Jherid Fel
A bustling city wrapped within the echoes of a lasting stillness
Jherid Fel is an old, weathered city. Built a thousand years ago, it was once the heart of an empire that has since splintered into numerous smaller nations, and today stands as the capital of Koralon. Though it bustles with the day-to-day life of a capital city, an eerie sense of foreboding hangs over the city like a malaise, instilling its inhabitants with a lingering feeling of apathy.
Clusters of wooden houses lean up against older and larger structures of crumbling stone, and bustling medieval marketplaces and residential districts vie for space. Four central courseways extend throughout the city, with the royal palace standing tall atop a hill at the center of the city—smaller streets branching off from each of these courseways to form a morass of roads, backalleys, and crowded buildings, new structures built atop the ruins of the old. An outer wall surrounds the bulk of the city, though buildings have begun to spring up outside the walls, clustered around the city gates.
Surrounding the royal palace near the center of the city are the Alantir and Amal districts, housing the nobility and the wealthy upperclass, respectively. While much of the rest of the city is in poor repair, the buildings of the Alantir and Amal districts stand out from the rest by being primarily large, well-maintained stone or brick structures, with ample space left for blooming gardens and the like. These districts are separated from the rest of the city by an inner wall.
A number of canals extend from the harbor, reaching into the city proper. Over the years, erosion has had an adverse effect on the structures near these canals.
Demographics
The vast majority of Jherid Fel's population is human, and is divided roughly into three classes: the lower class, largely confined to the Nevad quarter surrounding the docks, the middle class, scarcely better off than the lower class and filling out much of the rest of the city, and the upper class, residing in the Amal and Alantir quarters in the center of the city.
Jherid Fel is particularly inhospitable towards wilders and practitioners of Fire, and anyone found to be hiding transformations or manifestations are as likely to be hanged by a lynch mob as they are to be merely exiled.
While the occasional vash, taira or various other races can be found in Jherid Fel, they're exceptions and stand out like a sore thumb, with the common folk most often taking an equally xenophobic attitude towards them.
The city hosts an enclave of tribalistic marathi, who have their own small section of the city to themselves—a walled enclosure atop a hill separating them from the rest of the city. They are likewise regarded with hostility, but as they scarcely ever leave their enclave, commoners have come to be content to ignore them, save to scoff at "those damn snakes hiding behind their walls". The marathi are supposedly in negotiations with the Regent King, but if such negotiations truly occur, nothing seems to come of them.
Government
In all matters of practicality, Koralon is ruled by the Regent King, Matheous Varangian, from his palace in Jherid Fel, but Koralon's true ruler is supposedly the Dragon of Eodhra Dana, who made a pact with the former king of Koralon, Malius II, several generations ago. This pact declares the Dragon as the de facto ruler of Koralon, while leaving the Regent King as its steward and acting leader. In exchange, the Dragon is expected to protect the kingdom should it come under threat.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Dragon has not generally involved himself with Koralon at all since then, but is known to still live alone in the tower ruins of Eodhra Dana.
Regent King Matheous Varangian is best known for his unyielding stance towards the neighbouring nation of Kyrantir, whose aggressive expansion threatens Koralon's borders. Despite this, he continues a long legacy of neglecting his own citizens.
Infrastructure
The outer wall of the city extends into the sea, sheltering an internal harbor. The wall features a massive seaside gate—Highgate—whose purpose is to protect the harbor and its vessels from the effects of the tide created by the Stormspire. Due to the danger posed by this tide, sea travel is unrealistic, and the vessels docked in the harbor are exclusively coastal or river craft, with ships only coming or going during a certain period of time between high tide and low tide.
During high tide, massive waves slam into the seaside citywall, and Highgate is kept closed to avoid flooding the city. During low tide, the coast is reduced to little more than shallows, and a light, almost melancholic downpour is common.
Guilds and Factions
[TBA]
The Nobility of Alantir
The Merchants of Amal
The Marathi Enclave
The Insurgency
The Mark of Jherid
History
Jherid Fel was founded by the mythical figure known as the Scale King, along with his empire, Koralon—consisting of what is now Koralon, Kyrantir, Scaratir, the Hills of Ancio, Kori Forest, the Valley of Black Spires, and surrounding regions.
Since the end of the Scale King's reign, both Koralon and Jherid Fel have been in decline, as a result of events such as the Desolation of Scaratir and Kyrantir's secession.
Prior to declaring the Dragon of Eodhra Dana as ruler of Koralon, King Malius II led armies into battle against the Dragon. It was only after seeing with his own eyes how badly his men were beaten by the awesome might of the lone wyrm that Malius II surrendered and accepted the Dragon's terms.
Koralon has been competing with—and losing to—Kyrantir's expansionist approach for centuries, and have only managed to stay relevant by escalating trade with Telran-ri. It is speculated that the only thing keeping Kyrantir and Koralon from all-out war is the continued presence of the Dragon of Eodhra Dana.
Type
Capital
Population
83.000
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