Under-Star

There is a city as far to the north as it is possible to go on the world of Amaun, directly beneath the Unmoving Star. This is the capital of the ice elves, the city of Under-Star. It is easily one of the most beautiful places in all the Twin Worlds, but so few have ever seen it and lived to tell the tale.

Demographics

As the ice elves are a very insular people, only their own reside there. Practically the entire population is composed of the elves, but there are also a select few cambions and tieflings descended from them, as well.
Under-Star is the ice elves' holy city, meaning that there are more priests there than anywhere else. As the capital, there are also plenty more upper-caste people such as mages. The other castes are represented much as they are anywhere else in the Empire of the Ice Elves.

Government

Under-Star is the capital of the ice elven people, meaning it serves as the home of the ruling emperor or empress. More importantly, it also serves as the home of the Council of Ice and Snow, housed in the Temple of the Unmoving Star.
The Council is the cabal of high priests that serve as the true rulers of their kin. It is from their temple in the center of the city that they give their orders to the "ruler", who obeys or faces the threat of replacement. Not even most ice elves suspect the truth of this arrangement.

Defences

As the center of ice elven life, Under-Star has more than its share of powerful priests and mages. Also it has far more warriors than any other place in the ice elven empire. As well, any elf there would die to protect their way of life.
The primary defenses, however, lie with the city's isolation. Being on the northernmost place in the world means that it is surrounded by harsh polar tundra for days in any direction. Any invaders would have to deal not only with that, but also ice elven skirmishers and the beasts of the arctic as well.

History

According to the priests, the people who would become ice elves fled an enemy so terrible they could break the very minds of their enemies. They fled as far north as they could, with many elves dying of the harsh conditions. Still they followed the Unmoving Star until they found themselves directly beneath it.
There they met the Gods of Ice and Snow, who said that they watched the march of the elves and were impressed by those who survived. They gave them their blessing in exchange for their worship. This changed them forever into the ice elves, supremely adapted to life in the harsh tundra.
There, beneath the Unmoving Star, they shaped the ice into a great temple to honor the gods that blessed them. Very quickly, a city began to grow around this temple, and an empire began to grow around the city. Then the ice elves took their place as rulers of all lands beneath the unmelting snow, keeping all lesser creatures away.

Architecture

Under-Star is a place of such incredible beauty, that any onlookers could be forgiven for believing that they'd crossed into the Feywild. All buildings are made of thick walls of ice as clear as glass that shine in the sunlight during the day and shimmer gently in the starlight during the night.
The cityscape is dominated by vast, delicately decorated spires that serve as wizard towers and palaces for the city's priesthood. By far the largest of these is the Temple of the Unmoving Star, followed distantly by the Imperial Palace. Scattered at the base of these great spires are a great many smaller buildings that serve as homes and businesses.
The streets are lined with the great works of the elven artists, with statues of heroes standing on pedestals at almost every street corner. Every so often there is an open square, where the townsfolk can enjoy the frigid air in the presence of stunning fountains of ice-cold water.

Type

City

Population

approx. 55,000

Location under

Great Tundra

Owning Organization

Empire of the Ice Elves