Ro-mollo

An island city, Ro-mollo is built atop a volcanic plug that rises out of the Bay of Drel about forty miles north of Ostelor. It is the third largest city in the Dominions and the chief centre of Drel culture. In ancient times the the Elven lord Arvarien had built a beautiful palace on the island for his wife but her tragic early death drove him mad and he isolated himself on the island before comitting suicide years later. He left no heir and the Elves let the palace crumble over time with none wishing to live on the isle, given its doleful history, until the Drel lord Hembur Smep asked permission to build a city there in -774, 38 years before the creation of the Seven Dominions.

Nothing remains of the palace above ground but on the mainland there is a surprisingly squat and square signal tower that dates from that time. The underground entrance to the city, however, was also built by the Elves of old. The main road from the mainland dips into a cave guarded by two huge steel gates. Dozens of firung slits punctuate the doors which are three feet thick. Inside the cave the smoothly paved road gives way to a wide staircase that descends to a passage that cuts beneath the adjacent strait. Having passed under the water the route ascends via a stair-filled shaft that opens onto Ro-mollo's Low Quarter (Fapu Mata) in the hallowed Court of Stairs (Va-ya-Nagazi). A single silver-inlaid door blocks this, the traditional entrance to the city. Another gate protects an adjoining tunnel that continues to ascend through the black basalt and offers the easiest access to the upper districts.

Six cistern pools, each 300' deep provide the city with an inexhaustable fresh water supply. They capture the runoff during the rainy season and have always provided sufficient water for the city's 14,000 inhabitants. In addition the city has a powerful flow of running water, Hembur's Spring, which rises beneath the twin keep (Paca Munara). It spills out of a great stone duct at the base of the eastern wall of the High Quarter (Refu Mata) creating a 175' waterfall as it spills into Hembur's Pool (Hembur Cidimbu).

Headmen's Hallow is the meeting place for the largest Drel assembly, the Makutano. Its dome hall, the Camba-ya-Mukatana, stands on the foundations of the original palace and encloses a 200' wide circular chamber. Here the representatives of the citizenry pass laws and elect their four tribal leaders, the Headmen who rule the Drel. Also in the High Quarter is the 480' Twin Keep which houses the chief shrines to the Drel's four Lord Gods, Ardo, Alavo, Ro and Kojomo. The roughly triangular Hall of War (Camba-y-Virta) rises to the west.