Conclave organized by Sigmar himself during the Age of Chaos. In theory, these governing bodies are meritocratic and democratic in nature, with citizens elevated to these lofty positions by their merit and all matters being determined by voting, with abstaining being strictly forbidden, by the delegates.[17c][109a] The Conclaves are far from perfect but they've managed to see the Dominions of Sigmar through the centuries of turmoil that have been the Age of Sigmar.[109a]

Each member of a Grand Conclave is given their own title and command, attended to by a variety of bureaucrats. While there exists a number of titles used commonly throughout the Conclaves of the Mortal Realms, such as High Arbiters and Prime Commanders, there is little standardisation between these governing bodies. Instead, each city establishes Conclave positions whose roles fit the city's needs. As a result, there are many regionally unique positions, seats that lose favour as time passes, titles created to react to crises, and many created in the wake of political movements.[17c][109a]

Every Conclave strives to reach at least two-hundred forty-four acting delegates. Though only a striking few, such as the Stormrift Conclave which boasts exactly two-hundred forty-four members and the Lords of the Heavenhall which boasts two-hundred fifty-six, have managed to achieve the goal.[52v][109a]

It is vanishingly rare for the entirety of a Conclave to meet at one time, busy with their duties as they are, except in matters of utmost importance. Instead, most business is carried out by an Inner Conclave of eleven members, with a twelfth seat symbolically left for the God-King. The Patriarch, Matriarch, or the city's equivalent acts as a figurehead for this Inner Conclave. When grander matters are brought to the attention of a conclave, half of its members will be assembled to delegate over it.[109a]

Free Charters

A Free Charter, which are filed in the Great Library of Azyrheim, is a charter denoting the rights and privileges of a settlement in the dominion of Sigmar that has been designated a Free City.[72b]

Postal services

The Grand Conclaves and other elements of the governing bodies of the Cities of Sigmar rely on Swifthawk Agents and private courier services to deliver official documents, such as military orders.[72a][75c]

Taxes and Tithes

The Grand Conclaves of the Cities of Sigmar hold the authority to mandate and impose taxes within the territories they govern. Such taxes are needed to supply the city's treasury with the funds necessary to pay for projects, such as improving city defences or funding charitable hospitals. Market dividends, berth fees for docked ships, and import tariffs are among some of the taxes known to be levied in some cities.[23a][81a] The Scourge Privateers, who are the premier navy among Sigmar's forces, are exempt from these berthing fees and import tariffs in some of the Cities of Sigmar.[23a]

During campaign season it is common for a city to impose a tithe on its districts, with the expected payment being fresh soldiers to join the Freeguilds of the city. The Freeguild Guard, those Freeguilders who patrol the cities as watchmen, are often recruited through levies.[17e]

To ensure that taxes are paid the Cities of Sigmar employ customs officers, tithe-collectors, and other officials. These collectors of taxes operate out of offices, such as the Office of Tithes and Duties in Anvilgard; wagon parks, such as the Grey Gate Excise Authority in Greywater Fastness; or other facilities.[14c][23a][81a]

The satellite settlements and fiefdoms attached to a Free City may also be expected to pay taxes as well, though how strictly these are imposed can vary from city to city. In Greywater Fastness only the most zealous tithe-collectors brave the Swamp-Cantons seeking to collect dues, while Excelsis has been known to overlook its nobles in its vassal settlements assembling personal armies, so long as their tithes are maintained.[16b][75b]

Culture

Aetherlight Promenade

The Cities of Sigmar are cosmopolitan municipalities that are home to Humans, Duardin, Aelves, and many other races who come from a staggering variety of cultures and religious faiths, who are collectively known as the Free Peoples. Though all of these groups have different methods and views on everything from worship, making war, and even crafting, they are reunited in their desires to defy Chaos and rebuild the realms so poorly affected by the ravages of the Age of Chaos.[51a]

Despite their collective goals, there are many divisions among the Free Peoples. The most profound and widely known is the divide between the Azyrites who returned to the lower realms after the reopening of the Gates of Azyr and the Reclaimed, those people who survived in the realms overtaken by Chaos for centuries.[10a]

Within many of the more industrialized Cities of Sigmar, innovative and well-run businesses have risen to power as their creations bring wealth and protection to their homes. This power has led to them gaining incredible influence over the Grand Conclaves of their cities. These businesses lobby for laws to grant craftspeople more priveledges and have statues of genius inventors erected.[51b]

Fashion

Ever since the founding of the Cities of Sigmar in the wake of the Realmgate Wars a variety of fashion trends have arisen across Sigmar's nascent empire, Hammerhal Aqsha and Callidium were particular forerunners of fashion within the Great Parch.[20a]

Aqshian fashions are known for their flashiness and most often incorporate the the oranges, reds, and yellows that have been popular among the peoples of the fiery Realm for ages.[20a][51a]

The Azyrite peoples that have settled in the Free Cities, especially the rich and affluent, prefer to use whites, blues, and silvers evoking the Realm of Azyr in their fashions. These colours are often adopted by privileged Reclaimed who wish to be thought of as having the celestial qualities of Azyr.[20a]

The Realm of Chamon has such an abundance of metal that it is found within the forms of everything that resides within the Realm from the beasts and plants to the people. As such Chamonites adorn themselves in cloaks that have metallic streaks, and employ many plant-based dyes that naturally contain metals.[51a]

The denizens of Ghurish cities often develop styles that rival Aqshians in ostentation. They incorporate fur, bone, wool, and feathers, all commonly acquired resources of their Realm, into these fashions, and are known to have a healthy appreciation for emulating the display rituals of the species native to Ghur.[51a]

City Aelves descending from ancient empires in the Realm of Ulgu have a common style of dark colours and sharp edges. This style was developed to represent their common heritage and was developed over the course of their diaspora within Sigmarite society.[51a]

New cities thrive in those lands reclaimed by Order. Art, philosophy and fashion begin to develop once more, not just in Aspiria and Bataar but in Hammerhal Aqsha and Callidium also. The oranges, yellows and reds long favoured by the Great Parch tribes are still much in evidence, though the richest and most privileged dress in the whites, blues and silvers of Azyr in the hope of being thought as civilised and celestial rather than fiery and volatile. But whatever pretensions the city-dwellers might adopt, they find that Aqshian emotion still simmers beneath, their lives burning as bright and short as ever.

