Nell'ombra del Caduto, or The Shadow of the Fallen.
Description: A medium sized city, Nell'ombra del Caduto is a testament to the Psychic isles newfound prosperity under Keldris Andaliun. Being a very new city, it was crafted with all of the most modern devices available to the minor noble houses that had a hand in creating it (Of which there are exactly 21). Given the blessing of support by its progenitor, the kingdom of Keldremad, Nell'ombra del Caduto has flourished from a small enclave of graveyard wardens, to a burgeoning political power on the isles, and the Kingdom’s main source for Parchment, and other paper goods, due to its three huge forests.
As for the city itself, it has a very somber, graveyard feel to it. Made almost entirely out of stone, the city stands as a testament to its original purpose- a place of remembrance for all of the Keldremad soldiers that perished in battle. Its shape is completely circular, the buildings getting progressively taller the closer one comes to the center, in which stands the highest tower, the Torretta delle Vita, or the Tower of Life. In the Tower the loved ones of the fallen can come to pay respects to their deceased, and for a fee, can speak with their shades for a few minutes. Underneath the tower is the actual City hall, the place where Keldris’s three regents and the speakers of the noble houses come to parley and decide the course of their city.
Government: Nell’ombra del Caduto is ruled by Three regents placed by master of the kingdom. Sculla Larshven (Female), Armondel Solverek (Male), and Jean Lic-Kalad (Female) are the three appointed rulers of the city, and take orders directly from Keldris himself. However, they are only allowed to implement the powers of the state through the petition of others. Therefore, they only accept or deny the laws and edicts suggested by the Noble speakers, or by Keldris himself. They never deny a law from Keldris.
In the justice system, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff and the defendant must establish a reasonable doubt to be acquitted by the Regents (There are no such things as lawyers, though both parties are given a half of a month to research and investigate the crime and implications, during which they are always accompanied by a pair of city guardsmen). However, the regents are not the ones who actually decide guilt or innocence, an act which is actually done by a jury of representatives from the noble houses who are studied in the law so as to be able to make the most accurate decision. They are called the Perfezione Legale, and they live secluded high in the Torretta delle Vita, where they are provided with lives of luxury, having only one another and the Regents for company. It is an honor for member of a family to be chosen for the Perfezione Legale, thought the position is never mandatory.
Laws and punishments in the city are fairly light. Because heinous crimes are so infequent, there are few actual edicts regarding them. The only strict laws are the adherance to the weekly moments of silence, and the life for a life punishment for murder. Most of the city's other laws are centered around ethical trade and used to curtail monopolies and other economic inhibitors.
History: Erected sometime during the end of the Age of Mortal Wars, the Torretta delle Vita was built as a massive monument to the fallen men and women from the Psychic isles who died during the conflicts. Fifty clerical mages were sent there to serve as the wardens of the grounds. They acted as healers and advisors/ comforters to grieving families, and distraught survivors of the wars.
Because of it’s far proximity from the center of the Keldremad empire, dedicated mourners began to settle in around the giant monument, and the precursor to the Nell'ombra del Caduto was born. Noticing this trend, Keldris allocated some small businesses to the area, to allow the people to survive without having to labor unnecessarily just to keep themselves alive. If people had to spend all day surviving and had no time to spend money, how could Keldremad get richer? Soon, the small island colony became a go-to point between the psychic isles and the other major countries, easing the burden of navigating through the many uncharted islands simply by its close position to the edge of the island chain that is closest to the other lands.
Eventually, Twenty two minor noble families from the central city in Keldremad came to a unified decision and asked for permission from Keldris to relocate their families and businesses to the Tower area. Given permission, and a written declaration of his approval and the methods and rules that were to be made in this new colony, the families packed up, moved out, and started to build the city they would call Nell'ombra del Caduto.
Life was prosperous. The other countries found that having this city/trading outpost of Keldris’s empire was completely convenient, and Keldris found that ships carrying dues owed by other countries had a thirty five percent higher rate of not crashing into a rogue island and losing all of the money stored inside. That, in and of itself, was enough to keep the city in his high favors forevermore.
