D'amorand
Large walls of dark brown wood rise up nearly twenty-five feet tall, reinforced by long vertical beams of steel bolted to the wood on the exterior, their innards supported by a lattice of hard iron beams and the internals of the walls supported by rows of steel beams bolted to the wood horizontally. The road from the outside of the gate runs in, following its path straight to the center of the city as roads and pathways branch out in all directions; little bridges crossing over small rivers and streams, arching around large trees and widely spaced parks. It is here that the skyline is filled with large, near looming structures of great schools, residential buildings five stories tall filled with merchants and students. A quartet of spires rising up around the northern district, a great forest to the west with the deep dark shade of heavy evergreen trees. Here, in the heart of the city, four roads meet and converge; connecting all the cities of the duchy to a single point: Stroumhammer Tower, known to the local folk as Storm's Reach. A great steel tower with a dark grey/blue color that seems to shift and change throughout the course of the day, balconies jut out at different positions along its two hundred and twenty feet high length, never appearing in the same place twice in rapid succession. From this point the realm lays out, the great roads of the duchy spread like a web of connected memories, dreams and stories.
For this is D'amorand, City of Dreams.
Government
D'amorand is ruled directly by the Duke/Duchess of Kaerendall. Taxes are collected by the acolytes of the law makers. Licensed merchants are charged a 10% tax on their goods and services, they are expected to keep tight records and be able to provide proof of sales. Unlike most cities in the outer reaches of the empire, D'amorand's taxation is a very strict and measured process of checks and balances. These taxes are used to fuel the safety of the roads, expansion of the military and the funding of projects to better the city as a whole.
Defences
The City itself is surrounded by a large wooden wall reinforced with steel, iron and druidic magic, spanning twenty-five feet high and over ten feet thick it has yet to been successfully assailed since its construction finished in 325A4. Beyond this the city's roads are actively patrolled by the Riders of North, the core unit of D'amorand's military power, ensuring that if any force attempts to use the network of roads it will either be found out and scouted or stopped at the source.
The city's military academy boasts some of the greatest skilled students and teachers in all of Helfdome, and the druidic college is filled with talented individuals with the ability to harness druidic magic in a pinch.
The Duchess's tower in the center of the city is also staffed with wizards and Jaralian clerics, its patios becoming platforms for spell casters to assault and crushed oncoming threats to the city from afar.
And with the head office of The Raven Hearts the city boasts a strong following of the Raven Queen, skilled paladins, clerics and dedicated zealots who tend to the central hospital all of whom are either trained in combat skills, or are excellent at performing triage and emergency first aid to wounded.
Industry & Trade
Most inhabitants of D'amorand are merchants bartering and setting up deals with the surrounding twelve cities to create a profit for themselves, students who's influx of tuition and labour provide essential volume to the city's work force and income, as well as craftsman who specialize in products normally produced in other parts of the duchy.
The most common agreement is a craftsman who specializes in a product made in another city who gets regular shipments of raw product/orders from abroad, fills those orders and then sends the finished product back. This has lead not only to a healthy spread of wealth between producers, craftsmen and merchants but has also created a wealth of employment in skilled courier services and a strong sell-sword economy.
Another common practice is for adventurer's seeking to retire to open up curio shops or general shops filled with useful items and sell trophies and treasures taken on their journeys. There are many of these shops that wheel and deal with the constant influx of new settler's, adventurers working for the crown in an effort to find places to settle, and students from abroad who have access to rare foreign items.
A wealth of druids also exist, there is always work in the settlement for druids who can help tend to parks, gardens, and are willing to travel to external cities. Similarily to this the city of D'amorand keeps a healthy stock of employed engineers and architects at all times to further find ways to innovate on previous designs, the road ways, water works, wells, and residential buildings. Many of these engineers who work in the outer cities choose to live in D'amorand for the closeness to the university, past colleagues, and the safety of the strongest walls in the duchy but will journey from city to city for work, usually on request. The dream of each craftsman is to get skilled, and famous enough within the thirteen cities to enjoy a life in the inner city while travelling on demand to where they are needed for healthy piles of coin.
Infrastructure
The real gem of Kaerendall as a Duchy, and D'amorand as a city is its network of masterfully made roads and bridges crossing over and river breaks in their network. This has allowed them continuous, swift, and well protected trade between the other main twelve cities of the duchy. During the winter months the roads are kept as clean as possible by a mixture of constant travel and subtle magical enchantments woven into the stones of the road themselves.
Beyond the roads, many merchant halls, bridges, and inns that dot both the city proper and it's outer roads, there is also a wealth of man-made/maintained parks, natural dots of woodlands that are allowed to keep wild life, plants and other such resources. Druids in the employ of the city tend to them yearly and hold many out door ceremonies and celebrations yearly inside the parks.
