The City of Highgrove

Highgrove is one of Orthond’s relatively few cities, located in the centre region of the southern part of the Kingdom, also called the Greathearth Dennen. The name is a good indicator of the city’s location, as Highgrove is located on top of a plateau next to a small forest.
The city lies on an important crossroad and connects the Kingdom’s largest port city, Boatrest, the south-eastern region, the southwestern region, and the main road to the middle and northern parts of the nation. This of course means that hundreds of travellers pass through Highgrove every day, and it lives of the trade and other services that these travellers require. The inhabitants of the city try to make Highgrove as attractive as possible to outsiders, and are known to be very friendly as well as organise many festivities. During big holidays, like the celebration of the entrance of a new year, Highgrove is known to become a true hotspot filled to the brim with visitors. This is why the city is also known as "The Party City of Greathearth".
Despite Highgrove not being the biggest city in the Dennen, it is the home of the house of its Derhan, the Quintes. The house is currently best known for Ernard Quinte, who was the husband of the previous Queen of Orthond, Devondra Droverson, until she died in the year 472 of the Fifth Age. Ernard still lives at court however, and the Quintes still hold great power all over the nation. His sister Bruna serves as Derhan of Greathearth and rules the Dennen, while their brother, Anthohn, serves as Rehan of Highgrove and concerns himself with ruling the city itself. Both Bruna and Anthohn live in Quinte Mansion, although Bruna, like all Derhans, spends about half of her time in the capital of Cawold.

Demographics

Humans take up the vast majority of Highgrove’s population, with gnomes and halflings being the most common other races.

Government

Highgrove is the home of the House of Quinte, one of the most influential families in the entire Kingdom. Despite the fact that in the same Dennen Boatrest is a bigger city with more citizens, the House of Quinte has successfully managed to hold more influence with the other houses in Greathearth, granting them the position of Derhan. Currently it is Bruna that holds this title. As Derhan the Quintes oversee their Dennen and work closely together with the King or Queen of Orthond. It is from this position of power that Ernard Quinte was able to marry former queen Devondra Droverson.
On a local level it is Anthohn Quinte hat rules Highgrove. As its Rehan Anthohn has appointed a number members of other noble houses within the city is his Lohans that help him rule, mostly on matters related to judging criminals and executing justice. Like all Orthondians, Highgrove’s citizens dislike it when their lords interfere too much in their lives, so the nobles stay out of their way as much as reasonable possible, although Anthohn keeps a very close eye on everything that goes on within his city. In particular he is very interested in the trading and services provided for the travellers that pass through the city, as that is where most of the money is at.

Defences

As Highgrove is located in the middle of the Greathearth region, more than 60 miles away from the coast and more than 200 miles away from the border with the Empire of Evadrin, its defences are rather tame. In addition, the majority of the city is located on top of a plateau, which gives Highgrove a natural height advantage.
Part of the city on top of the plateau itself is protected by a wall, although a significant amount of the population lives outside of its protection. However, should an attack ever occur, there is plenty of room inside the walls to allow everyone inside. Entrance to the city is only possible through one of the three gates, all of which are guarded by the City Watch. Aside from the 6 towers located next to the entrance gates (2 towers per gate), there are 5 additional towers spread around the wall that all assist in observing the surroundings.
Highgrove is mostly protected by the city watch, which is spread out over 5 different barracks. One next to each of the three gates, one close to the Quinte mansion in the noble district, and one next to the southwestern part of the wall on the border between the common district and the noble district. As Highgrove is home to the Quinte house, who don’t just rule the city but also the entire Dennen, it has twice the normal amount of guards, their numbers ranging between 45 and 50. The City Watch is well equipped with chain skirts, spears, longswords, shields, and short bows.
In addition to the city watch, some nobles have protection in the form of mercenaries as well. The small mage tower northeast of the city is also able to provide help should its services be required.

