| Bête Noire |
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Bête Noire is a volcano on the "dark side" of Kalijor. The volcano sits in the northeast corner of the plain of sorrow and looks as though it belongs anywhere but. The summit of the volcano is nearly three-thousand feet high and it is quite active, constantly spewing forth great black clouds of soot and ash. In the shadow of this beast, on its eastern side stands a city that takes its name from the beast itself. The city of Bête Noire is considered by most of the world to be an ‘evil’ city where all those of the less honorable professions are welcomed with open arms. The city is large, almost as large as Rathalon, with a low wall surrounding it that is punctuated frequently by large gates that are almost always open. The architecture of the city varies wildly and can probably be best describes as eclectic, with construction materials ranging from mud to wood, stone, metal, crystal, and glass. Structures vary in size from large five and six story buildings to tiny, single room hovels. There is no government in Bête Noire per se, rather it is overseen by a loose conglomeration of the merchants and profiteers that stand to gain, or loose, the most in the city’s day to day operations. This loose conglomeration takes regular meetings that move around, each member playing host in their own shop/facility at some point, and they hold authority over a form of ‘brute squad’ composed of local thugs and hit men, that is used to carry out any of their less popular mandates.