Oct 21, 2015 12:09 am
Ready for a context dump? Here we go...
(Click the map to view larger.)
HEIRWATER, or the River-Spirit City, or Tyrant's Whimsy, or Booktown, or the Royal City of the Heir of the Kingdom of Marka
Population:
About 12,000, mostly humans, with a sizable minority of other races (45%). Professions include beggars and criminals, prisoners, servants, laborers, tradesmen, entertainers, guards, craftsmen, merchants, students, academics, magic-users, nobles, lords, and royalty, with a strong bias towards humans as you rise up the social order.
Region:
A temperate climate, with a tendency toward drizzly, overcast, foggy days. (But plenty of warmer weather mixed in, especially around the summer festival of Riverthanks.) It’s damp, with a persistent smell of pine and damp and wood and stone. Moss has a tendency to grow on the side of stone buildings. The long curve of a River Heirwater follows a gentle valley, with the rest of the city sloping up from the river's bank. Nearby is rambling forest and farmland for miles, with the two low ranges of mountains known as Caiya and Breiya reaching like arms to the northeast and northwest.
Government:
An absolute monarchy, ruled by the Heir of Marka, son of the King of Marka. Heirwater is the crown prince's sovereign domain, to do as he wishes with. In royal tradition, the Heir's success in governing the city will prove his right to rule the kingdom of Marka upon his father's death. The Heir's royal council is made up of three advisors appointed by the King (Tutors of the Heir) and two advisors appointed by the heir (Friends of the Heir). The Tutors and Friends each govern one of the five sections of the city with varying degrees of honesty and severity. The court of the Heir is filled with notables from throughout the city, seeking the favor of the autocrat for their own personal aims.
Defense:
Heirwater is a walled city, with not one but two armies of royal guards protecting its every gate and bridge. The noble houses of Montulet and Fortesqueue were appointed in antiquity to guard the Heir. Each has manors, fortresses, and guards throughout the city, and would protect the Heir to the death... as long as they're not too busy dueling each other over petty squabbles born of their mutual hatred for one another.
Commerce:
In a city the size of Heirwater, commerce thrives—and none more so than the six shops that ring the great market square. "Shops," of course, is a term of antiquity for what have become major forces of trade and repute within the city and the Kingdom at large. The six shops are Bellworthey's (bank and moneylender), The Iron Triangle (arms and metalwork), Mme Allure (fashion and finery), Wonder & Son (magical supplies), Bizar (exotic goods), and the House of Masks (feasting and theater). Each shop not only has a storefront on the market square, but a warehouse on the River Heirwater, from which their goods are imported and exported all throughout the kingdom of Marka.
Organizations:
Heirwater is a godless city, known for worshiping three things only: power, gold, and knowledge. Nowhere is the latter more true than in the Academy of the Heir, the greatest university in the kingdom, rivaling even the houses of lore in the King's City to the south. The Academy was founded for the education of the Heir himself, and has flourished into two immense branches—the College of Magic and the College of Matter. The best and brightest for a thousand leagues come to Heirwater to learn from the masters at the Academy.
History & Culture:
The River Heirwater is said to have been the home of a River Spirit thousands of years ago in the age of legend. As legend has it, Markaz was the name of a terrorizing warlord who was riding up and down in pillage, ravaging the countryside. The River Spirit, hearing this, came to him in the night and seduced him. When he awoke, he was overcome with love and married her on the spot. She helped him establish a peaceful kingdom built on fairness, then died in childbirth. (Some say she didn’t die, but slipped away after the child’s birth because she missed the river, and that she still lives there, influencing the kingdom to this day.) Other versions of this story exist—that he married her before she came to him, that she was his prisoner and escaped after the birth, that she wasn’t a river spirit at all, but a magic pretender who bewitched him. Nobody knows what version is true, but most believe the one above.
