Aberstone
Aberstone held the proud title of First of the Foundation Cities. According to tradition, it was established by none other than Klane Kalonia himself at the end of the Season Of Innocence. Refugees from the Great Burning of Ironhope came together with a contingent from the far eastern Thranish Rider tribe and settled with the local Enjumta peoples, building their distinctive adobe and granite houses that ran in steep twisting alleys over the River Hill district and erecting the old city walls.
The Sophisticate Calendar was designed and adopted here for the first time and is now the dating system most widely used throughout the awakened world. It begins from the year of the first parliament of the New Sophisticates at the Court of Sunrise in Aberstone. This is designated as 0 AF (after foundation). History officially restarted here after the long slumber of the Great Forgetting.
Government
The establishment of the first parliament of the New Sophisticates at the Court of Sunrise marks the start of the Foundation Era, a conventionally agreed date when the Season Of Innocence ended and a new history began.
The parliament was a representitive democracy with members chosen for the two halls, by a system which combined bi-annual voting with a lottery of all citizens.
Aberstone - Court Of Sunrise Interior by DMFW with Midjourney
History
Aberstone was the main centre of learning, trade and commerce for at least the first five hundred years of the Foundation Era, although it had begun to decline in importance even before that age drew to a close. In 1328, the New Sophisticates decided to move their parliament from Aberstone to Paratomb. Partly this was for security reasons and partly it was because Paratomb was a more central location where they thought they could more easily supervise the affairs of their dependencies. In any case it was a very controverisal decision.
In 1667, Aberstone went so far as to declare independence from the New Sophisticates. Whilst Aberstone was not the first to secede, the loss of their spiritual home was a shocking result which exposed to the world just how weak the New Sophisticates had become and in little more than fifty years they would cease to exist.
During the turbulent wars of the Succession Empires, Aberstone declared for the Low Armies in 1725, a move which humbled the city but shielded it from some of the worst violence. Although it was still prosperous, by the time of the Trade Wars that followed, the city had lost more than it had gained.
A process of gradual long term decline was already well underway when the Western Rot caused widespread famine over many years in the 24th century. Ironically, for a city founded on the principle of resisting fire, it was a terrible conflagration known as the incineration which ripped the heart out of the remaining diminished population in 2349 AF. Over the next thirty years the city was gradually abandoned and fell into ruin.
Geography
Aberstone was a city built on and around the banks of the upper courses of the river Aber which flows south and east out of the hills of central Windrush. The centre sits on a tongue of land at a point where two tributaries (the South and North Aber) meet to become the Aber. The river is only barely navigable here, being turbulent and fast but it provides a reliable source of water and the site is fertile with plentiful sources of wood and quarries that provide a characteristic local mottled grey granite which makes an excellent building material. The location is relatively easy to defend since the hills at its back offer no easy route for an invading force whilst the lower valley can be easily fortified.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
2379 AF
Founding Date
1st of Neworbit, 0 AF
Founders
Alternative Name(s)
First of the Foundation Cities
Type
City
Location under
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