Gwennport
Gwennport is the capital of the Artipellin kingdom, ruled by the Artipellin royal family. It is a city known for its beauty, sometimes even called "the city of beauty", and traces history back from before the time of the Old Empire, hundreds of years before the creation of the kingcom itself. It's main features are the archepilago, avenues and the location on a cliff side with part of the city near the water with canals and the other on the top of the cliff, giving buildings next to it a great view. The elevators used for transport up and down the cliff are also unique to the city.
Gwennport is the capital of "high culture" in the lands and has an intricate social structure in practice. This "high culture" exists in the ballrooms, theatres, art galleries, museums and musical events of the city and a high stakes social game generally called "the masquerade", influenced by the Gwennport Carnival.
History
Gwennport was an established trading post even before the Old Empire was founded by the Mageslayer and culturally advanced. It avoided ruin during the Warlock Wars but was under the control of one king or the other for a long time.
The city was the home of a noble house that would come to notoriety, the Artipels, who would join with the Linnes and create the Artipellin house, carving a kingdom out of the ruins of others. Partly by force but also by quite cunning diplomacy and intrigue. In the early days of the house it was mocked for its namechange and merge, but these critics have since changed tune in a remarkable way - in the cases they still even exist.
From the early days of both the Artipellin house and the new kingdom came the Gwennport Carnival.
Buildings & Layout
To be allowed to build within the city within the past few hundred years, architects and builders have had to submit to some fairly strict requirements regarding the design and material. As such, most buildings are made out of sand stone and are quite aesthetically appeasing. The castle is one of the more beautiful castles in the major cities around the Realms.
The avenues of the city were not originally there, but added in around the time of the Old Empire to enhance the feeling of grandeur for the castle and southern park. They also helped with faster movement inside the city and would help against a city uprising against its rulers. Though at first dismayed at the numer of buildings that had to be torn down to make them, the avenues are now part of what people in Gwennport are so proud about.
As the capital of a kingdom fairly dedicated to arts, music, theatre and entertainment, Gwennport hosts a wide variety of theatres and preformance "arenas" as well as museums and similar venues.
A dominating effect on architecture is the cliff that separates about a third of the city to water level and two thirds on top of the cliff. The houses located on the cliff itself are usually very beautiful and are the most desirable locations in the Kingdom. There are good areas in both the lower and upper part of town, but the houses on the actual cliff shelf are very prestigious and expensive.
Specific Buildings
Politics
Politics and pleasure are very much intermingeled in Gwennport. In principle it's very simple with a regent (Nicholla Artipellin) and her subjects, but in practice there are loads of family lines to consider and influence is a major factor. A large part of it is the ongoing Game stemming from the famous Gwennport Carnival and has spread throughout the social circle and through the year. Every day there can be seen many people dressed in overly fancy clothes and wearing overt masks going about ot conversing silently. Some nobles even take the intrigue to an extreme level and never leave the Scene or stop playing the Game. Every night of the year there is some sort of festivity or ball in one of numerous nobles' mansions or an important art gallery showing, opening or new museum exhibit. There are even fund raising events for things like orphanages. In all instances, the event is less important than who goes there and what takes place.
Gwennport Council
Gwennport Council is a court for all noble houses who have residence in Gwennport to have a say in how the capital city as well as the Kingdom is run. The Artipellin family holds hearings on a regular basis and anyone attending is allowed to voice their opinions in a semi-organised fashion.
All attendants except for the Speaker are required to wear masks in order to allow attendees to voice their opinions without hesitation of losing face. The Artipellins want less boot-licking and more positive feedback. In turn, the Speaker doesn't promise to follow the advice of the Council but to listen and to take on board the opinions of the houses.
A drawback with the masks is of course that some discussions can get rather heated and in fact serves the opposite purpose of giving sound, well-thought advice.
