Solnor Compact, Free Cities of the

Rel Astra, literally "City of the Heavens" in Old Oeridian, rests on the Solnor Coast and is by some accounts the Flanaess's greatest metropolis, though Dyvers and Greyhawk are certain to disagree. For centuries, Rel Astra was viewed by many as a shining beacon. Ship crews crossing the Spindrift Sound even now see the glow of majestic Rel Astra and take comfort, knowing that its vast shipyards offer safe harbor. In its expansive markets are displayed half the wonders of the world, and its streets are trodden daily by dark-skinned folk of Hepmonaland, golden Baklunish in flowing cloaks, and pale, gruff barbarians of the far north. At any time, a great chaotic fleet of ships chokes its harbor, bearing the flags of numerous states, but dominated by those of the Sea Barons and the Free Cities of the Solnor Compact. The compact unites Rel Astra and the seaports of Ountsy and Roland in a state of mutual protection and trade, but no doubt exists as to which city is the preeminent member of this triumvirate.
Rel Astra is roughly divided into three major districts: the Old City, the sprawling Common City, and the Foreign, or Barbarian, Quarter. The Old City is the heart of Rel Astra, a ward devoted to soaring towers, impressive palaces, and the headquarters of the government. This district is home to the nobility and privileged of the city, though traffic between it and the Common City is not widely regulated. Here, power and prosperity are often judged by the height of one's walls. Few edifices in the Old City ascend fewer than three or four stories, with five being typical, and many of those are connected to each other by flying bridges and buttresses. Some buildings truly soar, such as the towers of the wizened Royal Astrologers or the labyrinthine Sorcerer's Nexus, the guildhall of mages near Stannic Hill. The palace of the lord protector sits in the middle of the Old City, its massive walls and towers barely dominating the already lofty landscape of the quarter. From here the grand princes of old Aerdy ruled the entire kingdom before the capital was moved to Rauxes more than six hundred years ago. It is now a possession of House Garasteth, a powerful founding family of the Great Kingdom.
Surrounding this district is the Common City, which accommodates the homes and businesses of the mercantile and trade class of the city. By civic regulation, no building can rise over three stories in this district, so it is full of long, squat structures spread out in over twice the area of the Old City. More than three quarters of the population lives in this community, which spreads from the north and west gates and opens onto the East Docks.
The district around the larger South Docks, surrounded by walls pierced with gates into the Common City, forms the raucous Foreign Quarter. Visitors and foreigners in Rel Astra are typically relegated to this quarter unless their business in the city conducts them elsewhere.
Rel Astra has been essentially independent for nearly a century and a half, since the end of the Turmoil Between Crowns, when it gained palatinate status from the Malachite Throne. For most of that time, it controlled a large swath of the Solnor coast in a great arc extending over 30 leagues from the city's walls in all directions. This border begins in the north and includes nearly all of the Lone Heath to the town of Ernhand, proceeding west into the vast expanses of the Grandwood, and south to the border of Medegia at the town of Strinken. While the city of Ountsy is largely independent of Rel Astra, its lord has been subject to the latter for a large part of its history.
