Spire

Ethnic Population

The dominant majority of the Spire population are high elves (called "Tel-Quessir" in their native tongue). Some humans and wood elves (and rarely, dwarves) have migrated there, lured by tales of the golden towers and inspiration flowing like water. Goblins are the second most populous demographic but remain an oppressed class and hold few positions of power in Spire. Among the subgroups, there exist many individuals with mixed elf-goblin or elf-human heritage.  

Class Structure

  The upper class of the Spire hierarchy consisted of the nobility, warriors, and priests. This status was usually hereditary, but warriors could rise up to nobility in life through acts of bravery or, if killed in battle, they would rise in status post-humorously along with their family. Priests were often the vocation chosen for the youngest child of a noble.   Spire also had a distinct middle class made up of merchants, artisans, and physicians (including mages). Merchants served the government as ambassadors and spies. They were often nomadic, traveling between the Eight Tributaries and Spire. Artisans, if they found a wealthy patron, lived comfortable lives.   The lower class of Spire were the laborers which made up only about one-fifth of the population. These citizens were dedicated to agriculture and food production as well as common trades like construction. Some owned their own land while others were tenant farmers.   Below even the laborer class were indentured servants. These individuals are convicts who have committed crimes against the laws of Spire grievous enough to warrant indenture instead of paying a fine. They could still own possessions; however, upon their sentence, the convict must give up their animals and land to the state for the duration of their sentence. Servants were given a set amount of time which they must work, usually laborer jobs for the government, and then were allowed fully back into society. If an indentured servant demonstrated "incorrigibility" (i.e. refusing to work or committing more criminal acts during their sentence) then their sentence was reevaluated and often prolonged. Each indentured servant was assigned a parole officer who monitored their progress.

The solarch is the head of state in Spire and the larger Tel-Quessir Kingdom. They are chosen through sanguinity, though many solarchs reinforce their right to rule through divine will. Each solarch chooses a deity of the Seldarine (the elven pantheon) to act as their divine patron. Solarchs sometimes changed patrons in order to reinforce the loyalty of a particular political group in the Tel-Quessir Kingdom.   Cities from each of the Eight Tributaries provinces had to pay taxes (make tribute) to the solarch in Spire; however, the borderland tribes remained strongly independent, making them more vulnerable to raids by goblin ambush parties. Each Eight Tributaries province may select a representative in the High Elven Council. Councilors collectively control taxes, kingdom-wide legislation, resource allocation, declaration of war, and market trading.   Minor offenses are met with appropriate fees or fines. Breaking major codes of governmental law results in state-indentured labor for a determined amount of time. The crime rate in Spire, before its fall, was impressively low.

Eight bridges allow traffic into and out of Spire, each leading towards or across one of the Eight Tributaries to their respective provinces. Bridge patrols guarded each of these security checkpoints, checking people entering for proper documentation and searching carts coming in and out for contraband. The bridges were the only access points in or out of Spire; the rest of the city was surrounded either by the stone-reinforced shores of Lake Ivae or by the high walls of the city itself.   Within the city, warriors kept the peace. Sentries guarded palaces and temples from trespass and theft. The fairgrounds were patrolled by wardens who upheld council laws, including shutting down smuggling rings and black markets. Wealthy citizens often commissioned aether constructs enchanted to personally protect them.

  Aether was the main source of Spire's prosperity. It was sieved and collected from the air above the valley and processed into its useable liquid form. The aether was used as the primary component in enchantments, as well as to power arcane machines such as automatons. Though Spire held a strict monopoly on aether trade, not allowing it to leave the city, it benefitted their other industries. Aether automatons allowed for safe and relatively low-cost mining of naturally occurring gold, iron, and other precious stones.   Lake Ivae allowed merchants to ford goods across riparian trade routes to most of the Eight Tributaries provinces and, from there, to beyond the valley. Foreign trade partners included Mirandus, a source of bronze tools and jewelry; Haegan, which provided beautifully woven clothing and feathers; and Freeport, a kingdom short on iron, which offered valuable salt in exchange. Salt was so valuable to Spire, in fact, that it acted as a secondary form of currency up until the Common Age. One pound of salt was worth one head of cattle.   All trade within Spire was regulated by officers who patrolled the markets to ensure that the buyers were not being cheated by the merchants. Despite its commercialized market system, Spire was not a capitalist economy because land and labor were not commodities for sale.