The Masquerade and the Scene
The use of masks was not always a part of the Gwennport Carnival and was used only occasionally in the first few hundred years of its tradition. "Recently" (in the last 200 years) this has exploded after Artipellin's rise to power as a Road House, managing a short stretch of the Coins, and the masks started becoming 'cool' to use at other times. Though first seen as very weird, it's fairly accepted now, but not something people wear at all times. One of the accellerants to this change is the use of masks in the Gwennport Council.
The people of Artipellin have always been known as gossips and social creatures. This is true even for most peasant societies in the Kingdom, at a very different level. Being forever polite and in control of a situation has been of utmost importance to the people for as long as anyone can remember. This has, through the Gwennport Carnival become a lot more honed and created a small 'sub culture' of sorts which sometimes is called the Game or the Masquerade. People playing the Game in order to increase their social and political standing are part of the Scene. Of course, in proper Scene fashion, it's a faux-pas to use these words in public.
All of this has of course created some quite "inbred" ideas about propriety and makes life a lot more complicated in the higher echelons of society than others.
The use of masks in Capitoleum is significantly more uncommon, but generally accepted. To the horrors of some more traditional houses, this is actually gaining popularity, slowly, and to the annoyance of the Menthells, it is giving Artipellin as a House more political power as well.
Gwennport Carnival
The Gwennport Carnival is the most famous festival in the Realms and last for two weeks between the 13th to the 27th of March. It is in form quite similar to the Carnival of Venice.
It originally started as a celebration of a particular victory sealing the existence of the Artipel county, but over the years many important events have taken place in that same time period in March (often orchestrated to do so) and the carnival is now even more of an institution than most actual institutions of the city.
During these two weeks, anyone who can afford a dress or suit as well as a mask, all very expensive, dress up and basically play out a humongous masqurade. Status takes second place and "commoners" (non-noble decently rich people) and gentry socialise freely. There is no way to truly know who you speak with, it could be the Queen!
Though the masks is the main thing the carnival is famous for today, it wasn't always part of the festivities. It was a tradition that came and went over the course of a few hundred years and in the last 200 years has become entirely synonymous with the festival. And, of course, the use of masks is now 'in vogue' and used on all days of the year by at least some people.
Artipellin Symphony Orchestra
The symphony orchestra of the Artipellin Kingdom is well known in all of the Midrealms. It has its home in Gwennport but consists of the best musical artists of the entire Kingdom. It is a great honour to be asked to join though the salary has never been exceptional. Being part of the orchestra is more of a social status symbol than any other advantage, though it is a source of income for the Kingdom.
Exports
As the capital, Gwennport is the biggest exporter of goods from Artipellin. The city's principal exports are of art in different forms, the finest glass in the Realms and a variety of smoked and salted local fish. The city is also known for having an higher-than-average amount of mystics. Both the charlatan types as well as the genuine deal.
Art
Besides the 'invention' of masks originating in the Gwennport carnival, artful items such as busts, statues, paintings, tapestries, clothes and household items such as glasses, cutlery and plates are part of the main export from Artipellin. Caravans travelling with these shipments often come with a whole squadron of guards, Artipellin or mercenaries. Any respectable house has a minor fortune invested in ancient and modern art alike.
Gwennport and indeed Artipellin as a whole is also known for its love of music and theatre, and to some extent this is 'exported', but it isn't a major economical asset.
Glass
Though not as 'high profile' as the art, Artipellin's greater export is of very high quality glass, similar to Venetian glass in medieval Europe. The secret is kept tightly by the Gwennport Glass Crafter's Guild and is sold only as finished products. Other crafters can recycle the material to create new advanced glass creation such as lenses or pieces of art, but rarely as skilled as the crafters in Gwennport.
That said, several crafters from Gwennport have been allowed to start chapter guilds in other major Artipellin cities, creating equally skillefully made products, but not allowed to create the glass, instead relying on transportation of glass ingots from Gwennport. Gwenport glass is only made in the guild quarters of Gwennport.