Media

The communication of information has become a vital business to many of the Cities of Sigmar. Networks of Road Agents, Swifthawk Agents, and courier services facilitate the swift exchange of letters, documents, messages, and news between the denizens of the Free Cities as well as with their armies and satellite settlements.[20b][21b][75c][81a]

Broadsheets and tattle sheets have arisen as another form of information exchange in a number of cities. These are collated documents of recent news and rumours created by businesses, such as printing presses, to sell to citizens in the cities. Broadsheet sellers, often identifiable by a myriad of means such as badges or placards worn over their clothes, can be found in populated areas attempting to sell the sheets. In some cities they will even read them to passersby, for a few.[6a][21b]

Demographics

Population

Agents of Grungni on the hunt for the Eight Lamentations
Defenders of the Cities of Sigmar

The populace of the Cities of Sigmar is comprised of innumerable cultures and subcultures hailing from countless species. The most prominent of these are typically of Human, Duardin, and Aelven whose origin, their bloodlines traced to all corners of the Mortal Realms. Collectively these peoples are often divided into Azyrites, those whose lineage traces back to bloodlines who resided in the Realm of Azyr after the closing of the Gates of Azyr in the Age of Chaos, and the Reclaimed, those myriad peoples descended from those who were trapped in the Realms on the other side. Tensions often arise between the Azyrites and Reclaimed.[10a][20b] City Ogors, those Ogors who have chosen to settle in the Cities or are descended from ones who did so, are found in every corner of the God-King's widespread empire.[46d][51a]

A number of sapient avian races make their roosts within the Cities of Sigmar, typically found within the facilities of their Aelven allies. These include the Phoenixes associated with the Phoenix Temple and the Warhawks who work with the Swifthawk Agents.[17a][26]

City Aelves

The City Aelves of the Free Cities come from all across the Mortal Realms. The most widespread of these kindreds are those who can trace their lineage to ancient empires of Ulgu, fallen kingdoms of the Realm of Ghyran, and the wilds of the Heavens.[20b]

City Ogors

The term City Ogor refers to those Ogors who have settled within the bastions of Sigmar's civilizations and adapted to their societies, as well as their descendants. These latter Ogors, referred to as second generation City Ogors, are capable of resisting the extreme hunger their species is well known for.[46d]

Duardin

An overwhelming number of Duardin residing within the Cities identify as Dispossessed. This term refers to clans that are remnants of the mighty Khazalid Empire, and other civilizations, that fell in the Age of Chaos. Many have clung to the arts of smithcraft, masonry, and rune-shaping of their ancestors. They put this expertise to use building some of the mightiest fortifications of Sigmar's empire. When the need arises they will set aside their tools, to take up axes in the defense of neighbor, kith, and kin.[17g][10a]

Stormcast Eternals

Most Free Cities of Sigmar's expanding civilization boast at least one Stormkeep, garrisoned by Stormcast Eternals. These valiant demigod warriors belong to those Stormhosts closely associated with each Free City, most often these Stormhosts aided in the founding of the cities. A garrison force will almost always be in attendance within a Stormkeep.[15b] Within these imposing fortresses can also be found dwellings set aside for Stardrakes, Draconith, and Dracoths, those draconic beings allied with the Stormcasts.[48b][53a]

Religion

The Cities of Sigmar play host to innumerable faiths, of these the majority are dedicated to deities of the Pantheon of Order. With particular emphasis placed on Alarielle, Teclis, Tyrion, Grungni, Grimnir, Malerion, Khaine, and especially Sigmar who is worshiped as foremost amongst the gods. Though many lesser powers are ranked among the Pantheon.[124a] Former members of the Pantheon, such as Gorkamorka and Nagash, boast cults dedicated to them within a number of Cities of Sigmar.[21b][113b] Even deities not associated with the Pantheon can commonly find worship within the free cities.[124a]

Though the worship of Sigmar is ostensibly paramount within each Free City, there are those who claim other patron gods. The Living City, first of the Free Cities built after the Realmgate Wars, is as much a city of Alarielle as it is Sigmar's.[37a] The Phoenicium is home to the Phoenix Temple and dedicated to the Ur-Phoenix.[10a] The Oasis of Gazul, a restored Karak, is home to the Gazul-Zagaz who worship Gazul.[6c][57] Even Lethis, capital of the God-King's dominions in the Realm of Shyish, bears an additional patron god in the form of Morrda.[37a]

Cults and Temples

Worship of Sigmar does not take a singular form within the Free Cities, rather those cults that venerate him are collectively known as the Cults Unberogen. Whatever form their worship takes, or the guise they interpret the Heldenhammer as, all agree that he originates from the World-That-Was.[99b][124a]

Not all faiths of the Cities are centered around the God-King and other aspects of Sigmar. Notable cults and temples dedicated to other deities include:

Embassies and Enclaves

The Free Peoples are not the sole inhabitants of their great cities as embassies, and in some cases entire enclaves, are set aside for the habitation of other peoples of the Mortal Realms. Sylvaneth in particular are often found living in the Free Cities, especially those of the Realm of Life. Within large cities there can often be found Skink Embassies, such aside for the reptilian Seraphon.[43b] Those cities that trade with the Kharadron will often boast an Embassy-Port with docks and berths for the sky-duardins vessels.[17n][21b] Mercenaries contracted from Fyreslayer lodges are found in their own sprawling holdings.[19a][19b][19c] Sects of the Daughters of Khaine have erected many temple-complexes within the Free Cities.[21b] Some cities even have emissaries from the Lumineth nation and the Idoneth Enclaves.[10a][56a]

Organizations

City-Specific Organizations

Traveling Organizations

  • Folly: A traveling troupe of Aelven acrobats and singers. They specialize in exposing Slaaneshi cults.[10a]
  • Hawthorns: A loosely connected network of professional killers, with a knack for rooting out and hunting Vampires.[10a]
  • Road Agents: A loose coalition of couriers operating throughout the Cities of Sigmar. They are often employed by conclaves and local lords to carry messages for the average citizens of the cities and their holdings.[75c]

Languages of the Cities

Countless languages are spoken throughout the Cities of Sigmar but three language families in particular are associated with the myriad Free Peoples. These are the Azyrite languages, the Khazalid tongues, and many forms of Aelfish. The Azyrite languages serve as the most widely accepted lingua francas of the Free Cities, as well as many of their allies, while the Khazalid and Aelfish languages descend from the ancestral tongues of the Dispossessed Duardin and City Aelves respectively.[4d][4e][10a][13b][68a]

Aelfish Languages in the Cities

There are those who claim that Aelfish comes in over one hundred thousand spoken variations in the Mortal Realms. The following is a list of those spoken by denizens of the Cities of Sigmar:[68a]

Azyrite Languages in the Cities

The Azyrite languages are among the most commonly spoken in the Cities of Sigmar, often referred to as common tongues, having descended from the God-King's own native tongue which he had taught to his followers in the Age of Myth. The following is a list of those spoken by denizens of the Cities of Sigmar:[52k]

  • Celestial: Celestial is one of the Azyrite tongues that are known to have become a common tongue of the residents of the Free Cities.[4b]
  • High Azyri: The script form of this Azyrite language is known to be used in some official documentations of the Free City of Excelsis.[72a]
  • High Azyrite: This Azyrite language has been adopted as a formal language of priests and scholars that venerate Sigmar.[111a]
  • Thondian: A written form of Azyrite used by Reclaimed peoples native to the continent of Thondia. The characters it uses are distinct from other forms of Azyrite used in the region, such as High Azyri.[72a][72c]

Khazalid Languages

The languages descended from the Old Khazalid of the Khazalid Empire are proudly used by Duardin all across the dominions of Sigmar. The following is a list of those spoken by denizens of the Cities of Sigmar:[4d][108c][98a][108a]

Other Languages

The following is a list of other languages spoken by denizens of the Cities of Sigmar:

Economy

The Waterway Market of Anvilgard

The crafting styles and goods produced within the Cities of Sigmar, which vary wildly from city to city, are as diverse as its people. Many Cities will even produce wondrous artefacts, unlike anything else in the Realms, using crafting traditions preserved from the Age of Myth. Such as the famed fletching of the Phoenicium and the Drakescale Cloaks of Anvilgard. In addition to those ancient traditions preserved through painting effort, many independent craftsfolk of the Cities have learned to incorporate regional resources into the designs of their creations, thus creating truly unique designs that could only be made in the realm their city is found in.[51a]

