Gwyfned City
City of Kings, Bastion of the Mountain Kings, Star of the Realms, Most Haunted City in Aorlis
Gwyfned is the premiere city in Aorlis, and the seat of the Imperial government. The city and its inhabitants are well aware of their political clout and civic identity, and they consider their commune to be a major political player in its own right—the city doesn’t always get its way, but its will is felt. This political influence grants the mayor the unofficial status of a great noble, and the city’s population is large enough to require two sheriffs, not one.
It is sometimes called the City of Kings, the Bastion of the Mountain Kings, the Star of the Realms, or the Most Haunted City in Aorlis. It has about 80,000 permanent residents, as well as an uncounted influx of visitors. In Karmithian times, the city was named Gwyfnarium, which was a modernized version of the earlier Gwaer-Kyllum. Gwyfned has been continuously populated since antiquity, and it was established as a Karmithian Castra and major administrative center in -537.
The city was built midway along the Brighton Pass (later Brighton Street, after the Karmithians modernized it) and it is the only major pass through the mountains connecting East and West Aorlis. This catbird seat has made Gwyfned very rich and powerful. Gwyfned is connected by the Brighton Pass to Minton to the west, and Orham to the east. A secondary road, the Oe-Widden Cut, connects Gwyfned to Widden Town in a northerly direction, as well as Litton Town to the north-by-northwest. Another secondary road and pass, now called Farer’s Trace, connects Gwyfned City to Farer’s Point Town to the south by southeast, and beyond that to Cynulf Town along the same road.
Gwyfned is the capital of the Barony of Gwyfned, in the County of Gwyfned, the Kingdom of Gwyfned, the High Kingdom of Myddum, and the Empire of Aorlis. Gwyfned is divided into Upper City (the royal city), and Lower City (commoners), and the latter was granted its charter of community in 1032.
The city’s crest is two crowns, one above the other, or, on a field of argent, engrailed or on purpure. This heraldry represents the king’s dual authority over Myddum and Rhonce.
Gwyfned City is one of the two mega cities of Aorlis, and it is a landlocked mountain settlement with a non-navigable river. It has a lake port on Ringe Lake, but this is unconnected to other waterways. The city proper is settled in a glacial cirque on the north shores of Ringe Taern, which is the source of the non-navigable Lyarth River, in the Lower Aendril Mountains. The scenery is spectacular, with clear views of Mt. Dayrath, Mt. Lissoine, Mt. Ouverierre, Mt. Parelle, Mt. Thrandorr, Mt. Skaeldorr and Mt. Chloedhyme surrounding the city in clockwise order.
Upper City extends out from Castle Whitefeather, while Lower City fans out from Market Street, itself a continuation of Brighton Pass. Gwyfned is primarily protected by its surrounding mountains, although the city boasts impressive walls, dry moat, and gates that protect Upper City, and the accessible portions of Low City.
Market Street, which is the same as Brighton Street, divides Low Town up and serves as the city’s primary market. The city’s streets are paved, and each ward is required to keep street lights burning at night.
The town has multiple power of influence centers, those in order being Upper City, then High Street, the Basilica and the University. Gwyfned Basilica is co-existent with its cathedral. This building is so high and grand as to beggar the senses, and the sound within has a peculiar, resonant quality, making it seem somehow more sacred and profound. Besides the church itself, the basilica includes grand chapels devoted to Saints’ Torenth, Wollyn and Tyrell each. Gwyfned City’s patron saints are Bellaflor Star Gazer, Blailock Eight Eyed, and Louise the Maid of Gwyfned.
Gwyfned extensively is undermined by miles of ancient burial catacombs, and later on with a vast ossuary or bone repository called the Osteamantum. In these catacombs beneath the city, there is a divergent sect of the Faith called the Under Church. It is a cult of the dead, honoring ancestors and their relics. This group is secret but flourishing, using necromancy to succor its living adherents. Indeed, many of the surface churches include lovingly crafted subterranean chapels beneath for this parallel religion. Traveling beneath the city is a risky endeavor, because there are often “spoiled places” (see High Strangeness).
The Basilica and the Under Church are not the only religious institutions on site, because there are St. Gillium’s Humilitine Abbey, Motherhouse of the Order, and St. Wollyn’s Ordinarite Abbey, also Motherhouse to the Order, just to the northwest of the city on the east face of Mt. Skaeldorr.
It is sometimes called the City of Kings, the Bastion of the Mountain Kings, the Star of the Realms, or the Most Haunted City in Aorlis. It has about 80,000 permanent residents, as well as an uncounted influx of visitors. In Karmithian times, the city was named Gwyfnarium, which was a modernized version of the earlier Gwaer-Kyllum. Gwyfned has been continuously populated since antiquity, and it was established as a Karmithian Castra and major administrative center in -537.
The city was built midway along the Brighton Pass (later Brighton Street, after the Karmithians modernized it) and it is the only major pass through the mountains connecting East and West Aorlis. This catbird seat has made Gwyfned very rich and powerful. Gwyfned is connected by the Brighton Pass to Minton to the west, and Orham to the east. A secondary road, the Oe-Widden Cut, connects Gwyfned to Widden Town in a northerly direction, as well as Litton Town to the north-by-northwest. Another secondary road and pass, now called Farer’s Trace, connects Gwyfned City to Farer’s Point Town to the south by southeast, and beyond that to Cynulf Town along the same road.
