Shaduit (Shah)(Dew)(It)

Shaduit, as a city next to The Conduit, is the oldest city built, but as the city is now, it's among the youngest of cities. Shaduit was founded before the written record. It is said that when The Dark Creator made the forces of men, he made them there, and they built up a civilization from there. Others say that prophecies were saying that something of great import would come to be there. Other sources yet claim that it was because Shaduit was there that The Defender granted the Conduit where it was. In any case, Shaduit is the oldest city of men, with the only city competing being Ane'then, the homeplace of the Elves. Shaduit's history has been filled with terror, war, bloodshed, infighting, and any manner of awful things that can be imagined, and yet, as the spark of humanity has survived, so has Shaduit.

Demographics

Shaduit is the most diverse city one can find in all of Gelrick. There are a good number of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Halflings, Gnomes, Goliaths, Half-Elfs, Half-Orcs, and even Tieflings.

Government

The Government structure used to be that of an Empire, but now it's a strange mix between theocracy and magocracy, with the Shard of Reality serving as what was once the Emperor and King.

Defences

There is a perimeter wall, with places to walk around at the top, as well as many guard towers along with it, where inside dwell soldiers at any given time. The top of the walls are shielded with a one-way ward, so if necessary, the mages can stand atop the wall and fire down on assailants. Every gatehouse also has machicolations, and there are crenellations at the top of each wall.

Industry & Trade

There is a major amount of food and manufactured supplies that are imported to Shaduit. It primarily makes its money based on fees for the merchants, as well as taxes that are taken from the people in general, especially from the Cinereal Circle. The housing is also all owned by the city itself, so people pay for the privilege of being under the protection of Shaduit.

Infrastructure

In the current year, there are many shops of all kinds, including blacksmiths, merchants, tailors, brewers, herbalists, bookbinders, cartographers, leatherworkers, woodcarvers, weavers, and all manner of professions. There is a functioning sewage system, as well as plans in the works to have running water in each residence. There are theaters and even a single movie theater.

Districts

• The District of Justice: This District holds the Emperor's Manor and the Cinereal Tower. It also contains the Grand Cinereal Library, just due to its proximity convenience to the mages of the Cinereal Circle. This is also where the Soldier's Academy is.
• The Pilgrimage District: This District holds many markets, taverns, and inns, and it also contains the sky docks used to travel through the Scatter. What is alarming is lately, the precipice to this District has been observed to have cracks forming, and the side of the gaps closer to the Conduit seems to be higher. Due to this, it's estimated that at some point in the future, The Pilgrimage District will join The Scatter.
• Bousoque Quarters: This District geographically lies on the outside of Shaduit, except for the Northern end. This District is primarily a housing district, with many peasants who farm the land surrounding Shaduit dwelling there. There are also many of the "lower" marketplaces within this District. Ultimately, there isn't as much law enforcement, but that's simply due to the citizens relegated to this District not having as much money.
• Carnival Grounds: This mostly unpaved area in the Southern portion of Shaduit serves as the center for many of the fairs, festivals, and other celebrations held within the city.
• The Armory District: This District holds the central chapel of The Defender. It is here that all major decisions for the armory, in general, are made here. It is also the dwelling-place of the High Shield-Bearers, as well as the Pommel-Bearer.

Assets

Just about anything that can be imagined except for magical items.

Guilds and Factions

The Cinereal Circle, Armory, and Soldier's Academy are all headquartered here. There is also a good hundred or so different merchant guilds which compete one with another as to who is allowed to sell where.

History

History of Shaduit

     Shaduit was founded at the dawn of creation, estimated to be around 700 years before the Binding, well before The Defender ever took note. The world was one of darkness then, and it is said that the humans lived side-by-side with the monsters and all served The Dark Creator their entire lives. In this manner, they labored, building temples to The Dark Creator, following his rituals and ways of worship, and lacking their own will. In the center of the original construction of Shaduit lay a massive temple to The Dark Creator, where unspeakable rituals would be done in his name. There then shortly thereafter came the first destruction of Shaduit. The conflicts between the forces of men and the Dragon-kin were coming to a head, and the dragons decided to strike where they knew it would hurt the weak humans. In a single sweep, the dragons laid waste to Shaduit, toppling towers and burning buildings.

