Places of Note in Smeisserand

As of LY 2143

The Cities: Katraal Contradina Norton Haafir Kazaandu Degloss Brulhafen

Major Cities of Smeisserand

Katraal is the capital and a major center of trade. It lies on the west coast of Smeisserand, fairly centrally located at the mouth of the Saarvan River. More than 300,000 people call Katraal home. Katraal is a place of narrow streets and grey stone buildings, filled with bustling people pursuing their own profit. The king's Court is held at the Royal Palace, visible from nearly any second story window in Katraal. The palace grounds stretch for most of a mile along the hills overlooking the coast. The business center of the city lies at the intersection of the broad avenues joining the trade roads from the east, south, and north with the harbor road.

Katraal is also home to many parade grounds, training fields, barracks, and other places where Smeisseranders practice the art of war. The Royal Guard Regiment is always present in Katraal, unless it is accompanying the King on campaign. The Katraal College of Thaumaturgy also offers a notable place to study practical arts, but of magic rather than combat. As with any College of magic in Smeisserand, the College receives many applications, but admits only a few. The applicant's background and philosophy plays as important a role in winning admission as his or her magical and scholastic aptitude. Graduates of the College are proclaimed "Wizards" and allowed to carry the coveted staff of official sanction. Wizards who are registered graduates of any of the three Colleges are unofficially above the law in Smeisserand. Other spellcasters are not so privileged.
 
 

Contradina was, until recently, a fairly minor port city in the northeast corner of the Dominon. Several decades ago, the kzinti attacked and captured Contradina. To hold off the counterattacks of the Smeisserander army, the kzin sorcerers summoned demons to aid in the defense of the city. This proved to be a mistake, as the demons gained their freedom when the kzinti who had summoned them were slain. A half-demon woman wrested control of the city from the kzinti and factions of squabbling demons. Known only as "The Lady," she held Contradina in a dismal state of slavery for twenty-six years.

Even the kzinti, former victors and rulers of Contradina, were held in thrall to The Lady's command. Thousands died in the battles and the decades of slavery and abuse that followed the fall of the city. Hundreds, the lucky ones, were able to escape and flee south into Smeisserand, never to return.

The Lady was overthrown in LY 2138 by Killian Grey, later the ruler of Tarnia, and the Scarlet Legion. The port gained immediate importance as the logistic center for supplies and men flowing into Smeisserand from the Four Kingdoms to support the Scarlet Legion's crusade against the injustice of the Dominon. Upon the conclusion of the Smeisserand Crusade, the city was given to Count Kettner to administer and rule. The city now has some 60,000 inhabitants and visitors and has become an important trade port. Ships from the Four Kingdoms and the Elven Isles dock with regularity, bringing trade to a reasonably enlightened city. The port remains free of ice year-round, although its winters can still be bitterly cold.
 
 

Norton is a central city near rich deposits of ore, deep forests, and fertile pastures and farmlands. The dairies near Norton make some of the best cheeses in the Dominion. The earnest nature of Norton strikes visitors immediately. It is a place given over to hard work, training of new recruits for the Army, and discussion of religion. The streets are narrow but clean. Well-constructed sewers carry refuse away to the marshes along the banks of the Saarvan River. People move about with purpose in their gait. The clocks in the towers ring almost as one on each hour. Even the dogs in the streets always seem to have urgent business to which they must attend.

Most recruits from the northern Duchy spend a few days in initial training in their home villages and towns. Then the sergeants march them to the training grounds at Norton. The headquarters and barracks of the Northern Army of Smeisserand are in Norton, as is one of the officers' academies. The parade grounds are immense, and can accommodate six regiments of pike abreast. As might be expected, there are many fine weaponsmiths and armorers along "Kriegstrasse" of Norton to provide the tools of war to the soliders.

The Norton monastary perches on a great hill overlooking the Saarvan River. The druidic monks brew beer, make cheese, and listen to the sounds of the river and the wind blowing through the branches of the nearby forest. They make weekly pilgrimages down the hill, across the Monks' Bridge, and on into the Nortwaald where they go worship in the Great Grove. As in many other places, the monks are keepers of old knowledge. Although they permit few outsiders to look upon it, it is said that the library of the Norton Monastary is a grand and impressive thing.

