City of harvests

Rentia was created soon after the subjugation of dragons in Exodus. The city was built mostly with food in mind, the flat lands that stretch from the gold river to the pine forests in the south provide ideal conditions for farming and the warm climate allows multiple harvests a year. Fields, orchards and vineyards stretch as far as eye can see, every one of them belonging to an influential family, who have preserved their lands for generations.

Early Days

The city was created on orders of the Council of Exodus, to meet the growing need for food. A team of prospectors was sent together with mages and city guards to find a suitable location and setup camp for the builders. They traveled for many days, constantly fighting off wild animals, but finally they found a suitable location and got to work. They sent word back to Exodus rallying large groups of workers to build the city.

Soon large swathes of forest were cut down to build temporary housing for the workers and the guards. New quarries and wood mills littered the surrounding area connected by dirt paths made by thousands of steps from workers and animals alike. There was no shortage of work to be done, but the builders got to it with enthusiasm, knowing that they were building a new home for themselves.

While the mighty city was being built, the surrounding area was slowly littered with small farms and homesteads, each no bigger than what the inhabitants could manage by themselves. They sprung up one next to another, surrounding the construction site and filling in the clearings of what was previously a forest. The (at first shy) attempts at farming proved very successful and the families expanded, gathering more and more land. Several families joined together either through marriage or by contracts and with their combined manpower consolidated large areas under their name.

The Great Families were not without their problems, the nature in which they came to be made them naturally uninterested in laws, so fields often changed hands by having one family plant their crops before the owners could do the same. This was often done in the middle of the night so that the owners could not push the invaders out. If someone was to get caught stealing a field, brawls would break out with the use of farming tools as improvised weapons of war.

The natural animosity towards anything that would try to invade their fields would come in handy, land surrounding the fields were still untamed, so wild animals and monsters often ventured out of the thinning forests and into the farms, trampling crops and killing animals. The families would usually manage to scare them away and avoid further damage, but sometimes a beast would be so dangerous, that several of the families would need to band together to stop it. Such groupings of brave men and women came to be known as the Rural Militia.

The opening of the gates

Several years passed before the construction of the city was finished. The gleaming stone wall with three large gates and the stone houses covered with red tiles surrounded a palace like structure in the middle, that was meant to be the seat of power of the Council of Rentia. The brand-new citizens rolled past the gates like a tide, carrying furniture and tools of trade with them. A feast was held that evening, during which the members of the council were revealed. To the astonishment of most people, not one of them was a member of one of the Great Families. After the initial shock, the remainder of the event went as planned and charcoal from the fireplaces of Exodus was given out to the new inhabitants as a way to carry a piece of their original homes with them.

The Council of Rentia worked tirelessly to keep their city running and there were no major problems until the next harvest season arrived. The council members promised to buy grain and produce from the Great Families to supply the city and when the time came to do so, and the Great Families lined up with carts full of food, it turned out that because of a bountiful harvest, there was more food than expected. The funds for the food soon dried up and the farmers who did not get paid, had to pay barbaric prices for storing the grain. The farmers protested, lining up in droves to speak with the council members but there was nothing anyone could do anymore. One group was particularly vocal about their discontent, the Great Families were not happy with the change of leadership from the start and resisted every change the council tried to implement, often leading to disasters for both sides.

Unfortunately, the pattern continued , in preparation for the next harvest, the great families proposed building more warehouses, but the council members elected to build additional workshops in the limited space they had left within the city walls. This led to the problems from last year repeating. Several families were driven to the brink of poverty from their previous high standing and food was left out to rot. The Great Families decided to build their own massive warehouses and store their harvests there. Smaller farms with no storage of their own managed to sell their grain, but the giant ones held onto their harvest. Soon the prices of food went up, letting them profit immensely at the cost of the citizens. The council reacted quickly, passing laws that forced the Great families to sell a portion of their harvest immediately after gathering it and forbidding them from stockpiling food. The already strained relationship between the Great Families and the Council of Rentia would cause many problems over the years. Each time the Great Families tried to circumvent the rules and show that they still held control, The Council of Rentia introduced new laws to further restrict them.

