ARW/Alestia

Kingdom of Alestia

Other Titles	The Sunny City (derisive)
Campaign	Remnant Wings
Size	Unknown
Date Founded	Unknown, pre-Fall
Population	~7,500
Demographics	77% human, 18% dwarf, 5% other
Adjective	Alestian
Language	Eastermarck
Government	Theocratic Monarchy
Ruler	King Ustald Cerwyn
Allies	Scheighelm

Alestia was a location in the campaign Remnant Wings. One of the many floating city-states of the world, it is a moderately large city on a foundation of earth and bordered by an extensive perimeter of white stone walls. While the city itself is dense and tall, with bridges and elevated walkways connecting buildings built upon the old masonry with dark timbres and thickly-insulated walls, the largest structure by far is the Silvermist Castle, an expansive and labyrinthine structure of the same white masonry making up the city walls, spread out over one third of the city's surface.

Because Alestia is situated far to the north and remains consistently above cloud cover, the "sunny city" (as it's called by soldiers abroad with no shortage of irony) also remains very cold—citizens frequently dress in heavy and thick clothes, and most of the city's trade and entertainment is indoors where people can warm themselves at the fire and drink the mulled wine that's so popular in the city.

Major characters that hail from Alestia include Sir Maxwell Kharvast, Ansev Freichard, and King Ustald Cerwyn.

Government and Military

The government of Alestia is a theocratic monarchy; while this wasn't the case in the past, the original feudalistic government collapsed shortly after the Fall when the city—formerly the capitol city Whiteston of Alestia—was risen to the sky in its lonesome. This decaying city was then occupied and taken control of by a military force named the Order of the Gryphon Knights, who worshipped a large and powerful patron spirit of the aforementioned magical beast, whereupon a clergy was established by the supporters and the city gradually was brought back to its feet. They ultimately set up their operations in the Silvermist Castle, as housing and operations for the soldiers, clergy, and the generations of gryphons that they brought with them.

The head of the government is a single king or queen chosen by divine mandate of the patron spirit, with a strict military hierarchy leading down from them to form the Gryphon Knights. The senior knights serve directly below the monarch and make up the military council, discussing away missions and peacetime matters with the civil council and monarch, and plotting strategic operations and discussing intelligence reports at times of war. Below them, the knights patrol the skies surrounding Alestia and provide training to their squires, as well as going away on missions assigned by their superior. These knights each have their own squad of soldiers in the city guard, as well as a battalion of conscripted soldiers in times of war. Trainees have no commanding officer—they are handled by a different knight each week, both to keep them on their toes and allow the knights to scout them for a potential squire.

Also under the monarch's jurisdiction are the Caretakers, the clergy that takes up domestic affairs in Alestia. Their structure is far more relaxed and communal, with the high priests making up the civil council, handling peacetime affairs where the monarch takes no interest as well as managing the duties of the priests. Below that are the priests, who perform a majority of the work in the castle, including operating the communal cafeteria, handling visitors and worshippers at the church, and most importantly caring for the gryphon colony in the castle, something only they can do as the gryphons have long since become accustomed to their presence. At the bottom are the acolytes, who assist with both the priests and high priests as they're called to, as well as being taught the practical and spiritual matters of the order by them both.

More recent are two special groups, create due to rapidly changing political landscapes. The first is the Black Knights, formed at the tail end of the Alestia-Firebrandt proxy war when the ninja Tsukiko Oshiro proved to King Cerwyn a critical flaw in the knights' existing defensive structure. Much of its operations and structure remain a secret to this day, though rumours plant Tsukiko at the top, answering only to the king. Though there was little documented information on its actions from before the end of the Faerie Queen Incident, afterwards there was little need for assassinations or a secret service, leading to their modern scope likely being secure message transport and investigations.

Finally there is the Negotiation Corps, an initiative spearheaded by caretaker Selix Enbanech in the wake of the Faerie Queen incident. With the goal of improving both Alestia's diplomatic affairs and lending a hand across the world from a position of strength, its structure is organised into departments devoted to different political matters as needed; most prominent is Fae Affairs, which has drafted treaties between other nations for establishing research into freeing the seelie and unseelie and assisting with their re-integration.

