Lapra
With its ivy embroidered canals, fine stonework and dark wooden lodgings, the city of Lapra is an ideal retreat for the magisters and wizards of Dalair's Magisterium in search of a romantic adventure. Steeped in history, and fine instutitions of sorcery, it also serves as a 'university' city for aspiring mages of the nine circles. Lapra, like many other cities, and towns surrounding the Starbreaker lake, became a settlement as sorcerers arrived to study the Spelltowers of Rizion.
The tower of Lapra, enshrouded in its eternal mystery, unwinds the winds of Abjuration from the Starwell at the center of crater-lake left behind by the fall of the heaven-dragon. Like all of the Spelltowers of Rizion, the exact mechanism by which this incredible feat is accomplished is still a matter of speculation by the world's scholars. Majestic and foreboding, its presence can be seen for many leagues in any direction. At night the crackling energies of the tower cast an aurora of lights over the city whose dancing, pastel ribbons of colors allow for Lapra's shops and breweries to extend their hours into the late evenings, and for a lively night-culture to have been adopted by its citizens.
Lapra is considered quite a romantic destination. It is not at all uncommon for lovers to travel arm in arm down the cobbled streets, or to ferry from one side of the city to the other through the great network of canals beneath the prismatic lights of the tower, or the rise of the full moon. These endearing qualities are somewhat dampened by the precense of many magical fraternities and sororities whose precense is impossible to ignore throughout the city, especially during the seasons of Goldbloom and Frostfall (when the magical universities release their students after final examinations).
Industry & Trade
The most noteable commodities, and industry of the city of Lapra is its alchemical reagents. Due to its location near both the Starbreaker Lake and the Spelltower of Abjuration, many unique forms of flora and fauna are found in the surrounding region. The cool climate makes it possible to cultivate, and store these ingredients for much longer periods as well. The canal ways of Lapra are littered with both expert, and amateur alchemist stores, and shops and there is even a waterway drive known as the Dragon's Tongue where a cutthroat open market is held once night has fallen.
The vast amount of rare, and unique reagents has also had the side effect of enabling a growing culture of micro-breweries, and tea shops whose proprioters test and invent new, delicious concontions. Seasonal contests are held to determine the best of both beverages to be found in the city, and to reward inventive connesseurs with flavors, and notes undreamed of.
While magistrates of the city would deny such rumors, Lapra also possesses a well known black-market. Many of the rare, and often dangerous, reagents which can be cultivated in the region are considered contraband and could lead to an aspiring alchemist being thrown into the dungeons of Shadow Bastille if they were caught selling such ingredients, but the gold a savvy merchant can obtain for their work is often so attractive they are willing to risk this fate. Of course, where there are hidden markets, there will always be thieves, and a large thieves' guild is known to operate within the city.
Guilds and Factions
The precense of such rare, and robust magical ingredients and reagents has lead to Lapra becoming a premier destination for the the study of Alchemy. While there are lyceums and colleges of sorcery whose primary tutelage is the nine circles of magic, the most famous university is Alkhiem Flammel where alchemists are taught their esteemed craft. Alkhiem Flammel is the most renowned school of the alchemical arts in the southern hemisphere of Orr, rivarling even the institutes of Drin where alchemy has become an art form in addition to a science. Here students learn a great deal about the cultivation, and preservation of their ingredients, as well as have the opportunity to enjoy the vast bestiary archives of the college where Outsiders and monsters from across the world have been brought, dissected, and displayed for students to learn firsthand of their unique properties. The most dazzling display of course is the preserved remains of the Green Dragon, Lassacrayle, who once terrorized the region in the years of 1939-2945AR
While the Alchemical arts dabble in all the various circles of magic, it by no means is a practice studied by wizards, and sorcerers alone. Doctors, surgeons, and other tactile healers have often studied at Alkhiem Flammel to further their craft, and often go on to achieve fame as renowned healers after graduating. Alkhiem Flammel boasts many prestigeous students, but its most noteable Alchemist was Zorza Morpheon, famous for such acts as healing a Dragonturtle of the Iliadian Isles, and of course becoming a canidate for High Sorceress. While Zorza's attempt ultimately failed, she became a powerful magister of the Magisterium before leaving and dissapearing into obscurity where it is said she ventured to the Freelands, and went insane.
Beneath the romantic and inspiring surface of Lapra is a darker, more sinister college of practical arts for those whose ambitions in the world cannot be satiated by anything less than daring, gold, and riches. The thieves' guild of Lapra is simply known as the Oolong Priory, a guild which primarily operates by way of the tea shops found throughout the city, and the canals. Their order is not particularly well hidden from the average citizen, but their networks, positions, and connections are so ingrained in the local alchemist and herbalist markets that the Magisterium is often forced to pay their precense a blind eye.
The Oolong Priory is a merciless guild who oversee their market territory in the region with brutal tactics. They have been known to chop off the hands of those who swindle them, to abduct the children of magisters who dare to evoke the Magisterium's justice against their organization, and have committed many feats of robbery thought impossible by wizards who have spent fortunes upon the magical warding of their estates and vaults.
"It's a well known fact that the thieves' guild of Lapra operate from within the numerous tea houses scattered across the city, and many unsuspecting travelers have found themselves at bladepoint because they ordered a piping hot cup, from the wrong merchant at the wrong time."
Founding Date
1784AR
Type
City
Population
7800
Location under
Owning Organization
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