New Crescendo
New Crescendo is the largest city in Lyrisia. It is divided into two main parts: Orchestria, which is the true capital and power of the land, and where the High Elves live, which is a floating city about half a mile across, that floats about a mile over New Crescendo proper, which is a sprawling city built into and around the crater Orchestria was pulled from. New Crescendo proper is split into two districts: Upper Alto and Lower Alto. Upper Alto is outside of the crater, while Lower Alto is inside the crater itself, and is considered to be quite the slum for the most part. The Crater is extremely prone to flooding during rain storms, though it tends to float into the moat surrounding the Citadel.
Demographics
The High Elves live in Orchestria, while the humans live down below in New Crescendo proper. A large portion of humanity lives in Lower Alto, inside the crater, where it is prone to flooding. These are usually the poorer humans. The more well off humans live in Upper Alto, which everything outside the crater.
Government
New Crescendo is run by the High Elves, and ruled by Conductor Dalean and Conductress Dalea, the elven twins, and oldest among all of the High Elves. Humans take no part in running the government, although some work for it in relatively low positions.
Defences
Many of the High Elves are trained sorcerers capable of battle magic. This tends to be more than enough to ward off would-be raiders from some of the more hostile tribes that might pass by. Occasionally, humans have been drafted to help fend off larger attacks, but this is pretty rare, happening less than once every decade or so. The High Elves themselves are incredibly well protected up in the floating island of Orchestria. The only way in is through the temple at the center of the crater, which leads to a teleporter up. This is the most heavily guarded structure in New Crescendo, though. No one has ever breached it.
To keep the peace among the humans in New Crescendo is the Harmony Guard, a force composed mostly of fellow humans, but commanded by the High Elves.
Industry & Trade
New Crescendo is capable of trading some wood tools, and plenty of food to the Dwarves when they come by a few times a year. They also export a decent amount of art, and musical instruments. But for the most part New Crescendo is self-sufficient, and mostly only trades in luxury goods from Dwarves and others. Humans might trade more often for more basic items, such as stone tools, and pottery, but even they mostly have their needs met entirely.
Humans have a variety of jobs. Doing the grunt work on farming is one of the primary ones, as is hunting, and goatherding. But Humans also serve as craftsmen, making pottery, mudbricks for the construction and repair of houses, basic stone tools, and other implements. Cooking, making flatbread, and even beer also serve as major jobs for people.
The High Elves invented wine, and their famed winemakers trade a lot of it.
Infrastructure
Across the river from the south side of Upper Alto are some modest fields where various grains, fruits, and vegetables are grown. The Growers use their Druidic magic to constantly keep these crops growing at impossible speeds. Some crops are able to grow from nothing to ready to harvest in as little as a day. Some humans choose to hunt to supplement their diets, but no one goes hungry in New Crescendo. Winter slows down production a little, but they are able to easily stockpile before the seasons change.
Assets
There are large stockpiles of grains, and the High Elves possess over a dozen large sailing ships. Humans don't possess much in terms of wealth, but have a variety of trades they do in exchange for food, shelter, and protection by the High Elves. The High Elves also possess an extreme amount of magic, which they contract out and export in exchange for a variety of goods.
Guilds and Factions
There are various temples to the Gods of Lyrisia in New Crescendo, mostly run entirely by Humans, though the Elves are thought to have a stronger connection to the Gods due to their magical prowess. The Elves aren't really religious, but they are rather adept at reading and interpreting the signs from the Gods, and many Priests and Priestesses consult with them. These Clerics also serve as healers. The High Elves tend to keep their own healers, so humans mostly get their healing from Clerics.
History
New Crescendo was founded towards the last few centuries of the Quiet Age, by First Conductor Veris. Veris is largely thought to have been the greatest sorcerer who'd ever lived. It is he who lifted Orchestria a mile above New Crescendo, to give the High Elves a place of their own, separate from the humans. It's Orchestria itself that give the "High Elves" their name. No one is certain when the humans began living in New Crescendo, but it's believed that the Elves had been there first, and invited the humans in because they needed protecting from all the dangers of the world. The relationship between the High Elves and the Humans has largely been without incident. While the High Elves do rule over the humans in New Crescendo, they don't do so with an iron fist. The humans are treated well, have never gone hungry, are protected from danger, and pretty much have their every need tended to. Some Humans don't like that the High Elves literally live above them, and the two people aren't properly integrated with one another, but because there are so few High Elves, and so many Humans, the High Elves feel it's important to preserve their culture. They fear being drowned out and losing themselves, merely because humans breed like wild animals, and their children grow so fast, while Elves have relatively few children, and never die.
Architecture
In Orchestria, the High Elves live in massive trees the Shapers designed from the city's inception specifically for this purpose. These trees vary in height and girth, but all are quite luxurious all things considered. In New Crescendo proper, the humans live in mudbrick houses, closely knitted together and many families will share individual structures. It isn't exactly a life of luxury, but most homes have a furnace, which provides warmth and gives them a place to cook their food. For the most part these structures are entered from the rooftops, and accessed via ladders. A few buildings do have doorways, but there are no doors, so these places cover their entrances with some heavy fur curtains or perhaps some wood planks.
The largest structure in Orchestria is the Red Palace, named for the numerous redwood trees stitched together to make a massive structure for the Conductor and Conductress of New Crescendo. Over a hundred High Elves live in the Red Palace and serve the Conductor and Conductress, as well as about that many human servants.
Meanwhile in New Crescendo proper, the largest structure is the Citadel, a Dwarven-made structure which sits at the bottom of Lower Alto, at the center of the crater. It is surrounded by a moat of water with only one bridge, and is guarded day and night by a number of Elven sorcerers. There is a portal inside the Citadel that serves as the only way in or out of Orchestria. Unlike the rest of the homes in New Crescendo Proper, the Citadel is not built out of mudbrick, but solid stone. It is the most magnificent nonliving structure in New Crescendo, and some believe in the entire world.
Geography
New Crescendo sits at the edge of the sea, in the Bravura Bay. Its land is mostly flat, and surrounded either by water or by the Triad Timberlands, Alto and Tenor. The city is built inside of and around a half-mile wide crater, made from a similar-sized floating island that levitates a mile above the city. A river rests to the south end of the city, and there are crops on the other side. This is where New Crescendo gets all of its fresh water and almost all of its food. The view largely depends on where you're seeing it from. Inside the crater, in Lower Alto, the view is largely filthy, and most of the day is covered in dark shadow, as either Orchestria or the crater lip itself blocks out the sun the vast majority of the day. The crater is about 500 feet deep, and it's only from about 7 AM to 10:30 AM, and 1:30 PM to 5 PM that most of the crater gets sunlight. From around 11 AM to 1 PM, the residents of Lower Alto refer to this time as "High Shadow."
Founding Date
-100
Type
City
Population
~3,000 High Elves, ~100,000 Humans
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Location under
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Related Tradition (Primary)
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