Gwyfned is the capital of the Barony of Gwyfned, in the County of Gwyfned, the Kingdom of Gwyfned, the High Kingdom of Myddum, and the Empire of Aorlis. Gwyfned is divided into Upper City (the royal city), and Lower City (commoners), and the latter was granted its charter of community in 1032.
The city’s crest is two crowns, one above the other, or, on a field of argent, engrailed or on purpure. This heraldry represents the king’s dual authority over Myddum and Rhonce.
Gwyfned City is one of the two mega cities of Aorlis, and it is a landlocked mountain settlement with a non-navigable river. It has a lake port on Ringe Lake, but this is unconnected to other waterways. The city proper is settled in a glacial cirque on the north shores of Ringe Taern, which is the source of the non-navigable Lyarth River, in the Lower Aendril Mountains. The scenery is spectacular, with clear views of Mt. Dayrath, Mt. Lissoine, Mt. Ouverierre, Mt. Parelle, Mt. Thrandorr, Mt. Skaeldorr and Mt. Chloedhyme surrounding the city in clockwise order.
Upper City extends out from Castle Whitefeather, while Lower City fans out from Market Street, itself a continuation of Brighton Pass. Gwyfned is primarily protected by its surrounding mountains, although the city boasts impressive walls, dry moat, and gates that protect Upper City, and the accessible portions of Low City.
Market Street, which is the same as Brighton Street, divides Low Town up and serves as the city’s primary market. The city’s streets are paved, and each ward is required to keep street lights burning at night.
The town has multiple power of influence centers, those in order being Upper City, then High Street, the Basilica and the University. Gwyfned Basilica is co-existent with its cathedral. This building is so high and grand as to beggar the senses, and the sound within has a peculiar, resonant quality, making it seem somehow more sacred and profound. Besides the church itself, the basilica includes grand chapels devoted to Saints’ Torenth, Wollyn and Tyrell each. Gwyfned City’s patron saints are Bellaflor Star Gazer, Blailock Eight Eyed, and Louise the Maid of Gwyfned.
Gwyfned extensively is undermined by miles of ancient burial catacombs, and later on with a vast ossuary or bone repository called the Osteamantum. In these catacombs beneath the city, there is a divergent sect of the Faith called the Under Church. It is a cult of the dead, honoring ancestors and their relics. This group is secret but flourishing, using necromancy to succor its living adherents. Indeed, many of the surface churches include lovingly crafted subterranean chapels beneath for this parallel religion. Traveling beneath the city is a risky endeavor, because there are often “spoiled places” (see High Strangeness).
The Basilica and the Under Church are not the only religious institutions on site, because there are St. Gillium’s Humilitine Abbey, Motherhouse of the Order, and St. Wollyn’s Ordinarite Abbey, also Motherhouse to the Order, just to the northwest of the city on the east face of Mt. Skaeldorr.
Gwyfned City citizens appear entitled and knowingly superior. Conversely, they may be innovative, witty, and full of good humor. Gwyfnedi happily adopted hops as additive to the ale, and they love their beer. (Many countries are suspicious of hops and will not add them to their ale.) Gwyfnedi clothes are sophisticated, stylish and well-cut, but rarely foppish or ridiculous. They prize fine fits over adornment. Gwyfnedi men wear their hair long parted in the middle and crimped or ringleted. Blonde hair is prized, and neither sex is above bleaching their hair to get this look. Nobles and royal officers all wear gold chains of rank. Barons’ medallions are silver, while royals wear gold.
Gwyfned is a national center for publishing, offering the burgeoning technology of the moveable type printing press. The commune’s native glass-grinders and ophthalmologists are leaders in spectacle production, as well as early magnifying glasses. Most notably, this city is known for the highly prized Gwyfnedi Maille and Gwyfnedi Rune Maille. As for local expertise, Gwyfned produces civil lawyers, and Gwyfnedi occult archivists, and master masons.
This is a university city, and Gwyfned University was founded in 1011, and it is very wealthy and prestigious. While it teaches the standard trivium and quadrivium, and it also offers a firm foundation in alchemy and history, and it specializes in civil law.
Gwyfned is not under royal forest law, but the Royal Forests Chief Keeper of the Forests of Aorlis, Alexis Ashdown Green Gauntlet, keeps his administration here close to the king.
Gwyfned is a hub for occult literacy, and it is known for the Nhyrakar Working, by Wollyn and Vyrek the Vile, as well as the more recent Hollywell Accord by Jesper DeNouris in the 10th century.
In Gwyfned City, there are many vampires, as well as elder vampires, vampire familiars and mannequins. This undead population is a sort of sinister open secret and deeply entrenched in city life, and their master vampire is Lord Dust, a close associate of the mayor.
