Dollet

The port city of Dollet, also known as The Melting Pot of Aurelia, is home to a varied twenty-thousand plus people spread throughout seven wards. Each ward is home to various working people, establishments, trade, and naturally some conflict, but all come together to create the reputation of the first free city of Aurelia, which broke away from the kingdom of Vantice over half a century ago.

The Seven Wards

The North Ward

Nobles aplenty live among winding stone hills and crisscrossing rivers of the North Ward. Peaceful and luxurious at first sight, the North Ward is typically a quiet place where children can be heard playing, people conversing on their wide balconies, and the petals of flowers float through the air. Many of the people who live here are rich enough to employ a servant or two, who tend to be ambitious people looking to make a small name for themselves with a wealthy family. Those who don't live within the lush gardens and sharply cut stone structures will have cause to visit this district when carnivals come to town, as well as traders of valuable goods ranging from owlbear skin rugs to gem encrusted weaponry. Such distractions and valuables, however, do bring nefarious eyes and hands that wish to take shortcuts to wealth, giving cause to the nobles to hire skilled bodyguards of both the martial and arcane variety. Those proven guilty of crimes against the wealthy are often not only fined and charged with jail time, but stripped of various privileges that ensure they will never make a name within the city's walls.

The Guild Ward

Whether honing skills to become a tradesman or looking to purchase the product and services of the very best, the Guild Ward is where one should be. This district is home to dense conglomerates of stores and service providers, as well as production houses of daily goods that support Dollet itself. If a warrior needs armor, weapons, or a shield, they come here to speak with the smiths, or if an herbalist needs tools or ingredients, they speak with the glass blowers, woodworkers, and botanists, to name a few of the specialists that reside here.

The High Stone Ward

For those who live in the Port City of Dollet, the stern and wandering gazes of guards is an everyday occurrence. Yet those who break no law have nothing to fear, for the extravagant men and women of the High Stone Ward who comprise the city's defenses are trained with sharp eyes, steady hands, and fierce fists. It's in this ward that travelers will find high stone walls separating training grounds, barracks, jails, courthouses, and even some arcane activities. Whether looking to make a living or a difference in the city, anyone is welcome to submit an application at the Grand Courthouse, located in the center of the ward, for a position with the city guard or one of its many distant keeps for the safe-keeping of its citizens. However, less than half of all applicants succeed in their training, for the instructors of The High Stone Academy chisel their citizens into hardened soldiers, for the fear of war with Vantice is an ever-present threat.

The Garden of the Dead

The often peaceful and very much alive feeling that the city of Dollet embodies betrays its bloody origins. Many warriors from Vantice, who turned on their home country, lost their lives in the small war against the monarch giant. Although gone, they were not forgotten. The survivors who re-forged Dollet's path constructed a large, beautiful graveyard, dubbed the Garden of the Dead, to pay tribute to those who sacrificed everything in the face of conquest. Built into a small valley near to the center of the city's northern portion, the Garden of the Dead is filled with beautifully paved stoned roads, gigantic trees with leaves that blanket the ground in vibrant colors, and ornate iron fences built around the graves and mausoleums of those who sleep forever. Despite being primarily a place to pay respects, this ward is also used as a park by the citizens and somewhat of a tourist site for visitors, so long as all inhabitants maintain respect.

The Dock Ward

The Dock Ward makes up the entirety of Dollet's southern portion. It hosts many businesses regarding trade, transportation, and some entertainment, most of which is owned by the rich of the North Ward. Various banners of bright and combative colors line the docks and warehouses to guide ships coming to and from the city, and over a dozen tap-rooms and inns are hidden away within its cramped streets for weary sailors and workers to relax and blow off steam (in addition to a few brothels).
On its southern tip is a small isle known as Yannaman's Gaze. On its edge is a fifty-foot tall statue made of gold featuring the general of Vantice who betrayed his malicious kingdom and led the people of Dollet to success in their independence. The statue depicts the middle-aged human, donning a shield and holding a warhammer up to the sky, one leg propped up on a large stone. The isle is home to a guard barrack that is actually built into the statue to watch for threats from the Sindarian Sea and has a bell at the top to warn the city. The statue is also a tourist attraction, and the city charges one dragon per visitor, or five shards if they are a Dollet native.
For those traveling into Dollet proper, a canal known as Two Rivers Way goes North from the Dock Ward into the Mage's Ward.

The Mage's Ward

Home to the spectacular Arcane University of Dollet, student dormitories, laboratories, the classy homes of the well-paid instructors, and dozens of service providers specializing in arcane activities, this ward is a strange sight for those new to magic. The Mage's Ward is also the second ward travelers by sea will walk through, which is no mere happenstance. In the event of a new war with Vantice, both the instructors and the students of the university are the second line of defense to be quickly dispatched at the sea's edge and the many keeps along Aurelia's southern border. For those seeking to dabble in the arcane arts, anyone may apply for an education at the university, but very few will be accepted, for the headmaster's incredible discipline is known to break many minds.

