Arendia
The trade city of Arendia simultaneously unites buyers with sellers and the humancentric culture of Bard’s Gate with the high elven Kingdom of Parnuble. Queen Tuiliar who also rules the Kingdom of Parnuble within the surrounding Forest of Parna founded Arendia to serve as the official meeting point between the two cultures. Arendia seamlessly fuses elements of high elven architecture with traditional building techniques incorporated from conventional human cities. Towering spires and narrow arches combine forces with treetop bridges and staircases arranged in a loose grid system occupying both sides of the Tradeway, which passes directly through the heart of Arendia. High elves outnumber human and half-elf residents by a ratio of roughly five-to-one, yet the majority graciously accepts the minority’s traditions, cuisines, and religions despite some difficulties understanding less refined and sophisticated ideas. Nonetheless, there is no mistaking Arendia’s distinctly elven character. The elven builders deliberately constructed the Temple of Darach-Albith in such a manner that its central courtyard incorporates the Tradeway into its design, forcing travelers using the route to pass through the holy site’s gardens, fountains, and statues depicting the Father of the Elves’ wondrous countenance. The architects also placed more emphasis on celebrating their natural surroundings than focusing on worked stone. Precisely manicured trees, shrubs, and other vegetation grow freely, while the city intentionally incorporated natural ponds, brooks, and streams into its extensive public works and water distribution system.
Despite the tranquil surroundings, resentment still persists in some pockets of the elven community. Queen Tuiliar sees the inclusion of humans into Arendia’s society as an opportunity for the human settlers to reciprocate the favor and grant the elves greater influence among the elite of Bard’s Gate. Some of her subjects strongly disagree. They view their human and half-elf neighbors as a contagion contaminating the sanctity of elven culture. Although no one publicly expresses these opinions within earshot of Queen Tuiliar or her supporters, the underground movement known as the Pristine Harp appears to be growing and gaining important allies. They predominately target human-owned property and businesses through intimidation, vandalism, and arson. While no one has died at the hands of the Pristine Harp, even the queen and her counselors demonstrate genuine concern that the organization seems poised to add violence to its repertoire. The intelligence gathered by her network of spies and informants tells her the group is homegrown, but a nagging hunch leads her to believe someone outside of Arendia instigates the Pristine Harp’s actions and funds their operations. She personally suspects one or more of the guilds in Bard’s Gate lends a helping hand to the Pristine Harp. However, she lacks any evidence to support this conclusion.
Despite her inklings, the commercial, cultural, and most importantly economic ties between her city and Bard’s Gate remains strong. Cylyria, the current high burgess of Bard’s Gate, originally hails from Arendia and is a distant cousin of Queen Tuiliar. The women cooperatively work together to further each of their jointly shared or individual ambitions. The Fellowship of Note deploys at least 12 covert agents within Arendia. The operatives report their findings directly to Cylyria, who in turn shares some of her information with her elven counterpart when appropriate. The pair also conduct joint patrols of the Tradeway sections passing through the Forest of Parna. For this task, Queen Tuiliar calls upon roughly 100 of the city’s 1,100 mounted knights to partake in this vital endeavor. These fiercely loyal soldiers are equally adept at fighting in the saddle or on foot. In addition to monitoring activities on the Tradeway, her troops must also defend the city against incursions from rivals within the Forest Kingdoms and fend off monstrous incursions from the wilderness’s indigenous inhabitants.
Capital
Arendia, City of
Type
Capital
Owning Organization
Comments