THE CIRCLE OF SOULS
Locations
Ruled over by the failing Queen Sofia from the capital Amrosia, the kingdom of Heldrassë is facing dark days as new powers seek dominance over the land.
A Map of Heldrassë
The kingdom of Heldrassë is a place of mystery and uncertainty.
Years of rule by the Great Houses has led to a land upon the brink of civil war.
Once, the Uprising came close to removing the old order, but betrayal has led to a dangerous suppression of the truth.
Amrosia
Capital city of the Kingdom of Heldrassë, and a shining beacon of white towers and golden spires. The ancient city rises up towards the towers, villas, and terraced gardens of the Kings’ Hill, and the Old Houses of Heldrassë vie for prominence in Lords' Quarter on the slopes directly below.
Below the Lords, the Courts Quarter is home to the Halls of Learning and the Halls of Justice. Next, the merchants jostle for position in the Market Quarter, a thriving mass of market courtyards and guildhalls, home to traders, armourers, jewellers, smiths, and every imaginable trade, both legal and illicit.
The poorest, Old Quarter is a dark and sprawling maze of alleyways, crowding around the dark river Tibor, which winds lazily around the foot of the hill, where trading ships anchor at the docks, disgorging riches from down-river, out to sea, and the wild Provinces beyond.
With the ongoing Encroachment, the Old Quarter is filled beyond capacity with refugees from the Outlands, people of all races and religions displaced by the wars and seeking safety within the walled city.
Crime and lawlessness fester in this climate of fear and poverty, and rumour of the disappearance of children amongst the refugees by dark figures in the night have caused tensions to spill over into violent clashes with the overstretched civil guard.
Crowe Hall
The last remaining building to survive the fading fortunes of the Emerald House.
Sat atop Crowe Hill, on the very edge of the opulent Lords’ Quarter, the walled manor house is a crumbing jumble of turrets and outbuildings, hiding a maze of passageways and tunnels within.
Built in a distinctly out-of-date Gothic style, and with its overgrown gardens threatening to consume the structure, Crowe Hall is the last remnant of a line which stretches back millennia, into the time of the Old Lore of Myths and Legends.
The Provinces
Across the endless stretch of water known as the Mysts, lie the Provinces, the outer reaches of the Kingdom of Heldrassë.
A narrow stretch of land, The Provinces cling to the coastline of the Wildlands, and are the source of many an exotic and fantastic cargo, brought back to the mainland aboard the merchant ships that sail the perilous trade routes.
Stories and legends abound of the wonders and horrors that lie further inland, beyond the Great Forests and the tall mountain ranges of the Shear, and there are few who have explored inland that have returned to tell the tale.
The Golden Isles
A semi-mythical place located far out to sea from the kingdom, and separated from the mainland by The Straits of Heldrassë, a dangerous stretch of turbulent and unpredictable currents.
There, it is said, is built the tallest tower, the Castle of Air, where legend has it once lived the Sisters of Fate, who scheme and gamble for dominion over the lives of all mortals within the Realm of Heldrassë. The Lore speaks of two children who cheated the Fates, and brought about the Sisters’ wrath. They have sworn to ensnare the two and break the Circle of Souls.
Port Asheere
Ancestral home of House Sapphire, at the mouth of the River Tibor, a gateway between the capital city of Amrosia and the seas, and therefore a city of immense strategic value, hence the reason for being the port to the King’s Fleet.
Port Asheerë is the second-largest city in Heldrassë, a place of great wonders, but also great dangers.
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