26th of Fyrmont, Nytdain
Kelvin, known in elder times as Lav, is one of the oldest cities in all of Karameikos. Standing where three mighty rivers meet (the Highreach, Windrush, and Hillfollow*), it was a major trading hub long before the Thyatians ever set foot in Traladara. In fact, The Song of Halav names it as the birthplace of the hero king himself, Ha-Lav, and the ancient stonework at the city centre stands as a monument to the time when Lav was the beating heart of a nascent civilization, before it descended into a millennia-long Dark Age.
Today, it is a different city - renamed for Baron Kelvin, the Thyatian noble who took stewardship under the Duke’s charter. With a population nearing twenty thousand, Kelvin is second only to Specularum in size and significance. It is a military stronghold, a center of trade, and; perhaps most importantly to some; a spiritual capital. The Church of Thyatis has its strongest presence here outside the capital.
Baron Desmond Kelvin is also devout servant of the Church; a ranking member of the Crystal Order, that austere brotherhood of warrior-priests sworn to defend the faith. He has shaped the city in the Church’s image; Tall new spires pierce the skyline, while Shrines to Halav, Petra, and Zirchev still exist, but they are few and growing fewer. New ones are not permitted, and old ones are allowed to fall into disrepair. The baron actively incentivizes conversion to the Church of Thyathis: those who convert enjoy reduced taxes, and much greater chance of finding employment in the city’s bureaucracy. In the eyes of many Thyatians, Kelvin is a model of progress: ordered, devout, and just. To the Traladarans, especially those who remember Lav as it once was, it can feel like something else entirely; a city forgetting its own name.
You reach the outskirts of the city in the early afternoon, the road winding gently down toward the river plains. The rain has eased some this further south from Threshold, but with Fall soon approaching, you can expect more bad weather for the months to come. You pass through the farmsteads stretching miles in all directions, and several fishing communities on your way, with the traffic on the Duke’s road becoming thicker and thicker as you approach the Kelvin.
The church spires and ringing bells welcome you to Kelvin long before you pass through the outer gates (together with groups of merchants, and pilgrims (both Traldaran and Thyatians)), just before they shut them down for the evening.
What do you do?
*the Highreach, Windrush, and Hillfollow are commonly referred to as Wufwolde, Shutturga and Volaga by the Traladarans. OOC:
The closer Will travels to Kelvin, the more vivid his dreams become. He dreams of old Lav, with narrow streets and timber houses, and children playing barefoot in the mud. He dreams of a willful boy running through the streets; sometimes he IS the boy, and other times he watches him from a distance. He recognized the streets in the Old Quarter of Kelvin, where some of the stone buildings from his dreams still remain standing. There is one building he keeps reappearing in his dreams – a stone sanctuary built near where the three rivers met, which was once considered to be a sacred place. He also keeps dreaming of the redheaded young woman, but those dreams seem...different from the others.