Additionally, Norton boasts one of the three Colleges of Thaumaturgy in Smeisserand. Enrollment at the College, and membership in its "Wizards' Guild" is quite exclusive. The applications of many candidates with otherwise adequate magical potential are refused if they are not able to pass tests of knowledge and culture. The libraries and laboratories of the College are, likewise, not open to outsiders. The wizards themselves have a fine reputation as excellent and powerful masters of the Art. Common folk and soldiery alike respect them, and look up to their skills and powers.
 
 

Haafir is a gentile port city on the western coast of Smeisserand. It has few native resources other than its farmlands, pastures, and fishing banks. It is close enough to the capital of Katraal and royal forest preserves to offer an idyllic setting for many nobles' homes. Many of Smeisserand's artists find their way to Haafir, where the city is not so crowded and expensive as Katraal, not so dangerous as Kazaandu, and not so remote as Degloss. Streets in Haafir are fairly wide and clean, homes and buildings are made from hardwoods, light colored stone, and plaster. It rains frequently, but the rain has usually come and gone by mid-morning, leaving the rest of the day pleasant.

 

Kazaandu is the second political center of Smeisserand. Duke Frederick Paezaar and his forebears have ruled the central duchy with iron fists for centuries. Kazaandu itself is a city built to keep invaders out and peasants in. The city walls are high and thick, and studded with spikes and other more dangerous things. People in Kazaandu are quick to do what they're told, even when they do not recognize the one giving the orders. Punishments for error are swift and severe, and the informants or secret police are everywhere. This basic fear, combined with the drab, dark stone construction that is prevalent in central Smeisserand, serves to give the city a gloomy and foreboding feel.

The burghers earn their keep by turning ore into refined metals and metals into fine goods of steel, silver, tin, and gold. There are even some platinum mines nearby. Access to trade is adequate, but the overall quality of goods from Kazaandu is mediocre. The peasants worship at the groves as earnestly as they can, for a bad harvest can turn even a free yeoman family into a debt-ridden crew bound for indenturement. Military recruiting is easy here, and recruiters can afford to pick the best (biggest, meanest, toughest, and often most cruel) men for their units.

Kazaandu also has one of the three Colleges of Thaumaturgy in Smeisserand. This College, as one might expect of the place, is dark, forbidding, and given over to studies of the dark arts. Many, many prisoners are taken into the College, never to return. Strange sights and sounds give burghers living near the College cause to keep windows facing the place shuttered at all times.
 
 

Degloss is a southern port city on the Gulf of the Ancients. It is the home of most of Smeisserand's shipbuilding industry, as well as many prosperous farms and pastures. Overall, Degloss is a city given to quiet, hard-working types who seek to mind their own business. This attention is important for comfort and survival in the region. The winters are harsh and long, with first frost usually arriving in early Harvest and the snow departing in late Greening. Deglossians spend much time talking about the last winter or the winter to come. Their fishing fleets pull in decent catches from the Gulf, but fishermen are careful not to stray too far from shore. The whales of the Gulf do not take kindly to small craft in the open waters.

 

Brulhafen was named Taakritch for many years, as it formed the northernmost point of the conquest of the Southern Patriarchy. Brulhafen is in an excellent location to become the powerful trading hub that it was some two centuries ago. It lies near the southern Alaan Pass between Smeisserand and Kyriabor which has been a heavily fortified gauntlet against kzin incursion into Kyriabor. The mineral wealth of the mountains, the wood of the forests, and the fishing of river and sea provide Brulhafen with the wealth it needs to rebuild a human territory after decades of kzin slavery.

Brulhafen is the capital of the Southern Duchy of Smeisserand, recently formed by King Wulfram. It is still a heavily armed place, with nearly as many soldiers as peasant farmers and crafters. The kzinti have not yet made any definite moves to recapture the city, but the Commander of the Southern Army of Smeisserand is not waiting for the tigery heroes to make the first move. His patrols scour the land for any sign of organized kzin activity, and he is busy creating reinforced holdings and watchtowers for defense.

Last updated 22-Aug-2004
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