Laoch
One of only a few surviving remnants from the Golden Cities, they managed to spare a few hills of the city, the southern walls, and the main citadel which stand to this day. Yet in these half-flooded remnants a proper state has emerged, led by the House of Morter. While the last 80 or so years haven't been easy for Laoch, it has endured; and so it shall keep doing.
Demographics
About half the population of Laoch live around the ouskirts of the city as farmers or by the ever-present waterline as fishermen. Another fourth are artisans and dayworkers, with the last fourth being the soldier nobility. This is only a rough estimate, and interspersed with this we have the multitude of sorcerers and warlocks housed in Laoch, the occasional merchant, and government worker not part of the nobility.
Government
The city is directly ruled by Queen Lydia Morter, second of her line, who's been ruling the city for the last 30 or so years. The young monarchy, established after rapture by her father, rules by way of feudal ties between House Morter and the military and sorcerous nobilities. To aid her in ruling she appoints some of this nobility with the following title.
Warden of The Harbour
In charge of shipbuilding, martitime trade, and organising potential military excursions with the Warden of The Sword. Held by Jora Steelhull, a 30-something dwarf of House Steelhull; was himself knighted by Lydia.
Warden of The Flame
In charge of training, and making, Sorcerers and Warlocks, making them the Lector of the Schola Ignis. Also indirectly in charge of managing the sole surviving library of the City. Held by Morrigan Ardent, a androgynous and eccentric Gnome at least as old as rapture of House Ardent, was pivotal in House Morter seizing power.
Warden of The Coin
In charge of organising taxes, in the potential trade with other settlements (now most notably Ghearas), and keeping track of the treasury. Held by Paulus Lyonel, an ageing human knight of House Lyonel. Loyal to House Morter and have been vassals of them since long before Rapture.
Warden of The Sword
In charge of the knights of Laoch and the defence of the city. While technically merely a go-between for Lydia and the knights directly serving her, she's found it's useful having someone to help manage the knights. Position held by Jolina Swiftfoot, an ex-pirate halfling woman knighted by Lydia; also Lydias paramour.
Defences
To the south, there's a great wall surviving from Before Rapture, and to the north a fleet and watchtowers protect the city from encroachment. In the very center of the city, on an island of it's own, there stands a great Citadel; Tor Cruiadh, The Iron Tower, from which Queen Lydia holds court. In case of an attack, Tor Cruiadh can hold a solid thousand people inside, not counting the soldiers needed to defend it.
Infrastructure
The city is interconnected by a series of bridges and canals criss-crossing the city, allowing easy traversing of it. Along the waterside there are shipyards and fishmarkets, watermills to process the flour of the city, and even a few smelteries and smiths. That said, it's all far more rudamentary, and medieval, than it would've been 80 years ago or how life is in Ghearas.
Guilds and Factions
There are two factions of interest, one of which is mostly united, the other fractured; The Schola Ignis, the school training the mages, and the guild that helps organise them upon their gradutation, and on the other hand the Houses of Laoch. The houses of Laoch are, simply put, the military nobility of the city. They are trained from a young age in fighting with both sword and bow, on foot, from horseback, and on the bow of a ship, and form the backbone of Laoch's military, holding a vow of servitude to House Morter in exchange for tax privileges and being exempt from certain laws.
The Schola Ignis, on the other hand, collects all those exhibiting sorcerous power, as well as granting it to those brave enough, and trains them. This granting of power is not done lightly though, as it entails either binding them to a powerful, chaotic entity (making them a Warlock), or tearing their soul open to the powers of the weave, something which has killed many and driven even more insane. With that in mind, most of those that join without inherent magic choose to become Warlocks. They are then trained in combat, though less rigorously than their knightly counterparts, in the sciences, and how best to use their powers. Upon graduating, they swear fealty to House Morter and join the Schola as full mages, sharing many of the same privileges as the Houses.
History
Laoch was, in it's heyday, a powerful magocracy. A city ruled by a council of sorcerers, all of whom elected by their supposed skill, and that could by their magic bring untold prosperity by affecting the very soil and weather of the world. This is, of course, an oversimplification. The Council of The Flame was corrupt, and the feudal economy of the city had been holding them back for a long time.
With that said, it was prosperous. The peasants, while excluded from power, never had to work as hard as their factory working equivalents to the north and west. The city was unopposed politically, and their mastery of espionage let them always stay one step ahead of their opponents. But at the time of Rapture, when those great protector mages could mayhaps have shielded their city like Ghearas was shielded by their own wizards, their city was largely empty. All the most skilled Sorcerers and Warlocks were in the south fighting the Legions of Voyshka, and those that were left were unprepared for the arcane tear in reality that would strike them. Still, they managed to shield the great Iron Tower, Tor Cruiadh, as well as the southern part of the city, while the rest of it was violently ripped beneath the waves.
Afterwards, with the great Schola Ignis decimated, House Morter took power. While they had never been the most powerful or influential in the past, the then-current head of the House, Lord Allister Morter, had something quite ruthless about him, and few of those who had stayed in the city rather than leave to fight the Legions of Voyshka had the backbone to oppose him. After the first few years of simply hunkering down, weathering the storm, and surviving, King Allister (as he had then proclaimed himself) swiftly started establishing a feudal mode of government even more regressive than the one the city had had before, reorganising the Schola Ignis so that it could start putting out mages, and putting the great fields of Risenplain to the south under the dominion of Laoch.
Since then, not much has changed. King Allisters daughter Lydia eventually took over, putting a slightly more liberal and reformative regime into place; though only barely so. For now no council holds sway over Laoch; no, rather there is only the Queen of Tor Cruiadh, backed by steel and fire.
Architecture
The city is a combination of the older grey brick and stone building from before rapture, and the similarly built Southern Wall, as well as newer buildings built of mud brick and logs (those being most common on the outskirts, among the farms or waterline). Think old west-european castles, mixed with outskirts looking like an overgrown hamlet.
Geography
Laoch is situated in a natural harbour, with two islands sticking up from the surf in the middle of it; something that forms an excellent defensive position for the city.
Natural Resources
The great fields of Risenplain are an excellent and fertile place to grow crops for sustenance, and from the sea comes an abundance of fish.
Alternative Name(s)
Old Laoch, The City Upon The Rocks
Type
City
Population
Ca. 20 000.
Inhabitant Demonym
Lachians
Location under
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Characters in Location
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