Aeorl's Rise/Folly/Demise/Sucess

Allow me to present to you the city of Corholt, one of the most rapidly developing cities of our time. In technology, economy and population Corholt is a multiversial sucess, millions of people live and work in the massive city. Though the city itself contains various different images within, from the gleaming glass and crystal cathedrals and towers of the rich upper city to the cramped and smog filled densigns of the slums and industrial areas. Corholt is roughly divided into four segments:

The upper city: Full of large houses and estates, cathedrals to the powerful gods, and the great towers of the five Houses, whilst the parks and cathedrals are generally open to the public a lot of land in the upper city is either owned by the few powerful individuals not associated with any house or owned by one of the Houses. This sector is also home to the rare traders that infrequently stumble across powerful magic items.

The trade centre: Home to all the wealthy merchants able to open up shop here, the streets are usually filled with market stalls and almost any mundane item can be found there and a couple of minor magic items occasionally show up amongst the many shops and stalls. The sucessful and fairly expensive inns and taverns can be found here as well as the homes of wealthy merchants and craftsmen.

The industrial district: This area is a spawning pool for smoke, smog and artifice. The entire district is covered in tall factories creating the various tools, weapons and machinery that is exported and sold to bring in the income required to sustain such a huge city. The magic users from the lower city after their limited education usually get jobs as magewrites in the industrial area in the employ of House Tyret to boost the growing 'magitek revolution'.

The lower city: Otherwise known as the slums, this is where the majority of the population of Corholt live in abject poverty, small houses are home to many families, the taverns are the cheapest and the housing considered luxery is large residential blocks owned by families or small businessmen which at least give each person their own room for a 'fair' price. The lower city is fairly lawless compared with many gangs or 'new houses' warring over property and trying to carve out their own small empires within the lower city.

Bit of info for the moment, will be back with more.

The Houses:

There are 5 Great Houses within Corholt they are all involved in property and trade of some kind but each one has their own speciality.

House Aldinarch: Head of, both public and private, security and the benefactor of the majority of Corholt's large military force. The members of house Aldinarch are known to be ruthless and straight to the point, though strong ties with the ministry of shrouds mean that they are easily capable of complex plots and plans. Leader of the House, Supreme Commander, of Corholt's armies and one of Corholt's current consuls: Dias Aldinarch has a tight grip on his power but can feel the rise of magitek breaking the traditional military role that House Aldinarch controls.

House Tyret: The house of smiths, craftsmen and artificers. House Tyret has power over a large proportion of the industrial district owning huge numbers of both state and private factories and is one of the leading forces working for the so called 'magitek revolution'. Tyret contains both mundane craftsmen and skilled magical artificers and is rumoured to by working with House Hanain to mold a more magical future. The current Leader of House Tyret is Pathos Tyret an elderly man who has been head of his house for at least 30 years, it is rumoured he has begun a process of meshing flesh, magic and artifice to increase his lifespan and give him greatly improved vitality and strength in his old age. Pathos never goes anywhere without a large bodyguard of both humans and constructs.

House Hanain: Leaders of the arcane arts within the city. Every year hundreds of members of House Hanain scan the youth population of Corholt to check for any emerging arcane powers, those that show promise are taken to specilist schools and taught both how to use their powers and are attempted to be indoctrinated with strong loyalties to House Hanain. If by some chance the arcane acadamies are full then the unfortunate would be magic users from the lower classes are executed to ensure no threat to Corholt can come of them. Once a student graduates from the Hanain establishments they owe a debt of gratitude to the House in repayment for their training. This debt can be collected at any time and could be as simple as money or property transfering to Hanain's control or a favour or even an invitation to become part of the Household itself. Flavius Hanain is the new leader of House Hanain and he looks to expand his reach further, despite being the youngest house leader he shows admirable leadership and charisma, and it is rumoured that he plans to run for consulship in the next election.

House Kanthus: The masters of trade. Kanthus owns the majority of trade caravans allowed into and out of the city so in effect control Corholt's economy. They have almost complete control over any items that legally enter the city and naturally lay claim to any items that may benefit a member of their House. Lochrain Kanthus is the third female consul in Corholt's history and maintains a stern leadership over her house. She demands that any transaction that changes any amount of trade in the city is delt with either by her or by her children this way she has total knowledge and control over the imports and exports of the city and has more power over Corholt's economy than anyone else in the city. House Kanthus is strongly rumoured to either be head of or have the loyalties of the leaders of the ministry of shrouds, a powerful asset for spying and assassination.

