Dryad's Gold

The city that was razed to the ground by the red dragon Tchazzar at the end of the Last War a century ago, setting the wheels in motion for the genocide of the chromatic dragons. At the time of the attack it was already weakened by war with both the North and Central Provinces making claims of their border cutting straight through the city. Before the war Dryad's Gold was what the Central Capital is considered today: the greatest city in the world.
Long lived species are currently uniquely affected in how this is still a part of their lifespan, but many of the shorter lived races have now cycled in to a generation devoid of survivors.

Demographics

Dryad's Gold had become more diverse in recent decades but was primarily, and once exclusive, an elven city. High and forest elves were your standard fare. Like almost all of the northern province Drow existed here and experienced violent discrimination, as did those of orcish blood.
Because of eel season the tabaxi population in specific was on the rise.

Government

It was not the capital of the northern province but this very well could have changed, having been regularly suggested.

Defences

Before the war Dryad's Gold had a unique law force that was composed mainly of rangers, druids and paladins. These three specialties would be paired together in 3 person squads, one of each, and were expected to not only work together but to live together. They patrolled different levels of the city and were fiercely defensive of one another, as well as eager to keep their positions, but were isolationist when it came to other squads. Response teams for greater threats, typically natural ones such as forest creatures, were not only assigned in these trios but raised young mounts together- forest drakes.
Along these same lines were an elite guard that was not relegated to just the city alone, but these were two individuals in a team: a ranger of a longer lived race, typically elven, and a young dragon they were a parental figure to. Dragons were by no means simple mount creatures and were treated as the people they were, with respect expected for their continued service and endearment to the cause. Dragon parents who lived nearby larger northern province cities would volunteer their young before they had even hatched. The bulk of these dragons were green, with parents who wanted them to grow up strong and safe, and bronze, who's parents had a strong sense of justice. Any other colors, most typically silvers and golds, tended to arrive of their own volition seeking friendship or adventure. A dragon would retire and strike out on their own when they hit adulthood but served from the time they could carry their rider and perform maneuvers. Despite this frequently meaning over 100 years of service there were never very many- most of the these guards were mobile across the entire region or stationed in the actual capital. Dryad's Gold in particular was already watched over by the Queen of the Deep Wood and thus tended to be more of a stop along the way for these teams.
Dryad's Gold made great efforts to co-exist with nature and as such didn't have much in the way of border defense until the war began ripping it apart and efforts to put up heavily guarded walls from both sides of the war began.

Industry & Trade

Dryad gold thread was incredibly useful as a component in enchantment and led to Dryad's Gold being a frequent exporter of fine enchanted goods. This included, but was not limited to, a great deal of clothing. Fashion design and tailoring were common professions.
The branches of the city trees would sometimes need pruned, and these were of such massive sizes that it not only took specialty workers but provided a great deal of lumber. This was a job in and of itself- the lumber was not typically exported in appreciable numbers as it was used in city development at higher levels.
The city employed a large number of druids to keep their settlement coinciding with nature even as it expanded. Being one of these druids was an incredibly respected position. They cared for the trees the city relied on, the lake the eels would visit, and kept the surrounding deep woods as wild as they should be. They were also who the Queen of the Deep Wood would choose to speak to on most occasions. A number of them worked in peace keeping/law enforcement.

Infrastructure

Having a city built on so many different levels and at dangerous heights meant there was supreme detail to sturdiness and a great need for unusual transport. All levels had several docks from which operated public and private transport. Draft breeds of hippogriff unique to the region carried covered palanquins from level to level. Public transport moved either up or down by 1, 5 or 10 levels. It was free and kept readily available with new palanquins added to popular routes frequently, however it followed its own schedule and one would have to count out their route. Private palanquins could be carried to any dock on demand, or to any private dock which some places owned. These taxi services were not typically used for every day travel by anyone but the well-to-do.
Bridges were wide, sturdy, and carefully engineered with enchanted cord to be safe to use in any weather conditions. Safety railing height varied and was mostly rope and wooden slats bound tightly. These bridges had marked lanes to prevent congestion and were wide enough for several in either direction. The expectation when one stepped on to the bridge if it was busy was that you would keep going- stalling significantly without good reason could result in a fine.
Near the end of its life Dryad's Gold had began pioneering lift and elevator systems that were safe enough for frequent public use, but these were mostly destroyed during war time even before the city's fall.

