Bearseborn
Government
Bearseborn is governed by the Duke of Bearseborn, in a feudal oligarchy, where a small council of representatives from the major guilds and noble families assigned by the Duke deal with the day-to-day running of the city and Province, while the Duke makes final rulings and deals with inter-organisation disputes.
Defences
Due to the position of the city, Bearseborn has almost always had some kind of walls, though today it is protected by the Highwalls, first built by the Marquee after the city was razed, the Highwalls are built around each new hill as settlement begins in order to prevent another easy sacking. Additionally the three Foundings, the bridges that connect the different hills of the city, have a drawbridge on each end in case a section of the city has been lost.
Industry & Trade
Due to the abundance of minerals mined by the city and the presence of Maje-Steel, Bearseborn's primary industry is the harvesting and refining of materials, with it's second largest industry being the export of high-quality equipment. As the city is a trade hub, many goods flow through the city, and the required industries to support such trade do exist, though many merchants do come this far north just to grab a few barrels of Maje-Steel Dust to export back to the capital.
Infrastructure
Bearseborn has plenty of government provided infrastructure, from the three Foundings (bridges connecting different parts of the city), the Royal Road that travels directly through the city, storage warehouses, the Highwalls and a system of public accessible water through advanced plumbing. Privately there are forges, mines, bazaars, baths, warehouses, taverns, the Steel Cabal, jewellers, plenty of master artisans and craftsmen, and the College of Rejin (founded in honour of the Chimera who saved the town). Every day new buildings begin construction within the city, as it is ever growing, with planned expansion to many of the nearby hills.
History
Initially, Bearseborn was the site of merciless strip mining by the Last Mysterum, which left a patchwork of fissures all across the hills of the region, ugly scars of an empire now lost. When the Cataclysm came, the machines that mined the hills detonated along with much of the other majical devices across the Charted Realms, leaving the hills empty with a scattered dust of majic-infused metal. Nearly forty years after the Cataclysm, those few now eldery survivors of the miners who once worked on the machines led their rag-tag band of survivors into the hills for protection, and began to eek-out a living by trading the majic-metal to merchants in exchange for foodstuffs.
Three generations after initial settlement and the village is now a town, with a population of a thousand and wooden walls protecting its denizens. The surrounding hills, unscarred by the mining, are covered in fields of crops and merchants make an effort to travel this far north to get their hands on what has become called Maje-steel. A local method has been derived to deal with Hot Spots, having them infuse metal with their Majic once a month in order to disperse it and create more Maje-steel dust. Local Hot-Spots are often adopted, sometimes forcibly, into the local noble houses, in order to create Maje-steel dust for them.
In 3075 PC disaster struck the town, though many scholars and historians would call it karma, as the Steel Majes, as they were called, became infuriated at their lot in life, and lashed out at those who had exploited them. In one night of violence and uncontrolled Majic nearly two hundred people were dead, most of the noble houses destroyed or on the run, and at least two Unbroken narrowly defeated. Only with the intervention of the young College of War and the Rejin Expedition prevented the total loss of the town, and the remaining Steel Majes were taken away from the town.
Two years later, while the town was still recovering, a small Cabal of Majes entered into the town, with seemingly tattoos made entirely of metal upon their skin. These were the Steel majes, returned from trial at the hands of the College Arcanum, and trained into an actual Cabal. Seeking redemption for the near annihilation that they caused, the Steel Cabal used their Majics to aid in the reconstruction, and chose a rocky crag near the town to serve as their Headquarters.
Only eleven years later would disaster strike again, as in 3089 PC the Geryon horde would assault the town, overwhelm its defences and raze it to the ground. Despite the best efforts of the Steel Cabal the Geryon still ransacked the town, killing nearly half the population and stealing many local cultural artifacts. When the Marquee would finally arrive and force the Geryon out of the town, the locals were scattered and the Steel Cabal gravely wounded. Those few of fit fighting strength left would volunteer to join the Marquee in their counter-attack, but what was left of the town would struggle to recover.