Rel Astra is currently ruled by Lord (actually Prince) Drax of House Garasteth, who has held sway over the city since 557 CY. Lord Drax styles himself an enlightened despot, despite the fact that he is undead (see later). By most accounts, he lives up to his reputation, as he can be harsh but also practical, intelligent, and controlled. He even has a dry sense of humor. He commands a large standing army and a navy the equal of any city's on the coast. He rules with austerity and wisdom, but also with a tight fist; he has little opposition within his realm.
Ountsy, Free City of (pop. 29,500; 83,000 in surrounding area)
Ruler: Princess Emmara of Garasteth
Ountsy is an Aerdi city situated up the Solnor Coast from Rel Astra, at the eastern verges of the Lone Heath. It is an old seaport, nearly as old as Rel Astra, but it has been living in the shadows of the Crown of the Solnor Coast since its inception. The city is not as cosmopolitan as its neighbor; indeed, it is often described as puritanical and mean, and its people rude. Ountsy is an independent feudal principality with a hereditary ruler belonging to House Garasteth. Her Noble Ladyship, the Princess Emmara of Garasteth, Trine of Ountsy (NE female human Ftr10) rules Ountsy and is related to Lord Drax by marriage. She was a Darmen noblewoman until the death of her husband (a cousin of Rel Astra's mayor) during the Greyhawk Wars, upon which she assumed control. She is now closely advised by a formal committee of astrologers and Svenser, the Court Mage of Ountsy (LN male human Wiz16), who was exiled from Rel Astra many years ago. Espionage and assassination by the Scarlet Brotherhood are greatly feared by the Trine, and she looks to Rel Astra for aid in warding the Scarlet Ones from her court. It is said she would join Ahlissa if given the opportunity, but her city is wedged between Roland and Rel Astra, and she knows such a move is impossible.
Roland, Free City of (pop. 5,500; 79,000 in surrounding area)
Ruler: The Five (see below)
Roland is a very old anchorage located north of Ountsy and Rel Astra along the Aerdi coast. Nestled in the heart of the Gull Cliffs on the shore of the Bay of Gates, it is a well-protected and fortified town known for its catacombs. The passages are occupied by all manner of folk, mostly gnomes and dwarves, Roland was held for centuries by House Garasteth, distant relatives of Lord Drax and Lady Emmara, though its despotic rulers were deposed during the Turmoil Between Crowns in favor of a ruling council subject to the Naelax overkings. This oligarchy, representing the town's military, magical, religious, and economic interests, is known as the Five of Roland and became an independent body following the Greyhawk Wars. The Five currently include Admiral Lef Quaanser (LN male human Ftr11), Master Ramshalak (NE female human Clr12 of Pyremius), Lady Barbern (LE female human Ftr13), Master Vornekern (N male human Rog13), and Magus Isrilhan of House Garasteth (LN male human Wiz14).
The fear that Ahlissa or North Kingdom would attempt to annex the town and its holdings after the wars has driven the Five into the arms of Lord Drax. While the Five of Roland know they are taking a great risk in trusting Rel Astra, they believe they have no other workable choice. The small towns of Grelden (pop. 1,600) and Farlen (pop. 1,350) are also held by Roland, in cooperation with the other coastal cities of the compact.

