Ederum
The bay of Kesia welcomes travelers and merchants on their way to Ederum. Its narrow mouth, only 3 miles across, is crowded with ships. On both sides sit a massive white-and-red lighthouses, adorned with painted statues of Desmian Gods. Sailing North, the lights of the port town of Kosobal welcome merchants from around the continent. Nervous looking priests from foreign lands bustle inland, clutching leather bags of paperwork or elaborate scrolls. Merchants hawk fresh fish, religious icons, magic charms, gaudily-illustrated pamphlets, spices, trinkets. Rolled tortillas with chicken and lobster, fried fish, rice dumplings, and fresh-baked purple amaranth with chocolate drizzle are all for sail by street vendors as you weave through the port.
The port market opens up though a gate into the highway to Ederum- yet the market doesn't seem to stop. Buildings- inns, stables, even shops- line the massive white-stone highway. Messenger horses run on the wood-and-dirt path that runs along it, as ox-carts, donkeys, hauling-lobsters, and a great crowd of people all hustle and bustle along the road. Somehow, the 8 mile trek from Kosobal to Ederum never really stops being urban- sometimes the buildings become more sparse and you can see lush fields and rice patties in the distance, but the highway is a community of its own, with its own housing clusters and small residential gardens. When you reach the outskirts of Ederum, it can be hard to notice the difference.
You know you've reached Ederum proper when you see the massive gates capped with a golden statue of a chariot pulled by lions. Where the highway meets the gate, the road is a great red line- the sacred boundary line into the Temple-City of Ederum. Past this line, pagans or heretics venture at their peril. Through the gates, the white-plaster red-tile-roofed houses and apartments rise above the street. Temples rise up above the rest, towering a good four stories and topped with spires. Near each, lines of poor form with empty bowls as shrinekeepers welcome them in one by one. Moving deeper into the city, the monumental structures become more obvious: the massive red-and-gold domed roofs of the Speaker's Palace, the towering archways and stained glass of the Grand Cathedral, the hill-top Castle Korishen. Approaching these, the buildings become far nice, the streets more packed with pilgrims and street vendors selling petty icons and charms. Guard patrols here are a little different- guards wearing golden sigils or red cloaks over their armor, cats wearing silver cowls, and guards wearing simple black robes marked with red suns can all be seen near the Cathedral. Moving through the public Victory Garden and towards the lake, one sees the freshwater docks. A multitude of small fishing vessels drift across the endlessly large lake, and to the Northwest the huge lakeside University campus bustles with life. Students rushing to class, druidic apprentices by the lake trying to make the water-lilies bloom, crowds in line to watch public dissections, and scholars enjoying the early spring and hosting outdoor lectures.
This is the city of Orthodoxy, home of the Perpetual Conclave, Holy City of priests. It is the Temple all Desmians share, the Halls of Eternal Victory.
Demographics
Government
The Perpetual Conclave is the seat of absolute power here, followed by the Duke of Drinika. In terms of actual day-to-day operations, most of the city's administration falls to the Tripartite Council- a body composed of the Priest-Mayor of Ederum, the Lord Mayor of Kosobal (the primary port), and the Lord Mayor of Tasinata (the secondary port). This Council manages the budgets, trade, and taxation of the greater urban area.
The Priest-Mayors of Ederum are nominated by the regional conclave and selected officially by the Perpetual Conclave. The Lord Mayors are selected by the Duke, typically from the town's gentry.
Defences
The Red Lion Walls are just as much to mark the presidium- the holy boundary marking the sacred city limits- as to defend the city. That said, the city walls are equipped for battle and the Castle Korishen within is not easily taken either. Ederum's strategic minds have invested most of their energy in preparing the outer urban area, notable the satellite towns and port entries. Nasty fortresses and layered defenses would make any invasion drag on and those entering through the port of Kosobal would meet a nasty surprise: the bay lighthouses are not only fortified guard posts, but contain a massive chain that can be placed between them. Catching and paralyzing ships, this boom chain allows for a prepared defensive bombardment of any naval invasion force.
