Dhakira: City of Memory

Alexandria 1900 ~☆~ SAND

"Of Sand and Sun, Sea and Shadows"'

Description

As a very old city, most of Alexandria shows the former glory of the city prior to the bombing by the British. The Dreamscape is moderate, and most people dream of the breezes that come off the Mediterrainian sea. At the outer edges of the city are ancient buildings that stand empty, made of stone. In the waking world they reside under the water, but in the Dreamscape, Kallisto keeps them solid and dry. The Library of Alexandria stands against a constant late afternoon sun. Other parts of the city can be seen at night, but a late afternoon sun shines in the Dreamscape there.

The Five Quarters of the City

Heliopolis

Heliopolis is the the western most district, the two harbors, the Heptastadion and the Lighthouse of Pharos. Countless ships in the styles of ancient Greece and Rome lie at anchor here, some drift from place to place while others are docked to be loaded or unloaded. Closest to the docks is the Grand Marketplace where dreaming mortals and Oneiroi haggle and trade goods both mundane and fantastic. And here the Library of Alexander still stands with its endless racks of scrolls hidden partially in shadow while half seen forms flit among the twilight columns. The entire district is lit by the hot afternoon rays of a sun that refuses to set.

• Eastern & Western Harbors
• Grand Marketplace
• Heptastadion - The giant causeway that links Heliopolis with Pharos Island.
• Library of Alexander
• Lighthouse of Pharos

• Royal Palaces of Alexandria -- filling the northeast angle of the town and occupying the promontory of Lochias, which shut in the Great Harbour on the east. Lochias (the modern Pharillon). In the real world this area has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, together with the palaces, the "Private Port", and the island of Antirrhodus. There has been a land subsidence here, as throughout the northeast coast of Africa.
• Great Theater of Alexandria -- Located on the modern Hospital Hill near the Ramleh station. This was used by Julius Caesar as a fortress, where he withstood a siege from the city mob after he took Egypt after the battle of Pharsalus.
• The Poseidon, or Temple of the Sea God, close to the theater
• The Timonium built by Marc Antony
• The Emporium (Exchange)
• The Apostases (Magazines)
• The Navalia (Docks), lying west of the Timonium, along the seafront as far as the mole
• Behind the Emporium rose the Great Caesareum, by which stood the two great obelisks which became known as "Cleopatra's Needles" and were transported to New York City and London. This temple became, in time, the Patriarchal Church, though some ancient remains of the temple have been discovered. The actual Caesareum, the parts not eroded by the waves, lies under the houses lining the new seawall.
• The Gymnasium and the Palaestra are both inland, near the Boulevard de Rosette in the eastern half of the town; sites unknown.
• The Temple of Saturn; North and slightly west of the Rosetta Gate.
• The Mausolea of Alexander (Soma) and the Ptolemies in one ring-fence, near the point of intersection of the two main streets.
• The Musaeum with its famous Library and theater in the same region; site unknown.
• The Serapeum of Alexandria, the most famous of all Alexandrian temples. Strabo tells that this stood in the west of the city; and recent discoveries go far as to place it near "Pompey's Pillar", which was an independent monument erected to commemorate Diocletian's siege of the city.
• To the south and east of the Serapeum is a quaint, restrained stone building known to be the Temple of Harpocratis.
• The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is little information as to their actual position. None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the eastern point of Pharos island. There, The Great Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, reputed to be 138 m (453 ft) high, was situated. The first Ptolemy began the project, and the second Ptolemy (Ptolemy II Philadelphus) completed it, at a total cost of 800 talents. It took 12 years to complete and served as a prototype for all later lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and the tower was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, making it the second longest surviving ancient wonder, after the Great Pyramid of Giza. A temple of Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole.

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Menouthis

The ancient Egyptian quarter of Dhakira.

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Canopus

The Western quarter of Dhakira often called the "Dark Quarter" for the district is perpetually nocturnal.

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Heracleion

The Eastern quarter of Dhakira often called the "Drowned Quarter" for the flooding that inundates its watery streets. Imagine a middle eastern Venice.

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Iskandaria

The Islamic district of Dhakira.

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Bonaparte

The European, essentially French district of Dhakira.

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Personages

-- The Man in the Mask:

Ommena El-Ghoula -- The Ghul-Witch

Abu Regl Masloukha -- The Burned Man

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