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Ancient port of the Barthavos Desert, located near the southernmost point of the Gaian Continent, nowadays one of the major cities in Gaia. Founded by refugees from the ravages of war. Infamous for its crime but well known for its large harbour and trade district. Though certain conflicts have caused a decline of Strata's former importance and wealth, it is still a magnificent sight. Coming from the sea and arriving in the harbour or from the desert entering through the grand Northern Portal every visitor agrees that in front of his eyes lies the "Beauty of the South".

The dry heat presses down on the town. The air is shimmering in the brilliant light of the air. The hot winds coming out of Barthavos carry a fine sand which covers everything with a fine layer. But on the bottom of the canyon the tall houses are forming, the shade is deep, the wind cut out and life is possible. Archways border the broader roads and precious trees give shade to those who have to follow their affairs during the heat of the day. But those are not two many. The town comes to life when the sun is sinking into the sea far in the west and the winds are ceasing to blow, lamps are lit all over the main places and roads, and the times for business other than that during the day has arrived. The traveller is advised to avoid the darker sideways and hopefully he knows already where to put his head in the night. But which newcomer to Strata can withstand the market down at the harbour, where goods from all over the world can be looked at - or even bought. Or the colourful places all over the town, where shops are lined up, in between taverns of all kinds and where you find musicians at every corner who compete with each other.

Description:
People are arguing about which approach to Strata is the more splendid one, coming from the desert and looking onto the town stretched beneath ones feet, framed by the blue sea, or approaching by ship sailing along the front of beautiful houses lit by the sinking sunset, or - entering the harbour in the east in full sight of the town, preferably when the sun just rose above the horizon.

The Approach from the East
Few travellers endure the hardness and dangers of a voyage through the Barthavos, most arrive by ship. Arriving in the morning and approaching Strata slowly, travellers see a town lying before their eyes which just seems to have arose from a tale told by the elders or a distant myth:

Built on the very edge of the headland of the Gaian continent, it takes the whole space of the hook. The land is slightly rising from south to north, and even a bit more from east to west, so the view is just fantastic. Tall houses in the colour of the sun, from a light yellow, over a deep Strata orange to a dark red are standing side by side, framed and divided with a splendid white colour. Down at the old harbour side are some bigger houses used for storing the valuable goods coming from Northern Gaia. A broad road is leading from the old harbour straight to the western end of the town, passing the great harbour gate and the town wall and running through the central market, around the famous giant Dar'ii Tree. On the left edge the splendid Temple of Water draws the eye towards it just sitting on an small island outside the town wall, which runs around the town just behind the houses belonging to the harbour quarters. The city wall is another prominent feature of the town, and though it is of strong built and was never torn down, it doesn�t look threatening. The light yellow of the stones gives it a friendly touch, though the pointed pinnacles demonstrate the ability to protect its citizens. On the other, northern side, outside the town, the magnificent, pure white, round temple of Falis is greeting the traveller with its golden shining spherical roof and its three tall, slender towers.

Few of the arriving ships call at the old harbour which was destroyed during a big flood and only partly reconstructed, most moor in the new harbour outside the town in the northwest of Strata.

There, down the beach in northwestern direction near the new harbour, a very tall, huge lighthouse is standing. It doesn�t fit very well to the whole town of Strata, and the fascinated visitor soon averts his eyes and concentrates on Strata again.

The houses in their beauty and variety are enough to astonish the foreign visitor, but what catches his eyes most are not the splendid buildings, but the green in between, where you didn�t expect it. Strata is know for selling fresh water as one of the valuable goods here . Water is a resource which is rare and therefore restricted for everybody, even the rich ones. And so the trees which grow everywhere in the town are valuable and very cared for. The mightiest and oldest tree is the Dar'ii tree in the middle of the famous Stratanian market place, but there are rows of other trees running down in the middle of every of the main four roads, each tree belonging to a certain house of which it is cared for. And every house itself, most of them build in a rectangular way with a inner courtyard, has its own tree in the middle of the house. This is the way the Stratanian's can survive in the heat of a summer day, when a hot dry wind is blowing either from the southeast or coming out of the Barthavos.

As the ships comes nearer, more details can be seen. The white colour on the houses turn out to be complicated white ornaments and white shutters in front of the plenty windows, with balconies and porches the houses try to surpass each other. The trees show more of their gracile beauty and the promise of a cooling shade, and suddenly the traveller can�t wait to set his foot on the landing docks of the "Beauty of the South".

The Approach from the North
Coming from the north the town promises relief after the heat of the day, the green of the trees are balsam on the tortured eyes, the air seems to be cooler now and the ears longs for the sound of running water. Like a coloured jewel lying on blue-green silk it matches the sea which surrounds it here by all other sides. The beautiful Northern Gate, ornamented with blue shining tiles, welcomes the traveler.

Roads and Places:
But lets now take a look at roads and places of major importance:

Tritan's Glory (The Glory)
From the Northern gate, the Desert Gate, a broad road is leading straight down to the other side of the town, ending at the Southern Gate leading to the Temple of Water which is situated on an island at the southernmost point of Strata. This road is named "Tritan's Glory", but most times simply refered to it as "The Glory". Magnificent houses which compete in height and ornamentation are lined up on both sides. Here are the houses of the most important and wealthiest citizens of the town. Having a house here means having prestige.