Rural Militia Uprising

The constant struggle for control would spiral into outright animosity that could barely be contained by the city guard, every harvest season, the bustling city would turn into a hub of petty squabbles and fights over the smallest things. The final nail in the coffin for the hope of a peaceful coexistence would come only a few years after finishing the construction of the city, when (during the already chaotic harvest season), a huge amount of city funds meant for paying the farmers for food they grew this year, has been stolen. A meeting was called, where the council members tried to negotiate with the farmers, promising them large sums of money in the future as an apology for the incident, but the heads of the Great Families, accused the council of hiding the money, to avoid paying for food they already got. This spiraled into a shouting match between the two sides that turned into a brawl that had to be broken up by the city guard who escorted the farmers outside the gates and closed them. The leaders of the Great Families immediately sent word to their subordinates of the indignation they just suffered and before sundown, a large mob of angry farmers stood outside the gates demanding their payment and changes in leadership of the city.

The Council of Rentia and the City Guards rushed to retrieve the stolen money. They lunched an investigation and scoured the whole city from top to bottom, and after excruciating hours, finally found a clue, that led them to a hidden location, marked with a mysterious symbol. The guards entered the lair and quickly found out, that it was recently abandoned, when they explored further, they were met with an imposing figure, who seemingly appeared out of the shadows. The stranger identified himself as "Jorkel" and said, that he was the third Grand Master of the Thieves Guild, he also claimed responsibility for the stolen funds and assured the guards, that the money has been escorted out of the city a long time ago. When the City Guards moved in to apprehend the stranger, he slipped back into the shadows and has not been seen since. With no way to get the money back, the Council Members attempted to negotiate again, but when the Great Families refused all of their offers and insisted on abolishing the council , they had no other option left than to ask Exodus for help.

The heads of the Great Families quickly organized the farmers into regiments and outfitted them with improvised weapons and armor. People who had experience in battle, be it in a skirmish over a field or in a battle against a monster, were gathered together and interred into groups with special purpose. There were groups of experienced bowmen, a unit of scouts and rangers, a line of heavy infantry with massive shields and long pikes and most importantly, a unit of cavalry that would later inspire the creation of the Silver Knights.

The next morning , when the defenders looked beyond their walls, they saw lines of soldiers with mismatched equipment, but with a burning fires of determination in their eyes. While both sides were still locked in a siege, the forces of Exodus approached fast, facing hit-and-run attacks from the farmers and improvised traps on every step of the way. With every mile they crossed, the situation became more and more dire for the Great Families, since they were running out of time. By the next two days, the farmers had to go on the offensive, they tried to break the walls to the city with a massive battering ram made out of a red tree and scale the walls with long ladders, but were repelled and what's worse, the forces from Exodus were only a few miles away from the city.

With no option left, the Great Families readied their forces for the battle ahead, reminding them, that they are fighting for their own right to live as they lived and not be bound by laws made to suppress them. When Exodians arrived, the farmers stood their ground and the leaders of both sides rode out to meet each other, the heads of the Great Families tried to convince the generals from Exodus, that the Council of Rentia has stepped over the line and inadvertently led to the conflict, but their opponents dismissed their comments and asked the farmers to surrender. When the momentary parley broke, the forces charged at each other and mixed in a chaotic struggle. The Rural Militia momentarily overwhelmed the Exodians, but they soon pushed back with their use of spells in combat. When the mages exhausted themselves, a surprise charge from the farmer's cavalry, led by Guincho Framley threatened to smash into the opposing forces but the attack left one of the flanks open, letting the Rentian Guards to rush out of their city and attack the rebelling farmers.

