Strolis

Capital city of Kingdom of Tessuris and seat of the ruling House Lorriaga. Strolis is built near the slopes of an offshoot of the Iron Mountains in the south.

General layout

Strolis is built close to one of the offshoots of the Iron Mountains. The seat of the city, and thereby the kingdom is the Silver Palace, located at the highest point of the city. It is encircled with a wall, beyond which are homes, market squares and some workshops intermixed with each other. Another wall separates the city from the outside, where the majority of the workshops related to the mining of ore are located. A short distance from the city are several entrances to mine shafts and mine elevators. A handful of mine shafts also originate from within the city itself, constructed during the War of Phragos .

Society

Strolis is inhabited by humans, (Half-)Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes, and to a lesser degree Dragonborn, Halfling, and Half-orcs. Stray minotaurs of tribes living on the plains occasionally make their way to the city, but leave quickly again. Thanks to the road towards Dumrayan, Loxodon, Tabaxi and the like are also more common here than elsewhere in Tessuris.

History

Strolis was founded somewhere in the later half of the First Age, and was little more than a minor city. WhenZharek's Anvil erupted  , the city was buried under the ash and stone of the pyroclastic flow, killing nearly all of its inhabitants. The eruption did however lay bare veins of precious metals and mitrhil, and allegedly also adamantium. Once Zharek's Anvil had calmed a little, Strolis was rebuilt on the buried ruins of the old city, and managed to become a reasonably well-off mining town, thanks to its population of relatively many Deep Gnomes and Dwarves.

In E5Y635, the then count of Strolis, Count Tomas of House Bares, married  Vengyra of House Wolwiran, duchess of Dol Felmor. Their oldest son would go on further orchestrating marriages between the two fiefdoms, ensuring that an alliance stood until the War of Phragos  . He would also ensure that Strolis would become the eventual economical powerhouse it would become, something that was rewarded by the king of Tessuris in E5Y671, where Strolis would officially be named a duchy and all that entailed politically.

War of Phragos

Strolis and Dol Felmor were one of the few cities outside of the modern day Collective of Numiria that also saw major assaults of the Duergar kings during the War of Phragos. Disguised as (Deep) Gnomes, they inspired pogroms in both cities, sufficiently weakening both before their open assault. It ensured that the centuries long alliance between Strolis and Dol Felmor broke, and that the members of House Bares would either be killed or exiled from the duchy. In the chaos, Dol Felmor would become its own independent gnomish duchy.

Conquest of Dol Felmor

Once the chaos of the aftermath of the War of Phragos  had settled, House Encinas came to power in Strolis. They did not care for the alliance with Dol Felmor, and when Ignacio Encinas was crowned duke   in E6Y99 ideas started to make their way around the inner circle of the duke for the reconquest of Dol Felmor. It was not until E6Y112 that these ideas became actual plans when King Hugo Maldonado, king of Tessuris, would become aware and give their seal of approval. And so, in E6Y116, Strolis besieged Dol Felmor and brought the gnomish duchy once more under control of the crown of Tessuris.

The War of Regrets

The War of Regrets (E6Y446 to E6Y452) was a civil war between king Kalistenes Lorriaga of Girones and his vassal duke Adrian Bollero of Strolis to imprison him over charges of treason and heresy. One of Bollero's more popular commanders, Mireia, the Grey Wolf of Strolis, stepped forward to lead the revolt, and rallied whatever troops she could muster. During the Battle at Luscan Lake, Mireia was woulded and transported in secret to thus far neutral Eveasson for healing. During her stay there, she fell in love with one of the wizards who cared for her during her recovery, the wizard Solomon Miramontes. When the Gironian troops besieged Eveasson, she escaped with the help of her lover through a hidden tunnel somewhere deep underneath Eveasson and emerged again near Merridan in the Kingdom of Karessia. About a year after her disappearance, Mireia led a counterattack against the Gironian troops to break the siege of Eveasson, during which Kalistenes Lorriaga was turned into a sheep by Solomon Miramontes and immediately torn apart by his own war dogs.

Conquest of Eveasson

In E6Y488, king Baltasar Goris II of Strolis attempted to conquer Eveasson to obtain control of the Lakelands. Under command of High Sorcerer Kalipso Artabia, Eveasson repelled a massive assault against its holdings and withstood a several year long siege. In the final days of the siege, in E6Y502, Kalipso Artabia demanded a duel between herself and Baltasar Goris II. With a single spell, she slew Baltasar Goris II, and demanded House Goris to abdicate the throne of Strolis, and eternal freedom for Eveasson. Baltasar Goris II's death quickly broke the Strolian armies due to infighting by the royal houses in the Kingdom of Tessuris, and the Firbolg and Lizardfolk tribes hidden in the Lakelands raiding the Strolian supply lines. House Lorriaga was appointed as successor of the throne and its first king became Ajax Lorriaga. Ajax Lorriaga accepted Kalipso Artabia’s request, which over the next few decades evolved into Strolis becoming the de facto suzerain of Eveasson. In the aftermath of the war, Ajax Lorriaga repealed the decree forbidding the Monster Hunting Lodge, to great protest of the Council of Wizards ruling Eveasson.

Recent events

Rumours are starting to go about that the duke of Vertigen is considering a revolt against Strolis, as the majority of Strolis and the rest of Tessuris are staunch followers of the New Gods, whereas Vertigen and Girones. The current heir of the Tessurian Crown is the tiefling Duarte Lorriaga, son of current king Numitor Lorriaga III. The duke's argument is that since Duarte Lorriaga is a tiefling, House Lorriaga must engage in devil worship and is therefore not fit to rule.

Of note

Location under

Kingdom of Tessuris