Guilds and Factions

Three factions existed within the city at the time of its demise: the central military, the northern military, and the copper fangs. The city was being getting torn asunder by the military fighting within the city and occupation of soldiers for months. Local law enforcement had been swept aside if they refused to be militarized, and with so many of them being druids vehemently against the war effort that was common.
The Last War and Dryad's Gold is the time and place the original chapter of the copper fangs, AKA "the bite of the common people," was born. It was an anti-occupation, anti-fascist movement of civilians who resisted both sides of the conflict and took it upon themselves to assist the minorities being crushed beneath the boots of war, many of whom became copper fangs themselves. The movement had spread to other settlements under occupation by the time Dryad's Gold burned.

History

Mid Age of Adventuring:

• The original druids are led to the grove by the deity Mielikki

• Forest elves begin to live high in the canopy

• The settlement is insular and only open to trade with other elves

• The technique to create dryad's gold thread is pioneered

• Traders begin hunting down the fabled settlement as soon as this thread gets out in to the world

• Conflict follows. The 3 person squads and drake riders result.

• Attacks on the settlement are far less frequent but those who do dare to come are stronger.

Late Age of Adventuring:

• Akitell Ress, a young forest elf who has run away from her home in Dryad's Gold, becomes lost in the forest and meets the child of the recently widowed green dragoness Maekishtalen, Queen of the Deep Wood. The men who had fatally wounded her mate had gone on to attack Akitell's home and she'd fled in fear. Maekishtalen takes pity on this poor creature and adopts her, raising her alongside her youngest nestling.

• Akitell and the nestling Leatgannati become inseparable friends.

• Akitell returns to Dryad's Gold when she is grown, astride Leatgannati, and she becomes the first to protect the city from dragon back.

• Eventually they grow weary of violence and force the hand of the elders to consider open trade.

• Exiting isolation, Dryad's Gold is opened first to traders, and then to all when the flood is more than they can stop.

• Many humans and other races immigrate to stay permanently as the thread industry establishes itself.

• Dryad's Gold goes from reclusive elven settlement to the grandest city in the world over a period of about 500 years.

The Last War:

• Dryad's Gold becomes an infamous border dispute in a continent-wide war with the northern province and central province. Fighting outside the woods is almost non-stop. The population is tense.

• The central military successfully invades, marching on city soil for the first time.

• The northern military fights back. Akitell and Leatgannati join the fray. Akitell is killed.

• A grieving Leatgannati gives his life in a legendarily vicious attack, allowing the northern military to gain a permanent foothold. The building of the first wall weaving between the trunks has already begun before Leatgannati finally succumbs a week in to feral battle.

• Mortars that can be fired from the ground to hit enemies enter the fray. Infamously the Mother's Walk, a natural bridge between the two largest trees that was used as a shelter against attack, is hit with more than 500 people hiding there. All civilians, no survivors.

• Civilian casualties continue to rise. Fighting breaks out often in all parts of the city. Curfews and discrimination lead to guns not always being turned on soldiers from the other side. Drow in particular seem to suddenly start disappearing, and both governments are mum.

• The copper fangs are founded.

• Mother, the oldest tree in the grove, falls ill and rapidly dies.

• The copper fangs enter the public eye after killing more than 30 northern military soldiers to free over 200 drow prisoners that are residents of Dryad's Gold from a POW camp. They do not, however, free a single central government soldier.

• Full lock down attempts with curfew start on the city and consistently fail.

• Copper fang activity becomes regularly reported to a continent desperate for hope.

• Tchazzar, the largest red dragon on record, leaves his lair in Gruumsh's fall.

