Abovi
Abovi is the seat of the Barony of Abovi, a high-walled settlement perched on a forested ridge in the western highlands of Ugria, at the end of the Abovi River - a tributary that descends from the highland forests and connects to the larger river that marks the border with Egros. The city commands its ridge with the quiet authority of a place that has controlled the western approach to Ugria for as long as there has been something worth approaching. Everything that enters or exits Ugria from the west passes through or near Abovi, and Baron Hovhannes Abovyan has presided over this fact for nearly thirty years with the unmovable satisfaction of a man who inherited a position of structural importance and has never taken it for granted.
The baron himself is the oldest of Ugria's three and the most traditional. Grey-bearded, conservative, fiercely protective of Ugrian customs, and quietly skeptical of the arrangement that placed the Emperor's younger cousin at the head of the province he has served for three decades.
The baron himself is the oldest of Ugria's three and the most traditional. Grey-bearded, conservative, fiercely protective of Ugrian customs, and quietly skeptical of the arrangement that placed the Emperor's younger cousin at the head of the province he has served for three decades.
Industry & Trade
Abovi's economy rests on the tolls it collects on west- and eastbound trade, the wool and livestock of the highland meadows, and the managed timber of the surrounding forests. The forests are the most sustainable of these, harvested under a rotational system that Hovhannes administers with the same methodical precision he brings to everything, and the highland hardwoods they produce supply both local construction and export to the central basin's building projects. The wool is finer than anything the southern plains produce, the altitude and cold producing a fleece quality that Ugrian weavers consider the best in the province and that commands a premium in the western markets.
The toll revenue from the Egros road is the barony's most consistently lucrative income stream and the one that requires the most diplomatic management. Merchants from Egros periodically argue that the tolls are too high. Hovhannes usually declines to lower them. The road is worth what it costs to maintain, and the pass is worth what it costs to guard, and if the merchants from Egros disagree they are welcome to travel through Tashor instead, which they consistently decline to do because Tashor adds two days to the journey. The negotiation concludes, every year, in approximately the same place.
The toll revenue from the Egros road is the barony's most consistently lucrative income stream and the one that requires the most diplomatic management. Merchants from Egros periodically argue that the tolls are too high. Hovhannes usually declines to lower them. The road is worth what it costs to maintain, and the pass is worth what it costs to guard, and if the merchants from Egros disagree they are welcome to travel through Tashor instead, which they consistently decline to do because Tashor adds two days to the journey. The negotiation concludes, every year, in approximately the same place.
Districts
Abovi is built by stone in the old Ugrian tradition. Flat roofs, honey-colored tuff walls, and narrow streets that manage the wind from the highland ridges. The walls are high and well-maintained, the gates broad enough for loaded wagons but designed with a bottleneck that slows traffic to a controllable flow. The city's administrative and military functions occupy the ridge's highest point in a compound that contains both the baronial hall and the watch posts from which the western approaches are monitored.
The Market Quarter occupies the lower town, stretched along the road that enters from the west. This is where the Egros trade comes in: metalwork, spices, and the imported goods that pass through Egros from Iroth and the western sea routes. In return, Ugrian wool, dried fruit, and the cave-aged cheeses that are the highlands' culinary signature go south. The market runs daily but is quieter than the great markets of Kajeryan or Vedin, more workmanlike, catering to the merchants and traders passing through rather than to a large resident population.
The khachkars are everywhere in Abovi as they are everywhere in Ugria; lining the approach roads, standing in the cemetery above the western gate, carved into the walls of the residential quarter. Here in the western highlands the stones are older on average than those in the newer settlements of the central basin, their carvings worn smoother by the highland wind, their inscriptions harder to read but, to the Ugrian eye, no less legible. Hovhannes has his family's khachkars arranged along the baronial hall's outer wall in a row that stretches back twelve generations. He can name every person represented.
The Market Quarter occupies the lower town, stretched along the road that enters from the west. This is where the Egros trade comes in: metalwork, spices, and the imported goods that pass through Egros from Iroth and the western sea routes. In return, Ugrian wool, dried fruit, and the cave-aged cheeses that are the highlands' culinary signature go south. The market runs daily but is quieter than the great markets of Kajeryan or Vedin, more workmanlike, catering to the merchants and traders passing through rather than to a large resident population.
