Mirquinoc
This walled city comes upon travelers unexpectedly since it is not marked by any of the milestones along the road. The walls are uneven and the towers are crooked, but it is obviously quite a busy place, with peasants bustling about.
There is a very prominent sign at the city gate reading, “Ignore the sprites.” Another, smaller, sign reads: “Drawing steel or iron weapons in the city is forbidden.”
The Free City of Mirquinoc stands just beyond the borders of Suilley, roughly a mile north of the King’s Road. A walled city, Mirquinoc has been conquered several times in the wars that have swept through the area, but no one has held it for more than a day or two without retreating in disarray. Mirquinoc is located at an ancient, pre-Hyperborean crossroad, so old that neither of the original roads can be seen. However, the conjunction of these roads fixed the city of Mirquinoc squarely into a shifting co-existence with the realm of a faerie queen and her fey court. Throughout the city, the fey are often visible for a few moments out of the corner of the eye, but seem to disappear when looked at directly. Humans cannot cross the boundaries into the fey realm for the most part, although it can happen by accident if a person trips off some fey spell, or happens to walk into just the right place at just the right moment. Many of the fey, on the other hand, are able to step through the barrier into the human world of the city. For the most part, only the sprites of Mirquin Shee actually come through the border, although on occasion a korred appears in town to purchase or sell things. The sprites of Mirquin Shee are unpredictable and capricious, considering themselves as the protectors of the city. Unfortunately, their view of what constitutes protection is frequently not the same as that of the city’s ordinary residents. The sprites are haughty and proud, and on occasion they react badly to what they perceive as rude behavior to themselves. The city tries to minimize these misunderstandings by requesting that visitors completely ignore the sprites when encountering them. Mirquin Shee is ruled by the faerie queen Twylinvere, a tall, slender figure with dragonfly wings who can occasionally be seen as a colorful but ghostly figure moving around in the city. She occasionally enters the human world to make agreements with the mayor or complain about certain humans that are behaving improperly.
Religion
Mirquinoc holds one of the major temples of the goddess Narrah, the Lady of the Moon, a neutrally-aligned patroness of darkness, travel, and protection. High Priestess Taira is perhaps the most powerful cleric of Narrah in the Borderland Provinces, and is rumored to be good friends with the faerie queen Twynlinvere. The temple often acts as an intermediary between the city’s fey and human populations, and it is well-respected by the fey of the Mirquin Shee.
Government
Other than the strange co-existence with a fey realm, Mirquinoc is a relatively normal small city of the Borderland Provinces. The guilds elect a mayor, currently Gandar Golson, a well-known brewer; and a captain of the watch, currently Tansinthe of Tertry, a mercenary captain who settled here ten years ago when she decided to retire from a mercenary’s traveling life.
The city contains several taverns, from the aristocratic Sword and Squire, to the Hart’s Head, more favored by adventurers and mercenaries, to the Broken Pumpkin, a thieves’ haunt. Inns include the Featherbed, the Noble Hound, and the Paupers’ Hostel (to be avoided by anyone who dislikes fleas).
Mirquinoc has an active thieves’ guild that makes forays into different towns along the King’s Road. The guild engages in petty thievery in the city itself, but no violence lest the sprites become agitated and start causing problems. Since it operates only on any large scale outside the city walls, the thieves’ guild is considered a legitimate organization that makes money for the town and pays its taxes. In consequence, the Guildmaster of Thieves sits in council with the other guildmasters to elect the mayor and discuss matters such as street drainage and minstrels’ licenses.
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