Arborvale

The population of Arborvale is truly metropolitan, a place where peoples of every race and creed can be found. The importance of the city within the Forefather empire also meant that a significant amount of their races, High Elves and Dragonborn, are not uncommon as they are across much of the world. The primary races found in Arborvale include:

• Humans
• Halflings
• Elves (Wood, High, Half-)
• Half-Orcs (minimal)
• Dwarves (minimal)

Merchants from Eteros and Rallia can be found selling Lauritian wine and various fruits, herbs, and spices. Various ambassadors from foreign nations also call the city home, with staffs often made up of peoples from their native lands. The presence of the embassies, wealthy houses courting favor, the royal estate, and various merchants means that there is a large wealthy class located within the city, who mostly inhabit The Keep and Tercior Circle districts. The middle class lives on the outer edges of Tercior Circle, and near Merchants Mile and the Academy. The poorer members of society, often people performing menial task in the keep or various shops, inhabit the areas immediately north and south of The Keep known as The Alley and The South Wall respectively.

The city is run by a Steward who is appointed every solar year by the King of the New Kingdom. The Steward then chooses a council to help him administer the city and it’s guards, tax collectors, courts, and relationship with the Academy.

A large wall surrounds the city of Arborvale, with guard towers space around the perimeter. The Academy itself also acts as a significant defense as the home of the Blades.

The government center and Academy of Arborvale are the major drivers of the local economy. The surrounding woods make farming somewhat difficult, so the city must import much of it’s food stuffs, which has created a large and wealthy merchant class. Various guilds, artisan groups, and the Bank of Galladia have a presence in the city. Arborvale also acts as a central market for the region as grains makes the way north to supply the Northern Arm, and various stone products, salted fish, and agricultural products make the trip south. The presence of these institutions and merchants, as well as all of the jobs serving them, have made Arborvale the prosperous beating heart of the New Kingdom.

The city was built but the Forefathers on top of an old settlement that had existed for hundreds of years prior to their arrival. It is said that parts of the old city still stand beneath the new. The Forefathers built the Academy first, to study the site, which was found to have peculiar association with the Aura. They proceeded to build a central keep and walls encircling the city. Although the city doesn’t not have the same level of water conveyance as Tierney, the Forefathers built streets and various drainage networks that help to keep the city relatively dry and healthy. The streets are bowed up with gutters channeling waste and water through a series of underground tunnels which connect to various waste chutes in the academy, The Keep, and throughout the city.

Tercior Circle is large park situated in front of the enormous temple to Tercior that standsd just to the east of The Keep. The presence of the green open space with trees, a small fountain, and various other greenery quickly turned Tercior Circle into a wealthier part of the city, with various restaurants and shops surrounding it.

The Academy, Bank of Galldia, and the Galladian Pact are the major institutions with operations in the city. Nearly every major nation and family in the known world have a manor in the inner-keep near the seat of power, while various bureaucrats live throughout the city. Guilds such as the Harbor Guild, Forgers Guild, Keepers Guild, and Potions Guild all have establishments in the city, and members come from throughout the Arborvale region to meet with others local members and members from across the continent.

Arborvale stands on the ruins of a much much older settlements known as Silghad. The settlement had never been much more than a few houses surrounding a small spring. The Tredan family, one of the more powerful families in the region, was based in Silghad and began to exert influence over some of the nearby villages and towns. One of the ancient Tredan ancestors, Masla Tredan, was able to consolidate local power through cunning and subjugation, and established the Tredan's as the major family east of the Spine. Over time, the Tredans grew to control much of the Arborvale region using Silghad as their capital. When the Forefathers arrived, the Tredans quickly struck a deal with the clearly far superior force, and agreed to act as governors over the region, which grew the territory they governed significantly, as man of the other Galladian families resisted the foreign invaders.

The settlement seemed to radiate the power of the Aura, and when the Forefathers arrived, they were astonished to find that nearly everyone in the village was able to wield the Aura, whereas on their home continent of Midmara it was a much rarer gift. They established a small colony here in the First Wave, and when Silver Dawn arrived, the Forefathers decided they needed to erect one of their academies on this site in order to better study the Aura. They also built a large keep to defend the site from would-be rebels or nefarious characters.

Over time, the city became known as Arborvale, and evolved into a thriving city as merchants made their way along the major road running parallel to the Spine on the eastern side of the range. As students and professors began to arrive and be trained at the Academy, the city continued to grow. After the fall of the forefathers, the Tredans filled the power vacuum in the region. They had a distinct advantage in that many of their guards and administrators were already in place throughout the broader Central Galladian area. They swiftly assumed control over much of the territory east of the Spine and established a wealthy and powerful Kingdom there. The city continued to grow as taxes across the region were collected and wealth spread through the city. With the creation of the New Kingdom of Galladia, the city cemeted itself as a major player in the known world.

When the members of the Galladian Pact first convened, a neutral site south of Grand Fort was chosen, however, the need for a permant and urban site was qquickly realized. The Tredan's forcefully pushed the other major powers to locate the new capital in Arborvale. Using their influence over many minor families in the south, delegates from the Academy who wished to keep the academy central to Galladian governance, and the logic that it was the most centrally located city to the other major houses,the Tredans succeeded and Arborvale became the capital of the Galladian Pact. The signing of the Galladian Pact sealed the fate of Arborvale as the beating cultural, economic, and political seat of the continent.