The regulation and stability of trade networks within a City of Sigmar is a primary concern of its ruling Grand Conclave, as well as the elements of the Ironweld Arsenal that operate in the city.[51a]

The Free Peoples within the Cities of Sigmar have all developed unique styles, items, gadgets, and tools which reflect their diverse cultures and backgrounds. The Collegiate Arcane the arcane foci used by its own members of other mages. The Ironweld Arsenal churns out the guns, Cogforts, and much of the machinery used by the cities. The Devoted of Sigmar create weapons to honor their warrior god such as the ever-popular warhammers, blessed swords, and flagellation whips. The craftwork of the Wanderers includes falconry equipment, cloaks, and floral compasses. Those City Aelves descended from the fallen nations of ugu have developed a style to give commonality to their diaspora culture, one that includes dark clours and sharp edges.[51a]

Agriculture

Agriculture is typically a major industry for Cities of Sigmar, the Verdant City of Hammerhal Ghyra for example is a breadbasket of the God-King's empire.[99a][109a] Crop fields, communal vegetable allotments, orchards, greenhouses, and fishing lakes are all common agricultural sectors that may be found within Free Cities, some boast entire districts dedicated to agriculture.[10a][44a] Whatever fertile land that is available in territories claimed by a Free City will often be used to grow local strains of grains, tubers, fruits, and other crops. [10a][26a][85b][110a][122]

List of Cereal Crops

Livestock

Domesticated livestock are common in the Cities of Sigmar, cultivated for their meat or useful byproducts such as wool. Aurochs, Ghyrochs, Kyne, and Woodhorns are species of cattle known to be cultivated by peoples of the Free Cities.[81c][94b][103a] Aqshrams and Bramblehorns, species of sheep, are cultivated in the Great Parch and Everspring Swathe respectively.[75b][108b]

Currency

A Lower Tier Market of Brightspear

Though it is occasionally claimed much of the major commerce practised throughout the Mortal Realms is done via the trade of goods for other goods, a multitude of currencies have arisen among Sigmar's Free Cities. Aqua Ghyranis, life-giving water from the Realm of Ghyran, is perhaps the most widespread of these currencies, as well as the standard currency of the God-King's empire.[4a][37a]

Despite the ascendancy of Aqua Ghyranis, many of the Free Cities adopt their own local currencies, some of which become widely accepted throughout the dominions of Sigmar. Among the more notable examples are the Glimmerings of Excelsis, the Nightskins of Greyspire, and the Charm-silver of Lethis.[37a][68a][71a]

Traditional coinage, in a myriad of shapes, sizes, and materials, is used throughout the Cities. Motes,Meteors, and Comets were common in the years before the Necroquake. Flinders, Torope-Chaw, and Golden Solars are a few of the other notable coins that have circulated through major cities.[4c][10c][16b][28][32b][66a][103b] Not all coins circulating in the empire are made of precious metals, as ivory and teakwood coins are used in Lethis and Ravensbach respectively.[13a][28]

In the Twin-Tailed City of Hammerhal a number of esoteric currencies have taken root alongside Aqua Ghyranis such as Flaregilt and Ember.[9][104]

There are many other forms of legal tender exchanged widely throughout the cities, as well as other elements of Sigmar's civilizations. These include Quicksilver Ingots, Aether-gold Ingots, Ur-Gold coins, trade beads, Bataari Firesilk, nuggets of Torope Gold, Shadeglass, gemstones, Shyish black-salt, Chamonite Teakwood, and countless others besides.[4a][4c][16c][21b][67a][69c][94c][105]

Guilds

Guilds are associations of craftsmen, merchants, and other professionals that operate in the Cities of Sigmar, and throughout Sigmar's Empire such as:

  • Agrarian Guilds: Guilds heavily involved in the agricultural sectors of a city. These can be quite influential, such as those in Hammerhal Ghyra.[99a]
  • Alchemist Guilds: An alchemist guild is an association of alchemists who have banded together to further their collective research.[23a]
    • Alchemists' Guild of Hammerhal: An illustrious guild of alchemists based in the Twin-Tailed City.[23a]
    • Guild of Certified Thaumaturgists: A guild of alchemists comprised of students expelled from the Alchemists' Guild of Hammerhal for their unethical experiments. The organization has a dark reputation of being as dangerous and unethical as their experiments but will sell their products to anyone willing to pay their prices. Though they are based in Hammerhal, their guild's influence extends to many other free cities.[23a]
  • Engineering Guilds: Guilds comprised of engineers, the most well known being those that make up the Ironweld Arsenal.[10a]
  • Fisher-Guilds: Fisher-Guilds are organizations of fishers that bring in big gauls from the seas of the Realms. The Free City of Excelsis has a number of successful Fisher-Guilds who have avoided running afoul of Ghur's sea monsters thanks to the use of Glimmerings.[87a]
  • Merchant Guilds: A merchant guild is any guild that is comprised of and/or represents the collective interests of merchants in a Free City. Such organizations are often powerful.[5][12a][86a]
  • Mining Guilds: A mining guild is an association of miners. Some cities, like Hammerhal Aqsha, boast a number of competing mining guilds.[52u]
  • Prophesiers' Guild: A powerful guild based in the Free City of Excelsis. They are responsible for the distribution and refining of the auguries gleamed from the Spear of Mallus.[4b]
  • Seapath Guild: A powerful and mysterious guild of helmsmen within Misthåvn. The people of the free city rely upon them to safely navigate the 'streets' of the city.[52f]
  • Scrivener's Guilds: A Scrivener's Guild is an organization of professional scriveners and drafters.[88]
  • Surveyor Guilds: These guilds are responsible for creating guild-chartered maps of the Mortal Realms which are used extensively by the Free Peoples. Their members and freelance agents map everything from the coastlines of continents to the cavern systems beneath them, as well as the settlements scattered throughout.[12b]
  • Thieves Guilds: Criminal syndicates organized in manners emulating the guilds found throughout the Free Cities.[13b]
  • Provisioner's Guilds: Suppliers of provisions.[98a]
  • Tractor Guilds: Labourer guilds that specialize in clearing debris from large areas. A number of such guilds once operated in Candip.[85a]
  • Underjack Guilds: Guilds comprised of underjacks, brave souls who venture into the sewers, drains, and canals beneath their cities to clear them of monsters such as Skaven and Grots.[10a][81a]

Trade Networks

A Trade Pioneer with a Mustori

Through the use of Realmgates and more conventional routes of commerce, many of the Free Cities have built extensive trade networks between one another.[52e][52g][52h] However, these veins of trade can be tenuous even at the best of times and the Free Peoples know better than to rely on the commerce they provide, instead striving to make their cities self-sufficient when possible.[37a] Trade Pioneers, a breed of intrepid explorer and scholar among the Free Peoples, often play vital roles in establishing new arteries of commerce between the Cities of Sigmar.[10d]

Early in the Age of Sigmar the mercantile empire of the Kharadron Overlords determined that the rising Free Cities of Sigmar's Empire would make for lucrative trade partners, so they linked these burgeoning cities to their aerial trade networks. Now skyvessels from the sky-ports are a common sight across the Free Cities, who typically build specialized docklands for their trade partners.[35a]

Trade Networks in Aqshy

In the Great Parch the cities of Hammerhal Aqsha, Hallowheart, Tempest's Eye, and Anvilgard, before it was conquered, trade extensively through the use of Realmgates connecting them. Through these portals Golvarian minerals, primorial realmstone, Hammerhalian weapons, and the hides and scales of monstrous entities of the Searing Sea were swiftly exchanged between the cities.[52g]

