Hammerhal

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The walls of Hammerhal Aqsha

Hammerhal, also known as the Twin-Tailed City, is the greatest and the spirit capital of the Cities of Sigmar, cities built after the end of the Realmgate Wars around the Realmgates claimed by the Stormcast Eternals. It's known as the Twin-tailed City because it's two settlements, Hammerhal Aqsha and Hammerhal Ghyra, ruled as one, one on each side of the Stormrift Realmgate.[1]

History

Age of Sigmar

Before being reclaimed, thirty chambers of Stormcast Eternals struck at both sides of what would become known as the Stormrift Realmgate. During the conflict that followed, known as the Wars of Founding, the Eternals battled the orruk tribes who worshipped it as the Maw of Mork. Their tribal kingdoms had long fought over the mystic portal, raising sprawling fortifications upon its twinned thresholds and invading one another through its crackling depths. Given a common purpose by the Stormcast attack, the Morkmaw tribes unified. Only after long years of fighting were the forces of Sigmar - which included chambers from the Hammers of Sigmar, Hallowed Knights, Anvils of the Heldenhammer, and several other Stormhosts, as well as mortal forces such as the fleet led by Vizrin Kyre - able to at last defeat the orruk scourge. To the Hammers of Sigmar went the honours of raising the first Stormkeeps around the Realmgate, for they had led the wars.[4a][4g] The city that followed was named in their honour.[1][12b]

Reaching up from the bedrock on both sides of the Stormrift, Sigmar's warriors discovered rich outcroppings of realmstone. Formed from the concentrated magics of the Mortal Realms, these volatile crystals were a valuable yet dangerous source of arcane power first harnessed by the renowned architect Valius Maliti. The energies that poured from their central lodeshards were crucial in speeding along the construction of Hammerhal, fuelling the efforts of the Ironweld engineers to raise new defences and expand the city's boundaries. It was the engineers who - with the aid of the Lord-Relictors - caged the energies of the realmstone, building elaborate sigmarite machinery around them to harness their volatile sorcerous emanations. In Hammerhal Aqsha, those wrathful energies powers a vast shield of flickering lightning, while Hammerhal Ghyra funnels them into protective wards to confuse and misdirect hostile invaders.[4c]

As one of the new cities reclaimed by order during the Age of Sigmar in the Great Parch it starts to thrive as philosophy, art and fashion begin to develop once again.[1a][1b]

In the Time of Tribulations the two hundred and forty-four Lords of the Heavenhall debated fiercely about what action to take before Morathi the High Oracle of Khaine arrived. She quickly addressed them all and stated that This council must put aside its differences immediately and send every available army to Shyish, or the forces of death will overwhelm us. Despite some initial opposition she convinces them to send the cities armies to join her own in attacking the Realm of Shyish [8]

In the aftermath of the Necroquake the dead arose across the Realms and in Hammerhal Ghyra they clawed their way out of the tombs in the Azyrite necropoli or the blessed soil of the Shadeglens and the defenders of the city were hard pressed to destroy them.[10a] Meanwhile in Hammerhal Aqsha, forgotten armies of deathrattle warriors suddenly stirred themselves and tore free from the boiling mud-flats and marched on the walls.[10b]

At the start of the Arcanum Optimar the Endless Spell known as the Purple Death was unleashed upon the streets of Hammerhal.[11]

Twin-Tailed City

The City of Hammerhal and the Stormrift Gate seen from Hammerhal Aqsha

Hammerhal Aqsha

Hammerhal Aqsha is a bustling metropolis located in the Great Parch in Aqshy. It's a harsh and heavy fortified place with towering bastions and batteries. Its many pendants and banners dance on hot, angry winds. Carving through the landscape of the city are great rifts in the earth, such as Adramar Rift and Gallis Rift, these chasms are among the city's most important avenues of trade, as is the Aqshai River from which the Aqsha in the city's name comes from.[20a] In exchange for a steady supply of foodstuff from Ghyra, Aqsha provides a constant stream of molten rocks.[1]

The defences of Aqsha are maintained by the genius engineers of the Ironweld Arsenal. These include the Burning Palisade, a wall of fireoak stakes enchanted to burn eternally by the Bright Wizards of the Collegiate, lighting shields which further protects the city's boundaries, and mobile forts that expand these boundaries.[1][12a][20a] Newly claimed land is purified by processions of Devoted of Sigmar.[1]


