Overview

Thalamore is bustling city located built on an ait in Serpent's Embrace, where the Six Rivers meet. Emberflow brings dwarven metalworks from the Fire Mountains far to the northeast, while Ironvein connects Thalamore to the finest quaries in the north. The Wildgrove and Leafsong rivers wind their way through the Emerald Canopy and Moonlit Thicket, brining agricultural goods, medecinal herbs, alchemic ingredients and more. These four rivers meet just north of Thalamore. South of Thalamore, the conjoined rivers split into the Adelphis rivers that bring goods to the rest of the civilized world.

Not only is Thalamore central to trade routes for other cities, but it is also the source of one of the most valuable commodities in Freydal: aether shards. To the west of Serpent's embrace lies Pelor's Judgement. It is a vast desert of rolling dunes that extends from the boundary of Serpent's embrace to where current maps end. Deep in Pelor's Judgement lies the Glass Ocean, where an advanced civilization once stood. Legends tell of towers built of crystal as well as vast networks of interconnected communities underground. However, their misuse of aether aroused Pelor's fury who sent a searing ray upon the city. Furthermore, he cursed the land, bringing drought and heat which created the deserts we know today. All that is left of the ancient civilization is the Glass Sea, aether shards scattered across Pelor's Judgement, and surviving crystaline caverns deep beneath the sand, where only the most adventurous (or foolish) dare to delve.

Aether Shards

Aether shards are a rare material, found only in the dunes of Pelor's Judgement and the crystaline tunnels. Shards vary in size, and can store and release magical energy, aether, proportional to their size and quality. Many technological advances rely on harnessing the energy output of aether shards. Giant centepede-like harvesters powered by shards are even used to harvest shards from the desert sands.

Thalamore's most powerful spellcasters channel their raw power into shards in order to "charge" them with energy. They can also be imprinted with a specific spell and used at a later time. Classically, it also took a spellcaster to tap into and channel the dispersion of aether energy from the shard to power devices or cast the stored spell.

Recently, it was discovered that mundane species could harness the power of shards as well. Although they lack the ability to channel raw aether energy to power devices, if a shard is imprinted with a spell and attuned to a mundane person, they do have limited capability to cast spells. This method has limits, and long-term effects on mundane persons using shards have yet to be discovered. However, the sheer utility of such power, and the profits to be made, has proliferated the availability and use of shards by the majority of the middle class in Thalamore.

At every market in Thalamore, you can buy shardweave made of magically attuned metals. Attuning the weave and fitting it with spell shards are all that is needed to enable anyone to become a spell caster. Of limited ability, of course. And quite a bit of expense.

Government

Thalamore is governed by a congress of eight houses. The founding houses of Thalamore are actually religious houses dedicated to Pelor, Erathis, and Melora. They represent the most respected dietes of the city who embody justice, civilazation, and nature, respectively. These values are interwoven into the very fabric of Thalamore, although they are not always harmonious.

The eight houses work together... or against each other... to draft legislation, determine taxes, govern the courts, defensive forces, forgein relationships, and more.

The Eight Houses

House of Pelor

Arch Cleric Valen Lucius represents the interests of the Church of Pelor, and thus, Pelor himself. As one of the three founding houses, Valen's vote counts twice. A constant voice of virtue and justice in the congress, Valen is sometimes preceived as legalistic and too resistant to change. However, Pelor's Judgement is a constant reminder of the necessity of keeping in Pelor's good graces.

House of Melora

Priestess Aisling, like many before her, hails from the Emerald Canopy. The House of Melora has always stood for the sanctity of the jungles to the west of Thalamore. They often stand as a balancing power juxtaposed to the Erathis and Mercantile Houses desire for limitless expansion. In addition, Priestess Aisling has come to the conclusion that Pelor's Judgement can only pass with the expansion of the Emeral Canopy into the waste lands.

Bolder memebers of Melora might proclaim "Pelor brought judgement, Melora brings redemption," but such a slogan would never grace Aisling's lips. This stance, whether expressed bluntly subtly, makes the House of Pelor uneasy at best. Valen is open to the possiblity of such a redemption - so long as it is confirmed by Pelor. Since there has been no word from Pelor's chief prophets, Valen is retisent to entertain outright efforts to extend influence into the wastes. Melora also gets two votes in the Congress of Houses.

