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In the warm seas to the southeast of the Queen's domain is the grand city of Alabastra. A lady of many names, the Ivory City, the White City, the Marble Metropolis, the metropolis of Alabastria is considered the crown jewel of the Ivory Empire of the Southern Isles, it's primate city and the place where all roads and sea lanes lead.
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The two mountains on the city's western end are where she gets her name. Enormous deposits of a brilliant white limestone deep underground form the mainstay of the capital's architecture.
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The city itself is a conurbation of four large boroughs: Alabasterberg in the centre, Cornbay to the south, Crownburge to the northeast and Ravinbergh to the west. These four settlements expanded into conglomeration as the wealth of the New World flowed into Alabastra's three ports.
The very centre of business for the empire is in Alabasterberg - the most central of the four major boroughs. A district of contrasts, the open parks of state and the wide major boulevards contrast with the narrow streets and natural expansion of the city itself.
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The very centre of any business in Alabastra is the City State Park. Surrounded by great urban palaces, luxurious hotels, the gardens of City Hall are a popular place for congress, relaxation and cultural display. This and its intersection of Marble Road and Imperial Avenue make it the physical and commercial centre of the city.
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Hidden away from the the grand avenues are a feature of the city itself; courtyard gardens, hidden palaces and out-of-the-way clubs characterise a larger part of Alabasterberg. Offices, financial ventures and hotels line the broader avenues while cafes, pubs and curio shops sit underneath them.
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On the other side of the old city to Ivory Road is New Alabaster. Historically one of the more affluent areas, which in recent years has expanded immensely after the commission of Edmoner's Green. A large park larger than City State Park, the so-called "New Alabaster" area became one of the most desirable locations of Alabasterberg. Away from the noise of the factories but also sitting comfortably between the port of Cornbay and the well-to-do affairs of Crownburge.
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Edmoner's Green is named in honour of the adventurous merchantman Jean Edmoner, who paid for hundreds of expeditions across the world and established himself not only as a keystone in Alabastra's expansion, but the man behind the city's modern luxury.
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Where Alabasterberg and Cornbay intersect is dominated visibly by the Royal Ivory Bank of Alabaster. A source of many of the loans pivotal in establishing the city's elite, the bank sits across from Old Cornmarket, an almost medieval site where traders sold the various grains, seeds and fruits that are grown or imported and for which the former give Cornbay its name.
To the south and stretching the southern coast are the Soutron Docklands. The largest port of Alabastra and one of the busiest. Servicing not only the various islands south of Alabastra such as Conchbourg, Brimville and Maiselle, but also oil tankers shipping the vital black gold that feeds the city's thousands of lights and engines, and the dock-of-call for visitors looking to enjoy the best the city has to offer.
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Cornbay is also known as the Crafter's Town. Materials brought in from across the world as well as anything made within Alabastra or beyond are sold in curio shops, taverns, cafes, galleries and antique fairs that line the avenues and hide in quaint back alleys. A mostly middle-class borough, a major attraction for tourists is the Eden Palace of Horticulture that has only amplified the borough's charm. Attracting florists some of whom are well-connected enough to broker deals with the staff at the Palace of Horticulture to use exotic - and in some cases, rather legendary - flowers in souvenir shops and floral displays.
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Adjacent and in part-ways a key part of Alabasterberg is Fabrication Town. Initially fields and woodcutters separated the historic capital from Ravinbergh, the Ivory Road leads though Fabrication Town, where everything from beer to bicycles are constructed in sprawling complexes employing thousands of the population of both the city and surrounding settlements.
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Two things distinguish Ravinberghe from being unremarkable: The Ivory Road and the Cotton Dock. Established on the island's western coast to serve the industries of the western harbour, Ravinburgh is mostly a worker town between the two mountain peaks Alabastra itself sits next to. Ravinburgh lacks the glamour of the other areas of the city despite its position with an important dockland.
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Connected to Ravinberghe, Cotton Dock is one of the three major ports that service the city. Named for its importance in supplying the garment industry with cotton, wool and linen from further out in the empire. Some of which are processed within factories hugging the docklands. Fishing wharves gave way to drydocks and quays, and what most often comes through in the present day make it Alabastra's busiest trans-oceanic port: Goods from the Western Shores such as rum, gold, cotton, coffee and rubber as well as local goods such as steel all flow into the city through Cotton Dock's quays.
