Port City of Yaragph

The Shadow over the Sea

Created and edited by Lo, the Wise

One of the oldest and most mysterious Araskan cities.

Demographics

Formerly:

Yaragph was divided into a central citadel district, that contained the Fergrete household and the Great Yaragph Library, but contained small amounts of people. There was a densely populated district by the sea that contained the docks, and 4 more districts inland that contained the bulk of businesses and homes.

Nowadays:

after Yaragph was invaded and taken over by Kruber in the year 25 of the Imperial Calendar most, if not all civilians either fled or were murdered by Kruber's army. He then occupied the city, and since then it is used as a military outpost and dock that houses a garrison of 1.000 soldiers at all times, but also around 2.000-2.500 civilian serfs. Basically: Yaragph is a military base surrounded by a small village.

Government

Yaragph was once ruled by the Fargrete House, where the oldest male son took over his father's role as Prince and Ruler of Yaragph, always after at least 5 years as Arch Librarian.
After the city was sacked and taken over by the forces of Kruber its government was taken over by the military, and a captain is always present to both command the garrison and rule over the civilians.

Defences

The city has sturdy, stone walls. They were reinforced by great spells cast by the ancient Yarans of the house Fargrete, thus they stand strong against its many enemies, and have done so for many generations.
The walls are, in fact, so strong that not even the alchemy conjured forth by the first alchemist himself, Kruber, son of Marrick, could not bring them down.
However, its gates are newer than the walls and towers, so they are breachable if you forget the gatehouses and flanking towers that protect them.

Industry & Trade

The city's library attracted a plethora of people from different and unique backgrounds. Of course, most of them were not granted permission to use the library in any way, shape or form, but this did boost the local trade and commerce.
Its dock, that was big enough to house several cargo and military ships at the same time, was famous for always having a good food and relaxing drink not further than 10 meters away at all times, rumour that served to attract many, many sailors looking for a good rest in their travels, restock on supplies, and or recruit new peps for their crew.

Infrastructure

The city contains multiple small barracks, one central and big arsenal and a fairly big dock that can hold several military ships.

Assets

Yaragph, unlike many of the other Araskan cities and households, does not contain many ancient pieces of equipment. it did, however, contain some of the best crossbows ever made this side of the ocean.

Great Library of Yaragph

The Great Library is the only known structure in Yaragph that was there before the human settlers arrive, and it already contained a great deal of information in the form of books and scrolls. It also contained what was, at the time, very high quality and high tech book presses and copying boards. The library was contained inside a big hill, with very little on the outside, and next to a big, oceanic bay, making it ideal for docks. Over generations house Fargrete took over control of the library, being themselves one of the very few Araskan Noble Houses that actually built their own household. The mysterious library turned all who entered it ravenously curious over its content, leading to the heavy regulation of who has and who does not have permission to enter and use it. Thus, house Fargrete is a house of scholars, intellectuals, and mages.
Sadly, the great library was destroyed, dragged into the sea by an epic spell cast by Marggot III Fargrete in order to prevent his opponent, Kruber, from having access to its contents

Guilds and Factions

House Fargrete

House Fargrete was the local ruling house of Araskan Noblemen who, for centuries, kept and expanded the knowledge present at the great library, adding to it slowly through their generations. They always have two members of their house in commanding offices: a prince/princess (defacto ruler), and an arch librarian, sometimes called a master librarian, who was always a male in charge of protecting, organizing, categorizing and expanding the knowledge stored at the great library. The nobles in this office were, more often than not, powerful wizards.

Sailor's Guild

The Sailor's Guild present at Yaragph was an oddity. Most other Araskan coastal cities had their ruling house have a total monopoly over the trade that flows through their harbor, but the House Fargrete made an exception to this. They trust the many, smaller guilds that naturally formed over the great inflow of trade coming from the ocean to handle such business as they wish, as long as they provide their liege lords with all of the information they can acquire from the passing population. For that each guild has what they call a Whisper, an officer, often chosen from the military, that is a part of one of the guilds and has exclusive access to the library, under the watchful eye of the Arch Librarian, of course.

History

The city itself is fairly young, especially when compared to cities such as Ariana or Capitol, only existing for slightly more than 100 years old. However, the great library is much older than that, and scholars estimate its age to be around 800 years, probably more.
House Fargrete Arrived in the library as Araskan Bull herders, accidentally stumbling into the ruins of what was once its entrance. Upon noticing that the entrance led into a hollow hill, they set up camp there and explored the library. They kept precise records of that age, but refuse to share it, even to the highest ranking officers and scholars.