Hammerhal Ghyra

The City of Hammerhal and the Stormrift Gate seen from Hammerhal Ghyra

Hammerhal Ghyra is located in the Jade Kingdom of Verdia in Ghyran is a city of golden domes and celestial spires. The city itself is highly decentralized, sections of it are built in between gigantic mountain terraces wrapped around the fertile mountains of the region.[14b] These immense fields are worked by enormous beetles, dragging massive plows trough the fertile earth, while torrents of water pour down from Mammoth Drift-Isles, each of them kept in place by chains of Ironoaks [14b]. In exchange for food and military support, Hammerhal Aqsha channels rivers of lava trough the Stormrift Realmgate, burning away the rapidly growing flora, threatening to overwhelm the city. Carefully cut trenches form walls of fire that hold back the plants of Ghyran.[1][14b] The air is noted by many visitors as tasting of cinders and smoke and the atmosphere as wet and humid. [3b] It is known as a stronghold of aelf-kind, many Free Peoples[1] and a sizable population of Sylvaneth[14b] with parts of the city given over to vast groves of trees.[3c]

Government

The Grand Conclave of lords, chosen from amongst the best and brightest, govern this city.[3] The Grand Conclave of Hammerhal is comprised of a grand total of two-hundred forty-four seats and has representatives from every other major City of Sigmar.[14a]

Of the one-hundred and twenty-two seats representing Hammerhal Aqsha, half are held by members of the Azyrite nobility of the city. Despite this there are a number of Aqshian dynasties that hold major political positions in the city. Chief amongst these are House Vanx, House Taladin, and House Naffir who have all had members hold office as Master Patriarch or Master Matriarch.[20a]

Current Councillors

Former Councillors

Society

A Street in the Cinderfall District.

As the foremost sanctuary for the free peoples of the realms, Hammerhal's population has grown both in size and diversity. Darkling Covens thrive in the grimmer quarters of the city. Wanderers live in nomadic caravans and treetop camps in the gardens of Ghyra. The industrial expertise of the Dispossessed is vital for the constantly expanding cities. Due to the constant expansion regions of the city are swift to rise and fall in prominence, with formerly vital trading posts fading into insignificance. The vast populations of aelves, duardin and humans has also caused a housing crisis and widespread inequality. While the noble quarters such as the gleaming spire-towers of Goldpath or the garden villas of Sanctor Tulis are the envy of the realms, millions more citizens live in crime-ridden slums such as the Cinderfall district and the gloomy warrens of Blackwood Town. While life in these districts may be bleak they breed tough, hard-bitten souls who make for excellent soldiers and are given a path to glory and renown through service in the Freeguild.[13a]

Entertainment

The bawdy houses found within the Twin-Tailed City are especially infamous.[14b]

Economy

By day, thousands of skyvessels, skycutters ,lava-cogs and Sylvaneth winged beetle mounts make their way to dock at the city's trading districts through the immense chasm that runs through the city which forms a natural trading route, and the rift-docks echo to the sounds of sailors and labourers shifting a bewildering array of exotic cargo and livestock from their vessels to the merchants' stalls and the dockside warehouses. Riftsiders tend to be hardy, practical folk, well-muscled and sun-beaten from many years of physical toil undertaken in the blazing heat.[4b][13a]

There is a constant flow of molten rock from Aqsha to Ghyra and in return Ghyra supplies vast shipments of grain, meat and Aqua Ghyranis.[1] Ghyra imports both stone and timber for building as the inhabitants are forbidden from logging in the realm as per the ancient laws of Alarielle, this is strictly enforced by the local Sylvaneth.[3e] Ghyra uses its carefully channelled flow of molten rock to direct broad defensive canals in order to hold back the overwhelming fecundity of the Realm of Life.[4c] There is almost nothing that cannot be found within Hammerhal's sprawling market districts and the vaults of Hammerhal are filled with wonders and treasures from across the realms, claimed through battle or exploration.[13a]

A wide variety of currencies both local and foreign is accepted in the markets of Hammerhal, the most well-known of these currencies is Aqua Ghyranis. Comets, Flaregilt, and Embers are among the local currencies used by the citizens of the city.[1][3a][27][28a]

