Virten

The Kings of Virten have long denied that this former orc stronghold is their capital city. They love all of their people equally, they say, and single out no city for special treatment, simply staying here often, and basing their law courts here for pure convenience, as Banderstol enjoys a central location in the realm. The plaintiffs, diplomats and petitioners who flock here are untroubled by semantics: where the King most often is, is in effect his capital.

Catmont was founded as a refugees' haven after The Sundering. From the chaos and squalor a city emerged, but simply based on the layout of the shacks: there are no boulevards or grand squares - the whole city is a mass of alleyways and narrow streets, with no logic. Visitors are advised to hire a trustworthy guide.

Elscrick is a sleepy city, deep in ancient woodland. Its location on two rivers makes it a natural trade centre, and a granite tor provides an unassailable perch for the royal keep, but it is not at all a busy place, and for many it is just a quiet place to break a journey on the way to Banderstol.

A deep pit in the centre of Greybriar marks the site of the Kingdom of Virten's most incongruous ritual - a site, each year, of a live, willing, adult male, human sacrifice. Here annually a townsman chosen by the people leaps to his death as a gift to the gods. Many outsiders question how the compassionate and enlightened kingdom can tolerate such barbarity; the usual answer is that Virten guarantees peace and prosperity, so critics should stay silent.

Helnsbere was founded as a distribution centre immediately after the Sundering, to gather food and redistribute it to refugees. Even five centuries later its huge barn dominates the city centre, and extensive stockpiles of grain are still maintained here by royal command in case of famine or calamity.

Kendbrook is not a romantic city. It is cold, the landscape is grey, the architecture is ugly and functional, and the southlands round about are full of orcs. Yet many wealthy trading families have started their careers here, and newcomers arrive every day to seek their fortunes. To a pragmatist, a great natural harbour, a vibrant mercantile community and access to a navigable river make up for a lack of aesthetics.

Far from the centre of the Sundering, the damage to this distant island was severe, but not cataclysmic. It became the centre for a movement to rebuild a better world, to reestablish communications, to help refugees, to rebuild an order based on justice and compassion. And eventually the New King, was crowned here. On the edge of the current realm, Virten's royalty rarely even visits now, but the city is still honoured as the birthplace of a new, better world after the horror of the Sundering

Ludisfold is the northernmost of Virten's great strongholds, and the most recently founded. Founded as a strategic port 300 years ago, when Westmarch was pacified, it still has a reputation for being a wild, marginal place, and reports persist that dark cults, perhaps from the chaos after the Sundering, perhaps linked with the Cult of the Black Oak, still meet in secret in quiet cellars and hidden shrines.

Moonvale is home to a sacred relic of Virten's early history - the First Council Table. This battered, round table was supposedly the table at which Virten's warlords swore allegiance to the New King after the Sundering. Now housed in the city's main temple, it is said to be watched always by the gods, and by local custom all important oaths are sworn before the table.

Mourlake is an administrative and trade centre for the Kingdom of Virten's subjects on the plains east of the Chulbran Marsh. Its lakeside location has led to the evolution of its famous Floating Market, where traders in small boats ply through the canals and along the lake-shore, and shoppers walk the narrow walkways beside the canal or browse from their own small boats.

Newchapel claims to be the spiritual heart of Virten. It is here that the Kings are crowned, and here that many of them are cremated. But the city is an artificial creation, built by the Kings of Virten to provide ceremonials for their rule, and has been criticised as being all show and no heart. Those seeking profound learning or spirituality are advised to look elsewhere.

The most heavily fortified of Virten's strongholds, the first Kings expected this to be the northern extent of their dominions, little guessing that their successors would extend the Kings' peace into Northmarch and beyond. The fortifications still stand, but are now rather picturesque, with ivy and climbing roses scaling the ramparts, and dovecotes in the high guard towers.

Since Virten is a monarchy of merit, where the most virtuous are chosen to rule, it must be that the sons of the Penn family (landlords of half of the buildings in the city which carries their name) are naturally virtuous or especially well brought up, since one third of all Virten's past Kings sprung from their line. And likewise, the ostentatious wealth of the Penns and their city could not be to do with any favours, but must be due to their own commercial acumen and the blessings of the gods. Of course.

Princevale is home to a rare statue of a past King of Virten. While the land's monarchs are rarely memorialised, an exception was made for Hendren the Usurper, who ruled from Princevale during his attempt to transform Virten into a hereditary monarchy two hundred years ago. A giant statue depicting his execution dominates the market square.

Snaresheath is ridiculed as a historically, geographically and architecturally unremarkable city. Its greatest claim to fame is the quality of the apples in the surrounding orchards - which make truly wonderful cider. The locals retort that in a world where fame so often comes from slaughter and atrocity, it is no bad thing to be renowned only for fine fruit.

Southforge was a headquarters and provisioning centre for the Kingdom of Virten's early wars to pacify the Westmarch and Northmarch. Its military past is now long forgotten, and the huge Old Barracks that overlooks the city square has long been put to civilian use: visiting merchants can hire accommodation in re-purposed dormitories, and lock their goods safely away in its former dungeons.

A dour town of grey stone buildings with slate roofs, Stoneberg is whipped by chill winds that blow down from the mountains, and can be bitterly cold in winter. It is famed for a huge ice monolith which sits in its main temple. Legend says that the pillar will endure while peace is sure in Virten, but if it starts to melt then the Kings will fall and war will come.

A chill wind blows from the sea and the across the flat lands around about the stronghold, and as it is funneled between the dense packed towers and buildings it often howls and moans. The superstitious say that the different sounds in the wind bring omens of doom or prosperity for the town.