History

When the Aerdi completed their drive to the eastern coast of the Flanaess nearly a millennium ago, it became clear to most of them that their journey had finally come to an end at the shore of the Solnor. Their first permanent settlements were soon founded along the coast of the Aerdi Sea, between Pontylver at the mouth of the Flanmi and the Gull Cliffs in the north. After decades of battle with the native Flan and treacherous Suel, the Aerdi noble houses sought a place to call their own, and these places included settlements at Roland, Ountsy, and the largest of all at Rel Astra, the site of a small abandoned Suel settlement. In 428 OR (-216 CY), these small states finally united under a single banner, and the kingdom of Aerdy was born. Rel Astra was chosen as its capital. The scion of Garasteth was the grand prince of the Aerdi at the time, and he set about building an impressive seat of government. A grand palace was constructed in the heart of the city and heavy walls were erected to enclose what is known today as the Old City. A large keep adjacent to the shore housed the admiralty of the kingdom, though the interest of the Aerdy turned decidedly west over the next few centuries.
Sometime after the defeat of Nyrond in -109 CY, when that realm was absorbed into the growing kingdom, the position of grand prince passed to the scion of House Cranden, who had originally come from Ahlissa. This monarch decided to build a new capital more central to his ever-expanding lands. He therefore founded Rauxes above the fork of the Imeda and Flanmi rivers, eschewing the royal palace in Rel Astra. The Crandens were interested in making a monument to rival the Crown of the Solnor Coast. Rel Astra had been dubbed the first of three nearly equidistant "Cities of Enlightenment" founded by the Aerdi to span their empire, eventually including Rel Deven and Rel Mord in the west. Control of the city remained with House Garasteth, which ruled it as a principality, a fief subject directly to the crown. For centuries it continued to grow, remaining the grandest city in the Great Kingdom, if no longer its most prestigious as the focus of the empire moved west.
By 437 CY, tensions within the Great Kingdom threatened to tear it apart. House Naelax delivered the sundering blow by assassinating all rivals in House Rax, after which nearly a decade of civil war ensued. Ivid I finally secured the Malachite Throne after Prince Malchim III of House Garasteth, lord mayor of Rel Astra, sided with House Naelax and negotiated palatinate status for the major provinces of the Great Kingdom, including his own. Thereafter, Rel Astra guided its own course. Rel Astra became the primary destination for those who fell out of favor in the former Great Kingdom, a trend that continues as political refugees arrive from Ahlissa, the Sea Barons, and even North Kingdom.
During the Greyhawk Wars, in which Rel Astra defended itself against renegade Aerdy troops bent on looting it, Drax was forced to receive the "gift of undying" given to so many of Overking Ivid's subjects, and he became an animus. Drax appears to be a wrinkled but healthy man; he casts spells normally, has enormous strength, may command mindless undead, can magically cause others to do his bidding, and is immune to mind-affecting magic, fear, sleep, and being surprised. His touch causes abject terror, and if injured his body quickly repairs itself.
Being an animus has soured Drax's disposition and kept him from attending many public functions in the last six years. Nonetheless, he has governed with a strong but wise hand, aided by a two-headed bestial demon known as the Fiend-Sage, which at times walks through the streets with Drax, both given a wide berth by all citizens. The Crook of Rao was held in Rel Astra briefly after the Greyhawk Wars, but how it got here is anyone's guess. Adventurers negotiated with Lord Drax for its transfer to Veluna. It is thought the Fiend-Sage escaped the Flight of Fiends by studying the Crook beforehand and warding itself against the artifact's effects.
The fall of the hated overking and Rauxes in 586 CY caused Lord Drax to sever ties with the Great Kingdom completely. When Grand Prince Xavener of Darmen organized the United Kingdom of Ahlissa the following year, Drax refused all appeals to join the empire, and he convinced many of his Garasteth peers to do the same.
Both Ahlissa and Rel Astra claim the chaotic lands of Medegia. As of 591 CY, forces from Rel Astra have captured nearly a quarter of the old See, and intend to hold it despite the efforts of Prince Gartrel of House Darmen in Pardue. Life in Medegia has been hard going, however, and many dreadful discoveries surface there every month.

Government: Sovereign city-state, a dictatorship under an undead (but charismatic) administrator advised by a demon (the "Fiend-Sage")
Capital: Rel Astra
Major Towns: Rel Astra (pop. 61,000)
Provinces: Various towns, villages, and strongholds
Resources: Shipbuilding supplies, fish, timber
Coinage: [Modified Aerdy] victory (pp), newgold (gp), halfgold (ep), penny (sp), common (cp)
Population: 380,000—Human 79% (Os), Halfling 9%, Elf 4%, Dwarf 3%, Gnome 2%, Half-orc 2%, Half-elf 1%
Languages: Common, Old Oeridian, Lendorian (human refugees), Halfling
Alignments: N, NE*, CN, LE, LN, CE
Religions: Xerbo, Procan, Zilchus, Osprem, Hextor, Kurell, Syrul, Norebo, Erythnul, Wee Jas
Allies: Ountsy and Roland (Free Cities of the Solnor Compact), Sea Barons
Enemies: Scarlet Brotherhood, Ahlissa (distrusted), North Kingdom (distrusted), Lordship of the Isles (distrusted)

  Location in the Flanaess