Architecture

Yaragph's architecture is an oddity when compared to the other city-states, with a sizable contrast between the docks, housing districts, and citadel.

Docks

The Docks of Yaragph are not built by their Araskan Noblemen liege, instead of being built and administrated by the many guilds of merchants and sailors that themselves are a product of the many different peoples and cultures, generating a mishmash of styles and techniques used in the markets nearby and the docks themselves.

The Fargrete Dock

is the only one actually built by House Fargrete and it is full of strange runes and arcane symbols, the wood that makes it up is a pale white, compared to the others who are more brownish or reddish. It is the biggest one, made to handle many battleships and big cargo haulers.

Fargrete Household

Unlike most noble households, House Fargrete actually built theirs from almost nothing. Using the sturdy foundations of the Great Library, the Fargrete built their household using their now forbidden and forgotten sorcery, using water and fire to shape great blocks of stone
This resulted in tall walls made of perfectly interlocking stone blocks, great stone arches that support the high roofs of the towers and main hall, gates and gatehouses with murder holes and defendable positions built within the very stone itself. It is such a wonder of architecture, engineering, and sorcery that many of its original structure remains even to this day, now being used as a military base, there to overlook the nearby bay and the seas.
Legends tell of the epic duel between Marggot III, the arch-betrayer, and Kruber, the First Alchemist, that shook the very ground and made the foundations of the citadel itself tremble, but all for naught, for Marggot dared Kruber to destroy even a single tower with his alchemy, but he could not do it.

Housing Districts

The housing districts of Yaragph are standard, and very similar to other housing districts in the other city-states. It is mainly made of wood, with the wealthy merchants often having a stone base. Houses often have a tall roof, and are generally taller than normal, with a narrower base.

Trade and Comerce

As already mentioned, Yaragph contained many, many guilds of merchants, sailors, mercenaries, fortune tellers, smiths and many, many other types, for within it peoples from all around the world found themselves in a rare neutral ground, where they could trade and talk and live together. This fact alone earned the city its nickname of World City.
One of the consequences of this heavy cultural interchange is the extremely varied appearance of guild HQs and their respective businesses and shops. It is a commonplace in the day-to-day life of yarans to see a blacksmith hard at work in his stone shop, full of exotic arms and armour, right next to an extremely colourful tent of a fortune teller who's name was virtually unpronounceable for araskans.

Geography

The Sea of Hills

The city itself sits just outside of the great Araskan sea of hills, but the green mounts of dirt can stretch over the entire horizon, even if someone sits upon the tallest of towers. In the distance, the slow-moving packs of Araskan Bulls are barely visible, as they merge with the background.

The Pincer Bay

The Pincer Bay, so-called that because of its surrounding land and its narrow entrance, who together resemble a great pincer, is basically what allows the city to even exist. its waters are perfect for even the biggest of ships to sail through, safely docking at the city, without fear of damage from hitting the ground or from tall waves. The bay also houses a fairly big population of fish, although the bulk of their numbers is located outside of the bay

The River Yarickson

The River Yarickson, often just called River Yar, is a medium river that passes through the outskirts of the city and enters the ocean very near the docks. It allows trade to come in from inland, small to medium ships regularly passing through it. The river itself is born all the way back at the Mother Peaks, like most rivers are.
All of the boats that pass the river, say for military and or licensed boats, have to pay a mandatory monetary fee, and hand over any and all pieces of knowledge contained in the boat. The books, scrolls, stone tables and literally anything else are swiftly copied by the skilled scribes of house Fargrete, and handed to the travelers again in the next day, sometimes even on the same day, depending on the size and amount.

Natural Resources

The city has a great fishing industry, with great numbers of fish procreating up the river's stream, inside the bay and fairly close to it in the wider ocean.

RUINED SETTLEMENT
The Forces of Kruber sacked and took the city over at the year 25AK

Alternative Name(s)

City of Sorcery; The World City; The Shadow in the Ocean

Type

City

Population

Originally somewhere close to 35.000, nowdays it only supports a population of around 3.000.

Inhabitant Demonym

Yaran

Location under

Sea of Hills

Included Locations

• Library of Yaragph
• Pincer Bay

Owning Organization

Province of Araska