Security
Gwennport is protected by a few hundred men standing guard that doubles as local army and can raise almost five times that within a week's time.
The city itself uses a peacebond system where locals and visitors are allowed weapons of their choice as logn as they are wrapped in coloured ribbons, it's registered and not broken before they leave. An unreported broken ribbon will lead to troubles further along the line.
The relatively populous city guards and peace binding helps keeping Gwennport one of the least crime-ridden major cities, though there is of course still a noticeable amount of crime, as there is everywhere.
Perpetrators caught usually get to stand before a judge and are then sentenced. Only in extraordinary cases or when it is abou a noble person is there a serious court hearing. Sentences don't include old-fashioned chopping of limbs, but rather punishment by putting people in work camps or into other forced labour. In a time after slavery mostly is abolished it is a great way to find free labour to the very rich.
Places
These are mainly notes, and not necessarily particularly famous places.
- Gwennport Castle - Administrative and power centre of Artipellin
- Gwennport Court - Main part of the scene; also political
- Hall of Justice - Dealing with higher legal issues (not petty crimes).
- Sights
- Tondo Piazza - The round square near the western gate.
- The Lifts
- The Canals
- Establishments
- Rimero Bank - Run by the Rimero family.
- Gilded Cup - Mainly a restaurant, but also has suites for the very wealthy. A regular joint for the rich and a treat for the want-to-be-rich.
- Golden Cockerel - Sometimes referred to as the "Golden Cock", the Golden Cockerel is the finest in in Gwennport with a famous kitchen.
- Barmy Barrow - By Ramiro Osborne. Known as "Galne Galten" by the locals, the Barmy Barrow is located in a decent part of Gwennport, though certainly far from the finest establishments.
- Broken Fang - Run by Chenry Hilt, a retired soldier. Located "close" to the Castle, but just outside the more expensive quarters. A locale recommended by Jorg. The inn is a single storey timber framed building, with a reinforced wooden door. Accomodations consist of several large rooms with beds and straw mattresses.
- Arts
- Other
- Orphanage of Grace - run by the Church of Rahn
- City Quarters
Characters
- Artipellin - Royal family
- Tidmore - Merchant family trading in cloth and related materials.
- Cavalli - Noble family living in Cavalli Residence located on the cliff.
- Cai Cavalli - Wife and 4 children
- Hamlin - Family with a particular hatred towards the Shadows
- Jenoah Folerach - Master of Arms at the Gwennport Castle (and head of the Gwennport standing army as well as city guard). 45 years old, white hair.
- Matteo of Estoculus - Captain of the Castle Guard. Likes Roth Archinto.
Gwennport Merchants
- Bakers 28
- Barbers 58
- Bathers 13
- Beer-sellers 18
- Blacksmiths 7
- Bleachers 11
- Bookbinders 7
- Booksellers 1
- Buckle Makers 13
- Butchers 16
- Carpenters 44
- Chandlers 34
- Chicken Butchers 11
- Coopers 23
- Copyists 10
- Cutlers 6
- Doctors 15
- Fishmongers 11
- Furriers 81
- Glovemakers 10
- Harness-makers 3
- Hatmakers 26
- Hay Merchants 4
- Illuminators 7
- Inns 3
- Jewelers 31
- Locksmiths 11
- Magic Shops 7
- Maidservants 106
- Masons 16
- Mercers 31
- Old Clothes 26
- Painters 16
- Pastrycooks 26
- Plasterers 9
- Pursemakers 16
- Roofers 4
- Ropemakers 6
- Rugmakers 11
- Saddlers 10
- Scabbardmakers 22
- Sculptors 8
- Shoemakers 168
- Spice Merchants 18
- Tailors 81
- Tanners 4
- Taverns 17
- Watercarriers 28
- Weavers 43
- Wine-sellers 27
- Woodcarvers 8
- Woodsellers 9
