Archades

Archades is the capitol city of the Archadian Empire which rules over most of Ivalice in Final Fantasy XII. The modern city of Archades is built on the poor, and the ruins of older cities. There are only two ways into the city of Archades. The most common way is via airship. This method is patrolled for trouble by the Archadian Judges. The second way is up through the Sochen Temple, into old Archades and across the bridge into Archades proper.

Archades
Archades is peopled by the rich and arrogant, especially fitting for the imperial seat. The peoples are not interested in money or what money can buy. They are nore interested in reputation. By doing good deeds the people of Archades earn chops from each other. This allows the ones giving the chops to feel superior, and the ones earning them to display their good reputation. a traveler must have chops to travel anywhere in the city via air taxi. There are no poor within the city of Archades proper all of the poor find themselves in Old Archades. Dr. Cid bases all of his research out of the Draklor Laboratories, found within the city.

Old Archades
Old Archades is where all of the poor and destitute from Archades wind up. It is run down and barely patrolled by the Judges. The Judges are more interested in keeping the poor in their place. The only way into Archades is with money, so all of the inhabitants dream of finding a way to earn enough to see them safely into Archades. Where chops are the most important trade item in Archades, information is the most important in old Archades. If there's one way to get ahead it is by finding out as much information as possible to make the way up into Archades through gaining fortune. Old Archades is built on the ruins of the Sochen Palace.

Sochen Palace
Sochen Palace is an ancient palace overrun with undead, bats, imps and other nasty creatures. The only royalty currently residing within the temple are a family of Mandragoras led by the Onion Queen. These Mandragoras have caused problems for hunters in the Archadian wilderness. Several ancient and powerful creatures are locked away in the depths of the Sochen.

Draklor Laboratories
The Draklor Labs are the home point of Dr. Cid. He uses these facilities to create more and more powerful airships for the Archadian fleets. He also uses these facilities to create Manufacted Nethicite. The Laboratories are actually a series of rooms on multiple floors. Each floor has a garrison of Judges on it, as well as several smaller labs manned by Imperial scientists. The top floor houses Cid's personal open air lab.