Vesper
Capital of the Kingdom of Vesperia and seat of its court, in the heart of the wheatlands of the Vesper Fields.
Description
Vesper occupies a gentle rise in the middle of the farmland, between the western coast and Lake Mireal. At the top, to the north, stands the Royal Palace, a cluster of towers, halls and courtyards seen from many leagues around. The wall of pale stone follows the outline of the rise: it runs in straight stretches, turns where the ground falls away and strengthens each angle with a square tower.
The wall does not enclose the whole city. Outside it, along the roads, the suburbs crowd together: farmhouses, inns, stables and workshops that do not fit inside or cannot pay for ground within the walls. Its roads lead to Port Galerna, on the western coast, and to Lake Mireal, to the east. To the southeast, less than a day away, begin the Wound Barrens.
Layout
The streets within the walls were laid out with a line. A main street runs down from the palace gate to the south gate, and the others cross it at right angles and open onto squares. The nobility and the crown’s officials live near the palace; further down are the guilds and the merchants. The suburbs grew without that order, in crooked streets that follow the roads and the edges of the fields.
People and culture
Among its inhabitants are also some Drocani, come from the north. They are recognized from afar by their scales and tails, but they are few and their presence no longer draws attention.
Government and economy
Vesper is the seat of the kingdom’s institutions. The court resides there, the laws are made there and the tax collectors are sent out from there to the rest of Felgrum. The city lives more on power than on trade: on the court, on the trades that serve it and on the wheat of the farmland, stored in its granaries. Its outlet to the sea is Port Galerna.
The city is home to the Vesper College of Mages, where the gifted learn to measure the price of their spells.
History
Since the Aurost Rebellion, the crown has not truly ruled Port Kaelen, the largest port of Felgrum. The wound has closed over the years, but many at court still see that city as a threat: its influence reaches across the whole continent, and it obeys less and less of the laws that come out of Vesper. Its people take pride in being free, and the court does not like it. Vesper fears that this pride will turn into an uprising.
Far from there, in Cirda, the crown holds Fort Tarsa but does not rule Marena, the pirate port. Vesper settles for watching it from the fort.