In the courts of the Torretta delle Vita, however, things began to grow bitter. The strongest noble house, the I’strane family, was beginning to act erratically, petitioning unbalanced laws, and showing an amount of force that was unheard of and unnecessary in the city where, for once, almost every ruling family was on good terms with one another. When pressed to why the leaders of his clan were acting as such, even the speaker was hard pressed to explain himself.
Secretly, something dark was brewing in the heart of the I’strane family.
Soon, even mild, kind members of the family had been enveloped by a change; adopting vicious, dark dispositions. Around this time, random members of the other noble families began dying. The cause of death: Murder. It seemed that the I’strane had gotten too greedy for its own good.
Then, one night ten years ago, the entire I’strane family estate was destroyed, and every family member killed. After this incident, the random murders stopped. The threat was over.
The incident was never talked about again. If anyone inquired, it had been an earthquake. And life moved on. There has never a major spot of trouble on the island since, and prosperity continues to flourish...
Culture: In keeping with the somber purpose of the Tower, the City itself has very few holidays, and is not very well known for its arts and creativity. Instead, once a week there is a ten minute moment of silence in rememberance. Nothing except for simple actions are to be done during this time, and breaking the silence has a severe penalty.
Population: 65% human, 25% elven, 5% Dwarven, 4% Ogrin, 1% other.
The Twenty One Noble houses are as follows in order of financial power-
(1)House Desmond: Led by Markeli Desmond (Male), who claims distant relationship to Keldris Andaliun, The strongest supplier of both parchment and raw crystal supplies to the empire.
(2)House Morbery: The most magically advanced house is led by Joi Morbery, who owns the majority of the trade-capable airships in the city.(Male)
(3)House Livist: The brilliant inventor Glee Livist(Male) hails from this house, and has outfitted their ships with some of his greatest contraptions. Sea transportation business is at an all time high for this family, led by Anita Livist(Female)
(4)House Portune: Most of the of-age men in this family serve in the military, and the house has gained most of its money from past military conquest, which allowed it to break into the field of weapons dealing quite easily. Led by Malhacov Portune(Male)
(5)House Nebliem: A family that uses guile and deception to wheedle unfair drug trade deals from enemy kingdoms, often posing as third parties. This family runs the Regent approved secret service of the city, and while it is not a massively successful trading house, the funds from the government pay keep it very high in power. Led by Kiir Nebliem(Male)
(6)House Sarneget: A house which specializes in running its highly successful brothels. All females in this clan are required to serve in the whorehouses for at least five years of their life. Led by Priscilla Sarneget(Female)
(7)House Norfolk: Norfolks pride themselves on adherence to the laws, and act as the police force for the city. Led by Fargon Norfolk(Male), this clan amasses its wealth through government pay, and the confiscation of personal items held by the apprehended that they keep for themselves. Because most of the criminals in the city happen to be businessmen, the Norfolk clan has taken over many illegitimate businesses and set them straight, albeit under their own control.
(8)House Tortura: The grandfather of Barnei Tortura(Male), the leader of this clan was a pirate who amassed a legendary fortune, which was passed to his more legitimate grandson when Barnei’s father died. He now trades primarily in salt.
(9)House Legatus: Oberon Legatus(Male) is the undisputed master of the lance and the leader of the Legatus family. His sixteen sons are all famous polearm users, who have schools set up in many lands. Each school feeds their profits back to the main house, keeping Legatus afloat through times when raw steel trade at home is slow.
(10)House Homilege: The spiritual leader of the city, Nestor Homilege(Male) also leads this family, from which all fifty of the original clerical mages of the land came from. Donations to the church keep this family rich, and forgiveness in the eyes of Thanatos usually comes with a substantial monetary price.
(11)House Cantrebry: Archelos Cantrebry(Male) and the family he leads love seafood, and so do his customers. His main specialty is lobsters, but he sells most any undersea creature he can rope in his nets. Most family members are cheerful, and very fat. Their indulgence is one of the main factors keeping them away from being higher in the wealth chain.