It would take over a century for the town to recover back to its former size and, in 3192, a massive immigration would hit the town and other nearby settlements as a nearby post-Syckian Dwarvern hold was abandoned due to many reasons. Thousands of Dwarves, Hobgoblins and Oread would flock to the town, bringing in a massive influx of skilled workers. New mines were opened, other hills were settled and linked to the old-city via large stone bridges, forges would be built and bellow into the night. Within the span of a few months the town grew into a city, and would become the primary trade-node of all settlements north of Dirmuth. Only a few years later would the Royal Road be constructed, a large paved highway linking the major trade settlements, increasing Bearseborn’s wealth and growing it even further.
In recent years there have been minor conflicts in the town between worker’s guilds, the Steel Cabal has become increasingly insular and seemingly xenophobic, and Maje-Steel dust has begun being used in off-market drugs. Despite this, trade flows through the city in great volumes, with many caravans taking valuable goods north through the Feldarrow Valley and to Laslecrest.
Three generations after initial settlement and the village is now a town, with a population of a thousand and wooden walls protecting its denizens. The surrounding hills, unscarred by the mining, are covered in fields of crops and merchants make an effort to travel this far north to get their hands on what has become called Maje-steel. A local method has been derived to deal with Hot Spots, having them infuse metal with their Majic once a month in order to disperse it and create more Maje-steel dust. Local Hot-Spots are often adopted, sometimes forcibly, into the local noble houses, in order to create Maje-steel dust for them.
In 3075 PC disaster struck the town, though many scholars and historians would call it karma, as the Steel Majes, as they were called, became infuriated at their lot in life, and lashed out at those who had exploited them. In one night of violence and uncontrolled Majic nearly two hundred people were dead, most of the noble houses destroyed or on the run, and at least two Unbroken narrowly defeated. Only with the intervention of the young College of War and the Rejin Expedition prevented the total loss of the town, and the remaining Steel Majes were taken away from the town.
Two years later, while the town was still recovering, a small Cabal of Majes entered into the town, with seemingly tattoos made entirely of metal upon their skin. These were the Steel majes, returned from trial at the hands of the College Arcanum, and trained into an actual Cabal. Seeking redemption for the near annihilation that they caused, the Steel Cabal used their Majics to aid in the reconstruction, and chose a rocky crag near the town to serve as their Headquarters.
Only eleven years later would disaster strike again, as in 3089 PC the Geryon horde would assault the town, overwhelm its defences and raze it to the ground. Despite the best efforts of the Steel Cabal the Geryon still ransacked the town, killing nearly half the population and stealing many local cultural artifacts. When the Marquee would finally arrive and force the Geryon out of the town, the locals were scattered and the Steel Cabal gravely wounded. Those few of fit fighting strength left would volunteer to join the Marquee in their counter-attack, but what was left of the town would struggle to recover.
It would take over a century for the town to recover back to its former size and, in 3192, a massive immigration would hit the town and other nearby settlements as a nearby post-Syckian Dwarvern hold was abandoned due to many reasons. Thousands of Dwarves, Hobgoblins and Oread would flock to the town, bringing in a massive influx of skilled workers. New mines were opened, other hills were settled and linked to the old-city via large stone bridges, forges would be built and bellow into the night. Within the span of a few months the town grew into a city, and would become the primary trade-node of all settlements north of Dirmuth. Only a few years later would the Royal Road be constructed, a large paved highway linking the major trade settlements, increasing Bearseborn’s wealth and growing it even further.
In recent years there have been minor conflicts in the town between worker’s guilds, the Steel Cabal has become increasingly insular and seemingly xenophobic, and Maje-Steel dust has begun being used in off-market drugs. Despite this, trade flows through the city in great volumes, with many caravans taking valuable goods north through the Feldarrow Valley and to Laslecrest.
Architecture
The town is built into artificial fissures in a few hill tops that were created over the last thousand years, with bridges spanning the gaps between them. Within the fissures, the facades of the buildings are made of colourful clay with patterns painted on them, in a similar fashion to Dirmuth's engravings. Within the buildings are supports made of a strong dark oak wood, floors that are usually made of some kind of wood, and a thin, central column of Maje-Steel, that runs through all of the floors (usually around a spiral staircase). This column provides central heating to the building, and does not require the burning of any fuel.
Founding Date
2997
Type
City
Population
23830
Inhabitant Demonym
Bearsians
Location under
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
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