Aelyria Prime
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In
Aelyria Prime, the Castle is the coloquial name given to the northern city district housing knights and soldiers, legionnaires and officers through an expansive framework of fortifications. When
Colonia was being built some distance away from the ruins of
Hriemalis, knights in the service of
Prince Rynus von Oreskovich and under the instruction of the
Aelyrian overseer,
Dressus, took control of the rocky crags and perilous highlands of the peninsula and began building a massive fortress. Known today as
Castle Aelyria, the Castle has revamped a patchwork of battlements and tattered ramparts to form a fiercely walled in military district.
The Castle district is organized into the five wards of
Equiline Quarters,
Boreas Parish,
the Solum Promenade,
Hriemas Preserve, and
Dragon Parish.
Equiline Quarters
A quiet neighborhood filled with retired soldiers, Equiline Quarters is notorious for its pubs and recreational centers geared towards hardened war veterans and servicemen and women who have completed several tours of duty. Along with supporting a retirement community, Equiline Quarters offers low cost and subsidized housing for active duty soldiers with families. Filled with quiet parks and wide wandering pathways between housing and service providers, this parish is attractive for decent folk and odd nobles who seem to be down on their luck. Costs here are relatively low compared to the rest of the city, and life in this ward appears to move at a slower and more relaxed pace. The twin coastal fortresses of
Fort Anna and
Fort Melody guard the northern watery approaches, holding vigil over the final days of honored veterans and celebrated warriors.
Races
Human,
Elf,
Dwarf,
Dorin,
Katta
Social Classes
Soldiers, Knights, Squires, Pages, Hands, the Poor.
Common Housing
Knight's Rest - This famous housing unit had thousands of units designed exclusively for elderly veterans. It is a sprawling complex of single-floor living. Rooms come furnished with bare necessities, a hearth, a private latrine for every two rooms set between them The rooms themselves are ten feet by ten feet, and in far better condition than most public housing in Aelyria Prime. Serene parks and open courts surround the complex, ensuring that its inhabitants can maintain an active lifestyle. There is even talk of some of the soldiers reliving their glory days by forming secret societies to engage in unauthorized military expeditions.
Prominent Features
Knight's Rest
The Green Mile Nursing Home
Aelyria Prime Senior Center
Marble Hills Cemetary 
Courage's Call Crematorium
Kingdom Memorial
Fort Anna
Fort Melody
Featured Businesses
The Tooth Faerie
Ye Olde Puzzle Shoppe
Nelima's Fine Dresses and Suits
Fulbram's Funeral Home
Sirius Undertaking
Boreas Parish
Emerging out of the orderly and organized walkways of the Solum Promenade to the south, the neighborhood of Boreas Parish is the reliable core of the Castle's military defenses. The famous
Citadel encloses much of this parish with its high battlements and thick stone walls. From within, the
Great Keep houses an impressive and legendary armory of hundreds of thousands of weapons and shields for just about every situation. The spired towertops of the Citadel's offered peaked domes for protection against the freezing northern winds with superb visibility of the high seas. Within the Citadel are the Barracks of Aelyria Prime, housing the local garrison, as well as the older now-standalone Gatehouse serving as a command and control coordination center. At the west and the east sides of the rocky crags can be found the two smaller castles of
Fort Carados and
Fort Sarin, respectively, which seem redundant and superfluous given the Citadel's imposing size and power. Massive ballistas and iron cannonry dot the hillsides of this imposing neighborhood.
Races
Human,
Elf,
Dwarf,
Dorin,
Katta, and Other Fighting Races.
Social Classes
All classes are represented.
Common Housing
The Barracks - Soldiers and non-commissioned officers, usually in the service of Knights, are housed and trained in the Barracks of Aelyria Prime. The smallish castle is a full-fledged fortress, with sleeping quarters for hundreds of soldiers, a Great Hall for reception from the Barracks commander, and Proving Grounds for exercise, manuevers, and practice. Though it pales in comparison to the plush accommodations that officers and knighted soldiers receive at the
Military Academy in the lower Boreas, there is nothing that builds unit cohesion than sleeping in bunks and hammocks in a crowded room of your fellow soldiers and warriors. Use of the public facilities, however, is a tale replete with horrors and nightmares, unsuitable for disclosure to the sensitive public ears of our people.
Prominent Features
The Citadel
The Great Keep
The Royal Armory
The Garrison Barracks
The Old Gatehouse
Fort Carados
Fort Sarin
Battery Park
Army Stockades
Featured Businesses
The Public Armory
Aelyria Prime Magazine
Reliable Distillery
Corporal Talissen Tailor Shoppe
The Mess Hall
Regalis Stables
Aelyrian Military Academy
Solum Promenade
Solum is the most distinguished ward in the Castle and its trademark grand walkway has seen the footsteps of countless war heroes and adventurers. It contains the famous Promenade which is nestled along the edge of a particularly broad highway running from the
Great Gates in the Portalis Esplanade of
Old Prime past the observation ridges of Solum, down towards the
Forum itself. The Promenade is lined with military compounds, fortifications, ramparts, battlements, and batteries, and is closed to civilian access. Along its length is the
Captaincy General, a tan stone fortress housing the military's territorial administration of
Protectorate territories, as well as dozens of barracks belonging to legions and regiments convened and stationed in Aelyria Prime. Beyond the Promenade are the
Parade Grounds, a separate, less functional but more ceremonial walkway that begins in the heart of Solum and progresses towards Portalis through the
Great Gates towards the
Arch of Triumph, and loops around via
Procession Way to arrive at the
Forum.
Races
All common races are represented.
Social Classes
Laborers, Traders, Smiths, Officers, Bureaucrats, and the Poor.
