Lenthall

Lenthall first appears to travellers as a cluster of glistening spires on the horizon, it's five main points magnificently catching the shards of sunlight that filter through the looming shapes of The Blackwyrm Mountains . They see fluid white structures, naturally flowing into one-another, seemingly in movement, yet never stirring. They see life flourishing amongst the slender turrets. Lenthall (pnounced len-th-all) is a city of wonder, magic and learning. It's libraries and universities are legendary, and are almost always the first stop for anyone wishing to uncover ancient of forgotten lore. What really gives Lenthall it's fame, however, are the five needle-like towers, known as the sanctums, which dominate the town: The Sanctum Arcane, The Sanctum Mystic, The Sanctum Divine, The Sanctum Cosmic and lastly The Sanctum Forgotten. These sanctums are strange and enigmatic to most people, as all who work or enter there are sworn to secrecy as to what they have seen (but not a magical oath, even though the mysterious leaders of the sanctums are powerful and devoted enough to insist on one being taken). However, although almost no-one knows the specifics, what is known to most people is that the sanctums are where rare and unusual lore is kept, because it is of great importance, or because it is best kept hidden.

Demographics

Species

Though, like many of the main cities of Archaria, the population is primarily human (8,000), the sanctums and libraries of Lenthall also attract Elfish (3,000) and Gnomic (1,500) sages. The rest of the population is dwarves and halflings, with other minorities.

Government

The city has a different relationship to the central government than most of the other settlements of Archeria. The state holds very little sway over the city, as part of a deal made between the king and the sanctums to let them be magical advisers to the monarch. The sanctums thus have almost complete control over the city's politics. Taxes collected in the city tend to be high to fund the sanctums' research.

Architecture

The architecture in lenthall is predominantly what we on earth would refer to as Romanesque, but the more prominent buildings are of an elfish design, comprised of tall, flowing towers, twisting as if naturally grown, with sweeping arched windows that the building seems to have grown into. In fact, these buildings were naturally grown, using spells to grow magical trees into majestic spires, before petrifying them into white marble, with some quartz incorporated into the structures, randomly placed, so that