Artessos

Artessos is mainly populated by Thalassanos, but the city is old enough and cosmopolitan enough to have strong minority populations from each of the other Leoran races. These minorities have congregated over time in the city’s residential district, the Katalumaron, and thus there are some neighbourhoods where an outsider can feel as if they have strayed into another city altogether.   The city is home to 379 noble houses. The peace is kept by 949 city watchmen, and there are 199 advocates to assist with legal matters. For those more concerned about their soul, there are 2745 clergymen and 94 priests.

Like almost all cities across Leoram, Artessos is surrounded by a defensive wall. The city wall is crafted of locally quarried basalt and was reinforced by Charter sorcerers in the years following the Great Undead Incursions of the 3rd Century NE. Thanks to the sorcery worked upon it, the wall appears as if it were crafted from a single immense block of stone, with no seams or joins anywhere in the entire edifice.

Two logging camps are maintained in the Kardelaphi Woods, to the south-west of the city centre. These camps employ a total of about 500 workers, most of whom live in the city centre or the slums immediately outside the walls. While the camps are kept to strict quotas in order to preserve the woodlands, they nevertheless provide year-round employment.   Imports: slate tiles from Oenienios, hoop vine fibre from Oenienios Exports:

Artessos is one of the largest and most crowded cities in the world, and so it has areas that run the full range of prosperities from fabulous wealth to terrible poverty. Space in the city is at a premium, and so most buildings are strongly constructed of stone to support three or four storeys. The city streets are paved with cobblestones, but the city's population is so densely packed that the stones are often concealed by a layer of mud.

The Leontaron is the heart of the city in almost every sense. The northern side of the district is taken up by the looming edifice of the Imperial Palace, surrounded by its own basalt curtain walls and fronted by ornamental gardens that are open to the citizens, where the business of governance for both the empire and the city itself is carried out. In the centre of the district are two sizable open squares that are partially connected. These serve as the locus for the city's market, although there are plenty of shops and trader stations in the Emporion as well. Here farmers offer their produce and merchants hawk wares bought from city's various industries as well as the ships that dock at the Gialon. On the western side of one of the squares stands the Aeganira, a structure that rivals the Imperial Palace in size and that is dedicated to the Beruzen faith.   The Aristarchon is the district to the north of the Leontaron. Here stand the manses and villas of the Kratiran nobility, ornate structures constructed mainly of stone or marble. The roofs are tiled with slate brought in from Oenienios and some residences even have modest gardens attached. Wealthier and politically powerful houses maintain residences that are either larger or closer to the Imperial Palace to demonstrate their power. The use of these residences is also a favour often granted by the owners to their vassal houses who desire to present themselves at court for a boost in their standing. Thus it is rare for these buildings to stand empty, even though the greater houses are occupied ruling the provinces of the empire. In the north of the district stands the Charter School of the city, an expansive compound of several buildings that lies directly adjacent to the city's great curtain walls. This location allows for sorcerers in training to leave the city more easily for training exercises in the Pantaran Forest and Paralian Hills and the fields that separate the two.    The Gialon is the city’s primary port district, which lies to the east of the Leontaron, so that there is only a short distance to go from the docks to the great market squares of the Leontaron. Here, the buildings are typically stone and the roofs are a mixture of tiles and thatching. They serve a wide variety of purposes, including warehouses for the storage of trade goods, hospits and inns for sailors and traders to stay in and find entertainment, barracks and offices for customs collectors and even housing for those who work in the district. Thanks to the efforts and funding of several consortia of noble houses and the Traders' Guild, the district is kept in good condition comapred to many other ports that are comparably busy both along the shores of the Kratiran Sea and throughout the rest of the world.   The Stolon is a smaller harbour district to the north of the Gialon and east of the Aristarchon that is the home of the Kratiran navy. Thanks to its proximity to the Aristarchon, it is also the preferred berthing point or small yachts and barges kept by the city's nobles. These two primary uses mean that the district is kept orderly and practically spotless, even compared to the unusually well-maintained Gialon docks. Here the buildings are constructed exclusively of stone, and some are even faced with marble, most notably the headquarters for the Kratiran Navy.   The Emporion is the trading and shopping district of the city and lies south of the Gialon and south-east of the Leontaron. Here, the streets are lined with traders and hawkers selling their wares. The buildings are constructed mainly of wood, since shopkeepers come and go, bringing with them different needs in terms of space and room divisions.   The Katalumaron is the city’s main residential area and takes up most of the space east of the Leontaron to the limits imposed by the city walls. In this district, the buildings are a mixture of stone and wood construction with many having stone foundations and lower storeys that have then been added onto with further floors constructed of timber. The roofs of these buildings are typically tile if they have not been extended upwards from their original size but thatched if they have been so extended.   The Masterion is the city’s primary industrial district. Here, craftsmen of various trades from metal-working to weaving ply their trade. The district is located east of the Emporion and south-east of the Gialon so that craftsmen can easily transport their wares to the shops and market square for local trade or offer their wares to the captains and factors of merchant ships sailing the trade routes of the Kratiran Sea.

