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Places /
New Alexandria
New Alexandria is the area of Alexandria that is inside the tall defensive wall, which surrounds 2½ square miles of lush green land on the west bank of the River Cora, and which was erected to deter predators and nuisances. New Alexandria is the bustling heart of Alexandria and the shire. Here, inside the wall, are the majority of the city's shops, several important landmarks (including the last remaining shrine to Xanth) and the upper-class residences of Alexshire's rich. Interestingly, only 5,000 of the shire's citizens can accurately call New Alexandria their home; the rest either belong to Alexandria or the shire. HistoryAlexandria was founded in Elysia's early days, somewhere between 6,300 and 6,800 XA. The portal's location on the banks of a crystal-clear river halfway between Lake Cora and the Dusky Mountains made it incredibly appealing as a rest stop for merchants. The floodplains on either side of the River Cora are richly fertile and the river itself thrives with life. Add to that Alexshire's relatively mild climate1, and the city has numerous advantages. However, New Alexandria was originally little more than a hamlet built around the portal. As the hamlet expanded, the wall went up to defend against monster incursions, and over the centuries fires and other tragedies eventually replaced the original structures with newer ones that became ever more pleasing to the eye using better, more luxurious and more expensive materials. As the economy grew, so too did the town spill out beyond the boundaries of the protective wall to become first a city, and then a city-state. ArchitectureThe result of these centuries of rebuilding is that very little of the inner city of today is not aesthetically pleasing. There is an abundance of marble and intricately carved stone, be it on the ground or walls. There are statues and fountains galore, as well as a multitude of public and private gardens and small parks. Even the roads here have aesthetic appeal, not merely cobbled as in the rest of the city but paved with decorative and mosaic tiles that are an absolute delight to walk on. Buildings here, like most places in Elysia, rarely rise above two storeys, and instead sprawl horizontally.2 For extra comfort and privacy, most homes in the inner city are villas that have been tucked into gardens behind a few trees. Official buildings like City Hall are obviously larger and more opulent than the rest, with a lot of green, open spaces to lend to their grandeur. Landmarks1 Despite Alexandria being on the equator, a number of factors — chief among them being an updraft of atmosphere from the portal nexus — serve to cool the ambient equatorial temperature somewhat. ⇑ 2 The upper market homes may have various shapes, but it seems the most common are 'L' and 'T'-shaped with an outlying smaller building or two for livestock or stabling. ⇑ Tags: Alexshire | Elysia | Alexandria | New Alexandria | Towns | Landmarks | Buildings | Settlements
Page last modified on June 20, 2011, at 08:10 AM |
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