Pelonastra
At the mouth of the River Shay as it flows into the Dorling Straits is the city of Pelonastra (meaning ‘Sanctuary of the people’), once capital of Pelonastrius, the kingdom that collapsed in the decades after the Sundering to become the fractious and fragmented Mill Lands. After the nine cities of the Greater Arc Sea (excluding the ruin of Gol, for obvious reasons), Pelonastra is the most influential metropolis ‘West of Dancare’, but it is significantly less powerful and important than any of the cities of the Arclands and many diplomats and rulers have little knowledge of, or interest, in the affairs of the Mill Landers. Pelonastra is a backwater, but its rulers have yet to fully accept this reality. Whilst the walls of the city are built on the mainland, where the poorest housing is situated, most of the population dwells on two islands in the estuary, known as Olinast and Yulinast, which are connected by a series of stone bridges. Other, longer bridges, as well as frequent skiff and sailboat services connect the two islands to the mainland. At the far northern point of the Olinast is the main hub of government, a large stone archway which houses much of the bureaucracy of the government, known as St Stephens Gate. History Pelonastra was the first southern settlement that the Swithick people established in the Mill Lands. The northern Swithicks (Aldinvalk) who first crossed the Straits of Dancare joined with the southern Swithicks (Sulinvalk), who had occupied islands in the mouth of the Shay River and built their first outpost. The Sulinvalk, distant tribal relatives of the Ghothars (as were the Alinvalk) created a fortified outpost on Olinast and used that as a base to navigate the Shay River and the wide river valley that runs all the way to the Lower Orne Mountains. The land was mainly populated by the westernmost tribes of the Haatchi, and as Swithicks established farms and settlements around the delta and deeper into the valley, an uneasy peace was punctuated with clashes between both sides. Pelonastra was ruled initially by the descendants of the Swithick lord Mothir Morghanan (one of his many descendants is the famous scholar Mordei Morghanan), who built the city’s first earthwork defences and a high wooden palisade wall. These were replaced by stone defences over time, but are still referred to as Mothir’s line. The Swithick peoples of Pelonastra took immense pride in these seemingly unbreachable defences, as they represented the resilience and ingenuity of the Swithicks (two qualities Swithicks generally like to ascribe to themselves). The walls also represent to many Swithicks the historic sense of siege they imagine themselves to exist in, with powerful neighbours (Haatchi and Firg) to the east and west respectively. Mothir’s line is now dwarfed by the defensive battlements of cities such as Wardenhal. Since the reign of King Samuel II, the defences have gradually fallen into disrepair, as many Swithicks look upon the fractured polity in which they live, the Mill Lands, as barely worth defending. Trade The wealth of the Mill Lands is based, according to the sage Arkhus Mor on ‘soil and sail’; referring to the rich farm lands and the Swithick aptitude in merchant trade. For a backwater, Pelonastra still accounts for an impressive share of world trade. Often goods from the Molvar Peninsula are taken overland to Mirrorvale and from there to the Arclands. The Ferry Folk of the Shay Valley, who are often treated like second class Mill Landers by Pelonastrans are a vital part of the trade system of the Mill Lands, navigating the River Shay and taking livestock, wool, foodstuffs, wine and coal from Mont Inaer to and from Pelonastra. Whilst the capital of the Mill Lands has nowhere near the financial and banking clout of Arc, it operates as a regional hub of money lending, often for mercenaries in the west and south of Aestis. Government Before the collapse of the Mill Lands, the government in Pelonastra ruled the country using a mixture of authoritarian and collaborative techniques. The fact that the Mill Lands were settled by the Swithicks from both north and south had profound implications for Pelonastra, and the ability of the city’s rulers to project power. The main cities of the Mill Lands (Drake, Trent, Hale, Mont Inaer), are all concentrated in the Shay Valley, and with the exception of Drake, were all established by northerners. Their customs, traditions and their outlook made them inclined to be resistant to the south and to resent its insatiable demands for power. The kings, always based in the south, declared dominion over all of Pelonastrius, but wiser ones allowed the cities greater autonomy. The interior of the country, the expanse of lands between the Shay River and the Dorling Sea have traditionally been carved up into a patchwork of farms, fiefdoms and towns, each affiliated to a different city. This resulted in Pelonastrius and then the Mill Lands working on a level of constant anarchy, with most Swithicks more than a few miles from any major metropolis concluding that self government was the only realistic