The commerce of Hammerhal Aqsha is additionally bolstered by a number of other trade routes that are exploited by the city's populace and trade partners. These include the Adramar and Gallis Rifts, chasms so vast and winding that all manner of skyvessel and mount can use them as trade routes, as well as the Aqshai River, for which it takes the latter half of its name, used to ship goods in and out of Aqsha.[17q][52l]

The Great Ash Road is yet another vital artery of commerce of the Great Parch. It begins in the militarised city of Vandium, found on Capilaria's Coast of Bone, extending eastward to Hammerhal Aqsha. From there it extends into the Flamescar Plateau, revitalizing the lands with goods from the south, to the city of Edassa. From Edassa it extends further north still, to the ever turmoil-ridden city of Anvalor. In addition to commerce the road brings much needed unity to the cities it passes through.[10b]

Trade Networks in Chamon

Though the Free City of Vindicarum has historically relied on mountain trade routes across the Spiral Crux, connected to Realmgates leading to both Ghyran and Ghur, for shipments of food, it seeks other avenues to feed its populace.[54b] Thus Dawnbringer Crusades pour into the fertile Arable Heartlands establishing strongpoints and farms which send bountiful shipments of grain, such as coppergrass and rustigo, to Vindicarum and other cities of the Viscid Flux.[52r]

Trade Networks in Ghur

The prime export of the Free Cities of Thondia, a continent in the Ghurish Heartlands, is food. Massive chunks of meat the size of boulders are loaded onto Scourge Privateer waverunners and well-armed galleons, where they are then shipped to neighbouring outposts and through Realmgates to other Realms. Rock-lion haunces are particularly favoured by outlanders, and a singular cut of good-size can be sold for a pair of Chamonic lodeblades of masterwork quality or twelve barrels flame-ale from the Realm of Aqshy.[52h] Both Excelsis and Izalend, the grandest cities of the Coast of Tusks, have bustling maritime trade lanes that bring ships from all over to their harbours.[8a]

Excelsis sits at the nexus of a vast network of land trade routes as well. These extend up and down the Coast of Tusks, the most famous of these roads are the Great Excelsis Road which extends northward to far-off Izalend.[80a][80b]

The Free City of Skythane, located in the Gryphspine mountain on a continent deep in the Ghurish Hinterlads largely owes its continued existence to the mineral wealth it ships off to Excelsis and Izalend to the south. These shipments are carried by enchanted sky-barques and Kharadron trader-vessels.[82a]

Trade Networks in Ghyran

In the Jade Kingdom of Verdia a number of trade roads criss-cross the lands, connecting the territories of Hammerhal Ghyra and Greywater Fastness, the two largest Cities of Sigmar found on the continent.[106a]

Trade Networks in Shyish

In the Prime Innerlands of the Realm of Shyish a booming trade network has formed between the mortal settlements sworn to Sigmar. In particular enchanted rings and warding crystals from Thanator's Manse in the Amethyst Princedom are traded for unguent oils in Glymmsforge in far off Lyria and Lethisian Lakewater from Lethis, the City of Bleak Ravens.[52e]

In the Underworld of Lyria the Great Lyrian Road is a flat, serpentine road that extends outward from the Free City of Glymmsforge. Oases, trade enclaves, and forts protected bt mercenaries dot the winding road.[6d]

Trade Networks Between Realms

The Eternal City of Azyrheim maintains a multitude of trade routes with the Cities of Sigmar, found throughout the other seven Mortal Realms. These have often been preyed upon by raiders from the Enclaves of the Idoneth Deepkin.[83a]

The Stormrift Realmgate allows trade to flow freely between the two halves of the Twin-Tailed City. Aqsha relies heavily on shipments of meat, grain, and Aqua Ghyranis from Ghyra. While Ghyra greatly benefits from the Aqshian lava funneled to it through grand stone canals that run from the highest to lowest strata of the city, keeping the rapidly growing Ghyranite vegetation at bay.[17q][52l][52m]

Fort Festermere, a pair of twin-ringed fortresses surrounding both the Aqshian and Realm of Ghyranite sides of the Festermere Realmgate, sits at the center of a bustling trade network. The Ghyranite side, located on the northwestern coast of Verdia, boasts roads extending to coastal numerous settlements between Gulf of Hags and Bonemoulder Coast as well as ones extending to Greywater Fastness and Heldenhammer's Triumph. The one leading to Greywater Fastness, known as the One Road, is the sole road leading out of the Free City as per a treaty with the local Sylvaneth.[81a][81b]

The city also trades with far-off Lethis, which is found in the Underworld of Stygxx in the Prime Innerlands of Shyish, using the Lixian Realmgate, an oceanic Realmgate connected Ghur and Shyish. Through this realmgate Excelsian trade fleets can transport great quantities of augur-stone to the markets of Lethis.[12a]

Throughout the Spiral Crux there exist a multitude of mountainous trade routes, connected to Realmgates to Ghur and Ghyran, which the Free City of Vindicarum relied heavily upon to receive shipments of food for its populace and armies. When the Legion of the First Prince rampaged across the Chamonite sub-realm, many of these arteries of trade were targeted.[54b]

Black Markets

A dark side exists to the economies of the Dominion of Sigmar, as black and shadow markets thrive by selling illicit contraband, arcane artefacts, and even living creatures.[13d][14e][51b]

In particular, the black markets of countless cities have been flooded with malefic artefacts. It is widely believed that Kharadron of Barak-Mhornar are involved in trafficking these cursed artefacts into the cities, though the sky-port's Admiral's Council denies such accusations. Regardless of how they got onto the black markets, these artefacts have wrought widespread horror onto many a Free City. Agents of the Order of Azyr seek to contain such artefacts.[13d][35a][51b]

A booming shadow market surrounds the illicit trade of troggoths. The creatures are sold off to fighting pits, such as those in Excelsis, or to Azyrite nobles who want to buy them, typically to kill them and turn them into trophies as a means to pretend they'd fought in the God-King's crusades. Harpies and Chimera are sold on similar markets.[14e] Historical and cultural artefacts dating back to the Age of Myth can also fetch quite a bit of coin on the shadow markets.[12a]

Education

Education is provided by a staggering number of institutions throughout the Cities of Sigmar. The most well-known and widespread are the engineering schools maintained by the Ironweld Arsenal, arcane colleges of the Collegiate Arcane, and the military academies of the Freeguilds, having a presence in nearly every Free City.[9][46d][108c][81a][106a]

Chief among the military academies are the Acadamae Martial of Hammerhal Aqsha. These military academies, famed as being among the greatest in the Mortal Realms, take up an entire district of the Bright City. It is here that the famed Dragoon-Generals were all trained.[17q]

The Free City of Settler's Gain, located on the continent of Xintil in the Realm of Hysh, boasts a number of renowned institutions of arcane learning such as the Lyceum Fundamental, Lyceum Radiance, and Lyceum Shining Snake. Entry into these esteemed academies is often gained through invitation.[69d][69e][103b]

Settler's Gain is far from the only city with notable institutions of higher learning. Other such grand institustions include the Grand Academy of Hammerhal Ghyra[107a], Academia Veterum of The Phoenicium, and the College of the Gilded Saint in Vindicarum.[107a][107b][127]