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Some argue this is also the most fortified. Sitting on a major trade lane, pirates are well to avoid the mouth of Cotton Dock, making warships a common site at the port itself.
Not all that is made in Alabastra is assembled in Fabrication Town. To the north, newer factories exist in the port-borough of Brownel Town. The docklands of this borough were originally built to service the northern town of Brownele, but as industry expanded, portions of the managed forests of the area were sold for the construction of new factories producing the latest innovations of the industrial era.
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Unofficially the borough has two names. Brownel Town being the official, with Alabastrans calling the area "Little Alabaster'' for the white limestone concrete used in the advanced factories. Complicated products such as fine clothes, lightbulbs, glass, cannons and even steam carriages are assembled here for either domestic use or export.
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The reason for the contention is that as imports from Brownel Town increased and as industrialisation made it possible for people to travel further, Brownel Town became a port-of-call for workers commuting from other islands. Brownele became a large suburb of Alabastra as time went by, some even gaining enough affluence to set up homes and businesses in the northern areas of Alabasterberg.
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Because one of Brownele's most important industries is the production and export of brass for the industries of Brownel Town, Brownele locals that establish themselves in Alabastra are said to have "made it brass" and are nicknamed "Brasspays." Which among Brownelans is either a pejorative or a compliment depending on the context of its use. To be called a "White-brasser" however is almost exclusively a pejorative, denoting a Brasspay who has become like the wealthy classes of Alabastra in attitude and vanity.
It could be considered fitting then for this hub of humble people to be looked down on from the bluff on which the elite of the borough of Crownburge sits. Located high above the rest of the city, Crownburge was initially a state park behind the Imperial Central Palace of Human and Natural History. As the city expanded and attracted a much wealthier class of person, a petition to City Hall requested the construction of new homes in areas of high value.
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Within a few years of the petition, Crownburge became the place-to-be destination for tourists and power-players from across the Ivory Empire and Beyond. At first to marvel at the curios gathered in the Central Palace of Human and Natural History, and later to walk the gardens that line places such as Elm Boulevard and Exhibition Way.
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Elm Boulevard - one of the most desirable addresses in the city - sits opposite the Central Palace of History. Its central location, tree-lined pathways and close proximity to both the Palace of History, the Imperial Exhibition Centre on the apex of the Crown Bluff and the highly-talked about Crownhead Club make it a must-have place to live for ambassadors, investors, industrialists, nobility and wealthy visitors.
The central jewel of this regal borough is the Imperial Exhibition Centre. First Opened in 1885, the immense wealth of the city and its contributors has seen it stage world-famous displays of the latest technologies, the most far-flung corners of the world and the most primordial of historical periods.
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Perhaps for the sake of gossip or perhaps to show posterity, Exhibition Way is sometimes argued to be as prestigious or even more prestigious to have a place on than Elm Boulevard. Some profess to prefer Exhibition Way as it sits away from the noise of the city centre and its broad avenues allow plenty more breathing room than the blocks behind the famous avenue.
Whichever is most prestigious, Crownburge at large is considered to be home to Alabastra's most sought-after addresses. Indeed, the city itself is often described as a magnet for opportunity, wealth, prestige and power in the Ivory Empire of the Southern Isles. Thousands come to make their fortune and thousands more come to marvel at this city of splendours. The mighty capital of an empire and a hub of wealth uncountable.
Even with less prestigious places such as Fabrication Town, the city has a reputation of imemnse beauty. So famous has its glamour become the imperial travel guide Victor Geddarne said it best about the city:
"To live in the Alabaster City you are not quite in the Kingdom of Heaven. Evidence enough lines the streets, however - from the boughs of Elm Boulevard to the mythical wonders of the Palace of Horticulture - to conclude that one is at least close."
![[City tour]: Alabastra, the Crown Jewel of the Ivory Empire of the Southern Isles](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/RZsvoCJZfwdN6BSdRJF7QA-BNxEFkYDRM8_tmJARlTc.jpg "[City tour]: Alabastra, the Crown Jewel of the Ivory Empire of the Southern Isles")
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