• Prominent copper fangs start turning up dead. The movement goes underground, though murders are answered with two dead for their every one.

• Tchazzar arrives. The city burns. This is the beginning of a two week occupation by the dragon, who razes the entire city.

• Maekishtalen, who is herself the largest green dragon, challenges Tchazzar and perishes.

• Survivors must also escape the forest fire that kills the entire Deep Wood as it too burns with no one to protect it.

• The northern and central provinces make hasty peace and come together to destroy Tchazzar, requiring the rapid invention of deadlier weaponry and immense resource sinks from both sides.

• Tchazzar's death marks the end of the Last War. By this time nothing of Dryad's Gold remains, scorched in to a nest of ash where he had begun digging a new lair with his stolen riches.

Architecture

Dryad's Gold was a city of layers. It began as a grove of gigantic trees the girth of several city blocks, and forest elves took to living in its canopy on a network of suspended bridges and buildings that hugged the trunk. This grove was hundreds of trees strong and most of them were miles high and very ancient. The city expanded from the top down before beginning to spread out in to the surrounding forest.
Over time as the original construction was replaced the upper levels became homes of government officials, nobles, and otherwise wealthy folk, as well as those of the guard who lived alongside forest drakes or young dragons. Luckily these trees all seemed to have a case of crown shyness- swathes of sunlight still reached all the way down to the city streets, though often in shafts creating dramatic portions of light and shadow, an aspect that attracted many artists.
Regardless it was all vastly wooden and they had a great love for a more natural look, wood typically stained rather than painted and roofs encouraged to be mossed over. Gnarled portions of trunk that could be constructed within were highly valuable properties. There were trees that were almost all businesses that would be near trees that were almost entirely residences. Each tree had an individual name, and was composed of levels, with the two things combined being necessary parts of addresses for delivery.
At ground level buildings were built in rings around the base of these trees rather than in a typical grid. Older pathways were all cobblestone, and it took the city awhile to take to cement. There was always an effort to leave space for nature but at the time of its demise the whole of it had achieved a modern (for the time) look.

Natural Resources

The single largest part of the economy was a gold thread made by a silkworm that could only be fed on the leaves found there. This silkworm species is now completely extinct.
Other than the golden thread, the city was along the same river system as the central capital is today allowing for reasonable export of goods without reliance on caravans. The gigantic trees the druids nurtured also had many unique properties: chewing the bark relieved aches and minor pains, the leaves were edible with a peppery taste, and the red sap could be prepped in to a tasty syrup or left to become a highly polishable, strangely colored amber. Edible mushrooms grew high on the trunks.
There were also many inedible mushrooms and plants that could be sought out with trained boars in the surrounding deep woods, often valuable spell components. Some of these were also used for nothing but poisons and were illegal to possess but were in such high demand on the black market that the revenue was significant- the city government often turned a blind eye in the form of light court sentences or slaps on the wrist.
The largest lake in the area had an annual spawning of eels en mass. This made for a seasonal fishing industry, and attracted visitors (especially gourmands) from near and far- locals also always looked forward to eel season.

Controversies Post-Attack

---

Speak With Dead was deployed en-masse to interview corpses to learn more about the disaster because so few survivors in the later parts of the occupation remained. This was done by the Cobalt College without permission from families, leading to a loud controversy about what to do with the information. It was useful and had many goodbyes, but it is considered a morally dubious way to have gotten it in the first place. The Cobalt College simply went silent and stopped updating the storage system for these records for now. Small vinyls of the original recordings and their initial copies are still kept and filed.
Some of these vinyls:

• Raik Besean, interview #1
• Raik Besean, interview #2
• Salonilei Kyorlin, single interview

RUINED SETTLEMENT
A century ago

Alternative Name(s)

Shining Gate, North Heaven, Silk Town

Type

Large city

Population

Over 3 million at time of destruction, which was especially massive at the time.

Location under

Northern Province

Owning Organization

North Government