The City of Weltmar

When you first see its walls, you may think the city intact. The walls are hardly cracked, there are still banners flying in the wind. But as you approach, you hear the guttural moans of the undead, as they shutter along its streets. You see the field of bones before the city, broken bones and smashes skulls bleached by the sun. You see the rusted armor of its knights, now dead and rotting. Or you see that armor on the Undying, a species of undead that seems just as cunning and dangerous now as they did when defending their city while alive.
You see that its rivers are sluggish, and that its docks lay empty. You see the sunken boats littering the riverbed, the bloated corpses stuck in the river mud. The lack of life in the water, the lack of fish or tadpole. Nothing lives here anymore. Inside the gates, now hanging open like a broken jaw, the cobble streets are muddy with the remains of people, long picked clean by scavengers. Everywhere, the undead staggers about.
You leave the city with a sense of dread, promising yourself never to take this road again. Because somethings are to bleak and dreary to visit, even in the search for treasure.

Demographics

Present day: Various types of Undead
Pre-Fall: Weltmarian Humans made up the majority of the populace, with Orthelian Dwarves being the largest nonhuman populace, making up maybe 10 percent of the populace. A small contingent of Half-Elves, mostly that of children to Aith-Anur refugees

Government

Weltmar was ruled by a Royal Family, and was a absolute monarchy. While the merchant guilds held some power, it was negligible and nobody questioned the royal edicts.

Defences

Weltmar was city with extensive fortifications, many of them was meant to be impenetrable. Its outer walls are of marble and deep quarry stone shipped up river by the dwarves of Operath. Several towers juts out from the wall, each tower equipped with onagers or ballistae. A large moat surround the city as well, and seveal magical seals had been inscribed into the walls stones. Further inside, another wall, that of the old city, stands as a fallback point. Last is the Keep, with its thick walls and many slots for archers and crossbowmen to fire with impunity from.

Industry & Trade

Weltmare was the chief exporter of agricultural foodstuff as well clayworks such as pottery. From Operath, they imported deep quarry stone for its constant expansion and temples and metalworks for both commerce and military use. From the coastal citys they imported mostly luxuries and fish.

Infrastructure

Before the fall, Weltmar was city with extensive fortifications and one of the most extensive and well built sewer systems. Central to the city was the Weltmar Keep. The city was known for its many pottery kilns and each road was paves with cobblestone. It was a city subdued splendor in a way.

Assets

At time of its fall, Weltmar was believed to be in possession of Nethlins Orchard, a tome detailing the creation of the God of Death Nethlin. Such a artifact is invaluable to the Order of the Grave, which was founded in Weltmar, and long to see it cleaned of the undead.

Guilds and Factions

• The Royal Knightly Order of Weltmar River Merchants Guild Order of the Grave Meloras Grace .

History

Exiles and Frontiersmen, the beginning.
Once the home of Efetras most famous order of knights, the city of weltmar now lies as a dormant and dead tomb for its fallen defenders.
Established on the Wild Plains by Queen Amelia Weltmar at the Kings Year 401, Several Centuries before The Undying ran amok on the northern parts of Anthuil. Queen Amelia was the daughter of Melfician noble who lost a feud and had everything taken from him. Amelia faced being the servant and possible hostage of her Fathers enemies, or braving the Wild in hope of finding a new home. She travelled upriver with a small entourage of surviving footmen, and loyalists. There she found at northern edge of the River Welt, a series of hills surrounded by some of the most fertile farmland she ever encountered. Weltmar, which in old Melfician means Castle Wel, was founded as they settled down. The Wild Plains was not named so without reason, early on the settlement found itself under attack by centaur tribes. When asking the Grey Elves, the only other civilized people that lived around the wild plains, they were turned down, left to fend for themselves.
Despite these setbacks, the city prevailed. Aul-Rahnian and Melfician settlers arrived, all wanting to break ground in this farmers paradise. Soon, the wild plains were the place of extensive farmlands and home to rich cattlemerchants while the city of Weltmar grew ever bigger. This obviusly led to more tension with the Centaur Tribes, but by the 600's, long after the queens death, centaurs had stopped trying, and were driven to from the central wild plains to its outskirts.
Pride before Fall; The end of Weltmar
One of the first human cities to fall the legions of undead that pour out of the Shining Coffin, Weltmars story and fall is one all to familiar to those that survived the "First War". Its lords heard of the elven city opening its gates, they heard of the horrors that awaited past it walls. But they had the God of Death, the bane of all undead, at their back. They did not come to the Grey Elves aid when they first fell to their now undead brothers and sisters, for the two cities had long been at odds, and their borders often contested. Its king, Haldir the Second, believed Weltmar to be safe. That no undead would breach its sacred walls.
They did not understand the sheer magnitude of the enemy they faced. As the old poem of "Weltmars Fall" goes.
"A torrent of grey, a mass of black, a whirlwind of death descended. And the knights of Weltmar stand and fought, for king and for kin. But from their fallen ranks, dark knights ascended. And Weltmar fell, with pride as its cardinal sin."

Architecture

Largely gothic, the city of weltmar was very typical for the northern parts of the continent. Tall spires for its temples and churches, with massive cobblestone facades. Weltmar was jokingly reffered to the "City of Grey Ramparts" becouse how so much of the city was unadorned and built with defensive sieges in mind.

Geography

Weltmar was located on the Wild Plains, a region of very lush plains with rich soil that was perfect for agriculture. A myriad of smaller rivers supplied the region with freshwater and allowed for trade with the coastal cities downriver.

Natural Resources

Mainly cattle and agricultural goods, of which weltmar was the biggest producer on the continent. There was also a thriving industry centered around clay and pottery from its many rivers. Weltmar pottery was considered some of the finest in the world.

RUINED SETTLEMENT
Kings year 1215

Alternative Name(s)

The Grey Ruins

Type

Large city

Population

0 living (At peak ca 100 000)

Inhabitant Demonym

Weltmarian

Location under

Auiltun

Owner/Ruler

King Haldir Weltmar The Second.

Characters in Location

• King Haldir Weltmar The Second.
• Lady Lethina Weltmar