Attaining a position in the theocratic government of Alestia is no easy affair—no matter which they work toward, one has to first pledge allegiance to the patron spirit, with their attendant spirit doing likewise should they have one (with one being given if they don't). From then on, they either spend a year or more as an acolyte or a trainee, with their paths further diverging from there. As an acolyte, if they are seen as helpful and taking to divine magic well by the civil council, they will grant the acolyte a position in the priesthood. For trainees, it's more difficult—if they aren't recognised by a knight as exceptional enough to warrant being taken as a squire by the end of their training, the trainee's career takes them no further than the city guard, with an eventual retirement pension waiting for them at the end.

Even for a squire, ascending to become a Gryphon Knight is no easy feat. Not only are they assisting with their knight's equipment maintenance and personal care much of the time, they are frequently away on missions with the knight or performing menial tasks for their sake or as a part of their further training. In addition to that, as a Gryphon Knight-in-training they must spend what time they can afford working with the priests to court the available gryphons—these too must have taken an oath to the patron spirit, or are instead encouraged to fly out and forge their own path—and find one that takes a liking to them and shows a willingness to take them as a rider. Once that is settled and the knight (as well as the senior knight above them) considers the squire's training complete, a high priest creates a spiritual link between them and their gryphon via their spirit, creating a trinity under the servitude of the patron spirit and officially making them into a Gryphon Knight. However, a squire failing their training or being unable to find a suitable gryphon will likely end with them dismissed, returning to regular training to become a city guard.

Gryphon Knights are in turn promoted to senior knights by the monarch, often in recognition for an act of outstanding valor on the front lines that turned a dire situation into a resounding victory, or something else that proves their strategic capability, physical might and unwavering honor and loyalty to those around them. Priests are promoted to high priests for far simpler reasons, upon becoming too old to perform the physical labor required as a priest—however, the wisdom these old priests have gained through the years makes them suitable for the civil council regardless, so no issue has ever been taken by it. Meanwhile, the Black Knights and the Negotiation Corps tend to draw their own recruits from knights and caretakers respectively, though the latter of the two tends to hire civilian staff as well.

The Gryphon Knights and the Caretakers are both encouraged to conduct themselves with honor and respect, to protect their allies and the innocent around them, and to face danger with valor, never standing down from a threat. These tend to be open to interpretation, and the patron spirit doesn't strictly enforce them, so long as the general idea is being followed. However, if the violations are frequent or dire, the patron spirit breaks the bonds the offender has to their spirit and mount if applicable; if either of them were complicit or sympathetic to the acts, the patron spirit goes as far as breaking their connection to itself. This can lead to former priests following down a darker path their spirit drives them toward—a fact commonly discovered to be the result of a fiendish spirit giving a fake oath of allegiance—or knights-errant operating on their own trinity's twisted sense of justice. This is not limited to crises of piety, however—should the monarch see them as unfit for the order, they can have the patron spirit sever their bonds on those grounds instead.

Architecture and Infrastructure

Like many of the city-states that had taken to the air after the Fall, Alestia has seen a great level of architectural redirection after surfaces to build upon became scarce, though it wasn't until the Order of the Gryphon Knights took over that work to rebuild began. With the icy climate at the city-state's altitude making agriculture difficult, any ground that wasn't reserved by greenhouses was almost immediately paved over and built upon, though the earth the old capitol was raised on wasn't completely subsumed like more metropolitan city-states ended up doing. This led to a towering network of multi-story structures built with dark timbers and well-insulated materials to absorb the sun's rays and provide more warmth, connected by elevated streets and archways, as well as bridges between and balconies across the structures in an orthogonal but otherwise chaotic web of roads.

Despite the climate, greenhouses are fairly frequent, with a number of rooftops or balconies having timber-framed panels to keep the warmth in while letting light shine through. Many of the old city's stone buildings still exist as well, though they've been built on top of just like the others—where the dwarven community isn't setting up shop, these cold structures are often used as warehouses and multi-story cellars expanding deep into Alestia's earth.

