Varisia

Varisia is the cradle of legends and, in the current era, the border between civilized lands and the untamed wilderness. Chelax, far away to the south, claims dominion over all of Varisia, but in truth does not even have the strength to maintain its authority over lands and cities much closer to home. Korvosa, a great metropolis founded centuries past, lies right on the edge of Chelax’s sphere of influence, and she periodically toys with the idea of claiming independence and asserting her own Imperium.   Nearer Magnimar, the city of monuments, ostensibly owes her allegiance to Chelax as well, but she was founded during the glorious height of that empire, whose borders have since receded. She is independent in all but the minds of the Chelaxian senate more than a thousand miles away, although, lacking the might, prestige, and possibly most importantly the sheltered harbor, of Korvosa, no Magnimarian official would dare to say such a thing openly within earshot of an imperial representative.   Much as Kovosa is to Chelax, and Magnimar is to Korvosa, Sandpoint is to Magnimar. Technically, the original charter for the town, issued some 40 odd years ago to the adventuring party and their noble benefactors who then went on to found Sandpoint, was decreed in the name of the Chelaxian Emperor, by his lawfully appointed agents in Magnimar, but the charter was so vague and allowed for so much self-governance that Sandpoint may as well be an independent city-state tied only to the greater empire by bonds of love and culture. While Sandpoint’s petty nobles may, or may not, hold minor titles in the greater empire, Sandpoint’s mayor and sheriff hold their positions in the name of the town itself, and for the good of its citizens and the surrounding farmsteads.   As an Imperial Outpost, Sandpoint can send for and, according to Imperial Law, even compel aid from Magnimar in times of trouble, though this has never occurred in the town’s brief history, and few would expect such a demand to be honored in a sufficient or timely manner, certainly not without great concessions of liberty or treasure to the city of monuments.   Far to the north of Chelax’s influence, even at its height, is the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is the city of Riddleport. A haven of pirates and smugglers since its inception, Riddleport sits just far enough off of the main trade routes to be too much trouble for the established navies of the world to obliterate, yet just close enough to allow her denizens to make a living by raiding those trade lanes. Aside from being the hub of Varisian pirate activity, Riddleport has one further claim to fame, the great Cyphergate. A massive, rune-carved stone span that bridges the two sheer cliff faces which create the natural harbor and shelter that Riddleport relies on. Theories abound on the Cyphergate’s original purpose and builders, a giant’s scrying lens being one of the most popular, but nothing has ever been proven, nor the runes deciphered.