New SubmissionsThe ArchStreet, leading from the main gate, spills out into the DiPlaza - The center of Antioch. Each of the five other districts of Antioch have a gateway at the plaza. Each of the triangular districts has one corner nipped off, creating the hexagonal shape of the central DiPlaza. A fitting plaza for a (nearly) hexagonal shaped city.
The DiPlaza has three areas: Wall, Open, and The Hall.
The Wall surrounds the entire plaza, except where there are gateways of course. It is general Antioch design, two to three stories, with the bottom story being a business or office. The Wall supports a number of cafes/ inns, some guild shops (where various guildsmen sell things they normally do not sell in their own shops), and a large number of offices. The Carter’s guild (those who sell goods they do not make from pushcarts) has its hall here. Most of these offices are for translators, contractsmiths, and certain crafts that pertain to government. The houses above most of these businesses are normally broken down into apartments, which is rare for Antioch. Some of the Cafes are said to be the best in the city. All have seating areas that spill out into the plaza. Some of the most notable is The Elemental and Cashmirius’s (Cashmirius has been dead for nearly 150 years, but her name and recipes live on).
The Open is the vast open area of the DiPlaza. Except for the continuation of the cut river stones from ArchStreet, it is paved in hexagonal shaped carved stone tiles. The entire city was to be paved in them, but they proved both expensive and unwieldy. The cut river stones mimic the imperial road look and design, but are neither as indestructible nor tractionable.
In the open area there is always traffic. Furry folk pulling taxi’s, carters hawking their wares, people travelling through the plaza, others travelling to and from the Hall. The carters are so thick some days (the weekend mostly), those new to the city might think it is a market place. (Most of the carts are food and drink. The people of Antioch love food on the go and to buy food for later). Most of the time, carters go through the other districts, but all of them spend part of their “circuit” here.
Note: Directly between The Hall (the pylon actually) and the ArchStreet diarch, along the riverstone path, is a set of standing stones. These stone are the Imperial Gateway for Antioch. Everyone understands to stay somewhat clear of them, should they become active and the person find part of themselves somewhere else.
The Hall is a hexagonal building in the center of the DiPlaza. It is three stories tall, with a white stone done on the very top. That dome appears to be supported by six very tall doric columns. Each plaster column has a different colorful elemental pattern on it. There appears to be an arched doorway on each of the six walls, but only one (the one that faces ArchStreet) is actually a functional door. (There are a large number of arrow slit windows on each wall that are almost invisible among the textured stones of the walls unless you look carefully.
The first floor is a large rotunda. The ceiling appears to be a stained glass mural lit by the sun (but actually by magical Lightstones). The mural shows the history of Antioch (and a bit of the known world) up to the time of the rebuilding. The floor is marble inset with mystical symbols (arcane langauge Elventi). The center of the Rotunda has the Biome’s Pylon. Inset in the Pylon are give KeyOrbs. Discretely off to the side, is a doorway that leads to the narrow stairs that lead to the second and third floor.
The second floor is taken up with the Guild Council Chambers. Here each ArchGuildsman (GuildMaster) sits in the amphetheater like room so they can discuss things before putting them to a vote. All rulings take two votes. In the first one, each guild gets one vote stone; in the second, the guild gets a number of votes stones based upon its membership. For each vote, the stones are openly counted and the results determined A locked area under the amphetheater seating hold the city’s copies of the guild records.
The third floor is taken up by two areas. The first is the Governor’s office, should the Imperial Governor come to Antioch. The other area is the ArchGuildMaster’s office. From here, he runs the city.
Many people would assume that this main stree is called ArchStreet because of the arches across it. In the local language (See the Arth Threads), Arch is a prefix of importance. More than main street, ArchStreet is the Street of all Streets… an egotistical naming of the street, proclaiming that all the streets in the world are a shallow copy of ArchStreet. It is a name of hubris and pride for the locals. It is a bone of contention in certain circles of the Imperial court and the other city states of ThirdLand. Given Antioch’s pivotal and growing role in the Imperial in recent centuries, it may be well named after all.