Casinea

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Regions of Casinea

Overview

In Highguard's northwest, Casinea is an old and wealthy territory as well as the site of the town of Anvil, the political heart of the Empire.

The first settlers arrived here shortly after the Highborn arrived on the shores of the Bay of Catazaar, but the territory was not completely conquered for several decades - the emphasis was on Pharos and then Bastion, and the wild western woods were dominated by tribes of savage orcs. Even after the armies of Highguard moved to drive the orc presence from the woods, bands of scattered orcs remained to harass settlers - indeed there are reports of orc raiders attacking into Casfall and Skyrwatch as late as 150YE.

Before the Highborn civil war, Casinea was split roughly in two. The eastern regions - Skywatch, Casfall, and Marehom - were settled and prosperous, dominated by Patrician families, and protected by the Silent Sentinel. The wild forest regions of Greatwood and Woodwych were sparsely settled until the first exodus of those who had embraced the Revelation of Virtue chose to build chapterhouses here. During the civil war, these chapters fought the Patrician armies along the eastern borders of the forest in a vicious campaign that eventually saw the virtuous victorious but not without terrible losses on both sides and the near destruction of the SIlent Sentinel.

The hills are rich with marble and granite quarries. Gold, silver, weltsilver, tempest jade and precious stones have been mined here for centuries. Several wealthy chapters protect the quarries and mines to ensure the protection of the vital assets against barbarians.

Recent History

As with Bastion, Casinea has seen an influx of refugees from beleaguered Reikos in recent years.

Vallorn Incident

Major Features

Anvil

Location of the Senate, and the Sentinel Gate. Four times a year the powerful citizens of the Empire meet here to determine the future of their people. The ruins of the old smithy in which the First Empress took shelter from her enemies when a young woman, Anvil is said to be where the first open declaration of the dream of Empire was made. After her ascension to the Imperial throne, the Empress declared that the small settlement would be preserved for the lifetime of the Empire in memory of sacrifices made by those sheltering her. Since then Imperial parliaments have been held there, but the town itself has never been allowed to grow.

Among other things, Anvil is also the site of the Imperial War Memorial, and Long Tom's Brewery.

Casca’s Doom

A small chapter built round a shrine to Loyalty in the early days of the Empire. According to stories, Casca herself was a powerful Highborn magister who was ordered to perform a mighty work of magic to shake the ground beneath the feet of an invading orc army. Despite reservations, the ritual went ahead at the command of the Imperial Senate. Legend has it that she continued to chant even when the power grew too much and the ritual failed, splitting the ground and burying her in the rubble. Her doom is considered a lesson by many magisters in Highguard today, although some disagree about whether the message is that Loyalty must be tempered with Wisdom, or that a magician must understand the high price that some magic claims from its wielder.

The Silent Sentinel

Standing in north-eastern, Marehom this castle is considered one of the ugliest in the Empire, but it is also known to be one of the strongest. According to myth, the foundations of this castle were lain by the Paragon known as The Sentinel. The lower parts are made of black basalt and granite, with upper levels of later construction reinforced with white stone. The garrison is primarily Highborn, but there are detachments from all of the Imperial nations stationed here - indeed it is a common for armies on furlough in Casinea to camp in and around the castle.

Construction on the fortification began in the first few decades after the Founding, and the castle initially served as a base-of-operations for the settling of Casinea. Later, it served as a symbol of the power and dominance of the Patrician families over the people of the territory. During the civil war, the castle was nearly destroyed in a terrible battle between the remaining Patrician garrison and the forces of the virtuous chapters of the western woods. It was rebuilt after the war, returned to its original purpose of protecting the people of Casinea from orc bandits - and to defend against the threat of invasion from Astolat to the north. It potentially provides military support to the people of Anvil should any enemy force threaten the heart of the Empire.

Syrene

In contrast to the more industrious chapters in the rest of Skyrwatch, Syrene is a quiet, reasonably peaceful community. Situated in the hills west of Anvil, it is guarded by a number of watchtowers and beacons including two structures apparently built by the paragon known as the Sentinel. There are several chapterhouses in and around Syrene, most of whom are dedicated to the study and application of magic, or to exploration of the virtues of Vigilance and Wisdom. Syrene is best known however as the location of the Pool of Syrene, which lies at the heart of the town. The pool has powerful, slightly sinister, magical properties and is carefully watched both by the guardians of Wintergard chapter that oversee it, and by the vigilant members of the other chapters built in and around the town.

It is tradition in Syrene that no draughir can remain in the settlement for more than three days in any given season. This is in spite of the fact that records show a significantly higher chance of draughir children being born to parents living in Syrene. Draughir are explicitly forbidden to drink or bathe in the waters of the Pool of Syrene and any draughir who are born here are quickly fostered to chapters in other parts of Casinea. This is doubly odd as the town also receives a significant amount of attention from the eternals of the Winter realm who often send their heralds to visit the pools to speak with Imperial citizens. The area seems to hold a particular interest for Sorin, Wise Rangara, and Kaela, each of whom is known as the sovereign of one of the three strong Winter regio found near Syrene.