Libraries

The Free Cities of the Realm of Ghur boast some of the grandest public archives in the Domions of Sigmar. Such as the Grand Librarium of Excelsis and the Libraria Vurmis of Shu'gohl, the latter of which was once referred to as the greatest library outside of the Realm of Azyr by none other than Grungni.[4b][80c] The library-city of Skyheld, located in Ramhut's Spine, was built upon the ruins of an ancient archive of the Draconith Empire.[108]

The Great Cities of the Realm of Heavens are home to a great many famed repositories of lore. Such as the Constellum Library, the Great Library of Azyrheim, the Great Repository in Skydock, and the Great Repository of the Collegiate Arcane. The latter of which is dedicated to the recovery of lost arcane lore from the ruins of those civilizations that fell in the Age of Chaos.[14e][16e][72b][125a]

Entertainment

The people of the Cities of Sigmar seek to entertain themselves, as companionship and laughter can defend the soul much the same as a shield defends the body. Common recreational facilities in cities of decent size include taverns, gambling dens, fighting arenas, houses of ill-repute, playhouses, and public theatres. The Duardin-owned taverns of Greywater Fastness are particularly renowned, as are the bawdy houses of Excelsis and Hammerhal Aqsha.[10a]

Gladiatorial combat in particular has proven popular, as it is found in one form or another in countless Cities across the Mortal Realms. Numerous Cities boast licensed gladiatorial arenas, stadiums, and fighting pits dedicated to the sport. Many of these facilities are dedicated to Khaine, and their establishment, at the grudging acquiescence of Sigmar as part of the alliance between his empire and the Khainites, played a role in the sport's rise to prominence.[10b][37c][102a]

Quick-change costumes and illusionary foods, imported from the Realm of Ulgu, play a part in many popular entertainments of a number of Cities outside the Realm of Shadows.[51a]

Festivals and Holy Days

The Cities of Sigmar observe innumerable festivals and holy days, the latter of which are typically dedicated to various Gods of Order. The most famous of these are the festival of Sigmarsday, a day celebrating Sigmar's Tempest which occurs at some point during the last week of every month, and Year's Beginning, a celebration on the first day of the month of Coldbane. Both are celebrated in most of the Free Cities.[10b][21b][52v]

Grungni's Day is a cultural holy day celebrated by some Dispossessed clans, that dates back to at least the days of the [Khazalid Empire]]. As part of the celebration, parents give gifts to their beardling children.[108a]

There are a number of local festivals, unsurprisingly, dedicated to the God-King or his deeds. These include the Festival of the Heldenhammer held in Hammerhal Aqsha and the Festival of Sigmar's Tempest held in Excelsis. Both Freeguild regiments put on displays in both festivals.[80c][86b]

Festivals in Aqshy

In some parts of the Great Parch, such as Edassa, a week of holy days are celebrated to commemorate the victories of Kyukain Hammer-Friend, whose campaigns in the earlier Age of Sigmar had liberated half the Ashlands and Edassa.[113a]

The denizens of Brightspear, a young city whose denizens love any excuse to party, observe a number of holy days, in addition to Sigmarsday: Writmark, commemorating the city's founding and the Celestial Warbringers; Graftsday, an unpopular Grungni holy day that mandates citizens take an extra work-shift at half-pay; Gods-Mourning, a fireworks festival celebrating Grimnir and Vulcatrix; and Blessings of the Goddess, observed whenever rare rainfalls come to the parched city. In addition the city holds the Festival of Memory, to honor those who died in the Necroquake.[21b][107]

Industry

An Ironweld Factory

In many ways, the industry of the Free Cities is defined by contradictions, its citizens are both beleaguered labourers and artisanal geniuses, and everything in-between. The factories of the Free Cities constantly churn out mass-produced weapons, armour, machinery, and vehicles to supply efforts to reclaim the Realms, even while they experiment and innovate creating new designs that, with Azyrheim's approval, will quickly become widespread across the Realms. The Ironweld Arsenal and its factories are often at the forefront of this industry.[51a]

While the industrial districts of a City of Sigmar will be heavily regulated by its Grand Conclave, the works of independent craftspeople all across the city are allowed to flourish. It is often the latter that create the items that colour the daily lives of the citizens of the city.[51a]

The Ironweld Arsenal can adapt to any environment, in its own way, and convert the natural resources of those environments into the fuel and materials needed for crafting their firearms, cannons, and other weaponry. Such is their skill, no matter the resources used, the quality of these weapons remains largely consistent.[51a]

The Collegiate Arcane seeks to bring about innovation through arcano-science. Advancement is built upon the knowledge of the past, which has been meticulously codified and institutionalized by the Collegiate. Many of the greatest breakthroughs are built upon the thousands of small discoveries that came before or the skilful combination of two or more Lores of Magic. Among the most remarkable devices to come out of the research departments of the Collegiate are the Luminarks and Hurricanums.[51a]

Industries of the cities are often shaped by the religious organizations that make their home in the Cities of Sigmar. Such as the Devoted of Sigmar, Wanderers, and Phoenix Temple. These orders remember well the wonders they made in the distant past and seek to recover and replicate them.[51a]

Printing Industries

The mass production of print thrives throughout cities of the Sigmar's folk, especially in those cities that have become centres of study and learning, or else when the Stormkeeps at their hearts boast such acclaim. Diligent teams of calligriphists, scriptors, artists, and scribes diligently put the histories of their cities to parchment, while developing methods of replicating existing works. These forms of replication come in various forms such as traditional quillmanship, cog-wheeled printing presses, intaglio, and etchings made from sulphur-vitriol.[15b]

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Military and Defenses

Humans of the Free Cities
  • Freeguilds: Many of the military guilds known as the Freeguilds serve as the standing military and city watch of the Cities of Sigmar, while many others contract themselves out as mercenaries. Still, others are employed in a wide range of duties from guarding palaces to clearing sewers. Though the ranks of the Freeguilds are predominantly human there are aelf and duardin members in many guilds.[17e][110a]
  • Ironweld Arsenal: This conglomeration of human, aelven, and duardin weaponsmiths was formed in the aftermath of the closing of the Gates of Azyr. They have since become the creators of some of the most innovative and deadly inventions made by mortalkind. Their guilds are scattered across the Cities of Sigmar.[17f][81b][109a]

Navy

  • Scourge Privateers: Often employed by the ruling conclaves of coastal Free Cities such as Anvilgard and Excelsis. Once they were pirates and reavers who commanded vast, ocean-spanning empires, and there are any among the ambitious Fleetmasters who dream of one day rebuilding those empires, beyond the authority of Sigmar and his lieutenants. But for now, they turn their talents to hunting beasts of the sea and those fleets that would endanger the Free Cities, such as those of Orruk freebooters.[17i][10a]

Military Orders

  • Lion Rangers: The Lion Rangers are descended from the rangers that once hunted along the mountain ranges around Azyrheim. They have become a warrior brotherhood specialized in close-quarter combat. In the Age of Chaos they were nearly wiped out but have since been bolstered with the aid of other Free Peoples. They do not linger overlong in the Free Cities, as fortresses failed them in the Age of Chaos, and instead prefer to roam the natural places of the Mortal Realms.[20b]
  • Order Draconis: In the Age of Myth, Sigmar united many of the aelves of the Realm of Heavens. Some of these aelves found kinship with the noble stallions and wild drakes, these were the ancestors of the Order Draconis. The noble aelven knights of this order follow in the wake of the storms signifying the presence of Sigmar's Stormhosts, ever eager to join the fight against Chaos.[20b]
  • Order Serpentis: An ancient order that once ruled over the empire of Narkath in the Realm of Ulgu, long ago during the Age of Myth. Though the empire was mighty indeed, it fell in only a few mere decades when the forces of Chaos invaded Ulgu. Those that survived the slaughter fled to Azyr like so many others and brooded over their losses during the entire span of the Age of Chaos. Though they fight alongside and within the armies of Sigmar, they are known to be cruel and brutal to both foe and ally alike. The Dreadlords that lead the order see the crusades of Sigmar as their best chance to regain power and influence in the Realms.[17m]