Industry & Trade

Highgrove used to have outposts focused on trading and shipping iron ore. Currently however most people in the city either work in a store, or provide some sort of service for the hundreds of travellers that pass through the city each day.
There are many stores that sell all kinds of supplies, ranging from food and clothing to weapons and armour. Exotic goods are available as well to those that know where to look. Even for matters of the arcane there is a small wizard’s tower in Highgrove, although it is located somewhat outside of the city itself due to distrust of most Orthondians towards magic. There are numerous taverns and guesthouses all over the place, and 3 large inns each able to take in dozens of visitors. Almost any service a traveller could wish for can be found in Highgrove. Barbers, bathhouses, shoemakers, tailors, cart vendors and repair services, etc. are all present.
Mercenaries are also common in Highgrove, selling their services to both the nobility and travellers in need of protection.
Nearby farms provide sufficient food for the city, although there is not enough surplus to trade food away with other settlements. There are also many trees both north and south of the city which has resulted in a number of lumber mills that gather and process wood. However, since large forests are common in the Kingdom it is not as profitable as many of the other activities.

History

Highgrove its beginnings can be traced back to the early years of the Fourth Age, where it was initially located further north than the current city, close to the little mountain at the northern side of the plateau. It was discovered that the mountain contained iron ore deposits, which were incredibly important in the production of steel. As the demand for iron was far greater than the supply in those times, a few families realised the lucrative potential of mining operations and a small mining village was founded near the little mountain. Soon after a few trading posts were set up on the southern side of the plateau, as that side lay much lower than the northern part and was much easier to access. While there were a number of families that started mining operations, the Quintes ended up being the most successful ones.
Over time the trading posts grew into a small village, and roads to and from Highgrove became better maintained and more travelled. As Orthond grew larger and travel to the north became more common, more travellers ended up passing through the village every day. That resulted in Highgrove’s focus shifting from mining and trading iron ore to providing food and shelter for travellers. Near the end of the Fourth Age all mining operations had stopped, and enough people had moved to the Plateau that it had become a city.
While the mines remained closed for a long time, a member of House Quinte lost a lot of their wealth during the second century of the Fifth Age. Because of this the House opened the mines again in the hope of being able to extract some extra money out of them, although at this point iron had become less rare and valuable. Nevertheless the mining operations resumed and continued to run up until the beginning of the fourth century of the Fifth Age, when it became apparent that the little mountain was mined dry of anything of value.
As Highgrove lies in the southern part of Orthond it wasn’t directly hit by the invasion during the Dismal March. However, it help by sending food and soldiers, while taking in as many refugees as they could.

Architecture

Like most Orthondian cities, Highgrove exists out of relatively simple houses and buildings, often considered archaic in style compared to those of other nations. There are a few exceptions to this, like Quinte Mansion as well as a few other noble houses and even inns, that are far more aesthetically pleasing and bigger than the other buildings in the city.
Also similar to other cities in the Kingdom is the structure (or rather lack thereof) of the city. As people are almost completely free to build their house or store wherever they want, structure is almost completely absent in Highgrove. Roads split up and take strange curves, resulting in the lack of a main road in the city and alleyways going everywhere. Houses are grouped in strange ways and shops, inns, taverns, and other services can be found all over the place. While there is a separation of a district for the nobility and a district for the commoners, that is all there is, as no one section of the city is focussed more on one thing than the other. There are no less than 3 market places inside the walls and three more outside of the walls, all organised independently from each other.

Geography

Highgrove is mostly located on top of a plateau, that grows higher the further one goes north. A river runs by the city and forms a lake with a waterfall that leads to a bigger lake down the plateau. A small forest can be both north of the city as well as southeast of it, near the lower lake. A few miles north of the city the upper part of the plateau ends up in a very small mountain which has been mined dry of valuable ore and has been abandoned for almost a century.

Natural Resources

Highgrove currently has much available wood from the two forests near the city. Grain and other vegetables are farmed on the fields. Fish can easily be gained from the river, and the forest is filled with wildlife that can be hunted.
The little mountain on the top part of the plateau used to be filled with iron ore deposits, although the mine has ran dry.

Alternative Name(s)

The Party City of Greathearth

Type

City

Population

Around 6 500

Location under

The Kingdom of Orthond