     The humans, desperate to live, not only prayed to The Dark Creator to save them but said another prayer, addressing it to whatever gods would hear them. It would still be many years until The Defender arrived, but the Armory claims this prayer as the summoning prayer and it is recited in worship. Shaduit remained a ruin for a long while until The Defender appeared and helped the forces of man drive off the dragons. It was this year, now known as 255 B.B., that the Demarkation war officially began. Humans, Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, and all sentient races fought for either The Dark Creator or The Defender. Nowhere was this war more apparent than in Shaduit itself. The ancestral city had only just been restored when unrest and conflict defiled its streets. Holy men and women took up the mantle of their god and slew in their name. The temple was used as a place of stronghold of The Dark Creator, and the central keep of Shaduit served as the central place for the followers of The Defender. This then also began the encompassing siege of monsters against Shaduit.

    Every sapient being that came to and left Shaduit was attacked by the force of monsters. This also began The Dark Creator's practice of resurrecting his followers, so the hoard of monsters became impregnable. The conflict lasted for four and a half generations, all the while those followers of The Dark One had only grown, as they would be reborn every time they died, and their children followed in their footsteps. It was then that the final push happened when The Defender opened a doorway to another realm, so the followers of The Defender made a push to send the followers of The Dark One into that realm. They won, and The Defender then carried out the rest of The Binding as we know it, leaving The Conduit on the plains near Shaduit. Still, the years of conflict had left Shaduit a shattered shell of what it was, so to allow the people to forget the conflict, The Defender buried the remains of the city under the original location. Thus marked the second fall of Shaduit.

    The following ten years were spent in peace and in building back a new Shaduit. In this time, the forces of men were all united, save for the Orcs and Elves that decided to continue to worship what they called "The Old Ways". It was also in these days that the forces of men began to notice that there were strange properties with The Conduit. They began to realize that they could perform magic with The Conduit itself, and so a separate branch or religion formed; one that worshiped the magic itself, but they attributed the magic to The Dark One, and so this cult formed, calling themselves The Cinereal Circle, named after the color of their robes. It was also at this time that people began to come together to learn things about the world and found many discoveries concerning the natural world, and natural phenomena that were available. All of these things together sparked the development of technology and magic, making a civilization that would later be known as The Sylvric Empire.

    During the golden days of The Sylvric Empire, Shaduit became a haven for both technology and magic, with it being a common sight to see hundreds, if not thousands of mages harnessing shards of The Conduit that The Cinereal Circle had discovered how to separate, as well as feats of technology whizzing throughout the city streets. Of course, all this prosperity would not go unnoticed forever, and in the year 373 A.B., the dragons returned. So long ago had the conflict been that the people of Shaduit weren't prepared for the sudden attack, and the city fell under the might of the Dragons. Stonework was shattered, repositories of knowledge burned, and precious tools, weapons, and pieces of art were stolen for the hordes of the Dragons. Under the sudden blow, Shaduit fell for the third time, with its citizens fleeing East, in hopes of taking up residence within the secure walls of other cities, and scholars dared to stay just a little longer to learn any potential weakness of the beasts. It is due to these brave scholars that humanity survived this time, as they were able to begin a record of all the individual dragons and their weaknesses. It was also from here that the newer religion called The Church of the Defender began to spread, as these holy men of The Defender journeyed from the burning city, preaching of the Defender to any who would listen, preaching that The Defender had protected humanity from the dragons once before, and that surely if they believed, he would do so again.

    The next little bit of history doesn't necessarily belong to Shaduit, but the people eventually were forced to hole up inside the walls of Heazim, where The Defender seemed to finally hear the prayers of his people, and went to the leaders of The Cinereal Circle; inspiring them with powerful magicks to help combat the dragons. At this time, The Defender then temporarily made the leader of the Cinereal Circle at the time into his avatar; an old human man named Ralphus Serefthor. Ralphus was said to have glowed with power as he was acting as such an avatar, and he magically reinforced the normally brittle mud walls, causing them to become smooth and hard as dragon scales. The mages of the Cinereal Circle then stood atop the walls, and slew dragons by the thousands, with their corpses stacking so high they could be seen from within the wall. The damages were immense, but humanity had survived and had done so with enough might to turn the tide of the war. After another five years of awful war, the forces of men and the dragons finally made peace, and Shaduit was once again rebuilt, this time with a building in equal size for the emperor as well as The Cinereal Circle, which was now officially an allied organization with The Church of the Defender; attributing all of their discoveries and powers to his might.