Order of Azyr

Maleneth Witchblade, a Khainite and Agent of the Order of Azyr
  • Order of Azyr: A noble order of Witch Hunters who operate across the civilizations of Sigmar. It is their duty to root out corruption in the Free Cities and the rest of Sigmar's empire.[10b]

Wizards

  • Collegiate Arcane: A loose alliance of tower and palace-dwelling mages, seers, wizards, alchemists, elementalists, and other practitioners of magic. The organization is academic in nature and serves as a safe place for the magically gifted to explore their abilities and study. The most skilled of these sorcerous artisans create magical devices and artefacts to assist the Cities of Sigmar both on and off the battlefield. Others personally take to the field as Battlemages.[17d][10a]
  • Darkling Covens: These matriarchal cults are dedicated to the acquisition of resources, power, and influences. Each Darkling Coven is comprised of a Sorceress and her personal entourage of thralls, lieutenants, and followers. Members, or at least spies, of the Covens, can be found wherever the forces of Order congregate.[17h][10a]
  • Eldritch Council: The Council is comprised of Azyrite Aelves trained in the arcane arts by Teclis and given the lofty duty of preserving the ways of their ancestors. Members of the Council study all forms of magic, rather than focusing on one, and their mastery is called upon to cleanse areas too tainted for the Devoted of Sigmar to purify.[20b]

Transportation

Transportation within, and between, the Cities of Sigmar is facilitated by road, air, and water networks.[12a][35a][52l] In particular the Ironweld Arsenal have developed vehicles that the peoples of the Free Cities use to traverse land and air.[21b][51a]

Aerial Transportation

The airways of cities, such as Hammerhal Aqsha, boast a number of airships and flying beasts that transport freight. Gyrocraft of the Ironweld Arsenal, Skycutters of the Swifthawk Agents, and Skyvessels of the Kharadron are among the most common.[21b][37a] Other modes of transport include leaf-boats and enchanted sky-barques.[31a][120b]

Gyrocraft are among the most renowned of the Ironweld's creations. While the Gyrocopters and Gyrobombers largely exist for military purposes, other models exist for transport. Such as cargo-carrying Gyrofreighters and passenger-carrying Gyrocutters.[21b]

Maritime Transportation

While the Wolfships of the Scourge Privateers are among the most commonly seen vessels in the harbours of Free Cities across the Mortal Realms[17i][21b], a vast variety of maritime vessels are used by the myriad peoples of the Cities.[115a]

There are steam-powered vessels crafted by human and duardin hands with Cog-Haulers Steam-Barques, Steam-Cogs, Steam-Galleons, Steam-Tankers, and Steam-Tugs being but a few models known to be used.[13e][17r][29a][114a][115a][118a]

Specialized vessels known Lava-cogs exist to ply the lava rivers of the Great Parch.[15d] Tide-Cutters are a design popular among Aelven peoples.[116a]

Terestial Transportation

For terrestrial transport the Ironweld developed numerous vehicles, including Land Trains, Steam-Carriages, Steam-Wagons, and Traction Engines.[13c][14b][21b][51a] It is not uncommon for members of the Ironweld to develop mechanical steeds to be used in place of living animals.[60][81a]

Beasts of Burden

Not all transportation is handled by machinery and arcane vehicles. The Free Cities are also known to employ a vast stable of beasts of burden, varying by realm, region, and even city. Known examples include:

Public and Private Transport

Coaches are a common method of personal transport used all across Sigmar's Empire, pulled by any number of noble creatures including horses, demigryphs, and gnarlkyds. In major cities services, or independent merchants, are set up to rent out coaches for public use, the cost of renting an armoured coach is typically significantly steeper. Some of these services even sell off coaches, in the Arcanum Optimar a typical price for a coach was thousand two-hundred drops of Aqua Ghyranis while an armoured variant was closer to three-thousand five-hundred drops.[9][10c][119a]

Types of Free Cities

Hammerhal

The Seven Great Fortress-Cities

Foremost amongst the Free Cities of Sigmar's Empire, outshining even the Seeds of Hope and cities of the Great Parch, are the Seven Fortress-Cities that serve as the capitals of the Sigmarite nations within each of the Mortal Realms, except for the Realm of Azyr wherein the Eternal City of Azyrheim is supreme.[52j]

These seven great cities are Hammerhal Aqsha, the Bright City in the Realm of Aqshy[52l], Hammerhal Ghyra, the Verdant City in the Realm of Ghyran[52m], Excelsis, the City of Secrets in the Realm of Ghur[52n], Vindicarum, the Bulwark of Faith in the Realm of Chamon[52o], Lethis, the City of Bleak Ravens in the Realm of Shyish[52p], Misthåvn, City of Scoundrels in the Realm of Ulgu[52f], and Settler's Gain, the Enlightened City in the Realm of Hysh.[52q]

Seeds of Hope

During the tumultuous era known as the Season of War, the foundations of the very first Cities of Sigmar were laid. These three cities were all built in the Everspring Swathe of the Realm of Life. These are vibrant Living City, defiant Phoenicium, and industrious Greywater Fastness.[52a]

Cities of Flame

In the Great Parch several cities have arisen that can rival even the Seeds of Life, even though they are decades younger. These cities are vigilant Tempest's Eye, shrouded Anvilgard, magic-obsessed Hallowheart, and cosmopolitan Brightspear.[52a]

Azyrheim the Eternal City

Great Cities of Azyr

The hundred and more Great Cities of Azyr are where most of the Azyrite settlers and crusading armies set forth from to aid in reclaiming the Mortal Realms. Having escaped the brunt of the Age of Chaos these ancient celestial cities are capable of providing their sister-cities, connected to them by Gates of Azyr, with an endless stream of war material.[6a][6b][6e][18a][46b]

Known Free Cities

Name Realm Region Patron God Founder Resources Status
Accar[72b][72c] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands Sigmar
Old Gods of Accar 		Excelsis
Guild of Spicers and Waggoners 		Arraca[72c] Destroyed
Alshime[15a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Anvalor[10b] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Various Foundings Deep-Water Mineral Wells[10b]
Ore[10b]
Great Desert Snakes[10b] 		Active
Anvilgard[37a] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Anvils of the Heldenhammer Hides and Scales of Sea Monsters[52g] Conquered
Anvilheim[34a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Anvils of the Heldenhammer Unknown Destroyed
Anvilspire[45] Chamon Unknown Sigmar Unknown Argentium[45]
Glassware[45] 		Active
Arbitrium[26] Shyish Prime Innerlands Sigmar Azyrite Arbiters Bonewheat[26]
Corpsemaize[26] 		Destroyed
Astronica[26] Shyish Prime Innerlands Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
Aventhis[71b] Shyish Granite Eyrie Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active


