Yodenheim

The island rises up in the middle of a gulf and in the mouth of a massive river that parts to either side of the large mountain that makes up the land the city is built upon. The city was the first settlement built by the elves when they first arrived in Yodenheim, its construction started in the year 163 and it took them another 200 to finish construction. The sheer amount of magical energy that is imbued into its foundations is staggering. It has stood largely unchanged for the 3115 years since its completion, the largest change happened when the humans captured the city during the second origin war, which is still the only time the city has ever been conquered. During the fighting to capture the city large portions of the lower city was burned, so those areas were rebuilt by the humans, the rest of the city has barely changed at all from what the elves originally built. The total area of the island is 70 square miles. The island is 14 miles long from its western most point to the eastern point, it is 8 miles wide at its widest from north to south. The border wall of the city is around 34 miles around the city. The shores of the island is surrounded by an incredibly tall and seamless white stone wall that seems to shine in the sunlight and which only has a few breaks for a few bridges and a large dock area that sits beneath the tall and well fortified towers that watch the city interior and river alike, spaced evenly along the walls are hundreds of towers each with a large crimson banner flying from the peak with the golden eagle of Valdia in the center. The walls are famously 100 feet tall, with the guard towers ranging in heights from 150 to 175 feet tall. The total length of the walls is around 34 miles. There are a total 1700 guard towers along the walls. The construction of these fortifications while clearly designed to be functional are also incredibly pretty, the walls and towers seeming to connect seamlessly and with flowing lines, almost as if the stone was meant to be that way.
At the westernmost point of the island there is a massive fortress that protects the city from anything that may approach from the sea. It stands hundreds of feet tall and its walls push out into the gulf itself forming a seamless wall that shoots up out of the water. Atop this fortress there are batteries of enormous ballista and catapults designed to destroy fleets of ships. Each ballista requiring a crew of at least six soldiers to operate it. Smaller versions of these ballista sit atop each of the hundreds of guard towers that encircle the city. To the eastern most point of the city at its narrowest point in the mouth of the river there is another fortress of similar construction just narrower that watches over and controls the traffic on the northern and southern branches of the river.
Spanning these rivers and hovering a good 60 feet above the water, there are two bridges that are twins of each other, one to the north and one to the south. Each is constructed of the same seamless white stone. They are wide enough to have 6 large wagons easily travel their length side by side and have room to spare. The bridges seem almost delicate to look at but have stood along with the walls of Yodenheim for thousands of years. The bridges stretch from the walls of the city to the small fortresses that sit along the banks to the north and south without a single support touching the river beneath.
Each bridge leads to a massive gateway that is only slightly narrower than the bridge, the gate is around 75 feet wide and 90 feet tall. The doors themselves swung wide open during the day are constructed from enormous timbers banded in steel that shimmer with obvious magical power. The gates lead into a long passageway that goes through the heavily fortified gatehouse that rises a good 100 feet above the city walls.

The other break in the wall is along the southern river, this is where the large and incredibly busy docks hold the hundreds of ships that are delivering and receiving cargo, some to head back up the river and others to head out to sea, there is one area set aside specifically for an enormous fleet of small fishing boats, all of which are moored in a sheltered area further up the river. At the other end of the dock closer to the sea is where the large and dangerous ships of the Valdian navy are docked, they range in class from small quicker courier vessels to the enormous dreadnought class ships that hold around 400 crew. Currently in the Valdian fleet there are three of the enormous dreadnoughts, Two of which sit out in the gulf and one is at dock to be refitted and overhauled. Beneath that are the Large Frigates which hold a crew of around 200 and are at least half the size of the dreadnoughts but still dwarf ships like The Enchantress. There are around 10 large frigates in service, half of which are in dock and the rest at anchor in the gulf. The next class are the regular frigates, which hold a crew of around 120 and are the most prominent in the docks and gulf, they have around 30 vessels of this size in service at the moment. Beneath that are a scattering of sloops and cutters, all with no more than 40 crew.
In the shipping docks there are many ships of every size none larger than the average frigate but with much more variety among them all.
The dock area itself is an incredible feat of engineering, they stretch for at least a mile in width along which there are 5 massive stone piers made out of the same stone as the city walls, from each pier there are hundreds of docks that no matter the time of day always have people bustling about, crews unloading and loading crates and barrels, customs agents patrolling and inspecting manifests in pairs wearing their extremely noticeable and intentionally obvious crimson tunics with golden trim. Among the people moving about the docks there are a scattering of navy crew members as well, the common deckhands dressed in loose and baggy white trousers, normally barefoot but some with boots if they are headed into the city, with similarly loose and baggy white shirts usually with a red bandana tied around their necks. The sailors in formal dress wearing fitted black jackets with golden buttons and the same red bandana tied around their necks held with a golden clip emblazoned with the valdian eagle. Common sailors don’t wear hats of any kind. The marines dress more formally They have dark red jackets with golden buttons, black pants, and shiny black boots, instead of a bandana they wear their golden eagle clips on a length of cord, they all wear black tricorn hats with a golden eagle head clipped to a short red ribbon on one side. Each has a long saber on their belts and their jackets are clearly lined with some kind of armor. The navy officers dress in a similar style to the marines but their jackets are black and they often have red silk bandanas, on their shoulders they have their marks of rank, and their tricorn hats have the same marking. There is one way out of the docks and into the city and it is a similar gatehouse to the ones from the bridges.

