Upper Menthis
"Upper Menthis is where Sharn goes to learn something, and more importantly, where Sharn goes to be seen learning something." — Jorin Aven, Morgrave adjunct
Upper Menthis is the polished crown of the Menthis Plateau: Morgrave University at its center, and a ring of theaters, fine shops, and comfortable residences built around the traffic and commerce the university generates. It draws academics, students, scribes, and patrons from across Breland and beyond, and it keeps a steady stream of coin moving through restaurants, bookshops, outfitters, and services aimed at people who read contracts before they sign them.
The ward is Sharn's "respectable entertainment" register — high-profile stages and curated nightlife that still feel like Menthis, but with better security, better lighting, and enough standards that you can bring a colleague without incident. It is lively without being chaotic, expensive without being purely upper-ward exclusive, and intellectually ambitious in a way that is, if you look closely, frequently more about the appearance of ambition than its substance. Morgrave University is not the most prestigious university in the Five Nations; the University of Wynarn's administrators have described it as "an institute of learning, relic hunting, and grave robbing," and the criticism has more basis than Morgrave's leadership publicly acknowledges.
The ward's council representative, Thurik Davandi, is a gnome tailor specializing in glamerweave who gained his council seat through flattery and blackmail.
Demographics
Upper Menthis is one of the more diverse wards in Sharn by demographic composition, the university drawing a mix of races and national origins that integrates more completely than the city's ethnic neighborhoods. Students from across Khorvaire bring food preferences, cultural practices, and ideological commitments; the Commons, an open-air plaza near the top of one of the campus towers where food vendors set up daily, is the best single location in Sharn to sample the breadth of Khorvaire's cuisines.
Morgrave University
Morgrave University is the largest educational institution in Sharn and the defining feature of the ward. Its campus occupies the center of the University District in a cluster of towers anchored by Dalannan Tower, whose higher levels contain the Dezina Museum of Antiquities, the Morgrave Library, and Lareth Hall — the administrative dome at the very top, named after the university's founder, Lord Lareth ir'Morgrave, where the university president's offices are located and where Flamewind has taken up residence in a large chamber within the dome.
The university's reputation is genuinely complicated. Its collections of Xen'drik artifacts and Dhakaani historical material are unparalleled in Khorvaire; for scholars of those subjects, no institution compares. The Great Hall of Aureon — the university's temple to the god of knowledge — is a pilgrimage site for scholars across Breland, and its clergy encompasses experts, wizards, loremasters, bards, and clerics, with no distinction by class or field. At the same time, it is an open secret that valuable artifacts routinely disappear from the Dezina Museum's vaults and reach the black market or the Aurum, and that some professors, faculty, and students have ties to smugglers and thieves. Larrian ir'Morgrave, the current university president, has issued periodic statements promising reform; no substantive action has followed.
Shava House, a small academic community on campus originally built as faculty housing, has developed into an intentional community with a shared interest in Xen'drik history. One of its members, Dala Arand, presents as an enthusiastic expedition planner while actually serving as a spy for the Order of the Emerald Claw.
Flamewind
The gynosphinx Flamewind arrived in Sharn with the Carradan Party in 996 YK, brought back from Xen'drik after the expedition discovered her in the ruins of an ancient giant city. She said she had been waiting for them to bring her to "the land of the fiends" — an explanation that satisfied no one — and requested residence at Morgrave University, where she now spends most of her time in the libraries and museums.
Flamewind is one of the few non-dragons known to have studied the Draconic Prophecy, and she possesses oracular powers that she exercises entirely on her own schedule and terms. She cannot be pressed for information; she gives what she wants, when she wants, and never explains her cryptic proclamations. She does not provide information on mundane matters. She will, unexpectedly, summon adventurers and send them on missions whose purpose is rarely clear at the time. She is, functionally, the most important individual in Upper Menthis for anyone involved in the Prophecy or Xen'drik — and she is entirely indifferent to that fact.
Den'iyas and Its Intrigues
Den'iyas is nominally the gnome neighborhood of Upper Menthis, though barely ten percent of Sharn's gnome population actually lives there. Its gnome residents cleave to traditional customs and have little interest in integration with the broader city. What the district does is run schemes. There are usually a dozen subtle power struggles ongoing between the major families at any given time, and even the most innocuous interaction may be part of an elaborate intrigue. Information is available here in quantity — but those with secrets should be careful, because the gnomes of Den'iyas collect them professionally.
Davandi Fine Tailoring anchors the district's commercial identity. Its owner is the ward's city councilor, who specializes in glamerweave and is one of the finest tailors in Sharn. His darkweave supply arrangement with the Boromar Clan is not known to the district's other residents, which says something about the limits of even Den'iyas's information network when the person withholding information is sufficiently careful and sufficiently connected.
The Khavish Theater, one of four upscale theaters in Upper Menthis, operates in Den'iyas and caters specifically to gnome-sized audiences — the only major theater in Sharn with seating designed for Small races. Two troupes share the stage: the Khavish Players, largely human, and the Zilargo Repertoire Group, entirely gnome.
Districts
Den'iyas (Gnome neighborhood) — Also called Little Zilargo, this district is the ward's most insular and most politically active. The gnome families who live here maintain traditional Zilargo customs, conduct constant low-level intrigue with each other, and are collectively excellent at acquiring and using information. The Khavish Theater and Davandi Fine Tailoring are its most prominent public-facing establishments. Those with secrets should be cautious; those seeking information should bring coin and patience.
Ivy Towers (Average residential) — A quiet, unremarkable residential district notable primarily for housing a significant portion of Morgrave University's faculty. Professors who find the campus towers too noisy or the Platinate too expensive settle in Ivy Towers, which provides comfortable addresses at prices that a mid-career academic can afford. It offers nothing remarkable and requires nothing of its residents.
Platinate (Wealthy residential) — The ward's upscale residential district: large, well-kept townhomes displaying clear signs of wealth, with servants moving about on their employers' business and guards posted at many doors. It is not as exclusive as Mithral Tower in Upper Central or the manor districts of Upper Northedge, but it is unambiguously wealthy — the home of successful merchants, senior academics, and professionals who have risen past the point where Ivy Towers is adequate.
Seventh Tower (Fine shops) — The ward's commercial district for quality goods and specialist vendors. Seventh Tower is particularly known for Little Xen'drik, a collection of galleries whose owners buy and sell artifacts, curiosities, and goods from Xen'drik — the commercial counterpart to Morgrave's academic focus on the same material. Restaurants and shops here run comfortable to wealthy quality, and the district is the place in Upper Menthis to spend money on something that will last.
University (University district) — The campus towers of Morgrave University and the commercial, residential, and institutional infrastructure that has grown up around them. The Dezina Museum of Antiquities, the Morgrave Library, the Great Hall of Aureon, and Lareth Hall are the main structures; surrounding buildings provide student housing, academic-oriented shops and services, and the four major theaters that have established Upper Menthis as the city's high-end entertainment destination. The Art Temple, the Grand Stage, and the Kavarrah Concert Hall are all here. The Commons is the best place in Sharn for diverse cuisine.