Belldyard

Belldyard, Capital of House Charon

Overview:

Belldyard is the oppressive and formidable capital of House Charon, the youngest of the Great Houses, risen to power just 75 years ago through conquest and dark magic. The city exudes a grim majesty—its skies often shrouded in fog and the sound of tolling bells echoing from its many clocktowers. Though a functional hub of governance and dark scholarship, it is a place where life is muted beneath the shadow of undeath.

Military Hierarchy of House Charon:

1. Archmagi of the Black Court:
   The highest tier of magical authority, these elite necromancers advise the ruling Charon family directly and command entire armies. Each Archmage is a terrifying force in their own right.
2. Dread Commanders:
   A small cadre of living Death Knights—former paladins or elite warriors who’ve sworn dark oaths to House Charon. They lead Charon’s military campaigns and enforce loyalty with brutal efficiency.
3. Wights & Boneclad:
   Intelligent undead warriors imbued with tactical awareness and limited magical capability. Often commanders of patrols or shock troops in battle, they are crafted from the corpses of worthy adversaries.
4. The Paleguard:
   Standard battle-mages, necromancers, and dark scholars who have graduated from the Academy. Often assigned to enforcement, interrogation, or field reanimation.
5. Ghoulhounds:
   Bestial undead creatures trained for tracking, guarding, and hunting fugitives. They are frequently released at night as mobile patrols.
6. Skeletal Watch / Corpse Legion:
   The undead militia that guard the streets, borders, and roads of Charon lands. They are tireless and unquestioning—perfect sentries.
7. The Bonebent:
   The lowest rung: malformed reanimations used for menial labor, such as cleaning the streets or hauling goods. Rarely used in combat due to their instability.

Noteable Locations:

• Chimehold Keep:
  Seat of House Charon and the symbolic heart of Belldyard, Chimehold Keep is a towering structure of blackened stone and archaic grandeur. Its clocktower oversees the city with clinical precision, announcing the hours with resonant tolls that echo like funeral bells. Beneath the keep lies a noble catacomb, where the remains of honored dead—nobles spared from reanimation—are interred with arcane wards to protect them from defilement.
• The Desecrated Veins (Sewer System):
  Once a functional sewer and maintenance network, the tunnels below Belldyard have become saturated with necromantic residue. Strange lights flicker, disembodied whispers echo, and many who descend are never seen again. Yet, a few brave—or desperate—souls, particularly those affiliated with the The Serf-Pipeline, have mapped parts of the tunnels and use them to transport messages, goods, or people in and out of the city under the rotting noses of the undead patrols.
• The Temple of the Final Veil:
  A grand cathedral-like structure dedicated to the god of death (WIP). Massive, somber, and adorned in stone skull motifs, it serves as both a place of worship and arcane ceremony. While the god of death is viewed with reverence rather than love, the temple is one of the only places where even House Charon shows humility—acknowledging a power even they cannot wholly control.
• The Academy of Duskbound Arts:
  Belldyard’s arcane academy, where magical initiates are trained in various schools of magic, with a strong emphasis on necromancy, corruption, and the manipulation of death. Students come from across Charon’s domain—some willingly, some conscripted. While the curriculum is rigorous and brutal, those who graduate are granted rank, power, and protection under Charon’s rule. The academy’s tower looms over the eastern quarter of the city like a skeletal finger pointing skyward.

Economy:

Despite the oppressive nature of House Charon’s rule, Belldyard maintains a functioning economy—though one warped by necromantic priorities and isolationist practices. The region is not agriculturally rich and imports much of its food and common livestock from neighboring provinces. What it does produce internally, however, is both rare and potent.

One of the most sought-after exports is from the Boneworks industry—equipment, armor, and arcane tools forged from the remains of magical creatures. Craftsmen and necromantic-alchemists have discovered that the bones of certain beasts, when harvested and treated with Charonian methods, can retain strange properties—resonance with death magic, resistance to decay, or the ability to channel spells. These bone-forged relics are highly valued by mages and elite warriors across the continent.

Another profitable industry is the production of magical tomes and scrolls. While other Great Houses dabble in arcane matters, few maintain institutions as deeply entrenched in the dark arts as Charon. As such, magical knowledge—especially in necromancy, hexcraft, and soul-affecting disciplines—is sold to outsiders for steep prices. Even rival houses are known to seek out Charonian tomes, despite the political tension.

Perhaps most controversially, House Charon sells its own mages. Graduates of their arcane academy, trained in fearsome techniques, are often hired out or permanently transferred to serve in the courts or armies of other noble houses. Most notably, Great House Lock’aihain is a frequent client, using Charonian spellcasters to reinforce their magically inclined military forces.

Internal trade and labor remain under tight control. Heavy taxation, high tolls, and “protection fees” drain most coin from the lower classes. Black markets are minimal due to the ever-watchful undead patrols, but rumors persist of secret pacts made with smugglers who know the city's tainted sewerways.

Inhabitants:

Belldyard’s population is stratified under a grim and unforgiving system, overseen by an elite minority and enforced by tireless, undead eyes. Social mobility is nearly nonexistent.

• Nobles: Those of House Charon’s blood or favored cadet branches dwell in elevated manors near Chimehold Keep. They are practitioners of the arcane and stewards of Charonian doctrine. Their numbers are few, but their word is absolute. Only nobles are granted the privilege of traditional burial in the catacombs beneath the keep.
• Commoners: Blacksmiths, merchants, barge captains, innkeepers, scribes, doctors, and bureaucrats make up this tier. While granted basic rights, they live under strict surveillance and have limited autonomy. Magical aptitude among commoners is both a risk and a curse—those identified with arcane potential are conscripted into the Academy. Success may earn them a place in the military caste, but failure often results in death and reanimation. Many commoners serve noble households in skilled roles, though they are never permitted to wield true power.
• Serfs: The majority of the population. These individuals are consigned to labor-intensive or menial roles: maintenance of undead patrols, preparation of bonecraft materials, or farming bleak crops suited to Belldyard’s withered soil. Serfs often live in crumbling tenements and are subject to conscription, arcane testing, and public punishment. Rumors persist of a secret information network run by brave serfs who navigate the desecrated sewer tunnels to pass messages beyond the city walls.