Re: King's Landing: Streets
From the main thoroughfares to the smallest back alleys, the streets of King’s landing—like any great city—are the scaffolding around which the rest of the city is built. In some cases, the streets are straight, safe, and easy to navigate, but at other times, they’re crooked, dangerous, and cramped. Depending on the time of day and the part of the city, the characteristics of a single street could vary widely along its course.
Most streets in King’s Landing are unpaved and muddy. High-traffic streets and lower-class alleys tend to be the most worn or dirtiest, but the entire city becomes quite sloppy in a good rain. There are certainly streets and squares, particularly in the wealthier areas, paved with cobblestone, stone, or even brick, but they are the exception.
The quality of the streets and their heavy traffic often makes it difficult to get around. Even a short trip, such as from the Red Keep at the top of Aegon’s Hill to a place on the backside of Rhaenys’s Hill can take a litter about an hour when the streets are busy. The same trip on foot or by horse would go faster, but even that is a significant amount of time, considering the distance covered.
The naming conventions of the city are simple, but they do vary a bit. Streets are typically named for whatever sort of business predominates, which also makes it easy to get an idea of what the streets are like. For instance, the Street of Steel hosts a large number of smiths and their forges. As such, it may be crowded with sellswords, knights with their squires, stablehands, criminals, guards, builders, or just about anyone else looking for nails, horseshoes, arms, armor, or any other piece of worked metal. In addition, the shops are littered with weapons and armor of all sorts, and most of the customers and shop owners are men of varying ages. The street and much of the surrounding area smells of burning wood, charcoal, and hot steel. The forges are hot and made humid by dirty tubs and barrels of water used to quench the smith’s items while they work. The walkways are slightly louder than most other places in the city due to the addition of the clanging and pounding of smiths crafting their goods, and inside the forges it’s even louder.
Major Streets of Note
The Hook
Curving out from the Muddy Way, the Hook cuts through the heart of the city and leads up Aegon’s High Hill.
Muddy Way
This broad street runs from the Mud Gate to a large square at the center of the city. The Fishmonger's Square, a market square just inside the Mud Gate.
River Row
Street of Steel
Street of the Sisters
Minor Streets of Note
In addition, there are a myriad of paths, side streets, and alleys, some named and others not. A selection of the more notable follow.
Coppersmith’s Wynd
This street was most likely named for the coppersmiths that do business along it.
Eel Alley
This alley is located halfway up Visenya’s Hill. The most notable feature is a rambling old inn with large, airy rooms. A suspicious, sour, old crone owns it.
Pigrun Alley
An alley at the foot of Aegon’s High Hill, Pigrun is packed with stone-and-timber buildings that lean so badly their upper stories nearly touch the buildings across the street.
Pisswater Bend
A street in Flea Bottom.
Shadowblack Lane
A twisty street leading up to the foot of Aegon’s High Hill.
Sowbelly Row
A lower-class street of the city.
Street of Looms
A street named for the community of weavers working here.
Street of Flour
This street was named for the many bakeries that line it. Just below the Street of Flour is the maze of streets that make up Flea Bottom.
Street of Seeds
This street leads from the Gate of the Gods, passes by brothels, bakers, alleys, and then passes through Cobbler’s Square before ending at the Red Keep.
Street of Silk
Located behind Rhaenys’s Hill, the Street of Silk is lined with a wide range (in terms of price and quality) of brothels.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:59, Fri 29 Aug 2014.