Trade

Goods from Hammerhal Aqsha and Vandium travel northward along the Great Ash Road to the city of Edassa, and from there much needed supplies flow through to the lands and settlements of the Flamescar Plateau. The seemingly cursed city of Anvalor was able to be built thanks to this extensive trade route.[1a]

Thousands of vessels, and the flying beetles of the Sylvaneth bring goods in and out of the Hammerhal Aqsha every day, many of them aerial craft but some ply the lava rivers of Capilaria to reach the city as well. These vessels carry ingots of mystic metals, gems of every variety, cut, and hue, shards of shadeglass, logs of ivory, ironoak, megalofin teeth, beads of amber, salted meats, fyresteel blades, and many more goods from across every Mortal Realm.[14a]

A network of Realmgates connects Aqsha with Tempest's Eye, Anvilgard, and Hallowheart allowing the four cities to engage in heavy trade. In particular many Hammerhalian weapons are traded for Golvarian minerals and primordial Realmstone from the mines of Hallowheart.[20b]

Ghyra sits at the center of many trade networks, serving as a crucial supplier of foodstuffs to countless other settlements.[26a]

Military

Hammerhalians prize martial ability and stubborn resolve and its standing armies are amongst the largest and best-equipped available to the God-King. The line infantry of the city's Freeguilds are known as the Goldjackets who are famed for their fighting ability and unwillingness to retreat, easily recognizable by their gleaming-breastplates. All of the city's military guilds claim are fiercely proud of their heritage, carrying banners of rare provenance woven from Hyshian suncloth and stitched with the skin and bones of martyrs that are carried into battle to inspire the soldiers, some claim their banners are in fact the battle standards of their progenitor tribes dating back all the way to the flight to the Realm of Heavens after the dawn of the Age of Chaos. In the only instance, of these colours falling into enemy hands, the Griffon Spears Freeguild embarked upon a suicidal cavalry charge against a greenskin horde eight times their number known as the Forlorn Charge. The Twin-tailed City can deploy almost any specialist formation ranging from handgunners and swordsmen backed up by all manner of auxiliary formations, chosen according to the needs of the campaign including Shadow Warriors, fleets of Gyrobombers or the magical war machines of the Collegiate Arcane. [13a][20b][20c]

There are many Freeguilds operating within the Twin-Tailed City, with Hammerhal Aqsha alone boasting seventeen major Freeguilds comprised of over a hundred regiments each. These include the Golden Lions, the Scions of the Comet, the Leaden Bulls, the Heldenhain, the Sun Seekers, the Boldhearts, and the Vandusian Guard.[20c]

An entire district of Hammerhal Aqsha was transformed into the Acadamae Martial, a combined training ground and barracks, complete with mustering fields where officers of the city's armies study and the renowned Dragoon-Generals of Hammerhal are the elite graduates of these schools.[13a]

In addition to these mortal armies, there dozens of chambers of Stormcast Eternals garrisoning the Twin-Tailed City. These include warriors from the Hammers of Sigmar, Emerald Warriors, and Hallowed Knights. The members of the latter host have sworn an oath, Hammerhal Ghyra will not fall while the faithful stand.[3][35a]

Locations

Cityplanning

The city of Hammerhal contains a substantial amount of suburbs and conurbations that are used for agrarian purposes, many of which are packed around the outermost walls of the Twin-Tailed City.[14b] Hammerhal Ghyra is a city built in strata across the Koritan mountain range.[20d]

