Kirkwall
Kirkwall, also known as the City of Chains and historically as Emerius, is a coastal city-state and a major population center located in the Free Marches. It is on the southern edge of the Vimmark Mountains, east of the Planasene Forest, and north across the Waking Sea from Ferelden.
History
Age old stories and scavenged historical documents point towards Kirkwall's dark history.
Long, long ago this city was under the name Emerius, dubbed so after some Magister Emerius from the Tevinter Imperium. The city gained notoreity after it was elected to be the new heart of the slave trade after a slave revolt made Tevinter Archons consider twice having their trade be in the heart of their empire. Magisters competed viciously for the honor of governing the port for several decades until it was eventually placed where Kirkwall now is.
When Andraste turned her armies against the Imperium in the First Exalted March, the slaves of Kirkwall revolted and claimed the city for themselves. The parts of the city that were most prominently known for slaves stood empty for two hundred years, not to be reopened until the crowning of Divine Justinia I.
In the past century or two, the position of Viscount (leader) has jumped around to a number of different individuals. Many historical accounts paint these people as vicious thugs who took power through campaigns of intimidation. The Chantry has had to stay their hand in many of the matters, until the past few decades. This has not stopped Orlesian chevaliers from storming into the city and brutally murdering these individuals. Often times they've done so because the Viscount raised the harbor's chains to the city and charged exorbitant tariffs upon the nation's shipments. A few decades ago the Chantry had to play its hand against one of Kirkwall's Viscount. The Templars marched into the Viscount's Keep, arrested him, and threw him in his own dungeon and stripped him of all his titles. Supposedly, he's still trapped down there. The current Viscount is now been appointed by the Templar-Commander residing over the city. After recent events, Templar-Commander Meredith Stannard deemed herself the new Viscount and has been acting as the city-state's head.
Architecture
The city's history is not easily forgotten by its citizens or its visitors. A ship approaching the harbor spots the city's namesake: an imposing black wall. It is visible for miles, and carved into the cliff side are a pantheon of Tevinter Old Gods. Over the years, the Chantry has effaced many of these profane sentinels, but to deface them all will take many more years.
Also carved into the cliff is a channel that permits ships into the city's interior. Flanking the channel are two massive bronze statues — the Twins of Kirkwall. The statues have a practical use. Kirkwall sits next to the narrowest point of the Waking Sea, and a massive chain net can be erected between the statues and the lighthouse, closing off the only narrow navigable lane. This stranglehold on sea traffic is jealously guarded by the ever-changing rulers of the city as the net trolls taxes, tolls, and extortions in from the sea.
There exists an isolated fortress built into the harbor just off Kirkwall's docks: the Gallows. It can be used to control the flow of travelers arriving by sea but predominantly functions as the home of the Templar Order in the city as well as the site of its Circle of Magi. Statues of tortured slaves fill the Gallows courtyards. These serve as a ghastly memento of Kirkwall's history. The statues are clearly not monuments to the suffering slaves but rather a design choice specifically chosen to break the spirit of newcomers. During Tevinter's rule of the city, executions took place here daily, sometimes hourly. Their corpses would then be hung from the courtyard windows. New slaves trudging in from the docks saw what awaited them.
Alternative Name(s)
The City of Chains
Type
Large city
Inhabitant Demonym
Kirkwallers
Owning Organization
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