    With Shaduit rebuilt, and the humans in close association with the dragons, the Orcs decided to officially separate from the forces of men. It was also at this time that the Dwarves were kicked out from their ancestral homes, and so joined with the forces of men, as well as some of the giant-kin that had been made. From then, there were 100 years of peace and development. Magical knowledge exploded, and there were many discoveries in the realms of technology. Religious vigor expanded throughout the Empire, and all was well. There were occasional land disputes between dragons and men, and a few other wars, but none of them reached Shaduit, so they will not be recorded here.

    When the 100 years had passed, Gelrath The Pure was born, and though he was not born in Shaduit, and though he wasn't renowned from birth, his birth is significant enough to be reported here. Gelrath was perhaps the most powerful hero the humans have ever had. While still in his youth, Gelrath The Pure obtained GaulDalagh and fought against the attempt at incursion into this realm that was happening from that time. The people looked on Gelrath as a hero, and the leaders saw him as a threat. The leaders, therefore, seeing that he had succeeded in his task, congratulated him, but decided to lay a trap that would forever seal Gelrath as a legend, and never as a leader. They lied to him, saying that the Nine Great Dragons were planning on destroying the forces of man from the face of Améow directly after their annual meeting. They went on to say that the only way of preventing the deaths of many millions was to slay The Nine as they met. Gelrath, trusting his leaders, and wanting to do good, believed them. He ventured to Drekathal keep, slaying three of the Nine, before being slain himself. This action angered the remainder of the Nine to the point of violence. For the first time in all of creation, the Nine exercised their full might against the humans; simultaneously scorching and burying Shaduit, and destroying a great many cities. There was only one city that the Dragons were not able to fully destroy, and that was Heazim, simply due to the strength that infused Heazim's walls. And thus simultaneously was the fourth fall of Shaduit, as well as the beginning of The Dark Age of Men.

     1000 years passed under the subjugation of the dragons before humanity was once again free when the dragons had fully disappeared. In the hope this sparked, the forces of man once more rebuilt Shaduit in its ancestral place, building atop the foundations that were once the rooftops of Shaduit. The spreading forces of man were at that time united under two different banners: First that of a common enemy they had overcome; being the dragons. The second was their united faith in The Defender, as that was the only human religion that had survived The Dark Age of Men. In these commonalities, the once again fledgling race formed an Empire to unite them; The Fesden Empire. Their uniting under a single banner was done just in time before an invasion from the Elves of Senendial began, causing a continent-wide war effort to repel these invaders once more. After a three month-war, the Elves were repelled, and the people of The Fesden Empire lived in harmony. This until the third Emperor of The Fesden Empire; Emperor Galvren Nicholan III, died. This began a conflict among the Seven Kingdoms, who now only shared a religion. The conflict lasted for two months, wherein the son and only heir of Galvren Nicholan III; Trinit Nicholan, died in battle, permanently sundering both the bloodline and the Empire. After this time, Shaduit remained the capitol of Fesden, but no longer as the Fesden Empire. In the stead of an Emperor, The Church of the Defender declared that the Shard of Reality of the Cinereal Circle was to rule over the city and surrounding area, and thus it is to this day.

Points of interest

• The Cinereal Tower
• The Grand Cinereal Library
• The Central Chapel
• The Soldier's Academy
• Impodinga Castle
• The Flying Docks

Architecture

The architecture follows the pattern of Hohenwerfen Castle in Werfen, Germany.

Hohenwerfen Castle.jpg

Geography

Shaduit is tucked in between a dense forest and the southern end of The Scatter. The plains to the West and South are broken often with the remnants of some ancient building or tower every so often. The majestic floating islands of The Scatter cast shadows over the city during the mid-day, but aside for that only serve as a backdrop to the city.

Natural Resources

The most prominent resources that can be found near Shaduit are lumber and shards of the Conduit, therefore, their primary export is that of magic.

Founding Date

~700 B.B.

Type

Large city

Population

5,000,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Fezzish

Owner/Ruler

Enenmeo Talsihad

Ruling/Owning Rank

Shard of Reality

Owning Organization

Fesden

Characters in Location

• Dimsyl Thraemnag
• Dunan Talomir
• Hokul Talomir

Related Reports (Secondary)

• Session 7: Lycans and Lunacy