To the far North West of Onnen deep within the waters of the Acholi Sea lays the mermaid city of Igbo. Outside of the city itself lay a forest of coral and coral gardens.
Igbo, the Mermaid City and Igbo Castle
An ancient and sprawling underwater city, Igbo has been slowly spreading over the centuries in a sort of pinwheel shape. The central point of the city is the massive castle located at the middle, sitting on top of a natural underwater shelf. Dome topped towers dominate the 'skyline' around the castle, created from quarry stone from long ago, it's a beautiful building indeed, more so given that is stretches almost to the surface in its height. Inside there are impressive frescoes and mosaics in the walls and ceilings telling the stories and legends of Igbo and its people over the centuries.
For those that visiting the city from the surface on diplomatic matters there are staterooms that have been specially made for surface dwellers in mind. These rooms have no water in them, thanks to magic keeping the water out, but of course, have fresh air in them thanks to some surface plants that have been brought down to make people feel a little more comfortable. There are no staircases in the castle, or in any building, just openings for people to swim up and down between each level. For those that are surface dwellers, special magical masks can be used to help breath under the water but you should still have to swim to get around the castle.
Out in the city itself life, truly, flourishes. The locals live in harmony with the sea life that swims around, fish and other marine life can be found all over the city acting like they aren't near a major population. The mermaids do have measures in place to keep dangerous wildlife out of course, both magical and mundane. The buildings around the city are a mix of material, ranging from corals to quarried stone to built into rock outcrops on the sea floor. Nature is always carefully preserved when buildings are created and a little flora is disturbed as possible, most of it that has to be move gets transplanted to a spot not too far away. Buildings that have more than one floor, like the castle, lack staircases, instead have ports to swim through from floor to floor.
The Eastern district of the city is the main market and entertainment area. In the market you can find almost everything the city has to offer, most of it precious stones and gems, freshly mined and uncut. Jewellery is popular as well and comes in a huge variety of styles, all of it beautiful and finely crafted. Food is in abundance, local dishes and catches from the ocean, kelp and other edible flora and fauna can be found. Some of it is edible to surface dwellers and as long as you act properly the local vendors will help make sure you don't buy something that they believe you can't eat. A stage is set up in this area and there are frequent plays and other entertainment going on throughout the day. Some nights special presentations are played, these are usually more of a darker tone in their narrative than the day time ones, but all usually recount some kind of history of the city or the ocean.
To the West are most of the residential houses. It's rare for any of these houses to have some kind of accommodation for surface dwellers. Houses of all sizes can be found and of all construction material types as well. If you are friends with someone in the city they have a place for you to stay in comfort, otherwise there is little for visitors to see in this area.
The Southern district is where surface dwellers enter the city from the surface from and it is where lodging can be found outside of the castle. Inns and taverns in this area will have their bottom floor, or two floors, flooded with water so that the local workers have an easier time doing their work. After that the magic to block the water is used to keep the rest of the floors from flooding, keeping them dry and full of fresh air with plants brought down from the surface. Ladders extend into the water to allow people to climb up to the first floor that is not flooded, this floor is there to allow people to dry themselves off and change to dry clothing if needed. Conventional staircases lead to the higher floors from there that have the rooms for sleeping in. The rooms are cozy but can be spartan as well. There are some taverns around this area as well that offer the same kind of set ups inside as the inns do.
