Rhèvensfurth, Free Imperial City of

Overview

Rhevensfurth is a large city located near the confluence of the Rheven and the Sarim rivers. The city is known for its large Magistry, as well as its proximity to the Rhevensburg, a large castle located just downriver on a large outcropping where the Rheven River meets the Sarim River. Rhevensfurth also boasts a large market, where both local produce and goods from afar are bought and sold.
The city controls one of the only passable crossings of the Rheven in this part of the Empire, and as such it is of great strategic and mercantile importance. Rhevensfurth requires merchants passing it to observe the city’s the Right of Trade, granting the city’s merchants the right of first purchase for any trade goods passing through the city. A bridge toll is levied on goods being explicitly shipped through the city to other places, at a rate of Most Imperial guilds are represented, as are a number of local guilds particular to the area.

History

Rhevensfurth has been an inhabited site since time immemorial – there is some reason to believe that there has been a settlement here since before the Fall. It is certain that the oldest parts of the Rhevensburg predate the Hierophant’s Reckoning by some centuries. The current Imperial Charter was issued in 764HR, with the establishment of the current fortified Magisterium on a rise overlooking the bend in the Rheven. Before the Charter, the settlement went through several names, virtually all of which are lost to time.
Much of the city was rebuilt after a fire, followed by a great pestilence, in 1834HR. The twin disasters were widely blamed on the actions of witches and sorcerers, which empowered the Church to form the Inquisition.

Government

Rhevensfurth is governed by a Lord Mayor, who is elected by a parliament comprised of nobles and the heads of locally represented guilds, with a veto reserved for the Magister. The guilds rule over their respective trades, holding sanctioned monopolies over their practice. A tradesperson seeking to settle in the city must, on pain of death, join the relevant guild before practicing their trade. The nobles are accorded privileges and powers depending on their rank, though in the parliament they are theoretically equal. That said, a noble may require any of their vassals to vote according to their wishes.

Maps

• 

  Erlauchte Reichsstadt Rhevensfurth

  The Illuminated Empire's "second capital"

Founding Date

764

Type

Geopolitical, Free City

Demonym

Rhèvensfurther

Government System

Oligarchy

Power Structure

Dependent territory

Economic System

Market economy

Official State Religion

The Holy Church of Mankind's Redemption

Parent Organization

Imperial Heartland

Location

Inner Realms

Related Ethnicities

• Mòvadhi