Before the guards could even reach the Rural Militia, members of the Council of Rentia protested the violence and called for a cease fire, where they would surrender their title and control over the city, to stop the pointless violence. All three sides met, just outside the southern wall (now named the wall of peace) and discussed the terms of the surrender. The Council members were stripped of their titles and influence, letting the leaders of the rebellion take charge. The forces from Exodus were tasked with ensuring that the newly appointed Lords of Rentia would honor the peace terms and always keep the good of the city and most importantly it's people as a priority.

Creation of the golden tree

The times of relative peace and prosperity after the Rural Militia Uprising, brought with themselves a new set of challenges. The heads of the Great Families now had to solve disputes on matters they might not have experience in, chief amongst them - magic. One day, an impoverished citizen of Rentia named Mansamusa, fished up and old lamp from the Golden River shallows, thinking little about how it got there, he tried to clean it to access it’s value, when he did, a Djinni emerged from the lamp and promised the man three wishes in exchange for releasing him from the eternal servitude. The man immediately agreed and wished for great riches, which were granted to him in a form of the deed of ownership of an estate. Then he wished to live to a great age and a ring with a vibrant red gem flew to him and slipped onto his finger. Before he could blurt out the third wish however, guards, who were alerted by the great commotion caused by the appearance of the Djinni in the city, apprehended the man and the lamp and brought them before the representatives of the Great Families.

After telling the story of how the lamp got into his possession, it was decided, that Mansamusa was forbidden from making the third wish, until it was proves, that the Djinni would cause no harm, a mage from Exodus was commissioned to access the magical artifact and give his verdict over the safety of the artifact. Before the mage could arrive however, a messenger stormed into the Hall of Commons and breathlessly announced, that the deed to the Riccio Family estate and farms disappeared from the vaults, shortly after a telepathic message was sent to the court mage, alerting the Great Families, that the Ring of Bountiful Health was slipped from their endlessly dying lord’s finger and offered great rewards for whoever brings it back as fast as possible.

The Lords of Rentia quickly correlated the two facts and found out, that the Djinni stole both of these things and gave them to Mansamusa, but when they tried to return both of these objects to their rightful owners, they slipped away from the grasp of whoever was holding them and came right back to Mansamusa. The Djinni, still in the middle of probing by the mage, explained, that he granted the man ownership of the items and that he would need to wish them gone to return them to their owners.  The Lords quickly pressured Mansamusa to ask the wish, both because the life of the Lord of Blackfall was at stake and because the Head of the Riccia Family was present. Mansamusa asked for equal compensation, for relinquishing the control over the objects, since it wasn’t him, who stole them.

As is usual, a quarrel broke out, over the correct amount of money. It ended when a loud explosion, one like the strike of thunder, reverberated in the Hall of Commons and Aster the Boundless, one of the 12 council members of Exodus, came out of a portal he created. She was briefed of the situation and she promised to compensate Mansamusa rightly for the goods he would lose by fulfilling the wish of   the Lords of Rentia. The man obliged and spoke his last wish, in that very moment, the Djinni swelled in size and amassed black clouds around himself, ready to destroy the city, but with a gesture, Aster shut him down and banished him into another realm.

Then she took the Ring of Bountiful Health and opened another portal to quickly deliver it to the dying monarch. The deed to the Riccia’s family wealth was also returned to it’s rightful owner. Before sundown, Aster was back, with an apple tree sapling in hand. Mansamusa complained of the equality of the transaction, but the great mage quickly silenced everyone nearby and planted it in the middle of the town’s square, then within seconds, the seedling grew into a mighty tree. Next, Aster closed her eyes and with a lengthy incantation, slowly turned the leaves and the fruit of the apple tree into pure gold. As she promised, it was Mansamusa’s to keep, with the stipulation, that he would only gather what has already fallen onto the ground. She then made the Lords of Rentia swear, that they would protect the golden bounty of the tree from theft.

With the deal complete, Mansamusa's life has turned around, and he quickly amassed a fortune that could rival even the cities themselves, by selling the golden curios to the dragons and then investing wisely with the profits, he created a trade emporium that now has branches in every city. The shops cater mostly to adventurers who provide a steady stream of gold for the richest man in the world.