Azyrheim[6a] Azyr Unknown Sigmar Sigmar War Material[46b] Active
Barbed Promise[52a] Ulgu Shadrac Convergence Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Bilgeport[59a] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands N/A Pirates Mariners[59a]
Mercenaries[59a] 		Active
Blackwall[42a][61a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Bleinham[77a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Brighthall[41a] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Brightspear[10b] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Celestial Warbringers Bore-Beetle Plating[60]
Floatsilk[60] 		Active
Callidium[12b] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Cartha[30a] Ghur Ghurish Hinterlands Sigmar Astral Templars Unknown Destroyed
Catransa[29a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Celestrius[38b] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Celestial Lions Unknown Destroyed
City of Sighs[14a] Shyish Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
City of Prisms[97a] Hysh Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Colonnade [50a] Ghur Unknown Sigmar Assorted Noble Houses Unknown Destroyed
Colostrum[40a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Sigmar An Unknown Stormhost Unknown Destroyed
Concordia[65a] Ghur Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Cotherquill[46c] Shyish Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
Dagoleth[94b] Ghyran Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Darkdelve[36a] Ulgu Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Desperance[52a] Ulgu Shadrac Convergence Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Draconium[9] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Druhiel of the Pines[94c] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Alarielle Unknown Mistral Pine Resins[94c] Active
Duskhenge[53a] Ulgu Shadrac Convergence Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Edassa[56a] Aqshy Great Parch Lion God
Sigmar 		Kyukain Hammer-Friend Unknown Active
Eshunna[25] Chamon Iron Desert Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Esthu'dor[79a] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands Unknown Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Everquake City[64a] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands Sigmar Kraken Blades Riverboats[64a] Destroyed
Everyth[95a][96a] Ghyran Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Excelsis[37a] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands Sigmar Knights Excelsior Glimmerings[37a]
Monster Bones[37a]
Silksteel[37a]
Salted Meats[52h]
Cured Meats[52h] 		Active
Farcrag[43a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Fort Denst[52c] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Fort Gardus[52d] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Galdheart[63a] Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Gaolintar[93] Ulgu Third Dominion Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
Gildenhollow[126] Chamon Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Gholdenhal[89a] Shyish Morrthawn Vale Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
Glimmerheart[67a] Shyish Three Rivers of Eternity Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Glymmsforge[6] Shyish Prime Innerlands Sigmar The Glymm Cats[6]
Fish[6]
Unguent Oils[52e] 		Active
Gravespurn[46c] Shyish Unknown Unknown Unknown 'Unknown Unknown
Gravewild[6] Shyish Sea of Dust Sigmar Captain General Albain Lorcus
Hallowed Knights 		Aurochs[14] Active
Greenfire [108c] Chamon Unknown Sigmar Unknown Spyglasses[108c]
Telescopes[108c] 		Active
Greyspire[36a] Ulgu Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Greywater Fastness[37a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Sigmar
Grungni 		Valius Maliti Artillery Pieces[37a]
Blackpowder Weapons[37a]
Runic Munitions[37b] 		Active
Grimpeak[18a] Azyr Unknown Sigmar Unknown Freeguilds[18a]
War Material[46b] 		Active
Hallowheart[37a] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Hallowed Knights Whitefire Tomes[37a]
Gems[37a]
Emberstone[52g]
Golvarian Minerals[52g] 		Active
Hallowstar[18a] Azyr Unknown Sigmar Unknown Freeguilds[18a]
War Material[46b] 		Active
Hammerhal Aqsha[37a] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Hammers of Sigmar Cogforts[37a]
Shadeglass[10b]
'Ivory[10b]
Megalofin Teeth[10b]
Amber Beads[10b]
Salted Meats[10b]
Fyresteel Blades[10b]
Hammerhalian weapons[52g] 		Active
Hammerhal Ghyra[37a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Alarielle
Sigmar 		Hallowed Knights Grains[37a]
Meats[37a]
Ironoak[10b] 		Active
Harkraken's Bane[52a] Ulgu Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Heldenhammer's Triumph[52d] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Heldelium[66a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Anvils of the Heldenhammer Henkha furs[66a] Destroyed
Helmgard[7] Chamon Ironroot Mountains Sigmar Unknown Metal Ore[7] Destroyed
Holdash[17a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Hollenwald[53a] Ulgu Shadrac Convergence Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Houndsgate[66c] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Unknown Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Ipsala[92] Aqshy Zullan Sigmar Celestial Vindicators Unknown Active
Izalend[8a] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands Sigmar Unknown Salted Meats[52h]
Cured Meats[52h]
Hides[59a]
Arcane Tools of Kindling[59a]
Arcane Tools of Self-Preservation[59a] 		Active
Kernelstone[46a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
Kranzinnport[94a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Kurnothea[44a] Ghyran Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
Lethis[37a] Shyish Prime Innerlands Morrda Anvils of the Heldenhammer Peacewater[37a]
Talismans of Morrda[37a]
Lethisian Lakewater[52e] 		Active
Lifestone[58a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Living City[37a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Alarielle Alarielle Ironoak[1b] Active
Lugol[79b] Shyish Prime Innerlands Unknown Anvils of the Heldenhammer Unknown Conquered
Matarka[39a] Ghur Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Monsam Spire[46c] Shyish Unknown Unknown Unknown 'Unknown Unknown
Mhurghast[24] Shyish Prime Innerlands Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Misthåvn[52f] Ulgu Shadrac Convergence Sigmar Celestial Warbringers Misthåvn Narcotics[37a] Active
Murmurus[68b] Ulgu Unknown Sigmar An unknown Stormhost Unknown Active


Naithwaite's Crossing[46a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
New Sadoria[53a] Ulgu Shadrac Convergence Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Nordrath[18a] Azyr Unknown Sigmar Unknown Freeguilds[18a]
War Material[46b] 		Active
Oak's Heart[56a] Ghyran Unknown Sigmar Unknown Fruits[56a] Active
Oasis of Gazul[6c][57] Shyish Sea of Dust Gazul Gazul-Zagaz Unknown Active
The Phoenicium[17a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Ur-Phoenix Phoenix Temple Active
Pilgrim's Reach[62a] Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
Port Sorrow[55] Shyish Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Ravensbach[28] Chamon Unknown Sigmar An Unknown Stormhost
House von Koeterberg 		Unknown Active
Rozh[78] Aqshy Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Scant Hope[52a] Ulgu Shadrac Convergence Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Sephyrum[100] Realm of Chamon Spiral Crux Unknown Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Settler's Gain[37a][52i] Hysh Xintil Sigmar
Teclis 		Tempest Lords Active
Seven Words[30c] Ghur Ghurish Hinterlands Sigmar Astral Templars Lumber[30] Active
Shanskir[69a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Shu'gohl[101] Ghur Amber Steppes Sahg'mahr Wormfolk Unknown Active


