Densely packed houses, narrow alleyways, bustling markets, border patrols. This is the Outer City - the living heart of the Sanctuary. Outside of the supposed utopia that is the Inner City, space has been running scarce. The barrier is only so large and mages continue to arrive, year after year. As such you might find that the Outer City somewhat resembles an anthill - twisting, winding paths and cramped alleyways stretching in all directions, traversable only by its inhabitants. The only space you'll find is near the Sanctuary wall, since nobody but the Hunters is insane enough to build their house mere meters away from where monsters try to invade. While the increasing population has taken a toll on the Outer city, at the very least they have an active economy, government, and regulations, which is more than can be said for the Inner City. This city is ruled over by a tense coalition between the mafia and military, the mafia being unable to defeat the military, while the military is unable to control the city without the mafia's help. The Outer Sanctuary is depicted outside the red circle on this map.

The Outer City is a maze. You'll find no real landmarks around here and without the help of a local resident you're more likely to find yourself right back where your started than get to your destination. If you don't know the exact path, perhaps its best you stick to the main road between the Inner City and the Sanctuary entrance.

The Outer City is where trade truly happens. Being the part of the city that actually has an economy, many of the savvy shopowners - mages and non-mages alike, make it their business to sell the miraculous if sometimes useless goods created by the Sanctuary mages to the outside world, and get money and supplies in return.

Sitting almost right between the Inner and Outer City, the Level Head is the one tavern in the Sanctuary where you will find Grounders sitting next to Floaters without them eventually coming to blows. This is not because they don’t dislike each other there, but because the tavern owner is firm on the “no troublemaker policy”. Their beer is second to none and the place is just very homely and nice; it would be an awful shame to get banned from that.

The current owner Edith likes to stress that the Level Head is the first tavern in the city, built by her grandfather, before the first floating house learned to float and there was a division between the two halves of the city. It’s a family tavern and Edith’s granddaughter, the sweet Amalia is currently serving as barmaid. Everyone knows Edith wants her to inherit the place eventually.

Maybe at one point this was purely a military establishment, but now it has evolved into something closer to a government office, with the military taking charge of most public services, supplying food to the Sanctuary and managing local disputes. If there is any problem or query, this is the place to go. Don't worry too much about the thugs posted outside the front doors, after all, the military was never made to manage an entire city and they truly need all the help they can get.

The Hunters have defended the Sanctuary from all outside threats since its inception and even with the military partially taking over that role their resolution has not changed. There is a clear gap between the residential area and the Sanctuary wall, which no one is willing to live in. That is, no one but the Hunters. The barrier of the Sanctuary slopes too low for real houses to be built and monsters tend to get through to this area every once in a while, but that hasn't bothered them. Every facet of their life is dedicated to hunting beasts and defending the Sanctuary, so it should come as no surprise that they decided to settle right next to their workplace.

The barrier is the only reason why the Sanctuary can exist so far from the rest of civilisation, entirely isolated from human threats by obstacles impassable to the magically inept. This barrier drains the life-force of any non-sapient creatures that walk through it. Still, every once in a while some of the more vigorous monsters slip through the barrier and try to find some prey to replenish their lost strength. It is for this reason that mages are always posted at the perimeter towers around the Sanctuary, vigilantly waiting to repel the next attack or greet the next newcomer.