The Wayholding of Galastaire
The center of the Dream, its heart and soul, the capital of the Galasteri Empire stands as a beacon of wealth and possibility over a model of keen governance.
And it's all on the brink of falling apart.
From the crown of palaces to the lowest dug-ins of the Muck, the Galasteri people are watching and waiting. The old queen, returned after the fall of Savrias, can't live forever. And even if she could, her Council of Ways would not allow her to remain upon the throne. The looming shadows of Lion's Fall hang like an axe over the neck of the great city, a constant drain upon its once-countless resources. Endless supplies of food are growing scarcer. Bottomless barrels of wine are growing fewer. The Galasteri soldier, once the pinnacle of the Dream, now sits idle on street corners or works day labor waiting for back-pay that may never come. More and more, nobles from countless clans and families bicker and vie for power as the future of the Empire and the Dream goes up for grabs. The great wound is felt, but it remains to be seen if the wound is fatal.
For now, the streets still shine like gold at night - even if people rush a little faster to their homes. For now, every luxury is available to the least of people, though the rising expense of once-simple things may end this era. For now? Galastaire remains the finest point of light in a world woven from dreams.
For now, and if some voices rise above the rest? It will remain so. But the path ahead will not be easy, no matter what path that may be.
Demographics
Government
The wayholding is ruled, like most, by a Wayholder - currently Waylady Sarenna, Mansa of the Territory of Galastaire, Empress By Right of Her Standard. Below her rules the Gbara, also called the Council of Ways, where military leaders, heads of prominent families, religious leaders, and artists of note or renown may each make their voices heard on what qualifies as the 'standard' of Galastaire. The Waylady and the Gbara maintain an intricate dance, where her absolute executive authority is limited to pursuing the greater good as the Gbara defines it. Overruling them can result in a barrage of complaints, delays, and outright strikes of labor or service, especially in light of Mansa Savrias' actions.
There was once a great deal of leeway given to the Mansa on faith. No longer.
Industry & Trade
The capital is the center of refinement for the Dream in a number of senses. As its political and mercantile center, a great flow of goods, commodities, and favors pass through the city and leave their plenty in taxes, surpluses, and in available resources for luxury goods, mastercrafts, and new technologies. The Galasteri population is highly educated and well provided-for, giving them room to both consume and produce a great variety of comforts, wonders, and necessities.
This education might be the primary export of the capital, as many visit to attend trade schools, military academies, halls of magic, and the like. The Academy of Art once literally rose above the city itself as the academic center of the Dream, but even now, its remaining foundations serve as the gold (or guanín) standard for tutelage in the mystical arts. At its heart, the capital of Galastaire is a massive university town, with its population swelling after each harvest and dwindling before the next. The free education offered in lieu of gold payment for soldiers has drawn many veterans to the city in recent years, creating a swell of labor but also pressure on some resources.
History
The capital itself has served as the capital of the Galasteri Empire for most of recorded history, and even in the prehistoric era where the Galasteri first arrived on the shores of this continent, the city stood as a wondrous ruin of former glories. The hill at the center of the Lake of the Ladies may be composed as much of worked stone as mud and natural rock, or maybe more. The true depths of Galastaire's ruins are unknown, and descend well into the Underdark. While the Throne of Knowledge rests at the top of the great hill, perhaps only its mistress knows what lies at the bottom.
Tourism
Enrichment is the most common business of travelers to the capital, in one way or another. From eager students looking to learn their first cantrips to a group of friends hoping to form a free company of adventurers, the streets of the capital are filled with hope and ambition. Knowing the difference between the two can often set the tone of conversation - the hopeful have big dreams and much to offer, while the ambitious are full of opportunities and intend to take the most from the surplus of hopeful souls. At the best of times, this is a harmonious relationship. Most of the time, however, someone comes out ahead, and cleverness is the deciding factor.
The capital also has a robust trade in entertainment, creature comforts, and food that has become the standard of well-to-do living across the Dream. Streetside cafés serve lots of hand-edible foods, scoopable with a variety of bread products to favor the tastes of many ancestries. Vendors offer edible gourds or rinds filled with millet or rice and a selection of meaty, vegetable, or fruit toppings to fry and mix. Shops put their finest of easy display, turning a walk down any street into a browsing experience. Everything one could hope for is within an easy walk in the capital of Galastaire.
Crime is uncommon in the capital, but the city is not without its pickpockets, bar brawls, and other bits of excitement. One can usually respect a response to shouts of crime in 1d6 minutes with a cadre of 2d4 Galasteri guards (from the Basic Rules or Monster Manual) who know how to throw a ray of frost at runaways with equal accuracy to their spears. Major disturbances will likely also draw a mage accompanied by the guards above and 1 or 2 veterans.
The Galasteri court system relies on finding the mutual causes and best resolution for a crime, so one is more likely to find themselves receiving tasks as community service than a prison sentence. There aren't many such places in the Empire - restitution is the order of the day for most magistrates. For violent crimes, except dangerous tasks to perform.
