Setting
The streets are clean, and the DragonKing has made many improvements to the lives of the common folk by ordering sorcerers to develop magicks that lighten the burden of living in a new world. Ghost light lamps bring light to the dark nights, and every house has clean water for drinking and washing, thanks to the implementation of a plumbing system that is only possible thanks to geomancers making way for the ceramic pipes to be lain.
Indeed many of those who live in Fort Talmora under the Dragon Kings rule will readily admit that, while the man himself is hard to get along with, his actions are quite fitting a ruler that cares for his people.
Fort Talmora is organized into Four Courts, like concentric circles that sit within each other. Travel between the courts is not restricted, but it is regulated, and one cannot move deeper into the city without inspection, ostensibly in order to prevent the moving of illegal goods and criminals.
The outermost is the Commoners Court, or just The Commons. Houses and apartments for workers and low ranked guards are found here, as well as taverns, mead halls, and a handful of Inns. The wall that seperates the Commons from the outside of Aeronne is easily twenty feet tall, and manned by regular guard patrols.
Within the Commoners court, seperated by another twenty foot wall, is the Merchants Court. It is home not only to the market, but several guild halls as well, including the Freeheart Company. In addition, many artisans and masters own their own establishments here. It is easy to see that, should a traveler require anything, they will find it here.
Sitting within the Merchants court is the Nobles Court, or the High Court. The Highcourt, as it's name suggests, sits higher above the others, as magic was used to move earth to grant a position of strength to this court, so that in the event the outer courts are taken, guards can maintain the highground and the strength that comes with it. The only way to the Highcourt is by a single gate at the top of a winding pathway. The High court has greater security, and while any are allowed to go through, criminals and smugglers will find themselves hard pressed to get through the gates without being caught, as in addition to an increased number of guards, no less than two trained battlemages are present at all shifts. The Highcourt is home to the knights, nobles, and vassals of the DragonKing. He does not permit threats to walk amongst his retainers.
At the far north end of the nobles court sits the Royal Court. It consists of two locations, First is the Queens Meadow, a sprawling garden of grass and trees, a splendid and natural place meant for the healing of the souls, for sitting and staring at the clouds, and otherwise enjoying a good and sunny day. Second is the Dragon Kings Palace, located at the highest point of the hill that overlooks all of Fort Talmora. The Palace stands taller than the surrounding countryside, and is both the Dragon Kings personal residence, and the headquarters of his military operations.
These words were spoken with sincerity and intent, but they may as well been the buzzing of a fly for all that their intended recipient reacted to them. The Dragon King... A name he had earned from the locals due to his apparent ruthless and merciless nature. They attributed to him the same status they did a dragon, which his scholars inform him is likened to a living natural disaster in the land they came from.
He could not help but grimace at such a portrayal, that he is considered a disaster waiting to happen, or perhaps the disaster has already begun, and is simply ongoing. The natives of this world would not see him or his actions as kind or just or righteous, they would see only another warlord.
"So be it then" He spoke aloud, not at all in response to the noble lord who addressed him. A lesser lord he was, not even technically nobility by the standard Andolen had set forth to his vassals, but rather the child of one. This child had been tasked to work as Andolen's Aid, and had spent the majority of the time in that position toadying and brown nosing.
Andolen detested the man, and would be rid of him at once if not for one key task at which the idiot excelled; He was a fantastic foil to the plots and machinations of others. His idiocy was such that he didn't realize what questions and statements he was not meant to ask or say, and as such he would inadvertently call out liars and manipulators without meaning to.
And there are oh so many of those Andolen sighed to himself, once again musing over how few people he could actually trust in his life.
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