Esteille, the capital

Table of Contents

Guild notice—application information pack

Written by Madame Solène de Nivers for the rune guild.

Beyond how awe-inspiring the rune guild itself is, one of the major attractions of working for us is undoubtedly the privilege of living inside the wonderful city of Esteille and to be at the heart of the most important research and innovations happening on this continent. But the positives do not end there, for all Estellois also have unique opportunities coming from living in the same place as royalty, politicians, and wealthy would-be sponsors, let alone the numerous infrastructures and resources of which the city boasts.

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Esteille as a centre of research

Universities

The 3 best Nélannian universities are located in Esteille. This gives you both students to use as minions and lab rats as well as an easy source of supplemental income and prestige thanks to teaching opportunities.

Guilds

All guilds have their headquarters in Esteille, which puts their big libraries and their member and resource networks in easy reach of all Esteillois. Remember that a good collaboration can make or break your career!

Private sponsors

All wealthy Nélanniens have a residence in Esteille, either permanent or seasonal. This gives you many opportunities to approach and woo them until they are begging you to accept their money and do them the honour of crafting artefacts for them.

Moreover, the atmosphere of the entire city is marked by a constant drive towards innovation and a deep curiosity and taste for testing anything new. Nobody here is going to cause you grief about "useless experiments"—at least so long as you do not dabble with Dark magic and rituals.

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Esteille's many other attractions

Politics
With the king, his court and royal advisors all having their main residence in Esteille—whether they like it or not...

Military
Their headquarters, generals and expert duellists are all in Esteille, available to be convinced to part with their fund or to test new artefacts.

Infrastructure
Esteille boasts of many transportation portals, the Lyn river, and many roads and canals, placing the rest of the country within easy reach.

Resources
Nearby orichalcum deposits of course, but all resources circulate through Esteille and no penuries ever affect its wealthy inhabitants...

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No grounded source of danger in Esteille

The Lyn river is perfectly safe and has not flooded the city in centuries—our redrawing of its bed was well-thought out and did not simply aim at making the city beautiful and symmetrical.
A potential threat presented by Illénie and Rénance is simply ridiculous—we have beaten both countries into the ground often enough to completely cow them.
Esteille is also not under the constant threat of a Dark revolution—have some trust in the might of our army!
Esteille is similarly not constantly 2 seconds away from getting destroyed in a runaway ritual—again, our army and all masters living in the city are keeping a constant watch for signs of ritual magic and always intervene well before any catastrophe can occur.
There are absolutely no plots to let Dark mages get away with a runaway ritual so as to replenish the orichalcum deposits—one such disaster two centuries ago was enough, and the deposits are still full. Also, do keep in mind that anyone found spreading such a conspiracy theory would be guilty of treason!
The very first runaway ritual that transformed the local ore into orichalcum a millennium ago was not deliberately started by the crown—Saying so would also be an act of treason. The fact that the capital was moved to Esteille after the disaster to make use of the orichalcum was only good sense.
Esteille is perfectly safe—and it is even the safest place in the country thanks to its proximity to the royal palace and senate.
All inhabitants of Esteille are the most privileged in the kingdom—for all the reasons exposed above and many more that would be too long to expose here.
Any rune master would be honoured to join the rune guild and settle in Esteille—but unfortunately we only accept the most skilled and dedicated masters to join our ranks. So do not wait any longer to start your application!

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Questions
from the North-Earst rune guild application centre
&
Answers
sent by actual Estellois!

What neighbourhood of Esteille would you recommend to look for nice, affordable places?

Affordable rents? Nice accommodation? In Esteille? What a joke! And nobody wants any more country bumpkins to come and make it worse!

Come to Old Esteille! The best, most dynamic, and most affordable of all Estellois neighbourhoods! Check out our ad here!

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Do you really feel safe in Esteille despite all those Dark mages? Is the army truly doing a good job protecting everyone?

I'm no Dark mage, but the way the army watch over every Estellois is oppressive for everyone! Run as far away as you can!

The army's all right, it's the Ritual Hunters you've got to watch for... They're constantly in everyone's business and objecting to the least unusual magic—and all experiments are by definition unusual!

Ignore all naysayers! Esteille hasn't been destroyed by another runaway ritual since the Ritual Hunters corps was founded—the best proof they're doing a fantastic job!
And don't worry about them coming to ask you what you're doing; I always treat this as the perfect occasion to rant about my work to a literally captive audience!

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Esteille is not only a den of iniquity brimming with Dark mages, but also the symbol of everything wrong with Nélannie! The slow destruction of all our history and culture just parallel the way the city was razed to the ground, not by a runaway ritual magic ritual but by the greedy politicians who came afterwards, all too eager to destroy treasures for their mad schemes and their self-glorification!
A symmetrical river? Who's ever seen that, let alone needed one? Plenty of cities in the world manage excellent defensive runic diagrams for their wards without resorting to such outrage! But of course, it was the perfect excuse for the nobility to self-righteously chase away the poorwhile hiding their crime!
This happened a millennium ago, and you might think Esteille is all over it. Yet, just like the building laws have maintained the miserable Lyn river in its unnatural path, the local culture has remained as unchanged and corrupted.
Flee while you can!

Well then, stay away in your defenceless and miserable country hole! Nobody wants you here!

Pfff. Another one bitter about not having been admitted into the guild and trying to hide their shame by pretending to virtuously scorn the capital! Why don't you try your chance in Illénie while you're at it, and good riddance!

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So, is it even truly necessary to live in Esteille nowadays? I mean, if we have all this amazing infrastructure, why not live in a much nicer and more affordable place and take a transportation portal every day to work?

If you have that kind of money, just live with the relatives you undoubtedly also have in the nobles' quarters—You certainly don't think the guild is going to waste all of its portal quota on you and leave nothing for the rest of us! What a joke!

As if the rune guild need another rich noble asshole to join...

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Do not hesitate to send your questions in so that you too can be fully reassured about taking your career to the next step and applying to join the rune guild headquarters in Esteille!

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Related Articles

The Kingdom of Nélannie

Locations Esteille, the capital · Old Esteille neighbourhood · The Dark Lord's Lair · Rune guild building · The Mouth of Garna Infrastructure Transportation portals · Canal and river barges · Semaphore network Factions Light vs Dark politics and Dark Lords · Light Lords · Dark Society · Light Society · Noble Houses Organisation Rune Guild · The enchanting guild · Universities and higher education system · The University of Brauchat Culture General (The ancient religion, Food traditions, Courtship gifts, A militarised society, Calendar & celebrations) · Magical tech (Candied magic, Nail tattoos, The Royal Protector's pearls) · Birds (Golden pricker, Terror Birds, Ridiculous chicken) Influential people Royal family (King Stanislas, Crown Prince Simon) · Ministers (Minister Xanon) · Royal Adviser (Lord Justinien de Labruyère) · Senators (Lord Mérein, Lady Sandeux, Lord Royenne) · Dark Lord (Lord Enélien Cenlys) · Journalists (Jeanne Longue, Rémi Dumand) · Influential professions (Guild directors, Ritual Hunters)