Vanderwill

Vanderwill can be found nestled deep within the vast and unruly wilds of the Damarine Swamps, protected by the natural environment. Surprisingly, this city is as busy as any other, even with it's out of the way location. While tourists and outsiders many attribute this to a blessing from Apothecary Keverall, locals instead believe its through their own hard work. One thing is for certain though, this city takes pride in itself and its citizens.

Often times called 'the city of sound', Vanderwill is alight with music at all times of day. Marching bands walk the streets, and soft jazz music can be heard from lounges and bars. Music is undeniably the most important part of the city. The songs sung by the first inhabitants of the town can still be heard; humming from a passerby, the drummed out beat from a street performer, the city has never forgotten what made it what it is. It's said that nobody can leave the city without a song worming its way from their heart, rudimentary as they may be. These sounds are preserved and echoed throughout the city for the rest of time, literally.

The city has become such a hotspot for music and culture that music is perfectly preserved within the city. Classical pieces from years long gone, the forgotten melodies of people and culture, even the strange and bouncy music found only with the New Age have been sung in some way throughout the city. Because of this, Vanderwill produces the most musician and musical historians in the world. Those who became enraptured with the sounds of the city often find themselves traveling down these career paths.

Demographics

Invectar	40%
Chimedae	33%
Dragon	21%
Other	6%

A byproduct of the city's dark history, most of the denizens of this city are dragons and draketongue. Invectar and Chimedae that refused to part with their dragon companions and were subsequently treated as such. Because of Vanderwill's location, most Invectar are within the houses Hymenoptera and Hemiptera. Tavish are the most common Chimedae found in Vanderwill, but a good many Shardine have settled here as well. Even though the city lies deep within Keverall's territory, many windspirit dragons have settled down here.

History

Vanderwill was originally a death camp during the Great War, where weak dragons and draketongue were sent to die away from the healthy. While that was the camps original purpose, as the numbers grew and grew, many were still forced to mine and gather resourced from the surrounding area. The camp was abandoned by Yormir's forces when the camp steadily turned into an impromptu city, as the effort required to maintain the city and the loss of surrounding cities becoming too much for the army. After the Great War Vanderwill was one of the first frontline cities to recover, to stubborn to kick the bucket when it's gotten this far.

It's said that the progression of the city was carried on the backs of the people and the music they sung during their strife. You may laugh at these claims, but if you could hear the soul that resides in those songs like I had you'd surely believe the rumors true.

— Granna Majora

Founding Date

1725

Alternative Name(s)

The city of sound

Type

Large city

Population

391,249

Location under

Damarine Swamp

A Perfect Record

The memories of music are preserved in the places they are first heard, whether it be the park or the dark alleys. These recordings will stay dormant until the song is forgotten in the city, in which the song will play a natural recreation of the music. These records usually go unnoticed by tourist but the locals have a keen ear for these types of things, able to discern the steady thrumming of a melody from the stomping footsteps of a tour group. 
There are however, cases of perfect records. Impossible to hear outside of their places of origin and often tucked away from the average person. Unlike the normal reruns, perfect records are the preservation of a song that was once played or sung in the area. If one is lucky enough to find such a place they have the pleasure of listening to these recordings forever, as long as another is not played within the space. Perfect recordings are considered to be the first way to record music in history, even though the process is not man-made.