Once through the gatehouses the avenues that lead deeper into the city are paved with the same seamless white stone that makes up the walls, here though you start to see construction and buildings to either side that don’t have the same grandeur that the walls and fortresses have. If carefully studied the walls and bridges were clearly made with magic and by a people much more concerned with aesthetics than humans. Therefore many of the buildings built along the avenues were constructed by humans, and though many attempted to mimic the same graceful and flowing style that makes up many of the ancient constructions in the city, most fall short in one way or another. The avenues are wide and always busy, occasionally sitting in the center of the roadway there are large fountains that have clean and cool water flowing from them, usually the fountains have large statues of some historical figure or another in the center. These fountains are where most of the people in the city get their water aside from the really rich people who can afford to have it piped into their homes. Throughout the crowds there are hundreds of vendors selling all manner of things, most food of some kind. The avenues have a constant and gentle angle upwards as they go deeper into the city, slowly approaching the walls around the citadel. At night the avenues are well lit with glowing orbs that sit atop elaborate and intricately detailed lamp posts that are evenly spaced along the length of the avenue. Depending on the district the avenue passes through there could be shops or homes to either side, either way any business or home that can afford a spot along an avenue is very well to do at the least and incredibly wealthy in some of the fancier districts. Generally the closer you are to one of the six main avenues throughout the city the richer you are, the poorest being those in the spots furthest from the citadel and between the avenues. There are constant city guard patrols along the avenues, they are some of the safest areas in the city at all times.

Directly inside of the city walls there is another road that goes all along the walls in a complete circuit of the massive city, this road is not as wide as an avenue but is still wider than an average street, fitting at least three wagons side by side. Spaced out along this road are more fountains but of a much less elaborate design, still they provide clean and cold water to the citizens. The walls and this street are also lit by the same glowing globe lights that are along the main avenues.

Branching off of the avenues are smaller streets paved with common cobblestone, these lead into the many different districts. The streets aren’t nearly as wide as the avenues but most will fit two wagons side by side, they are also all well lit at night with lantern posts, These streets generally follow along with the general direction and design that the avenues do, which means they usually curve slightly. Along these streets there are much less wealthy businesses and homes, water is accessed by going to well that has a hand pump on each block. The streets are usually kept relatively clean and are patrolled infrequently by the city guard. In some of the poorer areas where they don’t have indoor plumbing there are gutters that run along the sides of the street where people dump piss and shit.

At the center of the island and atop the peak of the mountain that the city is built upon is an elaborate fortified palace. This is the seat of power for the Kingdom of Valdia, the many peaks and rooftops have large red banners with the eagle crest of Valdia proudly displayed. The circular citadel sits at the center of the city with four of the avenues branching out to the north south east and west like the spokes of a wagon wheel. The construction of this palace is ancient and very magical as it has not deteriorated in the slightest for the more than 3000 years it has stood for. This was originally the seat of power for the elves within Yonder, it was taken by the humans during the second origin war.

The current garrison of the city is nowhere near the possible full strength but it hasn’t needed to be for a very long time. The total number of soldiers permanently stationed in the city is 6000. They are tasked with guarding the gates, fortresses, and walls. A full strength garrison for just the city alone would be around 30,000 soldiers. That would allow the walls to be fully manned and to have three watch shifts. As it is there are only ever 2000 soldiers on duty during each watch.
The total number of soldiers in the standing Valdian army is 20,000. This force is somewhat centered around Yodenheim but the remainder is spread throughout the different holds across all of Valdia. This does not include any personal forces gathered and maintained by other nobles. The strength of the nobles if combined with the full might of a levied army of the king would be in the hundreds of thousands.


The navy has an additional 8000 active members. On around 60 ships of varying sizes.
The total number of city guard is 8000. That group however is not a part of the actual Valdian army, they are not as well trained and are only tasked with maintaining order, they patrol the streets and the city interior.

City Districts - Many smaller districts all fall within three larger districts.
The lower district is all of the buildings between the walls and the first avenue that circles the island.
The Middle District is between the first and second circular avenue
And the upper district is the area that includes the palace and the surrounding area before it reaches the inner circular avenue

Lower District - the largest overall district Warehouses/granaries - There are large areas entirely full of block sized warehouses Tradesmen - all of the loud and smelly industry happens out here Shipyards and Docks Slums/poorest homes Lower class homes Prison cemetery Large and varied market Fortresses/Military Barracks Red Light District

Middle district Some of the smaller Temples Middle class homes Tradesmen who practice the expensive trades like goldsmiths, and jewelers Parks Libraries/schools Bathhouses Theaters Smaller more specific markets Guild Halls Banks Bureaucracy offices - taxes, property records, all other official nonsense

Upper District Palace Noble estates Upper class homes Arcane practitioners Magic School Expensive colleges Large Temples Larger Banks

Some of the Inns in Yodenheim
The Golden Tusk - Fancy bar in one of the richer sections of the city
The Angry Hawk Inn and tavern - In the docks district, the bar owner has an actual hawk as a pet that is indeed very angry
The Kings Blessing - not much of a blessing really, its a moderately priced inn in a middle district The Stag and Lion
Three Silver Goose Inn - incredibly rough bar, has a large number of cheap hookers that frequent the rooms and the bar.
The Midshipmen’s Pride - very nice and respectable inn and bar just off the docks

Type

Capital

Location under

Valdia

Owner/Ruler

Morgan De Valdis

Ruling/Owning Rank

King / Queen

Owning Organization

Kingdom of Valdia

Characters in Location

• Morgan De Valdis