House Ryne: For many miles outside Corholt lie endless fields and farms that still claim to be part of the city, this huge mass of land feeds the residents of Corholt and is mostly owned and delt with by house Ryne. The power of food over the masses is a great one and House Ryne prides itself on the fact that without them the city would stave. This hubristic power comes at a cost as this great expanse of land they own is the one thing preventing them from having more power in the city itself. Dalan Ryne however thinks this as a blessing as it allows him to lead his house without the influences and spies of the other houses giving him a lot greater privacy than them. Some people have claimed that this greater privacy has allowed membets of House Ryne to commit many less than honest or even less than natural acts but those claims have quickly been dropped. House Ryne seems to be the only house without any link or dealings with the Ministry of Shrouds, this is being looked into by several opperatives and may be the cause of fueding with Ryne in future.

Surrounding Lands:

For the first few hundred miles around Corholt the land is mostly empty, scattered farms and forests are dispersed throughout the land with many villages and towns dotted about. The nearest human cities are fractions of the size of Corholt and pay tribute for the protection and trade of Corholt. Both Ghaelia and Dware's Spire are considered part of Corholt now and citizens from those cities can enter Corholt with little hassle. Corholt is well on it's way to becoming a strong kingdom rather than a city state with only two other independant cities in the area: Kalren and Sassin and their power combined still falls short of the massive city of Corholt. However the ruling classes of Corholt seem far too obsessed with their intricate plans and scheming to declare war or attempt to assimilate these cities into their ruling.

To the north of Corholt's boundaries lies a great landlocked sea that stretches for thousands of miles. On the other side of it lies the Quarnian Elf teritories. Whilst apparently friendly to visitors and seemingly cheery the usual pale skinned Quarnian Elves are horifically racist towards other cultures and only are polite in order to keep their state of superiority over the other races. The Quarnian Elves have a great empire stretching north with all their conquests and keep other races in a state of abject slavery whilst they can reap the rewards. Whilst most elves are slightly shorter than humans the Quarnian elves are oddly on average three to four inches taller than the average human. A few Quarnian elves feel they should be 'educated' on how they are superior to other cultes and races so take tours down into human lands including Corholt, others hold different views than the racist and xenophobic governing body and actually want to see the world and see other races as something to be part of, rather than sneered and mocked in private, and leave to try to make a living.

To the south of Corholt is another Elf teritory: The Kingdom of Tardash. The Tardashan Elves are quite different from their northern counterparts in every respect, dark skinned and shorter these Elves live in a desert wasteland blasted by both natural weather and a magical malestrom. They are grim survivors and respect strength and the will to survive more than anything. Tardashan elves are known to be humourless, loyal and not very talkative. Though they generally stay within small settlements in Tardash or wander the waste in nomadic clans some elves are gripped by a sense of wanderlust and leave to make their fortunes in the easy living of the northern human settlements. Tardashan Elves are prized mercenaries due to a combination of their impressive survival and fighting skills and their loyalty to whoever has bought their contract, at least until their assignment is complete.

A bit on the Corholt borders:

Though no actual border exists into the teritories of Corholt, the forests, farms and townsteads. When one gets close to the city guard patrols, both foot and mounted, become frequent and forts are common. The actual border into the city itself is harder to get through. If your papers are correct and you are a citizen of Corholt there is generally no problems, your bags will be searched and you shoud be let through occasionally with a toll charge. If you are not a citizen of Corholt it can take weeks for your papers to be in order, your family history gone through, your total wealth in land and possessions etc. Though eventually the majority of foriegners make it into Corholt.

Leaving Corholt is slightly harder for non-citizens, a leaving application must be bought from the local bureaucratic office which must be filled out and approved before you can leave. The majority of reasons will not be accepted and the few that will must be backed up with strong evidence that the need to leave is urgent. You are only allowed to take very few material possessions out of Corholt with you.Basic clothes will be provided by the government to wear, a pouch is given for any money that you wish to carry and a sack is provided for any bread and water which can only be bought from the gate guards right before exiting. Nothing else may be taken out the city, this is to ensure that no city secrets can be slipped or hidden away anywhere at all bar spliced into your skin itself, and is said to be one of the reasons for Corholt's continual growth and sucess.