Rumors Around the Rings
| d12 | Rumor Overheard |
|---|---|
| 1 | "Someone told me that Savrias' queen still haunts the palace - a shame what happened to her! Taking her own life like that... Maybe that's what broke him." |
| 2 | "Anyone with a shred of talent can earn their way into the Foundation of Art! And they're definitely looking for students after losing so many to the war." |
| 3 | "The Empress must be getting on in the years. She hardly throws parties anymore - she just sits in her palace with her librarian wife, content to let others keep this place properly cultured!" |
| 4 | "Need a guide? A bodyguard? A teacher in the way of the spear? There's always veteran soldiers looking for work in the inns and taverns of the Market Ring." |
| 5 | "You can find everything worth having on the Market Ring, but if you're looking for what you shouldn't have? You'll have to head down into the Muck - if you're brave." |
| 6 | "Guard your tongue! The Lohrian and their spies are listening to everything! They're so clever and so handsome as a family, don't you think? And wise! Yes, wise! Do you think they heard that?" |
| 7 | "I saw one of the Imperial Librarians way down in the Lower Ring - must be hunting for infernalists or other such troublemakers. Why else would they bother?" |
| 8 | "Someone looking to make their fortune? Well, there's a house on the Palace Ring for the taking. All you have to do is survive a night in it, and the deed's yours? What? No, come back, it's a great deal! You look strong!" |
| 9 | "I heard that Hadiri Braddock of Lion's Fall is hosting yet another fete on the Empress' gold. The place is likely to be swarming with those Masked Knights - her hate for the Empress is as legendary as her appetite." |
| 10 | "Have you seen my carriage? Or the driver? Why, those useless servants! I caned one of them for thieving, and now no one's around to keep my home from falling apart! Infernal unions and collusions! I'll pay to find the thief again and really make them regret it!" |
| 11 | "These Galasteri are so strange - you can find a brothel in every district, but you have to go to the Muck to find a decent massage. They find it indecent. But there's a masseuse below that can cure any ailment..." |
| 12 | "A murderer got paid by the crown for the deed! Sure, he murdered the man who destroyed his family and misused taxes, but rewarding the taking of a life seems so odd." |
Geography
The city is broken up into four rough regions - the Palace District, the Market Ring, the Lower Ring, and the Muck. Each of these descends down the great hill into and even below the level of the Lake of the Ladies that serves as a hub for river trade throughout the continent.
The Palace District
Home to more than just the Imperial Palace, the Palace District hosts a grand number of embassies, trade halls, and prestigious places of faith or study. Using the magic of institutions (see The City), parts of or entire buildings exist dually in Galastaire and in their native regions. The sheer variety of designs is managed by surrounding walls in the Galasteri style around each campus, lending an air of uniformity to those walking its well-lit, marble streets. The Palace of Seven Stars, also called the Imperial Palace, is largely open-air, using high magic, hedge mazes, and clever design to protect its many pavillions and amphitheatres from the elements. An untrained eye would see a humble expanse of grassland and marble structures leading right up to the Throne. Of course, if one dared approach, they'd quickly learn that there is more to the Palace than a lovely garden view.
The Market Ring
The wealth of the world must flow, and that wealth often flows directly through the Market Ring of Galastaire. Its expansive tiers, mezzanines, and expansive stairways house the guildhalls, master shops, and resplendent pleasure domes that grant Galastaire its prestige, fame, and riches. Each carefully etched plot of land is owned by one person or a small concern of neighbors, who then sublet smaller spaces under the auspices of the "big shop" at its center. As such, a culture of patronage and servitude has developed, with eager merchants constantly climbing towards one day owning a "big shop" or even a few, a glory beaten only by the Palace District above.
The Lower Ring
While no part of the capital could ever truly be considered 'boring', the Lower Ring is where the commonly blessed among the Galasteri live their daily lives and do their daily work. Humbler shops for staples, simpler schools for basic trades, and simpler barracks for returning soldiers are all found on the Lower Ring, where the view of the Lake of the Ladies is partially obscured by the great Lakewall. Here, you'll find the experiences one might find in any major city of the Dream or beyond it - laughing workers, jovial shopkeepers, and taverns bursting to fullness with travelers. The one thing you're unlikely to find is great poverty. Officially, it doesn't exist. For that? You must go lower.
The Muck
There are only three great districts of Galastaire. The fourth, unofficial level is one that is allowed to exist, but is rarely recognized as existing. In warrens cut from the ancient Lakewall itself, communities that either refuse the Galasteri standard or remain ineligible by foreign birth make a living of their own. Most of the Muck is taken up by workers who tend to those living in the Lower Ring and rarely higher. They lead simple, humble lives. There is crime, but such behaviors draw undue attention above, and as such? Most criminals stick to their own, preying on their peers in the Muck. It falls to ethnic, religious, or criminal leaders to maintain law and order, and often the same person is all three. Pushes for formal recognition of the Muck and additional recognition under the Imperial Standard are constant, but outsiders insist the sprawl is self-made. For those who want a better life? They need simply leave it. In truth, without being held up by the Galasteri standard unless born within it? There is nowhere to go.
Industry and Trade
History
Tourism, Crime, and Rumors
Geography
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