option. The laws established by successive kings have traditionally been administered by ‘Wayfaring Justices’ - magistrates who travel the Mill Lands, resolving disputes and enforcing the law. In Pelonastra, the Lords Elect wield the majority of political power, and members of the De Hauer and Rever families which wish to exercise political power must sit on it. The days when their hereditary right to rule had any value have long since gone. However, the most tenacious and cunning political operator in Pelonastra is Prince Bard Rever, who sits on the council as the Master of Arms and Lord of Drake. This means that he has control over what little defences the Mill Lands have and is in name at least, the master of the armouries of Drake. Bard has for many years worried about the poor state of the Mill Lands defences and has often been rebuked by the rest of the council, who see him as worrying unnecessarily. For at least fifty years, the council has resisted taxing the Swithick people to pay for ships and cavalry, and has refused to enforce ancient laws requiring pike drill and archery practice in villages and towns across the Mill Lands. The only threat to the Mill Lands, so it is believed, comes from the Haatchi and the need of the tribes to the east to buy from and sell to the Mill Lands makes a decision by them to go to war exceedingly unlikely. Many members of the council have argued that if the Mill Lands were attacked, that a direct appeal to the Firg, who buy coal from Mont Inaer in the north, would see the giant folk send their armies to aid the Mill Landers. Other more controversial voices, particularly Sydan De Hauer, once Master of Treasuries of the Lords Elect, have argued that conquest by a foreign power would actually benefit the Mill Lands. As a country that has long since been unable to re-establish itself as a unitary state, the Mill Lands, so the argument goes, should have unification imposed upon it externally. If this meant becoming a colony to a foreign power, then this could be tolerable, especially if the ruling dynasties were left largely to their own devices to administer the realm as viceroys to a foreign emperor. Olinast, Yulinast and Filthtown Pelonastra is ruled from two islands in the Shay estuary, Olinast and Yulinast. Filthtown' (a play on the swithick word 'filddtown or 'floating town), is a large and interconnected network of boats, floating platforms and gangways that has grown from the docks and wharfs of Yulinast. Olinast is the epicentre of power, government and wealth in the Mill Lands and contains: Castle Ward At the heart of Olinast is the Dondarych fortress, a heavily defended keep that has traditionally been the last redoubt of Pelonastrian kings. The huge pale granite structure is the largest structure in the Mill Lands and it has, so far, deterred foreign invasion. In any struggle between the Revers and De Hauers, control of the Dondarych is an essential prerequisite for victory. High Gardens The surrounding districts to the Dondarych are known as the High Gardens. The wealthiest of the Mill Landish Gentry live here, in beautiful town houses surrounded by ornate gardens and orchards. The poor of Pelonastra are kept away from bothering the rich by their own privately funded militia, called King Samuel’s Watch. The men of the watch wear the livery of the last great De Hauer King, Samuel II, but have little real connection with his memory. Instead these mercenary bullies are employed and armed with cudgels to chase the destitute away and back to the slums where they belong. Kings District The Kings District was once the part of Olinast that sat between the Dondarych and the waterfront, and it was the direct property of the crown, putting rents and taxes from the wealthiest district in the country into the personal coffers of the king. Now it is the place where the Lords Elect have their homes, along with diplomats and the wealthiest landowners and merchants. It is walled off from even the High Gardens. Bonders District The Bond Houses of Pelonastra are a pale imitation of the banks and money lenders of Arc, who rule supreme in Aestis as the controllers of currency across much of the continent. The Bonders are, however, one of the most powerful forces in the Mill Lands and many are financially interconnected with their Arcish cousins. The weakened government and its lack of overall control over much of the country means that it has poor tax raising powers. This makes it dependent on the money lenders in Pelonastra for loans and is increasingly in debt to them, without any way to create its own financial solutions. The influence of the Bond Houses over the Lords Elect of the Council ensures that the government in Pelonastra doesn’t find new ways to finance itself out of perpetual debt. One innovation that the Bond Houses are anxious to introduce to the Mill Lands is the infamous debtors' prison of Arc, the Oboline. They have proposed that a recent shipwreck in the harbour, the Marsisar, be raised, drained, restored and filled with Mill Landers who have become indebted. Forced work to extract as much wealth from