Tyburn

Tyburn, The Thrull Capital, is a harbour city that lies upon the island of Holgar. The capital city of the Thrull provonce Is controlled by the largest tribe, Clan Volgr, with the Rune and Sýr clans also maintaining a presence in the city as well. Tyburn holds the central port for the Thrull's raiding longships, with the large Volgr tribe of devoted warriors being the muscle of the Prismatic Circle and responsible for raiding. Clan Syr is most adept at forging and supplying weapons to the Thrull army and the powerful magics of Clan Rune keep their enemies at bay.

The Prismatic Circle

Holgar was the site where the elemental druid Kybard first advanced the belief that Kentigern and his six heroic companions had not truly slain Gormadraug, and that the Great Prismatic Wyrm only slumbered beneath earth and sea. The faith that Kybard founded believes that Gormadraug’s waking will herald the end of all things, and that only blood and battle can keep the great serpent confined to slumber. As Kybard’s nascent beliefs spread through the leaders of the Valikan clans, they became the foundation of a theocratic power structure whose apocalyptic fervor has long held sway across Thrull.

The Hollow Hill

A mile north of Tyburn’s walls, what appears at first to be a dense forest grove rising defiantly from the rocky ground is actually the impenetrable wall of a living fortress. Hundreds of great oaks are raised and strengthened by magic, surrounding and protecting the mounded hill within their perimeter that is the sanctum of Hjadana, Grand Druid of the Prismatic Circle. Within the labyrinthine array of tunnels and caverns inside the Hollow Hill, the druids of the Prismatic Circle engage in secret rites of divination meant to measure the sleep of Gormadraug, the Great Prismatic Wyrm. Air and earth elementals can be summoned by any druid of the Prismatic Circle within the Hollow Hill, access to which is forbidden to anyone not of the circle or invited by Hjadana directly.

Power and Fear

The druids of the Prismatic Circle technically hold no power on Holgar or in Tyburn, as the place is under the rule of Clan Völgr. But their faith and its blood rites are held sacrosanct by Nolgr Magnusson—the chief of Clan Völgr, Keeper of the Three Tribes, and master of Tyburn. As such, faith in the Prismatic Circle effectively makes Tyburn a theocracy and extends the circle’s power across all the Thrull-based clans. To many across Etharis, Tyburn is a name that carries dread. The fell city of the northlands is the sanctum of the Valikan reavers whose magically-fueled raids scour the coastlines and rivers of the Bürach Empire, and reach as far south as the Kingdom of Charneault. Former thralls who have made the successful return to their homelands speak in dread whispers of the blood rites of the Prismatic Circle, with countless victims sacrificed at sites across Thrull. Many of those survivors’ stories paint the folk of Tyburn as uniformly dedicated to the Prismatic Circle—zealous warriors ready to die in the name of blood and battle. But the truth is more complicated than that.

One City, Many Backgrounds

By the standards of many of the southern realms, Tyburn is a city in name only. Its defensive walls are rough-piled stone, with larger buildings and longhouses framed in wood, and smaller houses and huts raised of turf and roofed in thatch. But this rustic facade conceals a surprisingly cosmopolitan nature, built on the grim bounty of raiding. For generations, the wealth, art, and people of western Etharis have passed through Tyburn thanks to the plunder gained through raids, giving the folk of the city a rare degree of insight into the lands of the south. Many here are descendants of former thralls who stayed in the north, adopted into major or minor clans, even as they retain connections to their ancestral cultures.

Steel and Sorcery

As the seat of Clan Völgr, Tyburn is home to some of the best warriors in Thrull—life here is dedicated to the combat arts. Open training grounds are scattered across the city, overseen by retired veterans or active reavers recovering from injuries. But though Clan Völgr and the Prismatic Circle control Tyburn, Clan Rune and Clan Sýr are well represented as well. Most of the armor and weapons used by Clan Völgr is forged in Borgund, but Sýr forges tucked in close to the city walls handle repairs to the gear of returning raiders, and craft tools and agricultural implements used across the island. In magical workshops, the Clan Rune mages of Tyburn hone the elixirs and runestones used in raids, and assess magic items and lore brought back from the lands of the south.

The Long Day and Night

Set above the circle of shadow that marks the boundary of endless days and nights as the seasons turn, Holgar and Tyburn are shrouded in complete darkness throughout the long winter. During that time, the city is lit by ritual druidic witchlight, shining like a spectral beacon across the ice-choked sea. The dangers of weather and endless night ensure that few travelers venture forth from Tyburn during winter. During those dark months, the theocratic hierarchs engage the captive population of the city in apocalyptic sermons, reinforcing the fear of Gormadraug’s awakening. The preaching whips up the morale and fury of the city’s raiders as they wait for the advance of spring that opens the sea to their longboats once more. During the summer raiding season, the folk remaining in Holgar dedicate themselves to agriculture, taking advantage of the druidic magic that fuels the vitality of the fields and orchards spreading out around the city walls. Those fields are worked primarily by thralls, whose numbers increase when the raiders return, and whose labors help keep the folk of Tyburn alive when winter returns once more.

Type

Capital