The khachkars are everywhere in Abovi as they are everywhere in Ugria; lining the approach roads, standing in the cemetery above the western gate, carved into the walls of the residential quarter. Here in the western highlands the stones are older on average than those in the newer settlements of the central basin, their carvings worn smoother by the highland wind, their inscriptions harder to read but, to the Ugrian eye, no less legible. Hovhannes has his family's khachkars arranged along the baronial hall's outer wall in a row that stretches back twelve generations. He can name every person represented.
Points of interest
The Western Gate and Approach Road is Abovi's defining feature as a traveler's first encounter. The road climbs through old forest, the ridge appearing ahead, the walls emerging above the treeline, and the gate complex itself, through which everything entering Ugria from the west must pass. It is an entrance that communicates something about the province it leads to; this place knows what it has, and it has been defending it for a long time.
The Abovyan Hall on the ridge's crest contains the barony's administrative offices, the baronial court, and the family's centuries of accumulated records. The hall's long room is hung with the arms and portraits of every Abovyan baron since the Empire established the barony. Hovhannes has not yet added his own portrait, on the theory that portraits are for after. His predecessors apparently held the same view; most of them appear to have been painted in their seventies. The Highland Khachkar Fields on the ridge's northern slope are the oldest surviving stone memorial ground in the barony, containing khachkars going back to the pre-Imperial Ugrian kingdom. The carvings here are different from modern khachkar work, older in their motifs, their interlocking patterns using a vocabulary that the contemporary carving tradition has evolved away from.
The River Overlook at the ridge's southern end is where the Abovi River's descent to the border valley can be traced from above. The overlook serves as a practical observation point and as the place where, by long tradition, departing travelers pause before the road begins its descent through the forest. Ugrians who are leaving for extended periods - students going to Brimorth, merchants heading west for the season - stop here. The view back at the city from this point, in the early morning with the highland mist in the valley below, is considered by those who have seen it to be the place where you understand why Ugrians always come home.
The Abovyan Hall on the ridge's crest contains the barony's administrative offices, the baronial court, and the family's centuries of accumulated records. The hall's long room is hung with the arms and portraits of every Abovyan baron since the Empire established the barony. Hovhannes has not yet added his own portrait, on the theory that portraits are for after. His predecessors apparently held the same view; most of them appear to have been painted in their seventies. The Highland Khachkar Fields on the ridge's northern slope are the oldest surviving stone memorial ground in the barony, containing khachkars going back to the pre-Imperial Ugrian kingdom. The carvings here are different from modern khachkar work, older in their motifs, their interlocking patterns using a vocabulary that the contemporary carving tradition has evolved away from.
The River Overlook at the ridge's southern end is where the Abovi River's descent to the border valley can be traced from above. The overlook serves as a practical observation point and as the place where, by long tradition, departing travelers pause before the road begins its descent through the forest. Ugrians who are leaving for extended periods - students going to Brimorth, merchants heading west for the season - stop here. The view back at the city from this point, in the early morning with the highland mist in the valley below, is considered by those who have seen it to be the place where you understand why Ugrians always come home.
Geography
Abovi's position was chosen for the same reason that most highland settlements are chosen: water and defensibility, occurring at the same location. The Abovi River rises from the highland forest above the town and flows south through the valley below before joining the broader waterway that eventually marks Ugria's border with Egros. The small river is not navigable, but it is reliable year-round, feeding the town's cisterns and the modest agricultural terraces that cling to the gentler slopes below the ridge.
The ridge itself gives Abovi its essential character - a settlement that looks outward. From the walls on the city's western face, the view opens over the forested valley below and the descending road toward Egros. Traders approaching from the west can be seen long before they reach the gates. The signal towers that the barony maintains along the approach roads can relay a warning from the Egros border to the city walls in under an hour, a system Hovhannes takes quiet pride in maintaining.
The ridge itself gives Abovi its essential character - a settlement that looks outward. From the walls on the city's western face, the view opens over the forested valley below and the descending road toward Egros. Traders approaching from the west can be seen long before they reach the gates. The signal towers that the barony maintains along the approach roads can relay a warning from the Egros border to the city walls in under an hour, a system Hovhannes takes quiet pride in maintaining.
Type
City
Population
14,000
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
Comments