Durhelm
While lacking the natural defenses of Dirkland, Durhelm is debatably the most fortified location on Tarsis. A massive city with layered defenses, it boasts the lowest count of Diezen attacks since their formation among any of the major cities in the world. Besides being difficult to assail, Durhelm has the greatest population of any city on Tarsis. Governed by The Iron Council, there has been no shortage of friction between them and the Altean Army, who wish to protect a city that views itself as not needing to be patronized by a military force so much smaller than their own.
Demographics
Due to its proximity to the equator, Durhelm has a high proportion of kroll and guhr population compared to other major cities. Regardless of race, a sizeable portion of the population are farmers tending the the fields surrounding the fortress city, and another large portion forms the militia that defends the city around the clock, the Durhelm Regulars.
Government
The Iron Council manages the major decisions of the city, delegating smaller tasks to a sizeable administrative office that sits below them both hierarchically and literally, occupying the lower levels of the old castle that serves as the main governmental building while the council sits in the old throne room near the top of the castle.
Defences
Durhelm has three layers of walls eminating from the central castle, being added to as the settlement grew over time. The innermost wall is the oldest, with antiquated hand built defenses that mostly serve as guard posts for bored militiamen to man. The second wall is the most formidible, having been designed with both firearms and shapers in mind. Lined with cannons and machine gun nests, the walls are plated with thin steel taken from the innermost wall it was formerly bolted on and added onto. The stone forming these walls was shaped from the granite the city stands on, raised and formed with maiga sorcery two-hundred and fifty years ago. The outer walls are the most recent, serving as the city's outer gates and listening posts. Primarily designed to slow enemies and alert the city to danger, these walls were shaped in the last ten years, hemming in the vast fields that feed the city and lacking the anti-shaper metal plating of the second walls. Militiamen stationed here are the most alert, very aware their lives may depend on their perceptiveness when Diezens and wild guhr could decide to take a crack at the world's most secure fortress.
Industry & Trade
Given that food is always in demand across Tarsis since growing it has become very hazardous, Durhelm has turned its attentions to maximizing their crop and livestock yields and exporting excess food to the other cities and nations of the world at a hefty, but not extortionate markup. Vehicle manufacture is another major source of income for the city, using a combination of imported metals and local wood, stone, and life vine cabling to make everything from rumbler skiffs to cars, trucks, and carts. With the safety offered by the city comes several professionals looking for stability in their lives, artists of all stripes being a major faction within these. Music, performance art, and physical artworks are in great supply in Durhelm, singing its praises and drawing in a not insubstantial amount of tourism.
Infrastructure
Irrigating canals run through the agricultural outer ring of Durhelm, feeding in from a nearby lake to the north and meltwater from mountains further north. This water is also used to provide the city with running fresh water. A sewer system has been installed as well, draining into a river that runs to the sea south of the city. While this has caused some friction with smaller settlements that relied on the same river, Durhelm has since entered agreements with all that still exist to provide them with the water they needed. Roads run all through the city and its outskirts, making vehicular travel within easy and providing order to the expansion of the city.
Architecture
Durhelm's architecture varies based on proximity to the old castle that used to be all that existed of the city. Everything within the inner walls is handmade, old imported masonry and woodwork propped up over the years with caring replacements and maintenance to keep up the old style of the inner city. Between the inner and middle walls, more modern takes on building can be seen a block outside of the inner wall. Buildings of shaped granite rather than hand laid bricks rise from the ground, wood being used more decoratively than structurally.
Geography
Durhelm is located just north of the equator that runs through Nuulhammer, roughly halfway between Dy'As Ridge and the tip of the continent closest to Bellhold.
Type
Capital
Population
752,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Durhelmites
Location under
Owning Organization
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