Leuchten

Capital of the Gap

Population: Approximately 10,000 people

Ruler: Baron Boris the Bold, a human knight

Civil War Allegiance: Cecilia von Kessel

Known For: Impressive Fortifications, Siege Workshops

A great fortress-city rises up in the flat valley flanked by the Drakeclaw Mountains to the west and the Glimmer Mountains to the east. Leuchten stands as a bastion against the armies of the south. Imposing walls of stone and round towers bristling with guns and cannons are layered atop jagged wedge-shaped earthworks. A deep black moat surrounds the city, the only entrance via two long spanning drawbridges at the north and south ends. Leuchten defends the important land route connecting Westemär to the southern nations. Inside the city proper are all manner of arsenals, stockpiles, workshops, and barracks. Naturally, the city has faced more sieges over its history than perhaps any other city on the continent, and certainly within Westemär. Despite its impressive defenses, it has fallen twice — though never to a direct assault. When Albrecht von Drakken died in battle amidst his failed invasion of Caspia, the Scalebreakers broke against the walls and guns of Leuchten in their retaliatory attack. During the Mage Wars, the city was briefly captured thanks to a forged document, and fell again thanks to adventurous mercenaries during a minor conflict between Westemär and Liberio. Given the strategic importance of Leuchten, the city does not have an ancestral noble house as its traditional ruler. Rather, the monarchs of Westemär have typically assigned title and authority to one of their top military figures, or, as is more often the case, a problematic royal sibling who needs a distant but seemingly important assignment far away from the politics of the capital. It was previously under the rule of Cecilia von Kessel, but since her death the city is now overseen by Baron Boris the Bold.