I began working on Ibis, the City of Sorcerers today – drawing a thumbnail sketch of a map, shooting around ideas for locations I want to place thereon (is that a word?). Thought I’d share, and ask if anyone has ideas for things they think should be in a pseudo-Egyptian city-state with a bunch of sorcerers residing therein (not that’s a word).

– A bend of the River of Death with quays, crocodiles, a noble barge, maybe a half-submerged grotto filled with things unspeakable.

– An Inn (obviously I’ve put a lot of thought into this one).

– Clock shop – or general place to buy mainsprings and weird bits of mystic engineering.

– Tavern – a beer hall of some sort, lots of students, raucous – no magical stuff allowed, only for the normal folk who put up with enough magic during the day …

– A den of thieves in an old, abandoned granary – stone tower, cylindrical, secret passages to a hidden quay (for smuggling), maybe to the beer hall, maybe into the sewers.

– A souk running through the neighborhood – lots of peddlers in tents/booths.

– Workshops – leatherworker, dry goods, pointy hat shop, fine wands and staves, weapons and armor, a tailor (mystic gowns for men).

– Mausoleum of a Nabu princess/queen.

– Temple of Thoth – big compound.

– Subterranean temple of Seth – hidden under something innocuous, maybe the wine cellar.

– Flophouse, apartments surrounding an open yard filled with weird mushrooms and mushroom fairies.

– Bakery / coffee house.

– A tavern with a wine cellar.

– Gardens of the Nomarch.

– Tower astronomical observatory.

– University – dominates the center of the map – library, lecture hall (old hall, new hall), shrine of scribe goddess, vaults holding magical experiments, manse of the chancellor, laboratories.

– Fortune teller.

– Animal Market – large building, selling camels, horses, maybe more exotic creatures.

– Temple of Hathor – temple whores

– Tavern frequented by mages, maybe with portals to other places and times.

– A pleasant grove.

– Barber/surgeon.

– Tobacconist – herbalist – pipes and other smoking paraphernalia.

– Sewers – open in a few places, tunnels inhabited by ghouls (the Mortuary Society, a recognized guild in Ibis charged with dealing with carrion).

– Guild of Astrologomages, Planet-Masters and Weather-Watchers.

– Orichalcum foundry and jewelers dealing in astrolabes and amulets – maybe a gnome factory.

– Emporium with weird doo-dads – no two of the same thing, nothing overtly magical, owner pays for rarities in coins of rose-gold.

– A mortuary for all of your mummy needs – maybe an adjacent shrine of Anubis.

– Wizard towers like minarets

– A serpentarium, for all of your asp and cobra needs.

– A used chariot shop, because I love the 3 Stooges [okay, maybe I’ll leave this one out].

– Stone carvers – long factory, many monuments half-finished

– Vat and cauldron maker

– Printing shop

– Foreign merchants – true factory

– Industrial area with tanners, phosphorous makers, alchemists, smiths – have a tavern for working joes and host cock fights/bear baiting

– Scriptorium

– A snake charmer

– Physick who doubles as a detective

– Lapidary shop; meeting place for conspirators who want a republic like Antigoon

– Maybe a nice collection of low-level magic-users – diviner, necromancer, conjuror – along with an illusionist and elementalist. These will be spread throughout the aforementioned locations, so as not to make them too obvious – retired adventurers who have sought a safer life of commerce.

– Monsters – were-cobra clutch, vampire and minions, mummy and ghoul attendants, bandit king and men – laying low and recuperating, vaults of synthoids and homunculi, a well of souls

So – anything obvious that I’m missing here. I’ll fill the gaps with other artisans, maybe a set monster encounter or two, but anything else?