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The Portal Plaza

New Alexandria is at the very heart of the portal nexus, where "all roads lead". It is for this reason that a town that might otherwise have been ordinary has instead become the acknowledged (if not official) capital of Elysia.

The portal is important in several aspects of city life, from enabling faster (and thus cheaper) transportation of goods to bringing in revenue from tourism. The plaza also serves as Alexandria's main town square ("main" because there are several other, smaller squares which serve the same purpose scattered throughout the neighbourhoods on the east bank) during festivals and gatherings. As a result, the area around the portal has over the centuries become increasingly aesthetic, with the plaza now being a large square floored with motifs that are chiselled into large stone blocks.

A perimeter of gold and polished white marble marks the boundary, and the portal itself sits atop a large circular dais decorated with the same mosaic tiles.

To continue the theme, and perhaps to show off the city's wealth, several small statues and wall fountains are dotted around the plaza, and even the walls of the surrounding buildings have known the touch of a skilled stonemason.

The plaza's size is not all about visual appeal, however. The portal is often forced to expand to accommodate larger visitors, such as the bigger caravans and even dragons, and so the plaza and the portal's dais were both designed with these expansions in mind, serving as a subtle reminder of the portal's reach.