The de facto capital of modern Mueras, built on a series of cliff-carved terraces overlooking the junction of Labyrinth Sound and Corpse Bay. Where Kaspion concentrated power in a single ruler, Bazz concentrates it in the Council—the assembly of merchant-kings who theoretically govern collectively.
The city holds perhaps forty thousand people, making it the largest settlement in Mueras by a significant margin. The waterfront terraces house the trading companies, warehouses, and pilot-guild headquarters. The middle terraces contain markets, craftsmen, and the homes of successful merchants. The upper terraces—carved deepest into the cliff—hold the estates of the merchant-king families and the Council chambers.
Bazz's architecture is vertical rather than horizontal. Streets are often stairs. Goods move by crane and pulley as often as by cart. The wealthy live highest, where sea-spray doesn't reach and the view encompasses the entire Sound. The poor cluster at water level, where flooding is regular and the damp never quite leaves the walls.
The Council Chambers
Carved into the highest point of Bazz's cliff-face, the Council Chambers are both meeting hall and fortress. Each of the seven major merchant-king families maintains a suite of rooms here, and the central chamber—a natural cavern expanded by generations of stonework—hosts the formal Council sessions.
Assassination within the Chambers is forbidden by ancient compact, enforced by mutually assured destruction: each family has deposited secrets and evidence that would destroy the others, to be released upon their own demise. This creates a peculiar peace. Merchant-kings who would happily poison each other in the city below sit across the Council table and negotiate like civilized beings.