Erui Ost

Named by the Elves as "First City" in their native tongue, Erui Ost is the oldest existing settlement in Eastphalia and is commonly known as the City of Gold. Located far to the north, the city is surrounded by sheered mountains to the Northwest, Lake Sweetwater to the Northeast, and lush wheat fields in all other directions. The “Gold” in the city’s unofficial name comes from the color of the wheat that grew in the fields long before the city was colonized. As such, Golden City is largely an agrarian economy and provides most of the food supply to the other cities through its trade networks.

Demographics

Races: predominately human and half-elf; many high elves and half-orcs; many other races Professions: farmers, merchants, artisans, guards Classes: Royals, Court, Clergy, Merchants, Artisans, Guards, Farmers, Serfs, Unwanted (half-orcs)

Government

Under jurisdiction of the Eru Court

Defences

The city has built a massive defensive network of walls, moats and towers over the generations to protect their interests from rivals, and to hopefully discourage the savage peoples from attacking… except the only way to get a point through to the head of a goblin is if there’s a shaft and fletching behind it.
2-Tier defensive system: 50 ft walls on the outer layer and a fortified plateau in the center. Walls are all 20ft thick and are capable of mounted weaponry of varying classes. Mages in the employ of the Court may place defensive wards on the walls or offensive curses on projectiles to repel the most powerful attackers. Moats were once dug and filled with stakes and water, but have fallen into disuse since the Cullings began. The moats are now only filled with rotting wood and refuse except for when it rains.
The gates grant access to murder holes contained within each wall gatehouse, serving to slow down frontal attacks and punish enemies in the event of a gate breach.

Industry & Trade

The most common profession in the City of Gold is serf to a landowning farmer. However, within city limits there are a wider array of professions- blacksmiths, enchanters, and alchemists provide meagre access to goods found at higher quality in other locations such as Threnthyr or Heidelshire, but the artisnal skill of the city lies in the fine arts. Music, painting, and sculpting are truly the pinnacle of the continent, and these works occasionally have some minor charms woven into their existence, making an artist's trade secrets highly coveted by his or her rivals.

Infrastructure

Paved stones, lifts within city limits; oil lamps; all well-maintained

Assets

• Highly-trained Lightmen unit
• Natural defense
• Superior fortifications
• Extensively developed agriculture
• Superior trade networks and infrastructure

Guilds and Factions

Metropolitan:

• City Guard
• Swift Corps (messengers)
• Lightmen

Major Guilds:

• Farmers
• Artists
• Craftsmen
• Clergy (Sehanine)
• Brewers
• Jewelers
• Masons
• Smiths and armorers
• Merchants

History

At the time that the Wanderlusts first came to the continent, Erui Ost was already a city of pristine condition, though utterly devoid of inhabitants and without evidence of the builders' whereabouts. This mysterious origin overshadowed the early years of the Elves that first settled there in 7 AFL, whom initially refused to enter the city for fear it was haunted or otherwise still occupied by unseen inhabitants.
These fears precipitated when the first orc raiders descended from the mountains in 9 AFL, preying on the defenseless settlers and forcing them to seek refuge within the city's walls. It is unknown why the city was not occupied nor razed by the raiders predating the Wanderlusts, but following the city's establishment it came under constant attack from orcish clans residing in the mountains. The years during which the hordes regularly sacked the city became known as the Great Raids, and saw the darkest time in the city's recorded history.
It was during one of these Great Raids that the Dwarven Kingdoms first unsealed their tunnels and offered a pact to the Ostern: that in exchange for relief the Elves would ally with the Dwarves to beat back the growing threat, and submit to the Dwarves' "permanent solution" to the rapid formation and march of the hordes. Together, the Ostern and Dwarves defended Erui Ost and delivered the hordes their first defeat since the settlement, then set to work building.
While the agriculture flourished in the fertile fields near the city and the Dwarves supplied masterfully quarried stone from their excavations, the combined militarizes of Erui Ost and the Kingdoms would set to carrying out a decennial (every 10 years) preemptive attack on the Orclands, an event known as the "Culling."

Architecture

The city has a design unlike any other on the continent- entirely alien by comparison to its younger sisters as well as far superior in its overall development. The buildings show a unique blend between the designs of the Builders- whom favored overlapping elliptical and triangular designs and obscure runes- and the races that came after- the Elves, Humans, and other races that came to live there. Some buildings within the city are revered as sacred, and any modification to such places is considered taboo, but it is more in reverence for the city's mysterious history than superstition.

Geography

Sentinel Mountains to the NW Sweetwater Lake to the NE Plains and light scrub in all other directions

Natural Resources

Vast fields of wheat, free access to fresh water from the mountains

Alternative Name(s)

City of Gold

Type

Capital

Population

10000

Inhabitant Demonym

Oster (s), Ostern (pl), Ostrisch (adj)

Owning Organization

Erui Arnad

Characters in Location

• Ambassador Kodril
• Friederich Rasti
• Kaslin

Related Historical Events

• 91
  Erui Arnad
• 81
  Dwarven Kingdoms initiate diplomatic relations
• 68
  Erui Ost colonized