Ensign

The largest city in all of Emeriss and the capital of the Arcane Empire of Duras, Ensign is home to some 5,308,280 souls and sprawls across 325 square miles and five boroughs all oriented around a massive, ancient portal network that connects the heart of the empire to its most distant reaches. Once used to send great armies on grand conquests, the portals remain active to this day but, instead of soldiers and swords, they are used to transport trade goods between one edge of Emeriss and the other - and Ensign always takes a cut.
Devised by Emperor Halen Ala in the year 197AD, this system of taxes and tariffs has allowed Ensign's coffers to remain full for nearly three and a half centuries after the near total collapse of the empire's formerly conquest-oriented economy following the Aether Wars and subsequent rebellions.

Old Ensign

The original city from which the empire began, Old Ensign dates back to 907BC and is sometimes called the "Heart of the World." Home to the Imperial Palace and the portal network that connects most of the world, Old Ensign boasts the most affluent citizenry per capita on all of Emeriss. Well policed and impeccably maintained, this section of the city is also a tourism hotspot with people from as far away as Ruelle paying often vast sums for the privilege of walking its historic streets.

Carolynn

So named for the river that flows between this borough and Old Ensign, Carolynn is home to much of the city's craftsmen - blacksmiths, tailors, alchemists and the like. Many of the crafts guilds set their halls here, providing better working conditions and fairer wages to their members than they might otherwise have the opportunity for.

Empress Island

The smallest of the boroughs, Empress Island is sometimes considered more of a support to Old Ensign than a truly independent administrative district. Entertainments and entertainers abound here in all varieties from musicians busking on corners to great gambling halls, from horse races to the infamous red lantern district where it is said that a man can find anything at all - provided he has the coin to spend.
Tourists and nobles bored of the sedate, respectable pleasures of Old Ensign flock to Empress Island to partake in its myriad delights and while few leave with more money than they arrived, all of them have a night to remember.

Aravell

Home to the great trades guilds of the world, Aravell plays host to the families of the servants, launderers, and gardeners who keep Old Ensign and Empress Island so pristine. Many of the city's finest restaurants and taverns can be found here, along with an endless supply of mercenaries and adventurers, always thirsty for gold and excitement.

The Cracks

Far removed from the opulence of Old Ensign and the pleasures of Empress Island, the Cracks is home to the city's down-and-out. Stuffed into cramped tenements or even sleeping rough on the streets, the people of this borough eek out the barest, most desperate of lives by scavenging through trash, breaking their bodies sweeping chimneys, or even scraping up waste from the streets to sell to farmers further afield.
Poorly policed and rarely maintained, the Cracks is as dangerous as it is destitute, leaving them unable even to count on the help of wandering adventurers. The people who live here depend entirely upon themselves for keeping crime out of their homes and punishing the wicked. The very young, the sick, and the elderly do not fare well in these squalid conditions and the risk of plague is a constant specter, often hovering just out of sight but never truly far away.

Type

Capital

Population

5,308,280

Location under

Duras

Owner/Ruler

Emperor Tidus Ala

Owning Organization

The Arcane Empire of Duras