Cities of the Empire - Tallister

Tallister

Description

Named the “City of Scholars,” Tallister is a mecca for learning and study, hosting countless prestigious academies and research towers. The city is ruled over by the Lords Ravain, a major Noble House within the Empire’s Court. With the death of the ruling Lord, Lady Mei Ravain rules in her infant’s son stead. Under her rule, the city has undergone series after series of reworkings, decorative sculptings, and remodelling, something that the Captain of the Guard watches with increasing frustration.

Tallister lies in the northern reaches of the Empire, bordered by the Endless Sea to the North. The city itself is reachable by the Imperial Highway, which stretches to its outskirts. Tallister itself is divided distinctly into several districts, most notably the Lord’s Tower, the Port, the Common Quarters, the Academy Circle, and the Seaswept Graves.

The Lord’s Tower

The so-called Lord’s Tower is actually Tallister’s noble district, so named because the noble’s estates lie tiered on a high and wide cliff that rises above the rest of the city. House Ravain holds estates at the very top of the cliff, overlooking the entire city. Several prominent academies are also located upon the so-called tower, most of which are exclusive to Nobility.

The Academy Circle

Just south of the Lord’s Tower, in the valley that lies below the cliffside peaks rests the Academy Circle. The Circle is a constant bustle of activity, filled with pretentious scholars and academics, hopeful to make breakthroughs in science, mathematics, and medicine. Historians and politicans also find it a convenient congregating ground.

The Seaswept Tombs

Underneath the towering cliff that houses the Noble Estates lies the treacherous tides and crashing waves of the Endless Sea. Here, the ocean has weathered the rocky formations and cliffside into dangerous spikes that descend from both the underside of the cliff tower and rise from the crashing sea below. It is here that the founders of Tallister decided to honor their dead, establishing a cavernous cemetery that opens up into the harbor. A century of tides has already ruined the lowest level of the graves, leaving most illegible and unreachable. Some say the cemetery houses secret passageways from the common quarters to the Lord’s Tower.

History

Tallister was founded by Riverfolk, in the days when the Leviathan’s Tail still flowed freely. Here, the Riverfolk made simple homes and huts, taking advantage of the fertile ground and bountiful sea to establish the first of the Riverguard settlements, and would later become the capital of the Riverguard Kingdom. For centuries, the Riverfolk lived in peace, building the foundations of what would become known as the Seaswept Tombs, and establishing a castle that would later become part of the Lord’s Tower.

In the early 200s, the Empire had already begun its manifest expansion towards the North. At the time, Dedras had been the Empire’s capital, and Emperor Tyrelius II saw Tallister as a fruitful prize. From Dedras, the Tyrelius II sent a massive army along the edges of the Mistgrave Forests to seize the Riverguard capital. Riverguard was a small nation, joined together only loosely by necessity, and were unprepared for Tyrelius’ sudden invasion, led by Adara Arolar, a renowned general who had led several successful campaigns in the South.

Still, for nearly four years, the Riverguard fended off attack after attack, using supernatural powers they had gleaned from their ancient traditions. This was the Empire’s first taste against sorcery and its deviant power, and Tyrelius found his troops were nigh helpless against it. The Riverguard magisters summoned tidal waves to wash away legions of cavalry, knights, and soldiers. Hordes of insects: locusts, termites, and mosquitos would ravage the Empire’s supply line and cripple their artillery.

Finally, in the year 209, Rhimus I of Ravain was appointed Commander of the Imperial Army, replacing Lord Arolar, who left the military in disgrace for his failure. Lord Rhimus was lauded as a tactical genius, and he applied an insidious strategy here. First, he sowed discontent among the Riverfolk army by spreading rumors that the Magisters planned to use human sacrifices as fuel for their vagrant power. He then convinced several minor Riverguard Lords to betray their Kingdom, with the promise that they would be left as overseers of Tallister once the Riverguard had joined the Empire. Rhimus then staged multiple sacrificial slaughterings, using the bodies of captured prisoners to incense the commonfolk against the Magisters that defended them.

Beseiged on three sides, the Magisters were forced to surrender, and Rhimus Ravain was appointed Lord of Tallister. He executed the treacherous Riverfolk Lords, and established a firm grip on his new home.

Despite this inauspicious welcome to the Empire, Tallister would soon become the birth place of several renowned scholars, most notably Ursa DeLisle and Faris Droganson. These two academics are often credited with the invention of several technological advances, including the invention of the crossbow, and the refinement of steel. Pheston of Tallister, an orphan with no House to call his own, also became renowned for his discovery of orichalchum.

Soon, scholars, historians, researchers and artists all flocked to Tallister in a massive immigration. These new arrivals soon established the Academy Circle, and dubbed the metropolis, te “City of Scholars.”