A Visitor's Guide To Valence

The scene from Rumrunner's Alley in the Gov't District
Castle Valence is in the distance

However you got here, this is Valence, the largest city in the region, but certainly not on Hylas, as there are larger cities, usually huddling around a Worldgate, an ancient artifact of the Engineers which allow travel to the other two worlds but on certain times of the year.  Having made your way through the Kingdom of Valence following the Valence river, you passed through a few villages such as Herivik or Greensward which were hospitable enough to strangers but the ever present threat of the Archon's sinister agents was palpable whether they were obfuscated in the shadows or overt in their crimson trimmed sable armor.  These servants of the Archon are humans, dwarves and elves who have decided to earn gold and safety for themselves and their families to do the Archon's bidding often at the expense of their countrymen and kinfolk.  While one may not be wrong in calling them turncoats or traitors, people certainly understand why they chose their path.  They recieve their orders from their regional commander who in turn gets his orders from an ur-vile, an ink-black, medium-sized, humanoid creature with eyes of shadow that works directly for the Archon Verditius himself.  There are only a certain number of ur-viles and every region or city has one.  If you find an ur-vile in a town or village chances are he's investigating a crime.  Leave immediately.  They are powerful and intelligent creatures and are not to be trifled with.

Matters have been like this since the Archon War a hundred years ago, when the Archons descended upon our three worlds.  Our world, Hylas, the green one, was attacked and eventually conquered by Verditius.  No one has ever seen him, at least not in this generation.  There are some dwarves and elves who fought in the War and claim to have seen him in glistening golden battle armor, but judging from the stories, he couldn't have been in all those places at the same time, could he?  In any case, the Archon simultaneously attacked all the major civilizations in Year Zero of the Age of Verditius.  Armies of Skull Splitters, Clockwork soldiers, Iron and Stone golems, Elementals, and ur-viles swamped the various kingdoms and principalities of Hylas.  There was no hope.  No escape.  His onslaught was so severe and brutal, even the landscape changed.  Verditius instituted his rule and reduced the current rulers to mere subsidiaries:  Stewards, Regents, Viceroys...

Valence is a human kingdom ruled by a human Regent:  Olswain Decigar, eldest male of the Decigar dynasty.  In any other time, he would be a king and his own man.  Now, he is an inheritor puppet of a remnant playhouse.

There are three mundane ways to enter the city of Valence:  The Westgate (the most popular) by which you would enter the Guilds District on Westgate Way;  The Southgate also called the Dwarfgate not for its size but because it was a major thoroughfare for the dwarves of the Southern Kaers back before the Archon.  Now the street is large and lonely and the gate opens rarely.  Beyond its rusted portcullis is the expanse of swamp and bog known as the Wraithmoors:  Once, a lush, forested plain, now it is a fetid and foul morass, haunted by wraiths and corpse candles; the third way to enter Valence is by sailing vessel from the east, through the Bay of Blood.  The harbor is busy and brisk with trade from the faraway isles of Anacleto and the Harajuku Empire to the more local Mad city of Odiarad and the jungle isles of Par-Phon.  There is a fourth way into the city:  That is by Worldgate from the blue world of Thalassa, from the underwater, undine city of Ilu-Amanzi in particular.  But travel can only happen during a Thalassan eclipse which occurs every eight weeks and lasts for about two hours.  There is a timetable of eclipses posted on a placard near the Worldgate (located on Thalassa Plaza near the Government District) and there is a copy in the Mercator Guildhouse in the Guilds District as well.  Tampering, defacing or removing the timetable is a major crime in Valence punishable by a 5,000 gold piece fine for the first offense.  Repeat offenders are publicly beheaded at The Rotunda where most executions take place.

The Dwarfgate in Valence

After bustling through the crowded streets and avenues and slaking your parched throat with a fine sour mash beer at the Golden Goblet public house, you have surmised a few facts about This Fair City:  First, it is an academic center as evidenced by the majestic edifice of magically fabricated marble rising above the dingy, salt-encrusted buildings of Valance, known as the Valencia Arcanum, and its high population of arcanists that ply the streets.  Second, it is prosperous due to the frequent trade lanes that make their way here.  Third, it is a tourist attraction with the Arcanum and the Worldgate located here and a bevy of side-businesses attached thereto.  Fourth, it is a strategic location, located on a nexus of trade routes with a Worldgate, to boot.  Finally, it is a pious place as its worship of the Engineer Sisters, Vyncan and Vilda is obsessive here.  Statuary and shrines devoted to their worship can be found on almost every crossroads.

Spending a fortnight here (and weathering the increasing rain and windstorms from the Bay of Blood.  Good thing you got here when you did as Winter is now here) and paying your rent to a boarder in the Slums or perhaps a nice inn for travelers in the Theatre District, you are introduced either by reputation or in person to several key players in the city:

Jiranda Hollis is a female human and is Captain of the Guard.  She takes her duty seriously and does not have a very good sense of humor.  Those who have seen her without a helm noticed that she wears her black hair angled and short.  Asked as to whether her loyalties are with the Archon, she quietly replied, "I serve the city.  Valence is my lord and king."

