#feldri

[belerencodex]

Neighborhoods of Feldri

Feldri is a huge, sprawling metropolis, the largest city on the plane, it stretches across the broad flatlands East of the Great Belnoi Wild. A great carpet of stone, brick, and steel, carrying on for miles upon miles. There are too many places to see in Feldri to count, a new adventure, a new sight to see around every corner. here are a collection of six of the more prominent neighborhoods of the city.

Dockside: Warehouses, taverns, bordellos, guild headquarters, inns, the seafront of Feldri is built to the needs of the massive trade fleets that come and go. Seawalls secure the harbor, dotted with forts patrolled by the Wakewatch. The high streets are patrolled by Wakewatch guards and Synod sacred bands to keep crime down but the side streets and alleyways are a and poorly patrolled maze. Gang fights, scores being settled, dark deals and black market merchants lurk in the shadows and disused warehouses of Dockside. It does have some of the best and rowdiest bars though.

Canal District: Across the river by the Bastion Bridge lies the Canal District, previously an area of factories and warehouses in the Ascren Empire. Riots burned much of that during the early days of the Fall. Traveling theater companies and music festivals began flocking to the derelict buildings and empty lots for rent free performance space. At first it was very rough and tumble, thieves and gangs preyed on the performers and their patrons, sometimes the performers teamed up with the thieves or even were the thieves themselves. The companies and performers began to organize into guilds, forcing out non-guild performers and paying the Six-Ring Company to provide security. Now the Canal District is the cultural heart of the city hosting some of the greatest theaters and most prestigious clubs, music halls, and houses of curiosities in the Crucible States.

Temple District: One of the eight great pyramids of the city is topped by a massive temple complex. Brass domed caps and lapis tiles of deep blue decorate the sides of the highest Temple of Yothri. At it’s highest peak is a flat topped tower, long staircases zig-zag up its sides while an enchanted stone platform offers levitation for those who need it to reach the top. A reflecting pool dominates the center of the top floor. Levitating in the air, brilliant as a full moon in the night, shimmering with rainbows and iridescent glory is a huge orb known as the Saint’s Beacon. It bathes the temple district in cool blue-white light and an aura of peace, requiring a Will Save 17 to commit any hostile acts. The Synod owns most of the Temple District but they promote peaceful co-existence with other good aligned religions, granting land to friendly temples. On the lower tiers of the pyramid there is more privately owned land though, Drakoverian organizations, more unsavory or morally gray religions and cults. Funnily several of the largest banks of the city are also found in Saint’s Shadow.

The Warrens: Beneath the pyramids and city streets run vast networks of tunnels. Whole hidden streets, homes, shops, and taverns. Ratfolk by law can’t live above ground and many smallfolk voluntarily reside below ground. Many of the people down here work in the core of engineers that maintain the air ducts, sewers, cooling and heating systems of the city. Life below is claustrophobic and strange things are said to lurk down here. But the people are for the most part friendly. For those looking to live on the wild side there’s many places underground beyond the law’s reach, gambling dens, black magic shops, tobacco shops and the seediest bars.

Rijani Enclave: Nested deep in the city on the canal’s edge lies a collection of buildings painted with brilliant geometric patterns and draped with colorful silks. The Rijani Enclave is a slice of home to the thousands of refugees who made their way to Feldri after the war. Ever since a steady stream of rescued slaves and prisoners have fed the colony. Water clan fishermen ply the river and canals for catfish and eels. Wind Clan families continue the dyeing traditions of their lost family workshops, fed silk and dye by far ranging Windborn smugglers and merchants. Fire Clan and Kulvinese defectors patrol the shaded streets keeping the peace and protecting their people from the many predators of the urban jungle.

The Fey Quarter: The Fey Quarter is a collection of tunnels, alleyways, parks, and gardens buried within the vast maze of Feldri. Their locations sometimes move, alleys suddenly bursting with life as pixies and gnomes hock wares and play games in the narrow street. However the neighborhood known as Euphesia's Garden is one permanently anchored section of the Fey Quarter. The light filters green through the canopy of willows and elms that line the wide boulevards. Slender elven homes of living wood nest in lush gardens, crooked, cris-crossing high-rises built by gnomes and halflings. Dryads planted in the squares play in the fountains and satyrs parade from tavern to tavern.

