Draught

Draught (pronounced like drought) is a city state in the Southern Farmlands. They have a gothic warrior culture due to a planar accident that happened during the Era of Kings causing the place to be cursed with fiendish powers. Prior to that, the city was an up-an-coming magical city attempting to rival Val'ul and Seer's Sight. The city has become a strong opposition to planar travel, at times militantly.

Demographics

Mostly humans and half-elves, but also has a large elf population.

Government

Draught is a republic run by a group of elected representatives. There was also the council of orders, a collective of fighter guilds that also play a role in decision making and defense. Most of this became a nominal system when the Dharkness Hunters took over in the Era of Reconstruction.

Defences

Not only does it have a sizable outer wall, it also has a series of inner walls, towers, and keeps, it also requires all their citizenry to mandatory military training and service. The only city in the region that could rival Draught's defenses are that of Break, but the advantages of Break are geographic while Draught is completely artificial. The reason it is so heavily fortified even on the inside is that the curse on the city causes random areas of the city to be suddenly engulfed in otherworldly threats. The defenses quickly keep these unwanted guests quarantined in one area. Some areas of the city have been in lockdown for years, waiting for skilled adventurers to clear them.

Industry & Trade

Their main industry is arms, both magical and not. Places as far as the Bludgeon Halls send ore and metals to Draught to be turned into their signature weapons. They also have a large mercenary market.

Guilds and Factions

There are several prominent guilds of adventurers founded in Draught. Three of them stand at the top, the Dharkness Hunters, the Order of Vengeance, and the Last Guard. These guilds are devoted to the hunting of evil. While the Dharkness Hunters and the Order of Vengeance have widened their influence internationally, the Last Guard remains solely in Draught and is focused on fighting local problems like the Dormant. Many up-an-coming fighter guilds try their luck starting here for the openness to that market. But this free market of mercenaries would crumble in 1052 when the Dharkness Hunters would get a new leader, Karmal. He would consolidate power within his guild, and kick opposition.

History

Founded in 590 as a farming community in the region, it was called Draught for the strange drought that occurred the year of its founding (the misspelling was due to them being uneducated farmers, but they embraced it rather than fix it). Usually Neihites have to deal with too much growth and water, not too little. There was nothing particularly significant about the town until a group of Dakath elven mages decided to retire there. There were an unconventional sort of elves, very innovative and explorative in Veritian magics, and uncharacteristically hasty for the long lived race. They founded a school of planar studies in the year 624, seeing their city into prosperity even in an era called the Veritian Dark Ages.
After the Dragon Blight, which they largely avoided, Draught was nearly rivalling the great magic cities of Val'ul, Seer's Sight, and the Tower of Dakath. But, in the year 814 the disaster occurred. No one knows if it was an accident or intentional, those running the experiment were vaporized along with the entirety of the Conjuration Institution. The explosion caused what has been termed a Planar Error or Planar Tear. It was not a rift or portal which people chose to walk through, but more like a crack or fissure that stuff sometimes fell through. During the disaster, a powerful demon from the abyss passed through, causing much havoc before being repelled by an elf named Aleesia Dharkness (founder of the Dharkness Hunters). Things still fall through to this day as no one knows how to fix the planar damage, yet the population refused to abandon the city choosing to take responsibility for the threat to the world they caused. They thus endlessly and tirelessly fight evil (which they deem as anything that comes through, be they evil or not).
During the Dormant Advance, there were a few attacks by the Ankou on the city, but the Dormant were hoping to fight the militarily powerful city via a different method, attrition. To do so they had to take Break first and cut off in supply chains to the city of Draught. The city felt the pinch in that savage decade, but it held against the Dormant. It did not against what came after the Dormant. Tumult, in their might, annexed the city via bribery, fear and propaganda. They used the city as a staging ground with their war against the Dormant general the Ankou in the southern portion of the Western Fey Wilds, needing to beat him before being able to advance into the Dormant Lands proper. Draught was divided about this new rulership, as some saw a chance to profit while others saw just another conqueror.

Architecture

The planar disaster that affected this city has left a constant haze and fog over the place. This dark and gloomy climate, added to the occasional monster attack, has influenced a more gothic architectural vision for the city. They steep themselves in the fear, making the place dreadful and awesome. This architectural pattern is unlike most of the leaf whose atmosphere breathes life and beauty, making it not the most tourist friendly cities.

Founding Date

590

Type

City

Population

45,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Draught warrior

Location under

The Southern Farmlands

Characters in Location

• Adalbert
• Aleesia Dharkness
• Julius Dharkness