The high priest of the cult of Vyncan is Mason Edriloth, a male human cleric of good disposition.  Frequently dressed in the ecclesiastical regalia of his office, his spotless white robes can be seen from a mile away.  Though fundamentally a good person, his demeanor is rather brutish and abrasive.  His sermons always seem to touch on his manly qualities a little too much.  It makes you wonder if he's compensating for something.

The high priestess of Vilda is another matter altogether.  Vivian Mascara is not only a female halfling but also a bard of some repute and a popular actress at the Two Moons Theatre.  She is a nice person until she gets drunk (which is often) and then she curses like a sailor and plays dumb practical jokes on unsuspecting persons.  Often she is the only one laughing.  She has paid hundreds of silver coins in fines thus far but this doesn't seem to bother her congregation that much.

Lord Constable Reynard the Fox is a male human with a quarter elvish blood in him.  He was raised in the noble house of Anketur and has known nothing else.  His appointment to Lord Constable was recent and meant to satisfy some old obligation, but oddly enough, to everyone's amazement, he's proven quite capable as an investigator of crimes against the Archon and the city.  He is thoughtful and receptive to new ideas.  There is a rumor that the ur-vile, Venom, has his shadowy eye on him and may promote him soon.

The ever-busy, ever-sweating, barkeep of the Bell, Book and Candle tavern on Drake Avenue (across the street from Tyrol's Talismans) is Stannis Trell, a male human commoner who managed to turn a ramshackle beer hall into a popular hangout for arcane artists of all stripes.  He is pretty lenient about spell use in his tavern provided no one gets hurt or personal privacy isn't violated.  He is frequented often by agents of the Archon and the rumor is that he is paying them protection money to keep his business going.  If their price rises too high it will be a sad day in Valence as Stannis will be forced to shut down and leave the city.  That may be their ulitimate goal.  But until that time, he will give you the best mug of ale you've had in a while, but no stories!  He's too busy!

The Lord Mayor of Valence, a male human aristocrat named Sadoc Gale, is a sensitive, quick and savvy man, but he may be a little too impulsive.  Born and raised in Valence, his life quickly turned around for him at the age of eleven, when after the deaths of his parents in a construction accident, he actively tried to make as many friends as he could.  This culminated with making enough ties with aristocrats and the criminal underworld, most notably, the crime gang known as The Rogues Gallery, that he was appointed Lord Mayor seven years ago after the former mayor was beheaded in the Rotunda for making a power play against Torix Firelaw.  Now Sadoc runs the city and some would easily say that he wields more power in Valence than the Regent himself.

Gurza Coldchisel is a dwarven lass who just started in Valence after leaving Kaer Maga for better business prospects as the armorsmiths there are just too competitive.  She wears her golden hair in long braids flowing down either side of her wide head and equally wide smile.  Her trace blonde beard is angular and comes to a slight point on her chin.  She is an expert in armorsmithing but rather new for all that having been doing this for only three years.  She specializes in metal armors, particularly plate armors, but she can make chain links as well.  She is a level-headed dwarf and her quality is already remarked to be excellent.  She has a good future ahead of her.

The thin, quiet and subdued wizard known only by the strange moniker, Exordius the Trap, comes to the Bell, Book and Candle on occasion.  He is a male human cursed with a hoarse cough that no spell or anodyne has so far cured.  He is an Opener of the Seventh Way or so he relates.  Because you and your friends were nice enough to listen to his weary tale of past glories without yawning or looking out the window, he gave each of you a magic copper coin.  Or so he says.  He didn't tell you what it did or why it's magical.  He simply got up, paid for his meal and walked away.     Wizard.

You also learned that since Venom, the ur-vile, is often in Castle Valence and rarely is seen out in the city, the one people fear to cross is the Commander of the Archon's Forces in Valence, a male ifrit from the red world of Agnion, a loyalist stooge named Torix Firelaw.  He always wears his trademark black half-plate trimmed with bright red fox fur, and is always seen in the company of his lieutenants.  He comes across as fairly intelligent as well as a grim and mean ifrit who has taken to capping his horns in gold leaf.  Whether this is a sign of rank or ostentatious ornamentation is not known.  Very little is known of his history or personality except that he is very loyal to Venom and the Archon Verditius.  He wears a two-handed sword across his back and his helmet is bright ruby red with angular chiseled features that resemble a demon.  His golden horns jut out from large holes in the top of his helm.

The month of Furwinner celebrates the coming of winter and the storm season as well as the Celebration of Crowns, a kingdom-wide festival, lasting a week, honoring the accession to the throne of the King... well, now that the king is a Regent and the Archon is king, now the festival serves his glory and his conquest of Valence and all of Hylas.  It is rumored that at the Commencement Ceremony tomorrow, the ur-vile, Venom, might make an appearance.  Most say that this will be an evil omen and will mar the festivities.  But one thing cannot be denied, the folk of the city are very busy with the setting up of tables and chairs and the building of kiosks and ribbon-poles and sandpits and you name it!  Hopefully, the weather relents and allows the people a good time to be had in the fair city of Valence.