To this day, the royal line of Markaz counts water as the most revered of elements, and much of their tradition and symbology has to do with the blood of the River Spirit that is said to flow through their veins. Heirwater was founded on the spot where, according to legend, the River Spirit came to Markaz. In fact, every summer (supposedly on the night of the seduction), a great festival called Riverthanks takes place, with legend stating that whoever touches the central stone of the great market square at midnight will have immeasurable luck in the coming year.
Heirwater, although the second largest city in the kingdom, has a troubled history. It was long ago established as a place where the King's Heir could (upon completing his education) rule with absolute authority, acting on his every whim, to teach him the ways of governance. Unfortunately it has led to wild shifts and surges of power within the city itself, leaving it an unpredictable and dangerous place for those not accustomed to its ever-changing laws. There are known to be at least two professional criminal organizations at work in the city, who thrive in the cracks of chaos left by the swings of authority.
Good advice for newcomers to the city is always the same: first, sleep in a house as close to the market square as you can. Second, don't walk along the river at night, ever. Third, transact your business then move along... in a city like this, staying around isn't for the faint of heart.
Layout:
Heirwater is built like a 5-point star around a bend in the River Heirwater and its single island, called simply "the Hill." The Hill houses the Fortress of the Heir (built on ancient dwarvish ruins that predate even the legend of the River Spirit) and its council palaces, the estates of the Montulets and Fortesqueues, and the Academy of the Heir. The Hill is like a small town of its own, with particular customs, hierarchies, and VERY tight security.
On the other end of its great drawbridge is the great Market Square, surrounded by the Six Shops. Near this central area are the finer houses—mansions and fortresses, really—that make up the safer part of the city. From there, Heirwater takes a turn for the worse as it approaches its outer walls, with the worst of its population to be found closest to the outer limits and the many gates of the city. There are good pockets—decent neighborhoods, small squares and parks, and the five fountains that recount the legend of the River Spirit... but under the present Heir, much of the city is given over to violence and squalor. Over the river are a series of bridges, each watched over by one of the two noble guard houses. Yet even with their fierce patrol, it's known that the riverbank is no place to be at night... not for anyone who values their neck.
[OOC: Feel free to ask questions here!]
(Click the map to view larger.)
HEIRWATER, or the River-Spirit City, or Tyrant's Whimsy, or Booktown, or the Royal City of the Heir of the Kingdom of Marka
Population:
About 12,000, mostly humans, with a sizable minority of other races (45%). Professions include beggars and criminals, prisoners, servants, laborers, tradesmen, entertainers, guards, craftsmen, merchants, students, academics, magic-users, nobles, lords, and royalty, with a strong bias towards humans as you rise up the social order.
Region:
A temperate climate, with a tendency toward drizzly, overcast, foggy days. (But plenty of warmer weather mixed in, especially around the summer festival of Riverthanks.) It’s damp, with a persistent smell of pine and damp and wood and stone. Moss has a tendency to grow on the side of stone buildings. The long curve of a River Heirwater follows a gentle valley, with the rest of the city sloping up from the river's bank. Nearby is rambling forest and farmland for miles, with the two low ranges of mountains known as Caiya and Breiya reaching like arms to the northeast and northwest.
Government:
An absolute monarchy, ruled by the Heir of Marka, son of the King of Marka. Heirwater is the crown prince's sovereign domain, to do as he wishes with. In royal tradition, the Heir's success in governing the city will prove his right to rule the kingdom of Marka upon his father's death. The Heir's royal council is made up of three advisors appointed by the King (Tutors of the Heir) and two advisors appointed by the heir (Friends of the Heir). The Tutors and Friends each govern one of the five sections of the city with varying degrees of honesty and severity. The court of the Heir is filled with notables from throughout the city, seeking the favor of the autocrat for their own personal aims.
Defense:
Heirwater is a walled city, with not one but two armies of royal guards protecting its every gate and bridge. The noble houses of Montulet and Fortesqueue were appointed in antiquity to guard the Heir. Each has manors, fortresses, and guards throughout the city, and would protect the Heir to the death... as long as they're not too busy dueling each other over petty squabbles born of their mutual hatred for one another.
