Ini Palel lies closer to the Twisted Lands than most Adantri care to live, and there is a tendency to blame the wickedness of the city--for it is very wicked--on the influence of that magic-damned land; surely, they say, no Adantri could be that wicked naturally! There are ruins on the hills to the east of the city, and some say that in the distant days before the blight of chaos magic fell on the Twisted Lands, a city stood there beside which Ini Palel of today is but a shadow. Certainly the ruins are extensive, but they are also somehow uncanny--misshapen, unstable in appearance, often touched by strange unaccountable lights. It must be a matter of significance that the people of Ini Palel, who loot cursed tombs with enthusiasm and skill, have refused to explore these ruins.

This small city is the center of the criminal world of Lirith Kai, though proof is lacking--could the city's guilt be established, surely the Emperor would see it destroyed and this blot on the Empire wiped out. Smuggling throughout the Empire is controlled from here; the headquarters of the mighty Beggars' Guild is here; some believe that the headquarters of the forbidden clan Clawmoon is here also. Here, also, is found the cruel custom of pit-fighting, in which slaves and petty criminals are set fighting each, with the fights going always to the death--often to the death of both fighters.

At present, the Emperor makes no attempt to control the crime and violence within Ini Palel, but only to restrict it to that city.

Ini Palel is ruled by Haru tan Skurin, a local lord who calls himself Magistrate though he does not have an Imperial mandate. Since Haru generally keeps the overt violence of the city from spilling out into the rest of the Empire, his pretensions are tolerated.