(12)House Pillaro: Phillipe Pillaro(Male) is rarely seen outside of his family’s estate, because he and his advisors are usually planning the grand designs for a new building. Architecture is his trade, and he is seen as a master of the craft, having even lent a hand in creating Keldris Andaliun’s summer home.
(13)House Blacat: Blacat was once the sixth most prosperous house, until ill fortune saw to the murder of Vance Blacat’s(Male) son by the hands of an I’strane assassin. Caring for nothing as much as he had for his son, his business endeavors crumbled in his uncaring ignorance and by the time he awakened from his misery, his glass trading company had almost sunk to the bottom. A brilliant businessman, however, he has worked hard to make himself the greatest trader in honor of his son.
(14)House Ghennild: Marinetta Ghennild(Female) Leads this family, which is actually not a family at all, but a coalition of many extremely small remenants of long gone noble families. However, with a few key marriages, Marinetta is actually uniting the members together and solidifying their allegiances. When that is all done with, she will actually turn her full attention to her promising cotton business.
(15)House Lirica: Music is life, is you ask Melody Lirica(Female) the head of the Lirica family, whose members play ballads in the halls of Keldris Andaliun himself. However, due to a very large deficit of interest in her trade in Nell'ombra del Caduto, her crafts are limited by the steep prices of sending her musicians to faraway countries to bring home the money.
(16)House Fresco: Asiago Fresco(Male) has been making cheese since he was a young boy. Even today he travels to one of his many cheese distributors in the city as often as possible to throw in a helping hand. Despite being the leader of his noble house, he acts very much like commoner, which gives his a good reputation only amongst his customers. He honestly cares very little for politics, and his wife Vela handles most of the bigger decisions in the family.
(17)House Diir: There is a motto among the Diir family: “Every life has a price”. Most in the family take it to mean the steep gold charge for the family’s medical services, but the leader Hippock Diir(Male) knows there is a truer meaning to the motto. Aside from being the chief mundane medical healer in the city, he is also an avid philosopher, and spends as much time trying to understand the mystery of life, and the significance humans carry, as he does on his healing businesses and pharmacies.
(18)House Ecklect: House Ecklect isn’t considered very original and that makes them unpopular. From having stolen ideas from Glee Livist and patenting them first, to sending one of his sons to master the Legatus polearm style, so that he could open up a cheaper school of his own, to pushing his way into the architecture business by emulating Phillipe Pilarro’s style just a bit too accurately, Muuch Ecklect’s(Male) goods are like the rip off Prada bags you buy off the street. Everyone has one, but no one actually likes it.
(19)House Venator: Freskil Venator(Male) heads the family that hunted the venison that most families in Nell'ombra del Caduto expect to dine on every night. Skilled more with their bows then their tongues, people consider him very barbaric, but his naïvely low prices actually served to attract such a large and loyal customer base that he’s prospered from it.
(20)House Sheen: Diamonds last forever, but the Sheen coffers certainly didn’t. This ancient family of jewelers was the foremost trader of precious gems and jewelry for ages, until the heads of family realized they could live for generations before the money got even remotely low. Well, generations have passed, and now a dumbstruck Finnian Sheen(male) has to somehow bring his family back up to it’s former glory.
(21)House Bridged: With a last name like Bridged, the progenitor of this clan knew he had a purpose in life. Yet when all rivers were connected by his masterfully crafter bridges, he noticed that he had no other trade, and his family’s fortune sunk. However, since the islands were blown apart and the islands of Dzanator are now semi-uncharted, his great grandson Brad Bridged(Male) sees his family in need once more…
Except he’s barely rich enough to maintain his noble status, and he’s dumb as a bridge.
Empire: Keldremad
Military: Approximately 250 ships, 30 airships and 40,000 men serve in the official armed military of Nell'ombra del Caduto. Most of the soldiers, however, are transferred from the greater Keldremad army.