Hammerhal Aqsha

Districts in Aqsha

Map of the Cinderfall District.[4]
  • Acadamae Martial: An entire district of the city transformed into a combined training ground and barracks with mustering fields where the officers of the city's great armies can study the theoretics of cavalry movement and infantry formations. [13a]
    • Aqshai Docks: A mercantile district on the banks of the Aqshai River in the far western boundary of Hammerhal Aqsha.[20a]
  • Blackwood Town: A low-end residential district in Hammerhal Aqsha. Known for its tangled streets.[27]
    • Charway: An aether-lamp lit street of Blackwood Town.[27]
    • Zymmerman's Musical Emporium: A store that sells musical instruments. Owned by Zymmerman.[27]
  • Brass Mire: The ground of this district is unstable and many areas prone to collapsing into the magma below, such collapses can inevitably become deadly and costly disaster. In this district magma is prone to rising close to the surface, creating a brass-like glow. Its denizens live in close-knit communities.[4][15]
    • Heat Wells: Communal kitchens, bakeries, and forges are built around heat wells within the district.[15]
  • Bulwark Shanties: Slums that grow outside the protection of the Burning Palisade each time the city expands. This is where the most unfortunate of the city live and are usually the first victims of enemy attacks on the city, which happen quite frequently. [20a]
Map of the western side of Hammerhal Aqsha.[4]
  • Cinderfall District: Cinderfall was once a prosperous and highly trafficked trading zone, but the ever-expanding nature of Hammerhal Aqsha meant that eventually the affluent merchant houses and foreign traders moved on to pastures new. In their place rose the Spice Guilds and criminal gangs, tempting a different class of trader to the great rift-docks that border the northern edge of the district. A remnant of he former Grand Bazaar remains in the form of the bustling Riftmarket, but the air of legitimacy is now a front for the trade of illicit goods and a thousand different flavours of vice.[4d] The districts many tall chimneys have over time stained the area with smoke and ash. [16]
    • House Venargo's mansion: Just outside the Riftmarket stands a large mansion built in the Azyrite style that seems strangely out of place amid its ramshackle surroundings. A black iron fence surrounds the complex and guards are stationed at the front gate at all times, wearing fur-collared longcoats over silver breastplates engraved with the sigil of House Venargo (an open palm bearing a radiant diamond) and ceremonial masks they never remove. The family Venargo controls the trade and maybe nearly the entirety of the vice within Cinderfall and its surrounding districts.[4e][5a]
    • Baugren's Bountiful Bazaar: A slightly grimy but impressively large converted warehouse operating under the thinnest facade of respectability, the bazaar is filled with many varied and esoteric items and staffed by a human called Baugren.[5a]
    • Chapel of the Shattered Blade: This is a shabby, run-down church of worship to Sigmar. It venerates Saint Rubeus, a legendary Warrior Priest who led the first consecration of the city and fell in battle against the orruk hordes of the Bloodscalps. The chapel is usually attended to by Brother Bargo Culven.[5a]
    • Guild of Certified Thaumaturgists A ramshackle array of spiral towers and smoke-belching laboratories with a sign that claims this Hammerhal Aqsha's centre of alchemical and metallurgical knowledge. The guild was set up by a group of students thrown out of the city's famed Alchemists Guild for dangerous or unethical experiments, usually both.[5a]
    • Red Yugol's Revelrie: At the southern edge of the market district lies this garishly painted field of tents bedecked with banners, flags and leering masks. Faces painted like beasts of the wild, dressed in colourful rags and brandishing rattles, drums and tambourines, Red Yugol's entertainers prance and caper about, beckoning, cajoling and threatening tourists, drunken sailors and travelling merchants into entering the Revelrie. At the very centre of the grand marquee dwells the enigmatic soothsayer and compere Red Yugol himself.[5b]
    • The Cinderfall Riftmarket: Running parallel to the Adramar Rift at the northern edge of the city is the mass of tents, warehouses, shopfronts and forums that makes up the Riftmarket. Merchants and traders from across the Mortal Realms flock here to sell all manner of ephemera, from exotic creatures to precious magical items. The largest and most extravagant stall belongs to an aelf named Asterion.[5c]
    • Toil's End: A tavern built around a lava-centipede. Underneath this bar, Olrig runs a free-for-all underground fighting tournament where a number of notable local brawlers compete in bloody, bare-knuckle bouts.[5c][26a]
    • Sky-Docks The Cinderfall Sky-Docks are a collection of six, tall, dark towers, cut from smooth stone. Winding walkways and swaying bridges connect the towers and the different landing platforms with each other.[16]