Assets
D'amorand has access to a wide variety of natural resources with its parks and druidic presence, natural ores and metals from the coal mine to the northern reaches of the city's limits, and finely made fabrics and dyes. The real, great asset of the city lies in the pull of the universities, the constant influx of people, and the ease of travel to each other major city in the duchy. A constant influx of trade from the other cities that are more based on material production ensures that D'amorand with its influx of coin from foreign visitors is able to buy the materials it needs for its skilled, educated craftsman to convert the raw materials into needed merchandise and then re-shipped out to the other cities in its finished form.
Guilds and Factions
The city of D'amorand houses many factions, for each university has their own faculty and financial supporters that aid in their cost, over see their lessons, and teachings.
Beyond this there is a large guild hall of the craftsman's guilds, currently led by Guildmaster Midan D'allaroo, a human noble out of Hellsmere who has a keen eye for wood carving and general carpentry.
Beyond this the Raven's Heart also has their strong hold here, the guild of Raven Queen followers existing within the duchy of Kaerendall have their seat of power within the city as well.
History
Founded in tandem with the Duchy proper, D'amorand was originally a small setting with a population of nearly 75% dwarves to 25% humans. A coupling between the Duchess from the south, an old blood from Krelvane and the noble son of one of the controlling clans within Kon'zarune cementing a strong connection between Konbul and the Duchy as a whole. Through this D'amorand was promised to the people of old wharf and the dwarves of the mountain as a 'City of Dreams' a place where any man, or woman, could earn themselves wealth, a title and a position of power or security if they worked hard and joined as a community.
And for the most part it was. The name 'City of Dreams' having become a fairly permanent name for the city with the founding of its many universities and expansions. D'amorand has always been a place for people to come to find a way to leave their mark. On the city, the duchy, or even the face of Helfdome if their ego was so inclined. It was from this city, as it grew and popularity for exploration in the north grew that more noblemen, second and third sons and daughters who would most likely never claim any land for themselves and would inevitably be married off for political reasons could come; learn, and strive to make a new place for themselves in the world.
This led to the creation of the 12 other major cities of Kaerendall, it was on the back of these early settlers drawn by the mystique and promise of D'amorand that those cities were created, the roads born out of their need and desire to grow their place in the north and to keep it connected. Through this D'amorand became a shining gem surrounded on all sides by nature and industry.
In the early years it faced many great raids of the primal orcs from the north, thriband tribes that had forsaken the founding of the Burning Brand Empire of the south and kept to their tribalistic ways. But even from those places people were drawn to the glory of D'amorand to the point where the northern most city of the region; Rogstand, is known as The City of Brands, and was founded by several thriband tribes that wandered away from the northern icefields and nomadic lifestyle to earn their place within the Jaralian Empire. All through the influence of D'amorand and its founding noble house.
Still, as it was made, the house of Stroumhammer rules the city. For when the original duchess of Kaerendall married into the Stroumhammer name it was part of this agreement that her line should forever bare the name of their dwarven lineage. This has further solidified the idea that D'amorand is a place of welcome learning and understanding of dwarven cultures and true that it is; Dwarven holidays are practiced and celebrated in the city universally alongside the Jaralian days of worship.
Architecture
The outer reaches of D'amorand is where one will find the most wooden buildings, often squat structures with wide roofs, clay shingling, large windows and little gardens. The space of the city becomes more compact as one draws closer to the center.
The more busy districts have many large stone and brick buildings that often range three or four stories tall, full of individual apartments and complexes that are rented to students, adventurers, teachers, and merchants alike. More elaborate structures of metal and stone, wood becomes something for aesthetic instead of comfort or ease of use. And around the blue steal tower that resides at Road's End there are some of the more elaborate structures and more eclectic shops. Bizarre boutiques made of crystal, glass structures, and woven iron buildings with abnormal curves and bends; feats of the trained engineers of the university, testing the limits of their craft.
As such the area in the inner circle of the city has a wide and scattered array of influences, materials and styles that makes it almost too stimulating to unfamiliar eyes.
Geography
The terrain of D'amorand is a smooth plain with several small lakes and natural woodlands that have been fostered, tended, and grown to form natural parks. Small parts of wildlife within the city that are monitored. Rivers run down from the mountain to the south providing more fresh water beyond the two large lakes that are fed from underground aquifers.
Natural Resources
Though originally D'amorand had much in the ways of grain fields and woods, many stones it is now nearly completely industrialized. It now relies primarily on the other twelve cities for its resources, though, in the outer reaches by the southern wall a few scattered farms exist that produce eggs, pork and beef as there is a large volume to chefs that like to call the city their home and restaurants/eateries exist. This has led to a recent resurgence of a want for fresh vegetables, exotic meats, and spices of all types.
Alternative Name(s)
City of Dreams, Road's End, Nexus
Type
Large city
Population
12000
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
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