Ghosts are common here, and many homes or buildings in the settlement are haunted. Crombles’ Mansion, which is both haunted and mysterious, is a better known example of this phenomenon, and is found in the Heights Ward of Gwyfned City. On the west side of Ringe Lake, opposite of Gwyfned, Ma Pharcus keeps her lair. The Gwyfnedi people take a perverse, even protective pride in this giant ogress, despite the threat she sometimes represents.
The Museum of Abragore is reputed once to have been high on the slopes of Mount Lissoine, well above Gwyfned City. Gwyfned has a long history of great inventors. For example, there is Hankin Townsend, who in 933 became the father of Ophthalmology. There is Melena Kamith, who in 1014 published groundbreaking books of astronomical tables. Hopkin Townsend, in 1023, invented eyeglasses, and in 1049 Master Mason Wighbert Shaw invented the Flying Buttress.
Nearly every book still existent has been published at one time or another in Gwyfned. This town, however, has some celebrated literary sons (and daughters) of its own. Balfour Mercer is the author of The Divine Mandate and the Emerald Tower: The Apotheosis of Torenth. Avriel Joiner is the author of Avriel’s Librum in the 13th century. Wollyn, date & provenance unknown, is the possible author of the infamous Combined Keys of Wollyn. And, there is Melena Kamith who wrote the Universal Atlas of Planetary Talismans in the 12th Century.
Many famous miracles have occurred here, but the most celebrated is the Prophesy of the Divine Mandate, aka the Grant of Frostflower, to Torenth. Much later, there is the Apotheosis of Tyrell, with King Tyrell’s miracles elevating him to sainthood.
The vast panoply of famous citizens are a who’s who of Aorlis, because all the great and mighty lived and/or interacted here down through history. It is noteworthy that Robin Terrowin is the castellan of Hollywell House, the crown prince’s residence. Dreward Portly is castellan of the king-emperor’s royal home, Whitefeather Castle. And the Keeper of the Royal Menagerie is Chester Clarke.
Gwyfned is a national center for publishing, offering the burgeoning technology of the moveable type printing press. The commune’s native glass-grinders and ophthalmologists are leaders in spectacle production, as well as early magnifying glasses. Most notably, this city is known for the highly prized Gwyfnedi Maille and Gwyfnedi Rune Maille. As for local expertise, Gwyfned produces civil lawyers, and Gwyfnedi occult archivists, and master masons.
This is a university city, and Gwyfned University was founded in 1011, and it is very wealthy and prestigious. While it teaches the standard trivium and quadrivium, and it also offers a firm foundation in alchemy and history, and it specializes in civil law.
Gwyfned is not under royal forest law, but the Royal Forests Chief Keeper of the Forests of Aorlis, Alexis Ashdown Green Gauntlet, keeps his administration here close to the king.
Gwyfned is a hub for occult literacy, and it is known for the Nhyrakar Working, by Wollyn and Vyrek the Vile, as well as the more recent Hollywell Accord by Jesper DeNouris in the 10th century.
In Gwyfned City, there are many vampires, as well as elder vampires, vampire familiars and mannequins. This undead population is a sort of sinister open secret and deeply entrenched in city life, and their master vampire is Lord Dust, a close associate of the mayor.
Ghosts are common here, and many homes or buildings in the settlement are haunted. Crombles’ Mansion, which is both haunted and mysterious, is a better known example of this phenomenon, and is found in the Heights Ward of Gwyfned City. On the west side of Ringe Lake, opposite of Gwyfned, Ma Pharcus keeps her lair. The Gwyfnedi people take a perverse, even protective pride in this giant ogress, despite the threat she sometimes represents.
The Museum of Abragore is reputed once to have been high on the slopes of Mount Lissoine, well above Gwyfned City. Gwyfned has a long history of great inventors. For example, there is Hankin Townsend, who in 933 became the father of Ophthalmology. There is Melena Kamith, who in 1014 published groundbreaking books of astronomical tables. Hopkin Townsend, in 1023, invented eyeglasses, and in 1049 Master Mason Wighbert Shaw invented the Flying Buttress.
Nearly every book still existent has been published at one time or another in Gwyfned. This town, however, has some celebrated literary sons (and daughters) of its own. Balfour Mercer is the author of The Divine Mandate and the Emerald Tower: The Apotheosis of Torenth. Avriel Joiner is the author of Avriel’s Librum in the 13th century. Wollyn, date & provenance unknown, is the possible author of the infamous Combined Keys of Wollyn. And, there is Melena Kamith who wrote the Universal Atlas of Planetary Talismans in the 12th Century.
Many famous miracles have occurred here, but the most celebrated is the Prophesy of the Divine Mandate, aka the Grant of Frostflower, to Torenth. Much later, there is the Apotheosis of Tyrell, with King Tyrell’s miracles elevating him to sainthood.
The vast panoply of famous citizens are a who’s who of Aorlis, because all the great and mighty lived and/or interacted here down through history. It is noteworthy that Robin Terrowin is the castellan of Hollywell House, the crown prince’s residence. Dreward Portly is castellan of the king-emperor’s royal home, Whitefeather Castle. And the Keeper of the Royal Menagerie is Chester Clarke.
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