  • Crystalarium District: Jutting up from the hills of the Crystalarium District are growths of spear-like red crystals. At the heart of these pillars is aqthracite, the Realmstone that powers Aqsha's industries.[20a]
    • Halls of Shaping.[4]
  • Drudges: A shapeless mass of districts, some call them slums, that stretch outwards from the glittering heart of the city to the border wall where most of the city's commonfolk live alongside refugees flocking to the city. Houses are built from basalt or guardstone as wood is banned due to posing a fire hazard such during the Great Inferno when raging fire-spirits devoured entire districts causing a massive loss of life.[20a]
  • Emberflats: A district of Hammerhal Aqsha.[15]
  • Goldenpath: This noble quarter is a complex of gleaming crystal spires.[4][13a]
  • Greenward Prefecture: This verdant forest district has been granted to the Wanderers of Hammerhal Aqsha, in thanks for their services to the Twin-Tailed City. Though rampant industrial expansion sees it cut back every season.[20a]
  • Heart of Rubeus: One of the city's many districts.[24]
  • Hooked Acre: A residential district of the city containing scruffy tenements, a marketplace full of stalls, and cobbled streets.[30a]
  • Industrial Quarter: The Industrial Quarter, as the name suggests, is a large industrial district of Hammerhal Aqsha. On its own, it is comparable to many smaller Free Cities in scale and size. It is a major stronghold for the guilds of the Ironweld Arsenal.[20a]
    • Black Dust Alleys.[4]
  • Kindle Heights: A district of Hammerhal Aqsha.[36b]
    • Bloodstone Inn: An inn in the Kindle Heights.[33b]
    • Old Chain Post: One of the city's many taverns.[30a]
  • Lavafall District: One of the poor, overcrowded districts of Hammerhal Aqsha. It is home to beings from many species and cultures, as well as a large number of gangs looking to earn a few vials of Aqua Ghyranis.[4][15]
    • Lavafall Crematorium: This is one of many of the temples of the city dedicated to the God-King of Azyr. The holy fires of this house of worship are provided in part thanks to the lava flows of the Adramar Rift. It is here that the bodies of the dead can be interred and cremated in holy fire, in exchange for a donation, to ensure they do not rise as undead servants of Nagash.[15]
  • The Narrows: A residential district of tumbledown tenements arranged in rows, stretched across a dozen leagues.[33a]
    • Brennend Street: A street in the Narrows.[27]
    • Erretzen Lane: A street in the Narrows.[27]
  • Onyx Shore: A district connected to the Stormrift Centrum via bridges over the Adramar Rift.[33a]
  • Pyromancer District: An entire district given over to the Pyromancers of the Collegiate Arcane. Here strange kiln-complexes refine aqthracite. The heat given off by these buildings is so intense that enterprising citizens are able to speed-dry their laundry by lining them on buildings facing the kilns.[20a]
    • Ashbark Tower: A tower that is tall enough to be visible from the bridges connecting Stormrit Centrum to rest of the city.[33a]
    • Cinderworm.[4]
    • Pyromancer's Tor.[4]
  • Scorchcross: A poor residential district of Hammerhal Aqsha.[27]
  • Shining Quarters: The Old City is the area immediately surrounding the Stormrift Gate where the greatest of the nobility reside in mansions and castles of marble built according to Azyrite architecture.[20a]
    • Azyrite Claim: The richest sector of Hammerhal Aqsha where the dwellings of many of the city's rulers and civic leaders are found. Though most of the estates here belong to nobility originating from Azyrheim, many Aqshian dynasties like House Taladin, House Vanx, and House Naffir are found here as well.[20a]
    • Bloom Gate Terrace.[4]
    • Great Catedral of Sigmar: A centre of the Sigmarite faiths in Hammerhal, this imposing fortress-citadel looms over much of the city.[20a]
    • Old City Wall: Though the designers of Hasmmerhal Aqsha had noble intentions, hoping to see the entire city constructed like the districts of the Old City, their efforts lasted only a few decades before necessity forced them to abandon many high ideals to match the growth of the city's population. Now the Old City Wall serves as a line between the great manses of the Old City and the tumbledown streets of neighbouring sectors.[20a]
    • Stormrift Centrum: This district surrounding the Aqsha-side of the Stormrift Realmgate is the most militantly defended region of the city. It is an island fortress thanks to the surrounding magmatic rifts. In addition it boasts ingenious Duardin-made fortifications.[20a]
    • Stormrift Palace: A meeting place of the Stormrift Conclave, the Grand Conclave of Hammerhal.[33a]
  • Stormhorn Mont: A colossal mountain dominating a section of Hammerhal Aqsha. It is covered in residential housing, and those who live upon it claim its peak acts as lightning rod when Sigmar's ire is raised.[20a]
    • Rune Key Tower: A tower.[4]