The Westring (Merchant's Lane)
There are three other roads in Strata worth seeing. The one is the western street, officially called "The Westring", but commonly the "Merchant's Lane", leading away from the Northern Gate along the wall, with the houses sitting on the wall as soon as the street meets the sea. These houses are very beautiful as well, though they can�t compete with those on the Glory. They belong to the less influential, but nevertheless wealthy citizens. Here you find the merchants which don�t necessaryly own a ship, but order goods and sell it again in the market district near the harbour. The houses on the right side, those sitting on the town wall, are however more prized than the ones on the other side , due to their magnificent view of the western sea. Some of the people who gained power and influence to buy a house in the Glory miss this view. Especially here you might live on the wrong side of the street.

Tritan's Pride (The Pride)
Dividing the city in the other direction, nearly in two equally big parts, is the road called "Tritan's Pride", or just "The Pride", leading from the West Outlook to the Harbour Gate. From then on it goes straight on to the docks, though now it is called just Harbour Street once passed the door. The Pride is the Street where Strata displays its glory and wealth. There are the shops where silver, gold and jewellery from all over the world are displayed. Here you can find the finest cloths, pearls, scarlet rubite gems, and it is said that once there was the feather of a phoenix sold to an exorbitant price.

The East Ring (Thief's Lane)
There is the East ring left to mention. Though the houses are nearly as tall as in the other roads, they are simpler in ornamentation, maybe less cared for, but the northern part of the road is by far the busiest street. Though officially called the East Ring it is nevertheless commonly known as the "Thief's Lane". Here tiny shops are next to the single room a craftsman uses to display his skills, followed by a tavern. Here you get all the goods which are available in the shops at the harbour market as well, but here they are smaller, cheaper. You might also find items you wouldn't dare to ask for at another place. The southern part of the east ring is quieter, only a few shops, craftsmen and taverns which meet the need of the citizens are found here. Malicious tongues call this part "The Thief's Rest" which is surely unfair in the eyes of most of the people living there, who say that the ones living in the Westring are the bigger thieves, taking too high prizes for valued goods, just that nobody can blame them for it. The honourable craftsmen living and working in this street are of course unhappy about the name and work hard to be able to afford a tiny shop elsewhere.

The Central Place
Where "The Glory" meets the "The Pride", the famous central place of Strata can be found. Here the ...trees frame the place as they run down in the middle of every of the four main roads, but the most impressive sight is the huge Dar'ii tree in the middle of the place which is said has already been growing here when the refugees arrived. Its treetop provides a huge canopy for all the people who meet there and if ever any harm should hit it the Stratanians would see this as a very bad omen.

The place is circular, with the Dar'ii tree in its middle and divided through the Glory and the Pride, which bend here, leading around the place in front of the houses, their trees forming a perfect circle.

Four temples are located around the place, devoted to the four elements and eight big houses belonging to the most prominent citizen of Strata. The temples are distributed equally, in the middle of two of the houses respectively. Though a special element has a prominent place in these temples, Efreet f.e. in the temple of the Gods connected with the Element Fire, the other three elements have a place where followers can worship them as well. This way Strata has a place for everybody to worship his God, if he/she belongs to the well known Gods of Gaia.

The eight houses belong to the eight most important and influential people in Strata. They have therefore a special function for the community. The rooms of the lowest story facing the place are open for the public. There free water and simple food is served for all who have a business in there at the cost of the house owner.
So these are meeting places out of the sun for the upper classes of Strata.

Other streets
Eight small lanes devide the four quaters of the town. They are starting all at the central place, running along the side of one of the four temples and are continuing fairly straight till they meet the outer rings. It is said that the first Stratanians wanted to greet the sun after their settlement by building their streets in a way that they would resemble the rays of the sun.

History:
Many ages ago, a group of refugees reached the sea after a long travel from the north. They founded a new city at the place where they saw the sun rise for the first time. The remnants of the Temple of Efreet currently still remind of these events: the citizens errected the temple to honour this elemental guardian, their guide in dark days.

But there's more to the location of the city. When reaching Cape Strata the refugees stumbled upon the ruins of an old and forgotten civilization. It is thought that they belonged to the same time as the ruins found in Nybelmar, stemming from war fought over two thousand years ago. The ruins of the city were long abandoned, but a system of large sewers was found intact under the ground, as well as some crippled walls and most striking a lighthouse of huge dimensions. The legend goes that a tribe of giants once lived here, but this was never confirmed. The only thing known is that the ground was considered cursed, and the world in general was therefore astonished when they heard that the refugees had settled at the cursed grounds.

Not believing the stories, the refugees continued their constructions and soon a small town formed above the ruins of old. Not long thereafter the first constructions for the harbour where started, and it was finished at the same time as the temple devoted to Efreet. Now the first fishing ships sailed out over the waters and thus started the seafaring nation of Stratania. In the centuries following the population would suffer several catastrophes, but they always managed to recovered. The will to survive was stronger in the newly founded city of Strata.

The Barthavos Mercenaries
An elite mercenary army which exists soley for the protection and employment of the City of Strata. If it wasn't for these Mercs, the Desert would have long since claimed Strata.

The Dar'ii Rebellion
Started out as a Clan in the Desert before city began, as time passed the clan grew to that of a Small Desert Town that still had Nomadic abilitiy, then Strata came and started to threaten their way of life. One clansman, noticed that they clans were starting to dwindle, that they would stand more of a chance united than seperate against the advances of the City.