Vanok Tus
The sky above Vanok Tus has been filled with rings of flame ever since the region’s Lord died, throwing the city into permanent dusk. The obsidian buildings are not allowed to be taller than five stories so that the main focus of the skyline remains the massive metal chain in the city center that stretches up into the clouds. If rumors are to be believed, it stretches down to the center of the planet and even further into the fires of the Nine Hells. Elsa Shimmerdeath is a goth pixie that has held court in Vanok Tus for the last eleven months. She stands about one foot tall, but uses her powers from horned demon Lord Xarzad the Damned to face down enemies of every size. Don’t make short jokes about them unless you want a glabrezu to “accidentally” wander into your bedroom at night.
Vanok Tus is divided into thirteen prefectures. Twelve of these are contiguous, with the one exception being the small island of Nova Point. Nova Point has submitted a few dozen formal secession requests, which the Vanok Tus City Council has addressed by leaving the forms under some file cabinet and using modify memory spells to forget which filing cabinet it was, thus giving them plausible deniability. The other twelve prefectures are made of rather irregular shapes. While most people know generally which area they live in, the exact boundaries are on a map that the Vanok Tus City Council regrettably reports was put under a filing cabinet, but by accident this time. This combination of strict yet inept bureaucracy is a conveniently apt metaphor for Norn’s fiend city. Both devils, the lawful residents of the Nine Hells, and demons, the chaotic Abyss dwellers, are fiends, so any city inspired by them is bound to contain regulation and disorder in equal number.
For the more mayhem-minded, one of the most popular activities in Vanok Tus is going Demon Driving. Former Champion Burt Grun’dell, a halfling artificer with a penchant for death rays, bought a few acres of grassland to the east of the city and allows people to battle in his fantastical vehicles until the vehicles break down or the people inside are too injured to continue. Competitors face off in teams of two to three, plus a driver that Burt supplies. Getting a Demon Driving license takes around two years of intensive training, which critics have described as “nowhere near enough time”.
Other adventurous activities in Vanok Tus include leaving your apartment during Elsa Shimmerdeath’s challenge, going swimming at any of the city’s rocky beaches during Dagon season, and attempting the Demogorgon Challenge at Malbolge Meats. Vanok Tus is known as one of the best food cities in Norn, blending the creative seafood preparations of Briskain with the rich dairy-based recipes of Commoil. Being residents of the Fiend city, many chefs in Vanok Tus add some spice to their recipes, but none add more than Gustav Hasapis. His Demogorgon concoction consists of a two pound platter of pulled chicken, grilled fish, and stewed beef all slathered with melted cheese and a chili sauce that was cooked using the heat of the Hellchain in the center of the city. Only three people have ever completed it.
Vanok Tus is known for a decently high level of crime, as the devil and demon theme tends to draw dark mages and other edgelords. In order to combat this, a handful of warlocks founded the Association of Patron-Enhanced Xenoarcanists (APEX). This organization is a support group for warlocks, providing an academic forum for discussing the latest essays on invocations, fashion tips on how to wear different shades of black together, and therapy for those whose minds have been fractured by repeated contact with eldritch beings. They also host daily Charmer’s Markets, where they sell enchanted pieces of weapons and armor. These range from gleaming swords of fire that only the noblest of heroes can wield to slightly stained gauntlets that turn any rapier they touch into a scimitar.
One cannot tell of the sights and sounds of Vanok Tus without mentioning its music scene. The many concert venues of the city host a huge array of bands whose genres range from thrash metal and doom metal all the way over to slash metal and slaad metal. If you show up to the ticket counter early enough, you might even be able to get into famed dive bar Steve’s Place and see Elsa Shimmerdeath’s band, Move Over Marilith. Elsa’s custom-made seven-inch long bass sends reverberations across half the city thanks to the magical sound system she commissioned from Burt Grun’dell. Earplugs come free with any draft beer during happy hour.
