Bysaes Tyl

The rustic elven city of Bysaes Tyl is tucked away in the northern region of the Pearlbow Wilderness. Built synergistically within the tangled boreal forests, this hidden settlement of tall wooden arches and warm hearths sits below a massive network of treehouses and bridges that form the canopy and upper levels of the city. The streets are made of smooth stones set in packed earth, gently enchanted to warm the pathways and melt the frequent snow. Large, bowed tutoring halls hold lectures for the masses, while cleared patches of forest facilitate the training of warriors in the defense of both the city and the empire.
Bysaes Tyl was founded by elves who fled the destruction of Molaesmyr in the Savalirwood and quietly began to build a new home away from the eyes of the expanding empire. The elves of Bysaes Tyl struggled through the harsh winters for many years as they constructed their homestead, leaving the past behind to look to the future of their society. Adversity bred a hard, guarded, and tight-knit people.
When the Crown discovered that an independent city-state had formed within imperial territory, an imperial envoy was dispatched to present the elves with an ultimatum: accept Dwendalian rule or prepare for the empire to claim sovereignty over Bysaes Tyl by force. The Ring of Three, the elven elders, convened and agreed not to fight. Many of their kind would die in a senseless war — and perhaps the elves would outlive their imperial rulers many years hence. They agreed to submit and follow imperial laws and pay imperial taxes, under the condition that they could maintain some level of cultural autonomy within their city.
The elves guard the secrets of their culture as best they can, maintaining a tenuous relationship with the Crown that holds to this day.

Leveraging a Legacy

Bysaes Tyl remains the only city of elven creation within the Dwendalian Empire. The denizens feel an intense need to protect and maintain their cultural legacy, and to search for clues surrounding the mysterious destruction of their ancestral home. As per the agreement between Bysaes Tyl and the empire, the Ring of Three has incorporated some elements of imperial society into their own and shared a number of arcane secrets and recovered artifacts from Molaesmyr with the empire in exchange for their city’s cultural autonomy. The elves wish to preserve their unique art and music, their crafting skills and techniques, and knowledge gleaned from the ruins of Molaesmyr that might decide the future of their people. The rumors that secrets and relics within Bysaes Tyl still remain hidden from the Crown and the Cerberus Assembly heighten the tension between the starosta and the Ring of Three, in addition to the slowly increasing imperial oversight.

Demographics

83% elves, 7% humans, 10% other races

Government

As part of the agreement that brought the city into the fold of the Crown, the Ring of Three, comprised of the elven nobles Allusus Dawyne, Gwey Yethneiros, and Amra Balleei, still oversee most aspects of city life. They must, however, work very closely with Starosta Uther Prent and his appointed counselors when governing the infrastructure and enforcement of law and order. Uther’s prejudice against elves is well-known throughout the empire, and many believe this is why he was chosen for his position. The Ring of Three continues to deftly undermine Uther’s leadership while simultaneously stroking his ego, a dance that they have thus far executed with grace but which cannot continue forever.

Defences

Both local and assigned Crownsguard stand ready to defend the city.

Crime

The elves of the city rarely engage in criminal activity, but escalating theft and brutality from non-elven imperial citizens living within—or passing through—Bysaes Tyl is a problem that the starosta largely ignores. Agents of the scattered Myriad have offered to help the Ring of Three manipulate the starosta and his council. The Ring of Three are weighing the benefits of letting an unlawful organization into their midst to help their oppressed people against the long-term consequences of working with such untrustworthy allies.

Geography

The city exists partially on the forest floor and partially within and around the trees, giving the settlement an air of rustic nostalgia that tempers its elven mystique. The walled surface streets are known as the Rough, or Talan, where structures weave between rocks and wide-trunked trees, giving a slanted octagonal shape to the tall, wooden exterior walls of the city. Nearly all structures here are built from pine and other taiga trees, favoring designs that resemble a bowed arch rising to an apex. Spiraling staircases known as the Shrouds, or Halya, twist around and within trees, climbing up to the elevated walkways and buildings amid the forest canopy.

Type

City

Population

19,090

Location under

Zemni Fields

Owning Organization

Dwendalian Empire