Osvar

In the heyday of the Regime, a group of contemplative anchorites founded a sanctuary at the crux of a great bay on the western slopes of Mount Aelian, a lonely peak on the plain below the Northern Bluffs. For some time, they maintained a peaceful existence, far from the bulk of civilisation, but the business of the Regime was to grow, and in time the fertile bay beneath the santuary became home to a growing settlement. The leaders of this burgeoning city were a high elf dynasty known as the Auroral Chorus. Among this group was a young elf named Osvar, who was believed to be the subject of a prophecy, and whose child name was given to the great bay in which the city was founded, and to the city itself.
As the city grew, the Regime chose to expel all Goblinoids from their borders. Fearing attack from beyond the bluffs, the people of Osvar built a great wall, twelve feet thick and anchored by two great keeps with their foundations sunk into the living rock of the mountain's roots. This wall, named Osvar's Dyke, sealed off the bay against attack, and two smaller keeps were raised on the higher slopes to guard against sneak attack. The sanctuary, and the sanctorum below it, became a citadel and stronghold as the contemplative orders became a militant order of warrior-arcanists under the guidance of their leader, Aelian, who was once called Osvar. When the expected attack never came, the city continued to expand, and the land in front of the Dyke became a patchwork of farmland.
Nobles, priests, warriors and merchants from across the Regime came to the city and helped it to grow. Osvar became the centre of the province, and the High Elves of the city developed what eventually became the original Osviri culture, coming to dominate the Gaardiri of the surrounding areas. When the Regime declined, the warrior-mystics of the Sanctuary of Aelian founded the Orders of Paragons to defend their land, with the most powerful of these, the multiethnic and mixed race Aelianov Dynasty, becoming the Mage Sovereigns of the province. They created the fabulous Auroral Palace in front of the Sanctorum, a magnificent pleasure complex, fortress and library where, in time, the last of the Aelianov Dynasty made a stand against his own Paladins.
Osvar is now the capital of Berngaard, noted for its three architectural wonders: The Sanctuary of Aelian, which now holds the Grand Temple of all Berngaard; the Osvar Dyke, its name subtly changed to celebrate the city more than its founder; and the ruins of the Auroral Palace. As well as the capital, Osvar is the largest and most prosperous city in the province.
Farmland stretches from the mouth of the Bay of Osvar, and the community of West Dyke, housing the bulk of the farmers and labourers who work the land, clusters outside the defensive wall.The Dyke itself is thirty-five feet tall and twelve feet thick, its ends anchored by the great keeps of Northwatch and Southwatch, which also house the city's traditional defenders, the Osvar Dragoons. The River Aelian, swift, dark and cold, emerges from beneath the road two hundred yards west of the main gate, gushing from the mouths of seven great statues of bears.
Behind the Dyke, the city's industry is housed in the districts of North Dyke and South Dyke. The former specialises in flux artifice, and houses the Artificers' Academy. The latter is home to heavy industry and commercial warehouses. Between the two runs the start of the Auroral Strip, a broad thoroughfare running the length of the city above the course of the River Aelian. Heavy plates allow access to clear the metal grates which both catch rubbish to keep the river's water clean, and to keep invaders from using the underground waterway as a means of attack.
To the south of the strip, South Dyke gives way to the Sprawl, a cluttered and underdeveloped slum district, home to the unemployed, the destitute, and more than a few criminals. The Sprawl contains a number of hospices and orphanges, largely-legal clubs, benevolent societies which range from actually benevolent to purely criminal, and the Wellspring, a devout house catering to the budget conscious and also protecting the Citywell, source of water for the entire southern city. East of the Sprawl, the neat, well-made housing of Osvargrad line the broad floor and steep slopes south of the river. Home to workers, servants and merchants, as well as shops and services catering to this part of society, Osvargard is a much nicer neighbourhood than the Sprawl.
Water from the Highwell, a spring far up the southern cliffs, is conducted across the great aqueduct - 50 ft. high and largely freestanding - to pour into the many chambers of the Tower of Light, a sophisticated arcane mill. Below the Tower, the water collects in Lake Osvar, to be distributed to the northern city. North of the lake, the northern cliffs are clustered with the mansions and estates of Nordgrad, home to the worthies of Osvar's high society.
Well-to-do businesses and shops cluster around the Auroral Strip, the main road along the floor of the Bay, between Nordgrad and Osvargrad. At the north end of the Valley, the Strip leads to the Auroral Palace, a sprawling ruin which climbs the lower slopes of the mountain. The palace ruins press back to the walls of the Sanctorum, the monastic close which stands below the ancient Sanctuary, the Grand Temple of Berngaard, on its ledge far above. The headwaters of the River Aelian, rising in the Paragons' Well beneath the Sanctuary, cascade from the ledge into the Sanctorum, before flowing out through the Sanctorum and through the ruins, then vanishing beneath the Strip.