In addition, the Order used powerful divine magic and the assistance of the Scheighelm dwarves' stone-carvers and blacksmiths to expand and reinforce the masonry, planting the foundation of the city-state's walls deep within the central earth and spreading their length past the cliff edge, and likewise transforming the modest and burnt-out husk of Whiteston Keep into the sprawling complex that makes up Silvermist Castle. Additionally, the Caretakers from the Order have erected various communal buildings for the city; cafeterias operated by the priests provide free—if bland—conjured food to the poor and downtrodden, with their kitchens also being the source of the city-state's local mulled wine as well as the premium variety sold abroad. Across the main streets are magically-powered wells, conjuring a constant supply of water and keeping it from freezing in the cold.

Silvermist Castle itself is a marvel in divine magic and dwarven artisanship, making up a third of Alestia on the map and expanding outward past the fortified walls of the city-state. It is home to the Order's monotheistic church to their patron spirit of the gryphons, as well as providing training grounds and barracks to the city guard and the Gryphon Knights themselves, who provide tight security through the halls, moreso than the city itself. Deep in the bowels of the castle is the Featherspitter of Alestia, with access limited to the Fletchers and those under strict order or appointment by the monarch. The steep walls are also home to the gryphons' keeps and nesting areas—the gryphons' territorial nature leads to the outside of the castle being strictly off-limits without a Caretaker escort, excepting the balconies on the towers or front of the castle.

Despite this architectural might and expansion of welfare, some of the luxuries the more temperate and tropical city-states discovered are not suitable for the climate Alestia is in. Running water is nonexistent, as the protection from the cold the communal wells have is simply uneconomical to expand across a network of pipes. Drainage is something that can be done, however; the majority of the city-state's water is magically conjured and evaporates within 24 hours, so even on the chance that it freezes while flushing waste from peoples' homes, it'll evaporate in short order. When more mundane water freezes, it remains simple for a homeowner to treat the ice blockage with a kettle.

Trade and Diplomacy

Alestia is not an especially prosperous city-state nor is it a well-connected one; the wary distance it floats and the military focus of its theocratic government makes a number of other city-states uneasy, with a few going so far as to refuse Alestian soldiers or even citizens at their door. The Order of the Gryphon Knights' unwillingness to back down from diplomatic and territorial disputes have triggered a few wars as well, but they were often solved by intervening city-states before much damage was done. Just as well—the Gryphon Knights have air superiority around Alestia, and the city-state itself is a veritable stronghold, so while they could lose a surface battle, any war would just end up a stalemate.

In recent times, this has been especially tested: Alestia wound up embroiled in political conflict with the magical city of Firebrandt, who hired various mercenary companies from Ziobel to wage a proxy war. This both was triggered by the presence of—and later resolved through the peacemaking efforts of—Sir Maxwell Kharvast who was initially framed with the death of Firebrandt's Speaker Girard. It was only because of his group's discovery of the Artificer's greatest remaining weapon that he was able to broker a ceasefire agreement with Ziobel shortly before his purported death at the hands of Queen Mab, which allowed the two city-states to draft a treaty and work together to safeguard the weapon thereafter, preventing it from being used to catastrophically destroy whole regions or rewrite the political landscape with the very threat of such. Likewise, following the exposure of Speaker Fortune's coup d'etat and subsequent unleashing of Mab upon the world did political tensions between Alestia and Firebrandt cool, allowing ties between the two to gradually mend.

For those who have diplomatic ties or trade agreements to Alestia, the protection the Gryphon Knights grant them is an indisputable boon. In addition, while Alestian traders have little variety to their exports—spices, premium mulled wines and gryphon's mane cloth—they get a considerable discount on necessities under the trade agreements, allowing an easy flow of imported goods into their economy, as non-Alestian traders are rare in the docks with a few notable exceptions. Despite this, Alestian citizens are quite welcoming and eager to see a new face, with adventurers and traders traveling abroad often getting discounts in inns and taverns in exchange for regaling with stories of the world beyond.

