Crown's Refuge

An independent freehold located in the northwestern region of the Wildlands upon the Drakesreach Bluff at the southern end of the Drakesreach Sierra, north of the Verdigris Forest and east of the Jadesnake River. Though originally little more than a collection of wooden homes within a palisade wall made of timber stakes, Crown's Refuge was rebuilt in the autumn of 626 ATA in a manner similar to how the Fastheldian Aegis was constructed; namely, via magic. Somewhat larger than the Fastheld townships of Hawk's Aerie and Aegisport, the population of Crown's Refuge is split between a collection of human Imperials and the half-snake, half-human, Syladris, with the divide being roughly three-quarter Imperial to one-quarter Syladris. Wildlings of the Green Tribe can also be seen within the city from time to time, but as their numbers were not vast to begin with, they only make up a minor percentage of the overall population. The combined identity of the Crown's Refuge population are known as Wildlanders and have no actual form of currency, instead maintaining an almost utopian trade-economy unlike anything within Fastheld. They maintain a sovereignity under the leadership of Archon Soravyn Zahir and the Archmage Tshepsi, holding their own against the dangers of the Wildlands as a whole, and the constant threat of attack from Ebonhold to the north. The defense force of Crown's Refuge is called the Blood Guard; neither military nor police in that they are not considered a standing army, holding more in common with an Order of Knights than anything else. Their uniform of half-plate armor is forged of a metal known as blank, granting it a distinctive shade of reflective scarlet unlike any other within either Fastheld or the Wildlands. This is usually combined with an elegantly-curved, elongated oval towershield of the same metal, giving way to the distinction between those who opt for single- or double-handed weapons, and those who use a shield. Crown's Refuge itself has two initial lines of defense before the Blood Guard; that of the stone palisade wall that runs around the entire lip of the Drakesreach Bluff, and that of the sheer cliff face of the bluff itself. Having been carefully planned out and constructed entirely from the ground up by magic, the freehold has been divided up into four distinct quarters:


 * Snowfall Basin - The Syladris residential quarter.
 * Wolfsbane Row - The Imperial residential quarter.
 * Wildcat Haven - The storage and services quarter.
 * Mongoose Exchange - The craft and trade quarter.

Central to Crown's Refuge is a vast and elegant tower known as Tempest Spire, home to both the Archmage and Archon of the freehold and the various members of the Blood Guard. Beneath the tower are the beautiful Tempest Corona gardens which links to the four main atery roads that divide each quarter of the city.