Sigmar's Reach[38a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Hammers of Sigmar Unknown Unknown
Skydock[6a] Azyr Unknown Sigmar Unknown War Material[46b] Active
Skyheld[90] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands Sigmar Draconith Scrolls of Ancient Knowledge[90] Active
Skythane[31a] Ghur Ghurish Hinterlands Sigmar Unknown Minerals[31a] Active
Slicston[99a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Unknown Dawnbringers Unknown Active
Sludgemoot[46a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
Stardock[30b] Azyr Unknown Sigmar Unknown War Material[46b] Active
Starhold[6a] Azyr Unknown Sigmar Unknown War Material[46b] Active
Sundsfor[69] Ghur Kingdom of Estraga Sigmar Sundered Brotherhood Unknown Active
Supcliffe[46a] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Unknown Unknown Unknown Active
Tabar[70a] Chamon Continent of Prosperis Sigmar Unknown Firearms[70a]
Swords[70a] 		Active
Taberna[42a][61a] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Tallowreach[66b] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Tansis[54a] Chamon Spiral Crux Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Tantalum[74a] Ghur Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Destroyed
Tarnastipol[73a] Realm of Ulgu Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Tempest's Eye[37a] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Tempest Lords Active
Thanator's Manse[52e] Shyish Prime Innerlands Sigmar Unknown Warding Crystals[52e]
Enchanted Rings[52e] 		Active
Thornwall[91a] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands Sigmar Unknown Spiralhorn[91a] Destroyed
Thraesh[15c] Unknown Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Tor Limina[52a] Hysh Iliatha Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Twinned Towns of Belvegrod[27] Shyish Graveswater Sigmar Westreach: Azyrite Settlers/Eastdale: Native Reclaimed Unknown Destroyed
Uliashtai[25] Chamon Iron Desert Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Umbramox[36a] Ulgu Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Vandium[10b] Aqshy Great Parch Sigmar Hammers of Sigmar (Presumed) Crusading Armies from Azyr[10b] Active
Vindicarum[37a] Chamon Spiral Crux Sigmar Celestial Vindicators Quicksilver[37a] Active
Veilgard[55] Shyish Unknown Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Veldtwend[76a] Ghur Ghurish Heartlands Sigmar Unknown Unknown Active
Westport[46c] Shyish Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown
Xil'anthos[94b] Ghyran Everspring Swathe Sigmar Unknown Fruits[94b]
Ironoak[94b]
Megalanthos Flowers[94b] 		Active

Threats and Hostile Relations

Internal Conflict

Conflicts often erupt between the groups and subfactions that represent the many Free Peoples of the Cities of Sigmar, though these conflicts rarely descend into bloodshed. Instead, such conflicts play out in the Conclaves of the cities. Bribery, blackmail, filibustering, and politicking often plagues even the most stable Conclave's proceedings.[37a] Prejudice can also arise in the Free Cities, in all of its varied forms, though this tends to vary wildly on the culture, history, and social framework of each city.[10b]

In the cities found on the Great Parch, a citizen will rarely face prejudice based on their species or gender but rather based on their station within a city's hierarchy or due to where what Realm they originate from. The politics of these cities will often exacerbate existing prejudices, often in ways, native Aqshians do not fully comprehend.[10b]

Threats Beyond the Walls

Beyond the walls of the Free Cities are vast wildernesses full of predatory Living Spells, monstrous beasts such as Maw-Krushas, and Chaos-tainted entities such as Sphiranxes and Jabberslythes. The Beasts of Chaos also lay claim to many of the wilds beyond the walls of the stalwart cities of the God-King and these self-same imposing walls often attract the attention of ravenous Ogors, brutal Gargants, and rampaging Orruks.[10a]

Mortal servants of the Ruinous Powers are also attracted to these grand bastions of Order, eager to bring them to ruin in the names of their Dark Gods. These forces of Chaos range from the rampaging hordes the of Bloodbound and Rotbringers to the duplicitous cults of Arcanites and Sybarites hidden within the populations of the Free Cities. The verminous children of the Great Horned Rat have also set their sights on the Free Cities. Their mad machinations can undermine even the greatest among Order's beacons of hope. For those who survive the fall of a city to these dark forces, slavery and servitude to the Dark Powers await them.[10a]

So too do the followers of the Undying King threaten the sanctity of the Free Cities, ever more so since the Necroquake warped the Mortal Realms. Vast armies of Nighthaunt, Deathrattle, and Deadwalkers stalk the lands, preying on the living.[10a]

Quotes

‘There are places where valour reigns, my child, where death does not thirst so for the souls of the living. Some say that Hammerhal Ghyra’s gardens can feed a million mouths and that the Phoenicium has the power to bring a man’s spirit back from Shyish. But these places are few, and still assailed on all sides. We must fight the darkness each day so they may thrive, and our people will thrive with them.’

Elder Cahastor of Neos describing the grandeur of the Free Cities.[22a]


‘Everything they destroy, we’ll rebuild twice as grand.’

A common saying of the craftspeople of the Cities of Sigmar.[51b]

Gallery

Cities of Sigmar
Free Cities of Sigmar Fortress Cities Realm Capitals Excelsis • Hammerhal Aqsha • Hammerhal Ghyra • Lethis • Misthåvn • Settler's Gain • Vindicarum
Seeds of Hope Greywater Fastness • Living City • Phoenicium
Cities of Flame Anvilgard† • Hallowheart • Tempest's Eye
Free Cities of the Realms
Great Cities of Azyr Azyrheim • Grimpeak • Hallowstar • Nordrath • Skydock • Stardock • Starhold
Cities of Aqshy Anvalor • Brighthall† • Brightspear • Callidium • Draconium† • Edassa • Fort Denst • Ipsala • Rozh • Vandium
Cities of Chamon Anvilspire • Eshunna • Greenfire • Helmgard† • Ravensbach • Sephyrum† • Tabar • Tansis† • Uliashtai
Cities of Ghur Accar† • Bilgeport • Cartha† • Colonnade† • Concordia • Esthu'dor† • Everquake City† • Izalend • Matarka† • Seven Words • Shu'gohl • Skyheld • Skythane • Sundsfor • Tantalum† • Thornwall† • Veldtwend
Cities of Ghyran Colostrum† • Dagoleth • Druhiel of the Pines • Everyth • Fort Gardus • Heldenhammer's Triumph • Houndsgate† • Kernelstone • Kranzinnport† • Kurnothea • Lifestone • Naithwaite's Crossing • Oak's Heart • Slicston • Sludgemoot • Supcliffe • Xil'anthos
Cities of Hysh City of Prisms • Tor Limina
Cities of Shyish Arbitrium† • Astronica • Aventhis • City of Sighs • Cotherquill • Gholdenhal • Glimmerheart • Glymmsforge • Gravespurn • Gravewild • Lugol† • Monsam Spire • Mhurghast • Thanator's Manse • Oasis of Gazul • Port Sorrow • Twinned Towns of Belvegrod (Eastdale • Westreach) • Veilgard • Westport
Cities of Ulgu Barbed Promise • Darkdelve • Desperance • Duskhenge† • Gaolintar • Greyspire • Harkraken's Bane • Hollenwald • Murmurus • New Sadoria† • Scant Hope • Tarnastipol • Umbramox
Unspecified Alshime • Anvilheim† • Blackwall† • Bleinham† • Catransa† • Celestrius† • Farcrag • Galdheart† • Heldelium† • Holdash • Pilgrim's Reach • Shanskir • Sigmar's Reach† • Taberna† • Tallowreach† • Thraesh
Factions Collegiate Arcane • Darkling Covens • Devoted of Sigmar • Dispossessed • Eldritch Council • Freeguild • Ironweld Arsenal • Lion Rangers • Order Draconis • Order Serpentis • Phoenix Temple • Scourge Privateers • Shadowblades • Swifthawk Agents • Wanderers
Background Aqua Ghyranis • Azyrites • Grand Conclaves • Reclaimed • Sigmar's Empire • Dawnbringer Crusades • Free Anvilgard • Goldjackets • Sigmarite Strongpoint
Artwork

Sources

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