Forested Regions in Aqsha

  • Briargate Wood.[4]
  • Deep Gate Fields.[4]
  • Forest of the Braken Gate.[4]
  • Forest of the Oaken Gate.[4]
  • Forest of the Vine Gate.[4]
  • Gnarled Gate Wood.[4]
  • Jadeheart Glades.[4]
  • Scorched Bone Marshes.[4]
  • Thorn Gate Thicket.[4]
  • Willow Gate Woods.[4]

Markets of Aqsha

  • Fyre Fish Markets: Markets located along the Adramar Rift.[20a]
  • Green Ash Avenue: A market street in Hammerhal Aqsha.[24]
  • Riftmarkets: Bordering the magic rift of Adramar are a series of markets known as the riftmakets. Many of these sell produce freshly arrived from Ghyra.[5c][15]

Rifts of Aqsha

  • Adramar Rift: The city's rifts have either been filled with duardin mines and engineworks, or left as impressive reminders of the scale of civil engineering within the grand city. The Adramar Rift cuts through several major districts and is the main thoroughfare by which merchant trader airships travel through the city.[16][20a] Bridges are built across the rift to connect districts on either side to one another.[24]
  • Gallis Rift: One of the immense caverns that carve through the city, serving as major avenues of trade.[20a]

Rift Bridges of Aqsha

  • Briar Bridge.[4]
  • Raven Bridge.[4]
    • Raven Bridge Bastille: A fortress that guards the Cinderfall side of the bridge. The garrison has been known to hire soldiers of fortune to help combat some of the more troublesome problems affecting the district.[32a]

Stormkeeps of Aqsha

Streets of Aqsha

  • Heldensen Road: A major road that passes through the Hooked Acre district.[30a]
  • Leadhanger Alley: One of the many streets of Hammerhal Aqsha
  • Longwheeler Place: One of the many streets of Hammerhal Aqsha.[24]
  • Threshing Place: A street in Hammerhal Aqsha that boasts a tenement complex.[24]

External Holdings of Aqsha

Other Locations in Aqsha

  • Alchemists Guild.[5a]
  • Aqshai River: This river, for which Hammerhal Aqsha is named, is stained yellow by sulphur-mould.[20a]
  • Ash Hand Burrows.[4]
  • Black Fields.[4]
  • Blackglass Guilds.[4]
  • Bones of Kazarig.[4]
  • Candle Town.[4]
  • Cathedral Ignis: One of the many churches dedicated to the Sigmarite faith found in Hammerhal.[23a]
  • Charcoal Hill.[4]
Map of the eastern side of Hammerhal Aqsha.[4]
  • Cinnabaric Vaults.[4]
  • Cloister of Ashes: A Stormvault built as a subterranean Temple-City.[17a]
  • Cogworks.[4]
  • Fyre Pots: An area of the city that is dominated by blackpowder mills.[33b]
  • Ghyrous Vents.[20a]
  • Heartfire Promontory.[4]
  • Pillars of Infinity.[4]
  • Rhuin Peak: An active volcano in the city, whose lava flows feed into the magic rift known as Adramar.[4]
  • Selstone Avenue: A local Scrivener's Guild is located on this street.[24]
  • Soot Cloud Gardens.[4]
  • Stormfall.[4]
  • Tallow Park: An area of the city that boasts a barracks for the Freeguilds, a clock tower is found at the centre of the barracks.[4]
  • The Cauldron: This block-wide cauldron is used to distill lava from the Adramar Rift, and funnel it into a western quarter of the city.[33c]
  • The Cleave.[4]

Hammerhal Ghyra

Districts in Ghyra

  • Blackwood Town: The gloom-shrouded warrens of Blackwood Town are known to be hives for criminal activity.[13a][34a]
  • Drift-isle Districts: Hanging above the strata of the city are Aqualiths of varied size. The largest of these is given over to the Nomad Princes of the Wanderer Clans.[20d]
  • Prime Strata: The governmental district of Hammerhal Ghyra surrounds the city's half of the Stormrift Realmgate. It is a richly appointed district with golden palaces and ornamental gardens.[20d]
  • River District: A district of Hammerhal Ghyra,[3a]
  • Sanctor Tulis: The garden villas of the affluent Sanctor Tulis district are the even of cities across the Mortal Realms.[13a][34a]
  • Warehouse and Aether-Dock District: This district of Hammerhal Ghyra is divided into rings stacked on top of each other, with each successive ring extending further out than the ones below like a many-limbed tree. Each ring boasts warehouses, high-altitude berths, and aether-quays that overlook tangled streets far below. Due to the nature of the realm, these are all plagued by growths of vines, mould and weeds. It is believed that the district was grown rather than built. Thousands of airships, leaf-boats and sky-cutters arrive and depart the city every day.[3a]