The center of Spire was a great plaza made up of palaces and temples, each dedicated to a deity of the Seldarine pantheon. The Main Temple was dedicated to Corellon Larethian, who is the creator deity of the high elves. It was large enough to house thousands of worshippers and received them daily. It was kept fastidiously clean. The palaces housed the solarchs and nobles as well as their retinue of servants. Buildings in the plaza were packed tightly together, many of which celebrated the arts—the Conservatory, the Royal Concert Hall, and Arcanist's Guild among them. Further out from Spire's heart were shops, homes, and schools. Finally, the outermost ring of the city was made up of farms, often extending out into the lake or on its largest island, Rûn.

The most prestigious guilds of Spire were the Bard's Guild, the Arcanist's Guild, and the Trade Consulate. The latter managed the allocation of aether throughout the city and monopolized its trade to outlying provinces.   After the Aetherflux Reservoir burst in the Conflagration, elven sorcery became an endangered art. Those who had caches of aether could perform arcane magic, but now most have to rely on traditional druidic or bardic magic.

  At the beginning of its settlement, Spire occupied a territory in constant dispute between the high elves and goblins. As the Tel'Quessir Kingdom expanded, specialized craftsmen and mages were brought to Spire to expand the city. Magic was used to anchor floating gardens to Lake Ivae and "mine" aether streams from the layer of the atmosphere called the aethersphere.   Not long after, the first elven solarch was crowned in Spire, a goblin-blooded elf named Romilius. (History has since been watered down to depict Romilius as the ideal "traditional" elf, ignoring that he was a direct descendant of the Goblin King). He chose the divine patron Angharradh, the queen-consort of the creator god Corellon Larethian.   During the Chthonic Age, the high elves bolstered a formidable military force of reindeer-mounted war-mages and infantry. There were many early skirmishes between Spire, mountain dwarves to the west, and humans to the south. They eventually formed alliances with their powerful neighbors, known as the Ternion Alliance. Subsequently, the three peoples spread the language of Common (a pidgin of human, elven, and dwarven languages) as well as a standardized currency. This was the beginning of the Common Age.  

The Conflagration

The Conflagration, a historic fire of untold proportions, destroyed the city of Spire and the land surrounding it for nearly three million acres. The fire burned for six days and was finally quenched by the combined efforts of surrounding elven cities summoning water elementals. It killed thousands of people (including the entirety of the High Elven Council), melted the gilding from the nominal spires, and burned the plane's largest processed source of aether. It is considered the most devastating fire in elven history.   Spoiler

Spire is famous for its gilded temples and palaces. It was an architectural landscape of glistering facades, cold silver-metal exteriors, and blue tempered steel. Paneled roofs often curved in an ergonomic way to deflect wind and let in sunlight. Great statues were at home in their respective temples, shrines to the Seldarine.   Now, stripped of their luster by fire, Spire monuments are shabby and bare-faced. Melted gold pools at the feet of buildings, ripe for looters.    

Art

The arts were highly regarded in Spire society, especially among the upper class. There were regular presentations of poetry and grand orchestral concerts. The Bard's Guild selected its most prestigious members to play cantatas in the temples and grand orchestrations to honor the noble class. The Panharmonicon was the jewel of the Royal Orchestra, a massive magi-musical machine which played differently to the individual's ear.  

The Inventors' Fair

The Inventors' Fair was a weekly festival showcasing Spire's most talented arcanists. It was populated by inventors showing and selling their inventions, citizens enjoying their day free from labor, and street magicians playing for coin. Arcanists employed by the guild believed that creating things that were beautiful was just as important as making them useful. They made and presented aether automatons of animal companions and whirling thopters which could carry messages.   The Judges looked upon the arcanists' inventions, choosing artisans to be sponsored on behalf of their royal patrons. The competition between higher-level arcanists would often become cutthroat when two or more vied for the attention of an influential patron. Some would even hire spies and saboteurs to steal the designs of competitors or sabotage their inventions. The practice was illegal and could result in a judge banishing them from the Arcanist's Guild, forbidding them to showcase their inventions at the fair.

  Spire is located in the Arvandor valley, a huge, oval basin about 2,000 meters above sea level. Between the tundra to the north and the deciduous forest to the south, the geography consists primarily of temperate coniferous forest. Because of its acidic, poorly fertile soil, the earliest high elves built floating gardens—constructed from reed rafts, covered with mud and vegetation, and then seeded with plants.   The city was built by the shores of Lake Ivae, a large glacial lake, and source of freshwater. The lake supports a thriving ecosystem of algae, making it appear green. Several major tributaries flow into the lake; their sources lie in the Eight Tributaries provinces. These feed into greater rivers further upstream. Within the lake itself, there are several small elf-made islands and one large island called Rûn, the center of agriculture and waterway trading for Spire.