Volsinii

Oh, great and shining Volsinii, sparkling diamond of my heart. To walk its streets is to walk the streets of the Twin Paradises themselves.

— Erakz' Guide to Sevaria, 3rd Edition Revised

Volsinii is the largest city in the nation of Sevaria, the administrative seat of the region of The Silver Vale, and the ancestral seat of House Kintan. Established more than a hundred years before The Kazarian Heresy, it is one of the longest continually inhabited cities on Estlund.

Symbols of Volsinii

Colors

Volsinii's symbolic colours are pine green and old silver. These colours date back to the days when it was the capital of the Volsin Imperium in the early days of the Godsmarch.

Mascot

Under the flag of Sevaria, Volsinii has adopted the gryphound as its mascot, emblazoning it on its flag and heraldry.

Motto

Alledgedly coming from an aphorism in Old Volsinii, the city's motto is "Out of the darkness, the light."

Life in Volsinii

Natives of Volsinii have a lot of pride in their city's long history and often consider it the center of the known world (or, at the very least, of Estlund when you can get one to admit they haven't travelled all that far). Most are very accepting of those visiting the city and are openly ready to embrace those wanting to move to the city; after all, why wouldn't someone want to live in the greatest city in the world? 

Numismatics

Although Volsinii uses the same currency as the rest of Sevaria, the city itself mints a unique forms of some of the coins that typically find circulation in western Sevaria (and thus in foreign nations with which Sevaria trades by sea). These primarily come in the form of a landmark or symbol of Volsinii replacing the iconography on the "tails" side of the coin, thus leaving the bust of the monarch at the time of issue on the obverse intact. The value of these particular coins does not change although the occasional rumours arise that the mints of Volsinii cut the metal used in the coins, creating impurities and making them cheaper to produce; the mints, of course, vehemently deny such rumours.
Silver Gryphound: Silver pieces minted in Volsinii feature a gyphound rampant on the reverse. These particular coins are often just called "gryphs," a name which has come to be applied by almost all of Sevaria to apply to their silver pieces (whether they feature the gryphound or not).

Demographics

Given the demographics of the nation of Sevaria as a whole, it's not surprising that the people of Volsinii tend to be human (or of majority human descent). However, unlike many parts of the nation, Volsinii is far more cosmopolitan and has notable populations of elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes . Small numbers of various other races also call the city home but, on the whole, their numbers of low enough to mostly be overlooked - including a small population of devilblooded.

Population Breakdown

Human: 72% (approx. 37440)
Dwarven: 11% (approx. 5720)
Elven: 9% (approx. 4680)
Halfing: 4% (approx. 2080)
Gnome: 3% (approx. 1560)
Devilblooded: <0.1% (approx. 40)

Government

The city is served by a council of representatives from the various wards; each ward provides two representatives who are usually selected from well known public figures in the wards. Given their distributions throughout the city and their reasonably large populations, a seat on the council is granted to an elected representative from each of the populations of the dwarves, the elves, and the halflings. Furthermore, a representative seat is granted to each the three small houses in the city. Lastly, the current Lord Kintan (currently Baro, eldest son of the house's patriarch) sits at the head of the council with the ability to appoint someone to sit in their place should they be needed at the king's side.
In total, this creates a city council of nineteen, a structure divised to ensure that no matter could be equally split between all sides. Traditionally, the Lord Kintan is the last to vote on any matter placed before the city council and is usually expected to vote with any council majority on a given topic. This also means they serve as a tiebreaker in the event the sides are evenly split on a matter.
The gnomes, unlike the other races with sizeable populations in the city, do not have a seat reserved on the city council. Although an attempt to create such a position has been made multiple times in the past, few in modern times argue for such a reservation; the majority of the gnomish population living within the affluent Banksward and act as a large enough bloc that, generally, one of their own (or someone friendly to their interests) ends up being appointed to at least one of that ward's seats.

City Colours

Pine Green, Old Silver

Motto

Out of darkness, the light

Founding Date

Circa 100 Pre-Heresy

Population

Estimated near 52,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Volsinii

Location under

The Silver Vale

Included Locations

• The Silver Grizzly

Owner/Ruler

Baro Kintan

Owning Organization

Sevaria

Related Historical Events

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