Academies in Ghyra

Stormkeeps in Ghra

Other Locations in Ghyra

  • Fire-Bastions: Constructed by the Ironweld Arsenal and constantly fed by lava from the realm of fire via immense stone runnels to keep the flora of Ghyran from overwhelming the city. As the flow is redirected, so new tunnels are created and old empty ones are built over, although some express concerns about what can inhabit them.[3d]
  • Grand Asylum of Hammerhal-Ghyra: Mental hospital in the city of Hammerhal-Ghyra.[18a]
  • Jade Temple: An immense Stormvault hidden beneath the garden-spires of Hammerhal Ghyra. [17a]
  • Shadeglens: Ancient burial gardens whose caretakers are pledged to Alarielle.[10]

Inhabitants

The city is home to a vast population of Free Peoples.[20a]

Noble Houses

An expansive noble class dominates the politics of Hammerhalian society, with a full half of Hammerhal Aqsha's one-hundred and twenty-two seats of the Grand Conclave held by members of Azyrite noble families. A number of Aqshian dynasties have risen to power in Aqsha's Old City as well.[20a]

Organizations

  • Alchemists Guild: A well-renowned guild of alchemists based in Hammerhal Aqsha.[5a]
  • Boldhearts: One of the seventeen major Freeguilds of Hammerhal Aqsha. They are comprised largely of heavy infantry regiments, with their Greatsword regiments being particularly well-regarded.[20c]
  • Golden Lions: One of the seventeen major Freeguilds of Hammerhal Aqsha. They are the largest Freeguild in the city and boast mostly line infantry regiments.[20c]
  • Guild of Certified Thaumaturgists: A guild established by individuals kicked out of the Alchemists Guild. They operate out of facilities in the Cinderfall District.[5a]
  • Guild of Mercadors: One of the most influential merchant guilds of the city.[33a]
  • Hammerhal Aqsha Chamber Strategic: A military command to which the Cogforts of the Outer Web, and the Freeguilders operating them report to.[6]
  • Heldenhain: One of the seventeen major Freeguilds of Hammerhal Ghyra. They maintain close ties with the Devoted of Sigmar and are often found defending processions of pilgrims and Flagellants.[20c]
  • Leaden Bulls: One of the seventeen major Freeguild regiments of Hammerhal Aqsha. They are mostly comprised of artillery regiments. They are known to man many of the city's Cogforts and Ironweld-crafted defenses.[20c]
  • Scrivener's College on Selstone Avenue: A guild of scriveners based out of a building on Selstone Avenue.[24]
  • Scions of the Comet: One of the seventeen major Freeguilds of Hammerhal Aqsha. It is well renowned for its elite cavalry, including the widely regarded Hammerhalian Lancers.[20c]
  • Sun Seekers: One of the seventeen major Freeguilds of Hammerhal Aqsha. They form the majority of the city's outrider and scout regiments.[20c]
  • United Companies of Ember and Aqua: A council comprised of the trade guilds that dominate commerce within the Twin-Tailed City.[15]
  • Vandusian Guard: One of the seventeen major Freeguilds of Hammerhal Aqsha. They are best known for providing elite bodyguard retinues and escorts for nobles and civic figures. They are recruited exclusively from among the veterans of other guilds.[20c]

Notable Citizens

Quotes

Hammerhal has, in the past, been likened to a powder keg, needing but one errant spark to detonate spectacularly. Of course, we have errant sparks, cinders, and flames aplenty here in Aqshy, so the comparison perhaps lacks some nuance. I instead prefer to think of our noble city as akin to the volcanoes claimed by Grimnir's folk; maybe one day we will blow ourselves apart in a storm of sound and fury, but God-King preserve you if you're in our vicinity when we do.

Sevastean Mench, Master Patriarch of Hammerhal Aqsha.[31a]

Gallery

  • Sigil of the Twin-Tailed City

  • Hammerhal Ghyra

See Also

Trivia

  • Both Aqsha and Ghyra have districts known as Blackwood Town.[27][34a]

Sources

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

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