Alestia has few persistent trade partners, but one is vital for a city-state structured around its military: the dwarves of the Scheighelm mountainhomes provide an endless supply of quality arms and other smithed equipment, enabling a close kinship with the cold and hardy citizens of the sunny city. Dwarven migration is not unknown as well, with old ground-level masonry houses thought to be too cold to inhabit taken up by the stouter folk, where they're made into inviting pastiches of the mountainhomes and roaring local forges, something the timbered structures built atop them would be unsuitable for.

Organized and large-scale craftsmanship isn't common in Alestia; as a result, there are only two notable guilds with branches open in the city-state: the Blacksmithing guild, and the enigmatic Fletchers. As they do in every other city-state, the Fletchers have settled in and obtained special permission to access and operate the Featherspitter deep in the bowels of the Silvermist Castle; the current monarch of Alestia, King Ustald Cerwyn, makes it no secret that he distrusts them, but his hand is stayed by the prevailing rumors of terrible fates befalling city-states that had shunned the Fletchers.

Civilisation and Culture

The racial make-up of Alestia's populace learns toward hardier folk, primarily consisting of humans along with a solid dwarven community, though a small fraction make up other races in general. spirit-touched humans are rarer, as the monotheistic influence the Order has over the city-state leads to less unaffiliated spirits lingering and manifesting their traits in the womb. Of those that do manifest, the more energetic ones tend to find the climate inhospitable and leave for lands of fairer weather upon coming to age.

Of the jobs in Alestia, options and opportunities are slim. Many join the Order as a priest, guard or more rarely knight, and a fair number balance their nostalgia and resentment of the city-state by going abroad as traders, bringing back essentials whenever their travels pass by. For the remaining, the modest businesses providing the basic infrastructure of the city and the docks are where most wind up working, with the occasional job on commission the Order offers during surface excursions and outposts.

If it hasn't been said enough, Alestia is a cold and difficult place to live in. The streets are often emptier than usual for a city as a result, with only a modest number of people milling about between buildings, and even less people standing around or doing business in the open. This has also influenced fashion in the area, with layers of thick felts and velvets making up people's clothing, and outermost jackets or cloaks designed to be taken off inside. Those in the Order are no exception, with gryphon's mane robes and cloaks giving the priests and knights a splash of golden color and warmth, while the city guard takes to thick padding under their armor, mantles and long tunics covering the joints where padding would leave them too stiff to maneuver. Knights frequently take their gryphons around town with them and treat them as equals, encouraging wide lanes and plenty of space to move around inside buildings.

Basic combat training, while not compulsory, is offered by the Order and is frequently taken by many of the townspeople, as the military-minded theocracy and tendency toward territorial conflicts often leads to drafted soldiers going to the surface whether or not they've had the chance for training. As a result, most know their way around a sword, and even civilians tend to have a weapon as a mantlepiece, whether purchased by the dwarven traders or passed down from the family ancestry.

Taverns are reasonably frequent in Alestia and are typically inhabited by off-duty guards, dock workers and returning soldiers, though orders of hot mulled wine to go are much more frequent as it's the only plentiful hot drink in town and it's cheap—just bring your own cup! Inns are rarer on the other hand, with a few lower-price places situated near the docks and a tinier selection still of premium-quality lodges on the main street toward the castle, serving diplomats and other high-profile travelers. Beyond that, private shops mostly provide basic necessities, with less dedicated craftsmen encouraged to sell at one of the vacant lots that the closed-roof Whiteston Market are never short on.

Arcane magic is not frequently practiced behind Alestia's walls; while mages aren't looked down upon, the Order's divine magic tends to serve sufficiently, leaving limited opportunities for those manipulating arcane power directly rather than through a spirit's will. Still, hedge wizards are popular cooks in the taverns, and sages serve well as freelancers on surface outposts, though many are chartered in from elsewhere for that purpose.