Sogolotha Mambrola, the Queen of Cities, the Jewel of the West, the City of Brass, was founded in mythical times by the ancient Waertagi, as a dry-dock for their immense city ships. They made a pact with the Brithini to rule the city, while they plied the seas in their Dragonships and brought such trade and riches to Sog to make it the greatest port in the world of the Second Age. The native green-skins of the city's North Quarter, who live in and around the gigantic ruins of the old dry-dock are the ancient Waertagi's descendants.

In 922 ST, the last great Waertagi Dragonship to berth at the dry-dock was wrecked by the Closing and the thousands of crew were marooned in Sog. Unlike the ancient ancestors of the original Sogolothans, these Waertagi had a somewhat bluer hue to their skin; their descendants, the "blues", now predominate in the Dragonbone Quarter around the relics of their destroyed vessel. Despite their shared origins, there is little love lost between the "greens" and "blues"; their enmity is played out in the annual Boat Races. Although a colourful event, and a highlight for any traveller, more than once this decade the city has been wracked by rioting in a Boat Race's wake.

Sog City, as it has come to be known, is situated on a vast, vaguely triangular peninsula jutting out into the mouth of Janube; an invulnerable fortress protected on two sides by sea, on the land side by its mighty seven-tiered walls, and, finally, its immortal Brithini overlords. Or so the native Sogolothans constantly say to reassure themselves, for the sack of the city by Harrek the Berserk four years ago, showed that neither sea nor walls were invincible, and that time the Brithini blithely withdrew behind their citadel's walls of red-hot brass and waited for the raiders to withdraw. However, a new threat now menaces the ancient city: the Kingdom of War which, since it emerged from the Ban seven years ago, has slowly cuts its bloody swathe down the Janube and now threatens the neighbouring province of Junora. Refugees flood into the city from up-river, bearing tales of blood and atrocity, and add to the vast cosmopolitan stew that makes up the city's population. While these immigrants have a view of the future that is often grim and fatalistic, others in the city are caught up in the fervour of the Cult of Ship and City, and believe that their salvation shall not come from Brithini sorcery or solid walls, but from across the ocean.

At the apex of its power and prestige in the Second Age, Sog City could boast a population of more than half-a-million souls, the greatest metropolis in the world. In its heyday, the city burst out from the confines of its walls and sprawled in all directions, even across the river. Many of these suburbs were razed during Harrek's sack, and Sog-across-the-water has now been rebuilt as the prosperous port of Pinchgut, an enclave firmly under the control of the Kingdom of Loskalm and deliberately aloof from Sog's controversies and cares. Sog-beyond-the-walls now consists of a number of small villages and towns, often clustered around an ancient mansion, church or monument, but set apart from each other by open tracts of land. With the encroaching Kingdom of War, many of those living beyond the walls are either investing in walled defences of their own, or moving into the city. Though in its greatest days the city within had been full of parks and gardens, visitors will be surprised to discover that like the suburbs, Sog-inside-the-walls now consists of concentrated pockets of population, often surrounded by derelict, burnt-out and abandoned buildings, and divided by religious and ethnic loyalties. The population within the walls is now estimated to be less than a quarter of what it was at Sog's peak.

The decline in Sogolotha Mambrola's fortunes came about due the cataclysmic effects of the Closing. With the Closing and the downfall of the God Learner Empire Sog's status as the greatest seaport in the world was destroyed, and the city fell into a rapid decline it has never recovered from.

Despite this, Sog has always remained a place of pilgrimage, and holds many wonders and sights for the intrepid traveller. With the Closing recently lifted, and sea trade once again possible, Sog is undergoing something of a resurgence of optimism, and the melancholy of 700 years of decline is rapidly being turned around (even with the looming threat of the Kingdom of War ever on the horizon). We at Lonely Lozenge Guide Scrolls highly recommend a visit to the Queen of Cities on any journey West.

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