Perona
Built on an island in Iber Bay, Perona was originally just a fortress to guard the sea approaches to the capital city of Mhalta. Later, the city of Perona grew around the fortress, but the city is mostly focused on the island itself rather than becoming a significant port. This is primarily due to the island being high and rocky with sheer cliffs on most sides — excellent for defense but poor for mooring ships. It does have a section of rocky shingle beach facing the mainland on the south that has docks for shallow-draft vessels. Oceangoing ships calling at Perona must lie at anchor in the deeper water and send their smaller boats in to shore.
Much of the stone for the fortress and the city’s prominent buildings was quarried on the island. A number of now-spent quarries are now used as storage, or shelters in case of severe weather. Some are walled off for private use, such as the burial chambers beneath the temple of Muir. Because of the lack of coordination — and the existence of competition — among various stonecutters in the past, the underground quarries are a maze of spaces and narrow connecting passages, though at least the support of the city above does not seem to be in danger.
Perona is blessed to be the home of the Temple of Muir in Alcaldar and the seat of High Ecclesiast Aitona-Trevisse Pezzuoli. (The priestess is of the opinion that the temple here should actually be the high altar of Muir given the sad state of the goddess’s church in Akados, but she feels the time for pressing that issue has not quite come.) Personnel handling administrative and temporal matters relating to the temple have largely been moved to Mhalta where the high ecclesiast spends most of her time at the royal court, although she returns to Perona for holy services on a regular basis. The gleaming white temple of Muir (including the sizable chapel to her attendant deity, Thyr) is a popular destination for pilgrims from all over Alcaldar. The city of Perona does its best to serve their needs, from providing plentiful opportunities for housing persons of all sorts, to crafting jewelry and other small items that make suitable mementos of such an important journey.
Settlement
Perona, City of
Type
City
Owning Organization
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