them as possible would make the raising of the Marisar a lucrative operation. At present, the common law of the Mill Lands prevents debt bondage, but the laws, and the government are perilously weak. The White Temple It is written in the Encomicus of Western Saints that the White Temple was created by St Stephen, but Prasand Orde, the travelling Orlorian scholar proved this to be incorrect through a study of the pale marble, recognising that it was quarried from far away Del’Marah. When he suggested that the White Temple was far older than Pelonastra itself and might have been built before the first settlers arrived, he was angrily rebuked and fled to the city of Trent, where there was a general indifference about such matters. The Aruhvian church erased all references to Orde’s research, but the origins of the White Temple have attracted the attention of the Carathene Monks, who believe its mysterious origins offer a vital clue about the nature of the world that they map and explore. As Aruhvianism has steadily gone into decline after the Sundering, the temple has increasingly fallen into disrepair, and its grounds are inhabited by the poor who sleep at the feet of the great statues of Mill Landish saints. Factions The Hipostics of Pelonastra The Pelonastran chapter of the Hipostics is one of the oldest and most autonomous of the entire order. It was founded in the years following the conversion of the Mill Lands to Aruhvianism at the behest of St Stephen of Dancare, and comprised primarily of Arclanders and Del’Marahans, sent to eliminate any lingering traces in the old Aelsanger religion, and to preside over the order until it was deemed by the Archmandarite of Dancare that the people of the Mill Lands were theologically reliable. Consequently the first Cephale of the chapter, Charmont Arast, was a pedantic dogmatist, disciplinarian, and cold blooded pragmatist, who set about expanding the chapter into theological bureaucracy, securing a mandate to root out heresy in the Pelonastran government, taking advantage of the weakness of Pelonastra’s young king Simik III, known as Simik the Feeble. For over a decade Arast became the de facto ruler of the city, building a parallel administrative organisation overseeing every branch of Pelonastra’s government, reporting exclusively to him, until Simik was strangled in the bathtub by his bodyguards, who were drawn from the youngest sons of the prominent Rever and De Hauer families. As Simik was being murdered, Arast and the leading members of the Hipostics were arrested at a banquet held to celebrate the feast of St Stephen, who had been martyred just a few years before by the Emperor of Del’Marah. The few Hipostics who did not attend the banquet fled the city with many finding sanctuary in Dancare. What followed was a violent inquisition that spread throughout the city known as the Malifican Reckoning. The Rever and De Hauer forces ransacked the city hunting down the remaining Hipostics, using the chaos sown by Simrik’s death to eliminate their rivals and consolidate their power. A series of trials were convened and the Wayfaring Justices summoned back to Pelonastra to preside over the trial. The Archimandrite of Dancare moved quickly, sending emissaries demanding the release of the Hipostics, it was impressed upon the emissaries that Arast had alienated Pelonastra’s most prominent families and that a trial of the Hipostics could very easily be seen as a trial of Aruhvianism given the order’s instrumental role in defending the faith in The Mill Lands. Realising that imposing Aruhvianism on the Mill Lands from the outside could spark a Aelsang revival, and a wholesale rejection of Aruhvianism as an instrument of foreign interference, a compromise was reached whereby the Archimandrite would excommunicate Arast and the other principle defendants for simony in addition to treason, effectively signing their death warrant by waiving the ecclesiastical privileges which prevented their execution. In return the Rever and De Hauer families wrote into the Oath taken by the newly created position of Lord Elect that they must subscribe to and defend the Aruhvian faith, and agreed that the rank and file members of the Hipostics were to be given an amnesty provided that they publically swear an oath of loyalty to the Lord Elect. Following the execution of Arast and his foremost knights by hanging, drawing and quartering, it was agreed that the Lord Elect would have the power to appoint the leader of the Hipostics. He appointed Idris Enos, an esoteric scholar with no interest in political machinations, as Cephale of the Hipostics. He, along with the rest of the order retreated into the Spire, concerning themselves with arcane scholarship, and research into the discoveries of the Aelsanger skalds who built it. For the most part following their retreat into the Spire during Enos’ leadership, the Hipostics all but disappeared from public view, appearing only a few times a year at official functions. The Spire The Spire is a near impregnable tower at the heart of Pelonastra
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