The Charter Schools of Sorcery – The Chartrites maintain a Charter School in the city. This institution is considered the most venerable on the continent, despite the fact that it has never been the Great Charter School of Exokkos.   Nation of Free Mages - The Nation of Free Mages maintain between six and fifteen Secret Enclaves in the city. At present, there are seven Secret Enclaves operating in the city. Between them, they maintain a network of associates and informants that help them to keep track of the general goings on of the city and the status of the city’s Charter School and any other Chartrite activities occurring in the region.   Shadowcrawlers – The Shadowcrawlers are the city watch of Artessos, an organisation that is almost as old as the city itself.   Cult of the Originist Way – The Cult has long been a minority faith in Kratiros as a whole and in Artessos in particular.   The Church of the Light of Beruzen – The Beruzen have been growing in power and popularity in Kratiros over the last four hundred years, and this is reflected in the status of the church in the empire’s capital.   Elunakhi – The faith of fire enjoys a significant following within the city, albeit a diminishing one. Now there is but a single Tiphlogas in the city, overseen by a team of about 50 clergymen and eight Photistes.   The Athanasic Brotherhood – The Athanasic Brotherhood are rumoured to operate even in the heart of Kratiros. These rumours are certainly true, and a number of noble Kratiran houses work hard to conceal their connections to the Brotherhood that has helped them to build or maintain political power in the empire. What is less clear is whether there is truth to the rumour that an ancient vampire is the patriarch of one of the greater noble houses.   Knights of the Burning Hand – The Knights of the Burning Hand once drew many warriors from the third and fourth sons of the Kratiran noble houses, but this has become a thing of the past as more and more of the city and the empire convert to the Beruzen faith. They still maintain a fortified chapterhouse on the city outskirts, just beyond the Pantaran Gate, but the once bustling halls and training yard are increasingly empty despite their best efforts.   Chalkiniptos Guild – The Iron Men enjoy considerable prominence in the city thanks to their close ties with the current occupants of the Lion Throne. There is not a single blacksmith in the city who is not a guild member; even the smiths who work for the local units of men-at-arms are dues-paying members.

The Imperial Palace lies at the heart of the city, partially concealed by its own curtain walls and by the sizable gardens outside the front entrance.    The Aeganira is the Beruzen kleisa that stands in the heart of the city, on the western side of the city's great square. This impressive building is faced entirely in snowy white marble, and some say that the walls are pure, solid marble rather than having a core structure of some other stone as is common for other marble buildings.    The Burning Hand Chapterhouse lies to the north-west of the city, just outside the Pantaran Gate.   The Empevros Span is one of two bridges to cross the Brocheros River near to Artessos. Empevros is the older of the two bridges, and was originally built to facilitate trade from the city to the lands to the south. It is also the bridge that is nearer the mouth of the river and to the coast.   The Photevron Span is the newer bridge across the Brocheros River that was built as an alternative route for merchants travelling to and from the city to use after local farmers and charcoal-makers began to crowd the Georgic Road to reach the Karbounou Forest and the farmlands to the south of the city.    The Paralian Hills lie just to the north of the city and are littered with disused quarries as well as active mines. The quarries were used to extract basalt that went into building the city’s defensive wall, and then rebuilding it several times as the city grew wealthier, more prosperous and more populous. The last of these expansions was completed about a hundred years ago, and since then no further quarrying has taken place. Mining continues, however, on a fairly regular basis to unearth garnet gemstones for local jewellers and to produce lye that the city fullers and tanners turn into soap as well as using it to treat leather and process other materials.   The Karbouno Woods lie just outside the south-eastern city walls, a short distance from the Georgic Gate. These woods are composed mainly of oak trees, although there are cypress trees mixed in as well. The name for the woods comes from the fact that the city's charcoal makers favour the location for the gathering of fallen wood to supply their charcoal ovens.    The Kardelaphi Woods lie to the south-west of the city, and are the city's main source of lumber for various industries based in the city.

The imperial city of Kratiros has access to considerable resources in the local area as well as the resources that pour in from the hinterlands and provinces. The local woodlands, although much reduced by the need for timber to expand the city, are a carefully husbanded mixture of oak and cypress trees that provide firewood for the local population as well as a habitat for the local wild animals that the people find useful such as deer and rabbits.   The local hills to the north of the city contain deposits of basalt and limestone, but these are no longer quarried due to the ease of obtaining stone from further up the Brocheros River. They are, however, still mined for lye and for the gemstones beryl and garnet.   Farmers near the city raise a mixture of crops and animals. Wheat and barley are both grown in fields, although the barley is typically used as animal feed for the sheep and cattle that are also raised in the local area. In addition to these staple crops, most farmers maintain a plot of land on which they grow vegetables such as cabbages, cauliflowers or brussel sprouts. There are also multiple fields and plots devoted to the growing of cotton, which is processed by the city’s weavers.   As well as farmed livestock, regular hunts are held by the city’s nobles in the local woodlands, which bring back deer and rabbits. The meat is typically consumed by the hunters, but hides and pelts are sold to the city’s tanners and furriers. Fishermen also ply their trade, both in the Brocheros River and on the Kratiran Sea. From the river, trout and catfish are the typical catches, while the seaborne fishermen bring in sardine, lobster and eels. Clamdiggers also ply the coasts of both river and sea bringing in clams and the occasional pearl.