[belerencodex]

Government of Feldri

The Magnates

Since the fall of the Ascren Empire the government structure of Feldri has been dominated by a council of magnates. The magnates are a collection of landowners within the city who convene to decide policy and pass laws. The system does not have a set number of members as technically the estates could be parsed down near infinitely but at any time the council has numbered between seven and twenty, averaging around ten. The official requirements of office are fairly informal as are the proceedings, sessions of council have taken place at lavish parties on private estates, war galleys, and in extra-planar subspaces often with scant note-taking. The technical powers of the Magnates are broad, they maintain eminent domain over their entire estate, able to evict at will with little to no recourse. Not all landowners actually are active magnates, some prefer to remain private citizens or aren’t considered technically significant enough to warrant a place on the council.

Becoming A Magnate

An estate, or a piece of a larger estate is put up for auction, in cases of clear succession such as an uncontested will or transfer of power in an organization this auction is waived.

Petitioners wishing to acquire the estate appear before the Magnates and present their cases for admission to the ranks of the rulers of the city. Frequently with presentations of gifts to individual magnates or to the city such as monuments or works of music.

If the council finds no reason to deny the purchase or transferral of an estate the transfer is made and the owner of the estate can make a claim on a seat among the magnates. If the purchase or transferral is denied the estate returns to auction and is open for new petitioners to apply for.

A payment of 200,000 gold pieces is made to the government bureaucracy, this can be paid by second parties or collection but must be made as a single payment.

A state ceremony is held, most often this ceremony involves a parade and the hiring of bards to spread news of the new magnate, at the height of the ceremony the petitioner presents the city with a gift. Usually some form of entertainment or cultural artifact, historical examples include monuments to the history and people of Feldri, newly written symphonies and operas, the heads of slain foes of the city, and military exercises. 

Enumerated Powers of the Magnates

Eminent Domain over all land holdings within the estate. In isolated cases this has been used to seize ships and caravans as well.

Private Armies are hired or trained by magnates or their subordinates to organize the defense and security of their sections of the city.

Lease of Property with little restriction, law prevents the establishment of magical workshops or stores in wooden buildings or sensitive districts of the city like near military installations and ratfolk cannot buy leases above-ground.

Surveillance is allowed anywhere within the estate of the magnate, for the sake of the Six-Ring Company and Wakewatch this right can be extended to other estates with the permission of the owner.

Social Laws such as prohibitions on alcohol, gambling, public drunkenness, carrying weapons, heretical or seditious speech, etc. All are within the purview of magnates to dictate over their estates. 

Current Magnates

Tirrano Baez: Six-Ring Company Ascrene human general, 8 year member. Has charge of the walls of the city and organization of its forces in defense of Feldri and its interests. Ascrene and Rakkoni nobility in his blood with a knightly tutelage but a veteran’s humorless resolve. Tirrano’s family have been landowners.

Arp Nusfod: Wakewatch Grotari half-orc admiral, 5 year member. Has charge of the harbor defenses and port authority. Nusfod represents the mercenary navy known as the Wakewatch who patrol the trade routes and issue bounties for Kulvinese ships, pirates, and sea monsters.

Galena Phaedri: Phaedri’s Banners Ascrene human general, 33 year veteran of the council and four time commander of expeditionary forces in the name of Feldri. Phaedri’s mixed company of ships and soldiers are the spiritual descendants of the Ascrene military, Galena’s grandfather was an Imperial general.

Bargad Hafsted: Guild Liaison Ley-Dwarf merchant, 73 year member. The Hafsteds have their fingers in every guild across the city. Bargad served the family for a century and a half as head of the Musician’s Guild. During his time there the Empire fell, after his sister was killed in civil unrest he became magnate.

Finn Talenrand: Feldrine River Company Sindri hafling representative, 16 year member. A former riverboat captain and now official spokesperson for the Feldrine River Company. The FRC maintains a monopoly on river trade through Feldri and runs vital supplies for the Temple of Yothri.

Irianna Digherri: Landowner Urbini halfling aristocrat, 31 year member. The Digherri family can trace roots back further than the First Synod. Reduced to faux nobility by Ascren, the Digherri became major players in the Thieve’s Guild. Since the fall their lands have been restored though their reputation is mixed.

Gloncau Vicci: Landowner Urbini halfling aristocrat, 12 year member. The Vicci family’s story is very similar to the Digherris, the two families have intermittently warred and married across history. The Viccis have a reputation as robber barons and slumlords yet have maintained a loyal core of servants.

Vittorio Espanzi: Public Works Urbini halfling bureaucrat, 7 year member. Smallfolk have always ruled the public works of Feldri. The ducts and pipes that pump water, sewage, and cool air through the city would have come to a halt without them. Espanzi is the latest representative from their union.