Industry & Trade
Ederum primarily produces specialists, cultural goods, and artisan goods. Glassblowing, textile production, papermilling, ink production, and printing are all significant industries here. Massive numbers of apothecaries -more than anywhere else in Desmia- work in the preparation of magical components and medical supplies as well as poisons and potions. The laboring poor live on the state dole (free food allowance) in between state construction jobs, though they often also work in small community gardening and needlework as well. Residents chosen by temple priests to work as shrinekeepers have the opportunity to receive free university education in exchange for 8 years of state service after graduation- earning degrees in theology, medicine, druidcraft, bardcraft, wizardry, law, natural science, or engineering and becoming one of the state's greatest exports: trained professionals belonging to the clerical establishment.
Guilds and Factions
The Guild Halls of Ederum and its two ports- Kosobal and Tasinata- are centers of guild activity, banking, and politics. The Guild Hall of Kosobal (the larger of the two ports) is particularly extravagant, and often houses the Tripartite Council- the mayors of Ederum, Kosobal, and Tasinata, who manage the trade and treasury policy of the city and kingdom.
The University is itself a faction of factions. It is kept conspicuously distant from any theological school as teachers are hired from different universities across Pakray, Avana, and Inara. That doesn't stop these ideological schools from fighting to the death within the University structure. These factional struggles keep the University out of greater politics most of the time.
Similar to the University, the priests attached to the Conclave are incredibly fractious. There are countless cliques and political groups among the Conclave priests and the Speakers they fawn over. Many of these groups have specific social clubs hosted by allied taverns throughout the Cathedral District, with associated cliques of merchants and supporters. These cliques and clubs are sometimes based around political positions within the Conclave, sometimes based around theology, and sometimes just based around region of origin.
History
Ederum was first founded in 800DE, and was one of the first cities in the region of Hadara. A founding member of the Drinikan league- a league of city states that ruled the Drinikan valley- Ederum was a center of Hadaran power until the Drinikan League's domination by the Southern city of Arastock starting in the 350's. After numerous revolts and feuds, Ederum led the Northern states in rebellion in the 500s and broke away as a rival confederation- forming into its own kingdom in the 510s. Wars from 550 to 630 between the 2 kingdoms finally ended in Ederan victory in 630, leading to a united kingdom of the Drinikan Valley.
The Drinikan kingdom began suffering succession crises in the mid 700s, culminating in the burning of Ederum in 770. Foreign tribes migrating Southward were increasingly employed as mercenaries to for more and more fragmented interests, until eventually these mercenary groups became the backbone of a new divided feudal Drikinan in 800ME. Ederum's population plummeted and remained fairly low for over a century, only beginning to recover in the late 900s. By 1200, it was a prosperous and large city once again- just in time to fall once again to the fires of war. In 1240, the Koshikari empire launched a series of rapid conquests along the Hadaran coast under the pretense of anti-piracy measures and seized Ederum. This new empire spared the city from looting and instead built it up as a regional capital. Construction during the initial Koshikari occupation was full of sudden starts and stops, as over a dozen regional rebellions broke out against imperial rule- largely from rural estates- from 1240 to 1390. The granting of autonomy to the region in 1390 saw a rapid rise in Ederum's population and value as a trading hub- value that would increase tenfold when it was donated to the Perpetual Conclave as the seat of Desmian Orthodox religious authority in 1480. This began a period of extremely rapid growth and development, as speakers and priests alike worked to use crusade-won loot and trade income to beautify the city. In 1500, the move was made to "sanctify the city" as a massive temple- a mostly performative move, but one that increased the strictness of the city's religious laws substantially. The city has been marked by all the great triumphs and obstacles that Orthodoxy has since overcome- victory gardens for the victory over the Kobolds at Kaluta, the golden gateway statue to mark victory over the Crimson Death, monuments for storms weathered and foes broken. Ederum has become the history of Orthodoxy carved in stone- a temple to the struggle as a city after all.
Alternative Name(s)
The Pontifate
Type
Large city
Population
60,000 humanoids, 6,000 cats
Inhabitant Demonym
Ederan
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
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