Auguston Citadel

The Citadel is the first real stronghold you reach when traveling South from the Wildlands. It sits at the far intersection of the Western edge of the K'hala Swamps and the Southern end of the Anhult Rise. It is near a mountain gap that leads to the Sorrowfell Plains.
The security and stability it offered turned it into a large city-state. The long standing Irisa monarchy of the city-state has diplomatic ties with all of the peoples, kingdoms, and cities of the South. It boasts a powerful school of magic, Holtswain Academy, and Sun Temple with an order of paladins loyal to the monarchy. The city's crest is a fiery sun and the city declares that it is the beacon that heralds the civilization of the South. The people of the city thrive on that vision, imagining themselves as a special place in the world.
However, social mobility in the city-state is limited. Those the follow the tides of the royal court closest might make some headway but the wrong move will make a successful merchant a pauper just as easy. Paladins are selected as young children and taken from their families. Their oath is to the fiery sun and loyalty to the monarchy - only its order matter. The cities' holy warriors have a history that makes neighboring kingdoms keep a wary eye on the citadel. Mages take servants from the lower classes but they are just as likely to perform wide ranging experiments on them as have them cook or clean.
Much of the wealth of the city comes from its accumulation of knowledge and robust merchant class and nobility. However, regular crusades into the Kobold Plains to raid ancient dwarven ruins has brought an unknown and significant amount of treasure to the city.
The Citadel had never fallen to a siege but a decade ago it nearly did. A horde of fiends errupted from the Kobold Plains and the East. The enchanted horde corrupted many that came into contact with it. The holy order of the city hastily erected divine barriors but the city was surrounded. Fourteen months into the siege, a battle further West at the Wall of Thessali between the horde and the allied forces of the South broke the enchantment of the horde. The Citadel fought its way out of the siege and proudly took the badge of glory as the only city to have survived after the horde reached it.