The Pool of Syrene

The town of Syrene is a quiet community built around a small pool with potent, poorly understood magical properties. The water is fresh, clear, cool, and refreshing. Those who drink it describe the experience as uniquely soothing, allowing them to easily master their emotions and maintain a cool head in the face of provocation. More significantly however, those who bathe in the waters of the pool at least once a week enjoy improved longevity. The pool was jealously guarded by the Tutamen Patrician family who carefully controlled access to it; stories from the pre-Imperial times suggest that the Patricians of Syrene regularly lived to be a hundred years old, but suffered quick and painful deaths if they ventured too far from the pool that sustained them.

After the civil war, the magisters and priests of Highguard met to discuss the future of Syrene and came to the conclusion that its magical powers needed to be carefully monitored - there were dangerous unanswered questions about precisely what it was doing. The chapter of Wintergard was established and given custody of the pool. To this day they carefully guard access and Syrene is kept under close scrutiny by both magisters and the Conclave. The pool has also been linked to the fact that significantly more children born in the vicinity express the draughir lineage - indeed it is common practice for parents planning to have children to take a sabbatical from Syrene until their child is at least five years old.

Carefully bottled in glass vials silvered with weltsilver, the waters are known to enhance the capabilities of magicians practicing certain Winter magic rituals relating to preservation and survival. A small number of vials of water from the pool are occasionally sold or (more rarely) provided as gifts by the Wintergard chapter.

Syrene's Wisdom

Syrene's Wisdom is a Bourse resource located in Syrwatch. Custodianship of Syrene's Wisdom is an Imperial Title that brings with it a Seat on the Imperial Bourse. It produces 7 rings of ilium every season. Control is allocated to any Imperial citizen by open auction during the Spring Equinox.

Regions

Casfall

Eastern Casfall is fertile farm land, scattered with prosperous chapters. Western Casfall is gently wooded - not the wild forests of Woodwych and Greatwood but carefully maintained bu the chapters that live there. The trees have more of an air of rolling parkland than wilderness, although there are exceptions of course. Several of the older Chapters here are built around the remains of Patrician estates, often incorporating much of the original architecture - the estates were quite well fortified for pre-Imperial times given the proximity of the orc-haunted woodlands.

Greatwood

Quality:Forest

Mareholm

For the most part, Mareholm is a relatively quite, civilized region that has much in common with the more densely settled Bastion to the south-east. The hills and mountains are beautiful and rich with ore, and the soil here is rich and fertile. Defended by the Silent Sentinel, many of the chapterhouses here are likewise fortified. This is perhaps understandable - after all. Mareholm is the site of Anvil, the defacto Imperial capital.

The atmosphere here is not entirely peaceful. Until very recently neighbouring Reikos was occupied by vicious Druj invaders. Even with the Druj gone, there are still potential threats to the east. The powerful vallorn haunted forest of Brocéliande broods to the north-east, and the eternal Llofir has claimed bordering Tamarbode as part of its domain. While there seems to be no immediate threat from either quarter, the presence of two such unpredictable entities only a short distance from the capital of the Empire gives many cause for concern. There have been scattered signs that the Brocéliande vallorn is not as quiescent as might be hoped, and relations between the Empire and Llofir apparently remain tense.

Syrwatch

Parts of Skyrwatch are quite hilly, and have been home to Highborn mining concerns for centuries. The chapters here have a reputation for being rugged, and practical people of a martial bent - the proximity of the border with Dawn meant that even in the time of the Patricians the people understood the importance of remaining Vigilant not only against orcs but against the ambitions of their fellow humans. A number of the chapters protect mineworkings, or enjoy good reputations for making weapons and armour - another reason that Casinea is considered a good place for refitting and resupplying Imperial armies.

The great quarry of Syrene's Wisdom is found in the hills near the small town of Syrene, which is best known as the site of a magical pool with powerful properties seemingly tied to the Winter realm.

Woodwych

Quality: Forest
While not as dense as Greatwood to the north, Woodwych is still heavily forested. Some of the oldest chapterhouses in Casinea - and by extension, in all of Highguard - were built here in the time before the civil war. Isolated from the patricians by the woodlands - thicker and wilder in pre-Imperial times - the chapters here were some of the first to call for open rebellion in support of the martyred Permion.

OOC Notes

• All the regions of Casinea are controlled by the Highborn (and by extension the Empire), making this a staunchly Imperial territory.
• The Silent Sentinel is a second rank fortification.
• Some of the prominent chapters of Casinea are detailed here.