Common Housing
The Tent City - For common enlisted soldiers in any of the armed forces, the Tent City is on the northern edge of the Solum Promenade on the outskirts of the massive
Citadel. A generally open field within the city, traveling soldiers can pitch their tents and begin with rudimentary training while their applications to be admitted into the Citadel for a more rigorous physical program are pending. Tent sizes tend to depend upon a soldier's possessions. A common latrine exists for every four or five rows, and a mess hall is set up in an elegant Pavilion near one of the gates of
Castle Kestrel, an ancient darkstone fortress housing the army high command, namely, the
Seneschal and his
General Staff.
Prominent Features
The Captaincy General
The Tent City
The Army Infirmary
The Promenade
Castle Kestrel
Jade Legion Barracks
Estate of the Marshal
Featured Businesses
Chapel of Diana
The Postal Exchange
Rusted Shield Smithy
Calvin's Stables
The Officer's Club
The Legion Supply House
Hard Knocks Brawlery
Hriemas Preserve
On the foothills of the first slopes leading north from the
Forum, overshadowed by the high and imposing walls of the Castle that run through it, are the old ruins of
Hriemalis in what is today the Flower Ward. Due to its close proximity to major roads and byways from the
River Ioannes, flowers of all sorts are shipped in daily and sold in the central
Floral Plaza, with its marvelous centerpiece, the aromatic and refreshing
Fountain of Flowers. Nobles and residents from the Forum and its surrounding wards flock to Hriemas to acquire the freshest and most prized flowers from throughout the realm. One of the few, elegant statehouses once belonging to old human settlers is now known as
Horticultural Hall, home of the
Royal Horticultural Society. Hriemas is also distinguished by its trademark boardwalk which skirts alongside the Forum down to the River, opening into open flower markets and the serene vista of the
Flotilla. Its outdoor cafes and winding streets open periodically to well-planted plots of miniature park squares filled with flowers and graced by statuary. Old fashioned oil lamps illuminate this parish by night, always giving it a soft warm glow even in the worst of weather. Along the northwest and northeast edges of this ward can be found the fearsome
Sentinel and
Perimeter, barricades and ramparts that add to the defense of the city. Near the Floral Plaza, beneath the old ruins, it is said can be found an extensive underground network of tombs and chambers known as the
Catacombs.
Races
Human,
Elf,
Katta
Social Classes
Artisans, Craftsmen, Students, Soldiers, and Merchants.
Common Housing
The Flotilla - This unique commoner's housing consists of a grouping of house boats tethered together in a micro community along the Ioannes River at the small docks at the end of the long boardwalk, each housing ten rooms to a structure above the kitchenette and commons area. Privies are open holes above the river, and the room sizes are a tiny ten foot by ten foot. The Flotilla freelease holders are a tightly knit group, most of them owning some type of watercraft to traverse about the city.
Prominent Features
Floral Plaza
Fountain of Flowers
Gardens of Aelyria Prime
Hoticultural Hall
Ruins of Hriemalis
The Catacombs
The Flotilla
The Manesi Marina
The Sentinel
The Perimeter
Featured Businesses
Botany Bay
Decon's Nursery
Walter's Watercraft
Luminaries Lamp Shoppe
Ten Faeries Apothecary
Winged Wonders Exotic Birds
Pier Seafood and Grille
Pikes-R-Us
Dragon Parish
The jagged hillside, rocky crags, and treacherous bluffs spiral upward to the northwest to form an intimidating plateau that overlooks the city. Dragon Parish, as it is known, is situated within the walls of the
Citadel, but has an imposing darkstone wall enclosing it, rising higher than the other walls and creating a light shadow that casts over the
Scholar Quarter. The massive
Fort Michelle dwarfs the other major fortresses and castles guarding the northern coast of Aelyria Prime. Heavy artillery pieces, including cannons and ballistas, point threateningly to the sea, while a disciplined patrol of veteran guards marches along the battlements, observing the neighborhood below. At the edge of one of the lower bluffs to the southwest is graceful walk leading to a columned estate on the beach with whitewash marble and azure gemstones; the
Admiralty convenes within, serving as the residence and office of the
Grand Admiral and his war council. Built shortly after the
Proclamation of Empire, Dragon Parish was designed to be a testament itself to the military prowess and heightened defense of the capital city.
Memorial Square in the center of the neighborhood has monuments to the wars that were fought during Aelyria's rise to total supremacy on the Continent. Elegant statehouses and manses, designed in the style of old
Hriemalis, house career officers and executive commanders with their families and servants.
Races
Human,
Elf,
Dwarf,
Dorin,
Katta.
Social Classes
Soldiers, Officers, Petty Nobles and Lesser Aristocracy, and some Students.
Common Housing
The Ancient Armada - A fleet of some thirty ships are permanently dry-docked off the southern edge of Dragon Parish; the only thing that has kept them from being mothballed is the tenacious determination of sentimental captains and history-minded admirals. The net result is the creation of the Navy's largest maritime barracks, capable of housing thousands of sailors. Accommodations range from shared bunks in lofty quarters below-deck, to elegant staterooms for officers. Some famous warships from the past, such as the original
AFS Khatakera, lower anchor here to tour their historical designs, floating museums in honor of their mother country.
Prominent Features
The Naval Museum
The Admiralty
Fort Michelle
Memorial Square
The Naval Shipyards
The Naval Observatory
The Royal Tea Society
Featured Businesses
The Port and Starboard Tavern
The Pavillion Restaurant
Precious Plunder Pillagings
Artillery Associated
Dragon Industries
Aelyrian Naval Academy
The Castle
Linear Mode
