Quarowl

Quarowl is a city in northern Tinturbean. It is the most important of the settlements that subscribe to the tenets of the Congress of Concerned Citizens and frequently hosts their Collective Studies.

Government

Quarowl currently runs on a fiercely democratic political model which is a template for the entire Congress of Concerned Citizens but in earlier days it was led firstly by a line of Kings, allied with the Puzzle Lords Directorate, and then later over many ages by the Baronial Moot and the Arch Baron, a plutocratic oligarchy which held power for the best part of two thousand years.

History

Please refer to the timeline, linked behind a button at the bottom of this article for a chronological listing of events relating to the history of the city.   The city was founded by the Puzzle Lord Appavern Maneck in 1453 APC. The lake and surrounding territories had been won by him in a game of Tangle Web, eight years earlier, where he deployed a strategy still known as the Northern Gambit (as too, is the original game itself). Seeking to exploit his winnings he invested heavily in building up local trades, including logging, fishing and salt mining. Quarowl became the centre of this new activity and it was not long before it began to rival the other older and much more established cities on the continent.   For nearly three thousand years from the middle of the 16th century, the city became almost synonymous in the public mind with its famous Gaming Hall, until the Hall was burned down during the Age of Shadows.   During the era of the Four Aerial Courts, in the first few centuries of the third millenium, Quarowl was one of four Hub Towns, which are also called the Aerial Courts. Each Hub Town had a significant airforce and in the case of Quarowl it connected the previously rather remote site to the wider world and allowed its power and influence to wax significantly.   The image below shows the Diplomatic Fleet of Quarowl at the Summit of the Fleets in 2125 APC, an important diplomatic convention which took place early in the age of the Four Aerial Courts.  
Four Aerial Courts - Quarowl Diplomatic Fleet by DMFW with Midjourney
  In the later part of this age, Quarowl became the home of the newly founded Institute of Magical Analytics which would play an important part in the history of the entire world, becoming in little more than a century, the leading authority behind the formation of the Moderators' Council, an institution based in the city which excercised great power throughout the world for over six hundred years until it collapsed shortly after the start of the fourth millenium. The age of the Moderators' Council, was the peak of the power of Quarowl as a city.   In the Time of Terrors, there was a signifcant migration of Owlblood into the realm via the Noctaliyan Gate which was built to link the city to Noctaliya by Zemdath the Terrible. Owlblood remain an important minority of the population in and around Quarowl to this day, but their influence weakened after an uprising known as the Ruffling of the Feathers which destroyed the Noctaliyan Gate in 3387 APC.   Quarowl's international influence faded slowly over subsequent generations although it remains a regionally important metropolis and has had something of a revival in recent years since it became the capital of the Congress of Concerned Citizens, arguably the weakest of the three great modern power blocks on Magicians' End but nevertheless an important player on the world stage.

Points of interest

The Great Assembly Hall of Quarowl was completed in 1978 APC to provide a permanent venue for the Baronial Moot. Together with the (now lost) Great Gaming Hall and the palace of the Moderators' Council it is one of the three grand public buildings of the city. The Baronial Moot was disbanded in 3618 APC, but their Great Assembly Hall continued to host the parliaments of succeeding weaker democracies. In modern times the building has been extended and refurbished to provide a home for the Congress of Concerned Citizens. Here we see the building viewed from the Eastern Water Garden.  
Magicians' End - Quarowl - The Eastern Garden of the Great Assembly Hall by DMFW with Midjourney
  The supreme circle of the Moderators' Council met in a specially built palace on an island in the lake. This was the luxurious location with windows looking out over the lake shore and the city, where many of the important political decisions of the age were taken.  
Magicians' End - Quarowl -Moderators Council Supreme Chamber
Magicians' End - Quarowl - Moderators Council Supreme Chamber by DMFW with Midjourney
  The building is now open to the public and has become an important tourist attraction.
Founding Date
1453 APC
Type
City
Location under
Owning Organization
Related Traditions

Articles under Quarowl



Cover image: Magicians' End - Quarowl by DMFW with Midjourney

The Puzzle Lords' Directorate

1390 APC to 1829 APC

The Puzzle Lords were an oligarchy of aristocrats who ran a kind of international government from a number of notionally independent city states.

  • 16th Kerax, 1446 APC
    The Northern Gambit
    Sporting Event / Competition

    The Northern Gambit is the name of an opening and a famous game of Tangle Web which determined the course of the expansion of the Puzzle Lords into northern Tinturbean.

    Location
    Tinturbean
    Additional timelines
  • 1453 APC
    The foundation of Quarowl
    Founding

    The northern Tinturbean city of Quarowl is granted a charter by the Puzzle Lord Appavern Maneck and begins to grow rapidly.

    Location
    Quarowl
    Additional timelines
  • 1st Glim, 1561 APC
    The Great Gaming Hall at Quarowl is opened.
    Construction beginning/end

    The Great Gaming Hall of Quarowl is the most famous building in the city of Quarowl.

    Location
    Quarowl
    Additional timelines
  • 6th Findil, 1756 APC
    The birth of Berthold Angrace
    Life, Birth
    Location
    Quarowl
  • 10th Tivith, 1798 APC
    King Berthold is crowned as ruler of Quarowl
    Political event
    Location
    Quarowl

The Age of the Long Famine

1830 APC to 1919 APC

A period of prolonged drought and high temperatures caused by a short term increase in solar radiation. The Puzzle Lords Directorate lost control over government which retreated into less sophisticated local power structures no bigger than city states.

  • 19th Chiroth, 1868 APC
    Death of King Berthold Angrace
    Life, Death

    Sad King Berthold was the last of the line of kings of Quarowl, established in the age of the Puzzle Lords Directorate and was the final monarch to rule with hereditory rights.

    Location
    Quarowl
  • 8th Mald, 1868 APC
    First meeting of the Quarowl Baronial Moot
    Political event

    The Baronial Moot was constituted to fill the power vacuum in the political life of Quarowl following the death of Sad King Berthold who had no heirs. It would become the ruling body of the city for the best part of the next two thousand years. Byron Mortesque was the first Arch Baron.

    Location
    Quarowl
  • 8th Mald, 1868 APC to 1st Glim 1912 APC
    Byron Mortesque is the first Arch Baron of Quarowl
    Life, Career
    Location
    Quarowl

The First Popular Ascendancy

1920 APC to 2040 APC

The First Popular Ascendancy was a democratic movement with an anti-magical policy which arose in the years following the long famine.

  • 1st Mald, 1978 APC
    The Great Assembly Hall of Quarowl opens
    Construction beginning/end

    The Great Assembly Hall of Quarowl becomes the home of the Baronial Moot.

    Location
    Quarowl

The Four Aerial Courts

2076 APC to 2412 APC

The Four Aerial Courts is a name given to a period of history dominated by powers that used great fleets of airships and balloons.

The Moderators' Council

2412 APC to 3004 APC

The Moderators' Council operated as a power broker within a network of regional governments, managing magical education, licensing mages and punishing arcane transgressions with the stated aim of preventing the rise of chaotic mages.

The Time of Terrors

3004 APC to 3641 APC

An age dominated by a number of maverick mages who rule competing fiefdoms with little regard for the welfare of their subjects.

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