Commerce:
In a city the size of Heirwater, commerce thrives—and none more so than the six shops that ring the great market square. "Shops," of course, is a term of antiquity for what have become major forces of trade and repute within the city and the Kingdom at large. The six shops are Bellworthey's (bank and moneylender), The Iron Triangle (arms and metalwork), Mme Allure (fashion and finery), Wonder & Son (magical supplies), Bizar (exotic goods), and the House of Masks (feasting and theater). Each shop not only has a storefront on the market square, but a warehouse on the River Heirwater, from which their goods are imported and exported all throughout the kingdom of Marka.
Organizations:
Heirwater is a godless city, known for worshiping three things only: power, gold, and knowledge. Nowhere is the latter more true than in the Academy of the Heir, the greatest university in the kingdom, rivaling even the houses of lore in the King's City to the south. The Academy was founded for the education of the Heir himself, and has flourished into two immense branches—the College of Magic and the College of Matter. The best and brightest for a thousand leagues come to Heirwater to learn from the masters at the Academy.
History & Culture:
The River Heirwater is said to have been the home of a River Spirit thousands of years ago in the age of legend. As legend has it, Markaz was the name of a terrorizing warlord who was riding up and down in pillage, ravaging the countryside. The River Spirit, hearing this, came to him in the night and seduced him. When he awoke, he was overcome with love and married her on the spot. She helped him establish a peaceful kingdom built on fairness, then died in childbirth. (Some say she didn’t die, but slipped away after the child’s birth because she missed the river, and that she still lives there, influencing the kingdom to this day.) Other versions of this story exist—that he married her before she came to him, that she was his prisoner and escaped after the birth, that she wasn’t a river spirit at all, but a magic pretender who bewitched him. Nobody knows what version is true, but most believe the one above.
To this day, the royal line of Markaz counts water as the most revered of elements, and much of their tradition and symbology has to do with the blood of the River Spirit that is said to flow through their veins. Heirwater was founded on the spot where, according to legend, the River Spirit came to Markaz. In fact, every summer (supposedly on the night of the seduction), a great festival called Riverthanks takes place, with legend stating that whoever touches the central stone of the great market square at midnight will have immeasurable luck in the coming year.
Heirwater, although the second largest city in the kingdom, has a troubled history. It was long ago established as a place where the King's Heir could (upon completing his education) rule with absolute authority, acting on his every whim, to teach him the ways of governance. Unfortunately it has led to wild shifts and surges of power within the city itself, leaving it an unpredictable and dangerous place for those not accustomed to its ever-changing laws. There are known to be at least two professional criminal organizations at work in the city, who thrive in the cracks of chaos left by the swings of authority.
Good advice for newcomers to the city is always the same: first, sleep in a house as close to the market square as you can. Second, don't walk along the river at night, ever. Third, transact your business then move along... in a city like this, staying around isn't for the faint of heart.
Layout:
Heirwater is built like a 5-point star around a bend in the River Heirwater and its single island, called simply "the Hill." The Hill houses the Fortress of the Heir (built on ancient dwarvish ruins that predate even the legend of the River Spirit) and its council palaces, the estates of the Montulets and Fortesqueues, and the Academy of the Heir. The Hill is like a small town of its own, with particular customs, hierarchies, and VERY tight security.
On the other end of its great drawbridge is the great Market Square, surrounded by the Six Shops. Near this central area are the finer houses—mansions and fortresses, really—that make up the safer part of the city. From there, Heirwater takes a turn for the worse as it approaches its outer walls, with the worst of its population to be found closest to the outer limits and the many gates of the city. There are good pockets—decent neighborhoods, small squares and parks, and the five fountains that recount the legend of the River Spirit... but under the present Heir, much of the city is given over to violence and squalor. Over the river are a series of bridges, each watched over by one of the two noble guard houses. Yet even with their fierce patrol, it's known that the riverbank is no place to be at night... not for anyone who values their neck.
[OOC: Feel free to ask questions here!]