Lexi (149:24)
It's probably the fact that she's immortal, and we still don't know exactly how that is possible. We'll save all that speculation for episode five, along with lots more about Madra and the trifecta and all of that. As a way to protect herself and her position of power, Madra took all the metal she could get her hands on to keep quicksilver away from people. Because remember that quicksilver can be within metals, right? There was traces of quicksilver in Haran's dagger. She has taken all of this metal in the chance that alchemist blood shows up. But he again, because you see, Madra is very paranoid. About magic users. People like Seras think that magic is mythical and at best extinct if it ever existed. But Madra knows that they are still out there, and she's also paranoid about the Fae coming back. Though as far as anyone else in Sylvarin knows, the Fae are scary bedtime stories. They're not real. At least not anymore. According to Madra, the seven cities, assumably Cities of Zavarin, rejoiced when she came, cast the Fae out, and sealed the Quicksilver portal. Like Nicole mentioned earlier, we know from the UK Waterstone bonus chapter that on the night of Madra's coronation, she had 1,200 alchemists who were all Fae burned alive. While she dined and partied, she literally exterminated all of the magic users from her realm, moving on to the city here. Zolvarin City has several nicknames, including the Silver City and the Great and Shadow Shining Banner of the North. For thousands of years, the wind has slowly been eating away at everything in the city. The sandstone is deceptive. The city's structures and walls look sound, but are far from it. One hard kick has been known to bring down an entire building in the past. The center of the city is called the Hub. This is where Queen Madra's elite live. Low tier citizens like Sarah's from the Third are not permitted in this pristine part of the city. The walkways of the Hub are light with leafy trees, which is a stark difference to the sand dunes on the outer wards. And these are the only people rich enough to afford windows. They don't even have to lock their doors at night, which is unimaginable for other wards. Many citizens in the Hub and throughout Zolvarin are known as Believers. They are Maga's fanatical followers who carry small bags on their belts, and in these bags are strands of the Queen's hair and ash from the funeral pyres of sacrifices of people burned alive in her honor. These pouches of are supposed to ward off the plague. Like most cities, Zavarin City is fashioned after the shape of a wheel. Around the city's outer limits are the different spokes. These spokes are walls designed to keep people contained in their wards. These walls tower 50 meters high above the small towns and overflowing sewers. We don't have much of any information on the other wards, or even how many there are. I gathered that the Third Ward is in some of the worst conditions, especially with the quarantine propaganda, but the other low tier wards aren't in much better shape. What we do know about any Ward is that the dead are left to rot in the streets of these other lower tier wards. Again, this is not including the Hub or probably the other nicer areas. During extra hard and hot years, food is not diverted from the Hub to help the other parts of the city, leaving the Wards to slowly starve while the Hubs still throws lavish parties and dines on exotic imports, including expensive rare wines and whiskey. Whiskeys from pastures well beyond Hayland. Hayland kind of kept popping up a little bit. So I'm going to keep an eye on this other region within Zolvarin. Then we have the Third Ward, where Sarris lives. Residents of the Third Ward are quarantined, like we were mentioning earlier, but technically there is no punishment for leaving the Third, as no one has done it before besides Seras. Before it was quarantined, farmers would come to the Ward to trade. The only way to survive the Third is by barter and trade, or by whispering secrets about a neighbor into a Guardian's ear. It is well known as a resident of the Third, if you aren't dead or dying, then you're hungry, and there isn't much a starving person would not say to fill their empty belly. At least one disease that exists among the almost dead here is the rattles, which is what Saris pretends that she has to the guard. The propaganda around the quarantine is to stroke fear and further oppress the residents so they eventually die off. However, as Sarah says, quote, under the most unbearable conditions that the sharpest, most dangerous weapons are found afford fresh food is impossible to find. Children have been known to claw each other's eyes out over stale bread. Those streets are lined with crumbling sandstone houses and covered in market stalls selling everything from stringy roasted meats and swaths of cloth to pungent herbal remedies from the north. Faded posters hang in alleyways promising hefty rewards for any information leading to the capture of suspected magic users. I also wonder if that's going to come back in our story. There's also no such thing as a casual jog in Zelvarin. The people here conserve energy as best they can, so it's known that if someone is running, there is only one reason they're being chased. And if they hear a tortured scream, it's a guarantee that a Guardian is taking liberties or spilling blood. Water in the city is strictly rationed, and we know, at least in the Third Ward, citizens only get six ounces a day, and the water they do get is dirty and only has most of the solids filtered. Residents in the Hub, however, don't need to worry about these water rations. They get as much fresh clean water as they want. As for Madra's palace, I know Nicole already talked about the all important hall of mirrors where the Quicksilver pool is. But a little bit more on it is that the pool is 15ft wide and has been still for more than a thousand years until Ceres just woke it up by drawing the sword out of it. But for the rest of the palace, we know that it sprawls out with all vaulted ceilings, arched alcoves and life paintings of stern looking people who Seras presumes is Madra's predecessors. There are cells under Madra's palace that get excruciatingly hot. The condition of the cells with no water, clean air and reeking of the smell of rotting corpses is bad enough to make even the High Executioner throw up. According to Seras, even just eight minutes in the cells is too long to be down there. Especially during the reckoning when the two suns are at their hottest point. Also under the city is a network of dark tunnels that carry water to the different wards which people like Seras will risk their lives to enter and siphon clean water from. Knowing how to access this water has been instrumental in survival. Let's talk about the Guardians a little bit. Queen Madra's pride demands that her guards be the best of the very best. They are killing machines. Recruits undergo formidable training before being accepted into Queen Madra's guard. Those who are selected from the grueling 18 months month program are repeatedly half drowned and beaten via every martial arts system recorded in the city's libraries. By the time they graduate, they are able to tolerate unimaginable amounts of pain and have mastered their weapons to the point that they are unbeatable in a fight. Queen Madra's Guardians not only have the best skills, they also have to look the best. Guardians are known for wearing gold armor that is impenetrable by blade or magic. I wonder if that's going to come back into play too. But this arm armor is incredibly heavy, leaving Guardians unable to run, jog or climb. So yep, looks fancy. And the point is to show off the sense of wealth instead of having practical uses. If the Guardians aren't pounding on doors, checking to make sure people aren't making weapons, then they are kicking them down. Hunting for magic users, they occasionally visit Elroy's glass making forge to ensure he is not Making weapons or anything illegal. It's common knowledge in Sylvarian City that to lie to a guardian means death. Just a few other super random facts too, is that spiders are plentiful here in Zvarin. Some the size of dinner plates that'll eat your fingers when you're sleeping. Like, oh, my goodness gracious. And like we already mentioned, dark hair and blue eyes is not common in the Silver City.
