Icarna

The birthplace of Sorrow, birth name Telifay Taggart, whose parents ruled a large manor in the city.
The city still retains wealth by exporting a unique, rare, and highly expensive magical powder mined from a dead forest in the swamps, which provides longevity of life, but can inflict addiction on the consumer.
A very wealthy city populated with humans that have little time for other species. Icarna is traversed via canal boats as there are few walkways though the city. Icarna is subject to social and political intrigue, and many of its dealing are done though balls and social events.
Joyful on the surface, but it is spiteful underneath. Secret dealings and assassinations are key levers in the struggle for power and for nobles to gain favour with the current ruler. Any races other than human here are generally a lower class of citizen, other than a few exceptions.
Duke Liano has ruled for the past five and a half years. He has proved surprisingly adept at playing the council members off against each other without their realisation whilst maintaining enough votes to stay in power. Under his rule the military has grown stronger as Icarna intends to push into the realm of Kollerdörf and reclaim long lost lands. However, the past two years have seen major crop blights, draining food stocks and stalling military ventures as expensive imports from further afield must be increased. Without a major advancement under his belt the populace and the council are becoming restless. Unless the Duke can pull of some sort of win for his term, he risks being replaced by a more manipulatable ruler. He must also tread carefully, as too strong a victory may cause the council to view him as having too much power and elect someone else in his place.
The powder is mined from the Deep Wood, and is sparsely inhabited by Svirfneblin (deep gnomes) who have crawled out of disused mines over the past century.
To the east of Icarna, The Dead Forest continually encroaches on civilised lands and the support of Icarna is crucial in ensuring the forest is continually cut back and Campani bells are in place to ward off the undead. This responsibility extends to the trade road east, leading under the Mountains of Razdún. Rune magic is common in the areas around Icarna and Kollerdörf, but it takes skilled magesmiths such as those within Icarna to produce the Campani bells.

Government

Icarna is technically a democratic council, but acts more of a plutocracy, with the wealthiest citizen (usually controlling the most profitable spice field at that time) being able to purchase the most power. The Cal'doro houses the Coventía, the council of seven elected representatives whose role is to elect and serve the Duke, although the system has been corrupted and now works in reverse, where the council vies and manipulates to get their chosen duke on the throne.
The Duke is elected on a biennial basis by the council. Each council seat is elected every seven years.

Industry & Trade

The houses of Icarna try to transport powder past the Mountains of Razdun by travelling via a path leading underground behind the mountain waterfall, but find that drow increasingly interrupt trade routes and cut off trade for months at a time until dwarves push them back and reopen the trade channels under the foothills. Travelling through The Dead Forest to pass the southern tip of the range is too dangerous, with twisted shades and misshapen creatures attacking in the mists. As a result, most shipments must go by sea. However, the cloud giants of Zendíron often cause ships to crash on their shores, meaning the families of Icarna demand delivery of payment from customers upfront.

Infrastructure

Icarna is built upon the ruins of Fanvegasen, which was destroyed millennia ago by Logar Tor.

Guilds and Factions

Icarna hosts a number of churches & religions. They provide services to the peasantry and offer a place of worship, but also abuse their position to curry favour over the city's rulers. They aim to hoard wealth and power and influence. They also operate a secret web of assassin's who carry out church wishes and dispose of particularly troublesome opponents to their church's progression up the chain of power. The churches worship local gods. Their efficacy is in question.

Geography

Built upon the ruins of an old city, Fanvegasan. A natural dam in the mountains burst its borders after the death of Ragnar, flooding the plains and transforming the landscape from plains into swampland. To the south of the city, now within the swamp, is a dead forest, the Deep Wood, under which the powder which makes Icarna wealthy is found in caverns which stretch underground.

Natural Resources

Exports a unique, rare, and highly expensive magical powder mined from a dead forest, the Deep Wood in the swamps, which provides longevity of life, but can inflict addiction on the consumer.

Characters in Location

• Liano Foscani