House of Erathis

Speaker Aiko Matsumoto represents the House of Erathis. It was the House of Erathis who drafted Thalamore's initial constitution and founded the Congress of Houses. They also were the first to suggest the inclusion of additional houses, and still produce the bulk of Thalamore's final written legislation. Erathis operates differently from the other houses. The house is run by 12 representatives who discuss and vote amongst themselves on each issue. The speaker serves on the board of representatives as moderator, but has no vote of her own. In formal meetings of the Congress of Houses, she articulates the decisions of the board of representatives and casts a vote in keeping with their majority vote.

Other houses are often vexed by how long Erathis can take to come to a decision and ardent refusal of the Speaker to assume power on what other houses consider minor affairs. Erathis' desire to forward civilization sometimes brings them into conflict with the House of Melora on subjects like the expansion of Thalamore into the Emerald Canopy or other similar ecological disputes.

House of Arcana

The first house to be allowed to join the founding memebers, the House of Arcana handles the training of many of the city's mages and are the chief researchers and regulators of the use of aether and aether shards in Thalamore. Lead by Ellywick Nightshade, they are a highly secretive house with respect to the secrets of aether technology. And, most other things. However, the other Houses give them a pass as aether shards have quickly become the lifeblood of Thalamore.

House of Bekele

Lulit Tsegaye heads out the House of Bekele, which traditionally represents the interestes of Thalamore's merchants. The advent of mundane use of aether shards has upset the balance of power between the House of Arcana and Bekele. Arcana may regulate the use of aether, but it's Bekele who represents trade and has been granted a lot of leeway in managing matters of trade. Which includes the sale and distribution of aether shards. The relationship between Arcana and Bekelee can be complex. They are symbiotic and competitive. Pelor save the house who gets caught up in a nasty dispute between the two.

House of Desai

The Desai family's history goes back to the founding of Thalamore. They have built and consolidated power and influence from generation to generation. This has not been necessarily good or bad. Each Patriarch rules in accordance to his own values or principals. Some Patriarchs have been champions of the poor, pushing for reforms and advancing education. Others have selfishly looked to stuff their coffers at the expense of the other Houses and citizens of Thalamore.

The previous Patriarch Kiran Desai, who ruled for one hundred twenty-seven years, is viewed as a mixed bag. Early in his rule, he campaigned for expanding freedoms of citizens by pressing for legislation to gaurantee free speech and more. However, his last twenty years are not viewed as favorably by many, at least not publicly. Using a loophole in the legal system, he was able to allow an "embassy" of Vecna in the city. Temples and priests of Vecna have always been strictly forbidden, but the Embassy of Vecna only allows representatives of Vecna to express Vecna's desires. In practice, Vecna deals in secrets. The powerful often need to keep and buy secrets, and the desperate often wish to conceal them. The Vecnan Embassy deals in the keeping and selling of secrets, among other things.

Kiran passed away eight months ago, and Rohan Desai has taken his place, after a six month mourning period. With his reign as Patriarch just beginning, the direction of Desai's policies is unknown.

House of Ironhand

Thrain Ironhand leads his house, primarily formed from an extended "family" of craftsman. Thrain is a direct descendent of the founder of the house, but this is not always the case. The title of Ironhand is bestowed upon whomever the craftsman elect as their representative to the council.

Ironhand is mainly concerned with the furthering of worker's rights and well being within Thalamore. Stonecraftsman, blacksmiths, carpenters, and even farmers have all unionized under Ironhand. This gives them considerable bargaining power that acts as a crucial balance to the Merchant's profeteering nature.

House of Enlightenment

The House of Enlightenment the newest house and represents a growing group of influential intellectuals within Thalamore. Comprising mostly of historians, sages, and scientists, the house has it's formational roots in Thalamores' scholarium. Although most of Thalamore respects their contributions to science and economics, they are the house most often accused of being out of touch with the common people. The rigorous academic qualifications to have a voice in this House don't do that reputation any favors.

The hosue is currently lead by Dr. Heinrich Schafer who is working hard to win favor across Thalamore's diverse demographics. Although he has not formally removed the academic qualifications, he has bestowed academic titles based on achievements for well-loved authors and bards in Thalamore, thus expanding the scope of who has a voice in the house and winning influence where the house lacks it the most.

However, all that hard work can't overcome one of the biggest chasms between the house and the vast majority of citizens of Thalamore. A sizeable minority of members reject the existence of gods. The common people and founding houses all interact with the gods of Freydal on a regular basis. The assertion that the gods do not exist seems ludicrous at best to most of Thalamore. And Freydal.