The Parlor Ward

The largest of all the wards in the city, the Parlor Ward is home to almost every distraction one could find. Playwrights stage performances in its many theaters, ambitious business owners shape lots to turn them into taverns, inns, and shops, service industries carve out large swaths of territory.
Of particular note throughout the continent of Lunessia and to many travelers from Onmar and beyond, a large taproom known as the Drunken Serpent attracts many visitors for not only its wild tales, but the actual serpent that lives and serves beverages from the well located in the center of the structure.

Demographics

Primarily humans, halflings, half-orcs, dwarves, some elves, and a handful of tieflings, gnomes, and goliaths. Any other species are rare travelers.

Government

A mix of Plutocracy and Theocracy.

Defences

Dollet's primary defense against invaders are its 40ft high stone walls that are manned day and night by archers and catapults. Guard towers not only serve as barracks for on-duty guards but also have small bell towers to alert the denizens of the direction that danger may be coming from. All told, inside and out, 3,000 trained guards serve as the city's police force and army in times of need.
As a higher-echelon of guards, there are also 500 magisters in the city, trained warriors who also deal in the study and practice of magic. Magister typically solve crimes within the city, but are also prepared to stand guard at its gates.
Spellcasters that live in the city with a knack for combat-efficient magic are required to register with the guard, with the expectation that they are to defend and assist the city when required. Many students at the Arcane University of Dollet also have contracts with the guard, which lowers their tuition cost.
Finally, the Aurelian Vanguard supplies 500 of its own warriors, spellcasters, and priests to protect the exterior villages, and are the first line of defense against invaders from the mainland.

Industry & Trade

To list all industry and trade that goes in Dollet would be to write a scroll longer than all the pages in a wizard's library. However, of note, the city's main sources of income are tied up between importing goods across the lands and sea surrounding Aurelia and selling the many products of the workers in the Guild Ward. It also boasts a heavy student presence, with exceptional learners eager to pay monthly wages to allow them access to the Arcane University of Dollet.

Infrastructure

Stone roads and bridges criss-cross throughout the city, as well as a few small rivers that may be traversed by boat. The city's southern edge is almost entirely made up of docks, warehouses, and related businesses. Forty feet high stone walls surround the city with parapets and guard towers. Three large gates allow entry from the West, North, and East. An extensive sewer system connects many underground establishments (and is so vast, it is common knowledge that some ne'er-do-wells make use of its mazelike nature to support their criminal activity). Courtyards also dot the city, in particular, the High Stone ward, where many with the coin to spare call home.

Assets

Dollet is home to countless stores and service providers, including but not limited to apothecaries, armorers, smiths, general good stores, magic material components, healers, sell swords, private security, and detectives, just to name a new. One can find almost anything within the city.
If looking for particular goods of high value, it would be wise to search the Guild Ward and speak with a representative of one.

Guilds and Factions

Factions

The Aurelian Vanguard
The Onyx Syndicate
The Sanctum of Mirrors

History

In the year 2391, Dollet was founded by the then Prince of Vantice, Marcus Aurelias, grandson of the Marie Aurelias. Vantice, a kingdom that long struggled over a civil war of its own people, constructed Dollet in haste to make use of its resources to supply the war back home. Over the next several decades, the people of Dollet—many of whom were born there—rebelled against their founders with the help of the dwarves of the Contal Mountains and even some of the elves of the Emerald Forest, and established themselves as a free city no longer under Vantician rule.
Ever since the year 2432, Dollet has been a fully free city with enough strength to hold its own against the ever-looming shadow of Vantice, which to this day remains in a civil war between its various states along the long coasts of the continent of Onmar.

Geography

Dollet is built into the cliff-side of a dense forest that connects to the ocean. It's highest points grant breath-taking views into the land that goes north and the sea to the south.

Natural Resources

Residing on the edge of a hilly forest, Dollet and its surrounding areas are home to many animals, insects, and vegetation. The forests beyond the city walls provides wood, food, and medicine. The ocean and rivers that run through it also provide such resources. Outside of its walls are two large farm villages that provide grain and many more materials from ranch animals.

Alternative Name(s)

The City of New Beginnings, The First Free City of Aurelia, The Melting Pot of Aurelia

Type

City

Population

20,000+

Inhabitant Demonym

Aurelians

Location under

Aurelia

Included Locations

• Drunken Serpent

Owner/Ruler

Miles Derrick

Characters in Location

• Cohnal Tre'laan
• Miles Derrick
• Rami Everburn
• Vega Wardragon
• Victor "Volo" Vicario