Humans are by far the most common race in the city.
When the players first encounter the city it is the year 721 IA
(Imperial Age). They arrive on the 5th of Birth (5-5-721)
• The Ptolus year has 364 days, with twelve months and a seven-day
week.
• The Ptolus climate is cool, with many overcast or rainy days.
• Commoner men typically wear white shirts and vests, sometimes with
a wide lapeled coat. Hats are frequently worn. They usually keep
their hair short and their faces clean shaven.
• Commoner women wear dresses, often covered with an apron. They
wear their hair long, sometimes styled up.
• The typical commoner earns 1 to 3 sp per day. A silver piece is
often called a “shield” or a “shiny.”
• There are no banks, as such, but you can rent out a small personal
vault to store your valuables at places such as Hammersong Vaults in
Oldtown.
• Buildings have glass windows that hinge open.
• Most buildings, but not all of them, have indoor plumbing,
including privies that pump water in via hand pumps and drain it
away into the city sewers.
• You can hire a messenger to carry notes and packages anywhere in
the city. This typically costs 1 sp per delivery. There is also a
magical messenger service.
• Carriages are widely available for hire to take you wherever you
want to go. This service costs about 1 sp per trip.
• While no stranger to magic or monsters, the typical Ptolusite
fears the undead rumored to stir in the Necropolis. Even more real,
however, are fears of thieves, fire, and plague.
• The Ptolus City Watch is extremely competent. Despite this fact,
the city has a terrible crime problem.
• Ratmen live in the sewers.
• Rumors speak of Cults of Chaos finding new members about the city
these days.
• Imperial law requires that everyone carries identification papers.
Written law favors citizens over noncitizens, but practical law
favors the upper classes over the lower.
• Spells that make people do things they normally wouldn’t, like
charm person, are illegal in Ptolus. So are spells that create
undead or spread plague.
• Most shops and places of business stay open as long as the sun is
up, which means that business hours are longer in the summer than in
the winter. Many are open seven days a week.