Sunday, August 5, 2012

Eagret -- City of Kingly Lawyers

Area rendered at 2 Miles per Hex.  Arraigns is a suburb or Eagret.
Village icons represent hamlets of 200 or less inhabitants.



Great walls and towers protect the bulk of Greenspur's capital city, featuring three main gates.  Several suburban areas lie outside, including the larger district of Arraigns.  Eagret houses a hundred thousand inhabitants within about 20 square miles, and owns a major port facility.  A massive chain protecting the port's entrance may be raised to block its access.  The First Trial River flows in through massive pillars of an opening beneath a powerful bastion.  Two stone bridges span the river before its waters reach the port area. Buildings include tightly packed multi-level tenements and other residences.  The west bank is considered somewhat of a lower class quarter, which includes much of the port, granaries, warehouses, manufactures, and military barracks.  The king's palace, municipal buildings, and the majority of the upper class occupy the east bank area.  As can be expected, there are many different courthouses besides the well-known Royal Courthouse, one of the largest structures in the city.  Other courthouses are known as "Private Courts of Law," which are legal and legitimate.  They are most often adjoining or part of private palaces.  They specialize in specific areas of the law.  Fierce rivalries exist between private courts of law with overlapping interests. 



People of the Law form an essential part of Greenspur's aristocracy.  In absence of landed titles or other enchanted regalia, the "Esq." suffix indicates their special status.  Much of the life in Eagret revolves around the politics of spinning new laws, producing endless amendments to those already in vigor, and eliminating others.  It is a matter of prestige when one's machinations succeed in altering or eliminating a law created by a rival, or preventing the same from happening with one's own sponsored laws.  Entire factions of aristocrats scheme to oppose each other's pet legislative projects, even resorting to highly publicized lawsuits wherever possible.  Some will employ foreign adventurers to thwart their rivals, especially to unveil dastardly plots and dig up incriminating evidence.  There is no end to scheming in Eagret, which remains very much in line with most big cities in Alphatia.   


Ten ships hail from Eagret.  Based upon proportions established earlier (see Dominion Stats) out of these ten vessels, two ought to be airships, and a larger one a submersible.  In effect, Eagreat commands the following fleet:
  • Two Airships (small sail ships) -- HHV* Eagret Law & Celestial Verdict
  • One Submersible (large galley) -- HHV Royal Subpoena
  • Three Small Galleys -- HHV Writ, Warrant, & Summons
  • One War Galley -- HHV King's Pardon
  • One Small Sailing Ship -- HHV Star Witness
  • One Large Sailing Ship -- HHV Crown Advocate
  • One Troop Transport -- HHV Golden Jury
(*) HHV stands for His Honor's Vessel.

Airships patrol hills and mountains within the Magistratar's Jurisdiction.  The submersible typically watches Eagret's narrow seaway.  The war galley and troop transport generally sail no more than a day away from the capital city (about 70 miles).  The war galley is likely to remain within sight of the coast.

Prevailing Winds & Sea Currents
High Seas Patrols: As a team, the two sailing ships typically patrol the northern shipping lane to Haven, which takes about four days each way.  As a random encounter every twelve hours, this means these sailing ships may show up with a score of 1 on a d8.  They may seek to investigate the identity and cargo of any encountered vessel, especially foreign.  If the encounter is resolved, the two sailing ships set sail and do not return for another six to eight days.  As an alternate route, the patrol may occasionally head for East Portage on the Isle of Dawn, about six days away (seven days out and five days in, due to prevailing winds.)  Encounter odds on that route are 1 on a d12.  

Coastal Patrols: As a second team, the remaining three small galleys patrol about 230 miles of the jurisdiction's coast, taking them about six days to return to port.  As a random encounter every twelve hours, these light galleys may show up on a score of 1 on a d12.  They may seek to investigate the identity and cargo of any encountered vessel, especially foreign.  If the encounter is resolved, the galleys sail on and do not return for another five to six days (to keep it simple, ignore whether a patrol is inbound or outbound.) 

A deep water cove outside Amends Hamlet offer an ideal anchorage.  The sea port at Appendicea is suitable for galleys and provides a good shelter against storms.  Predominant winds blow east/northeast, which may alter the duration of outbound/inbound patrols.  Sea currents flow westward through the Strait of Dawn, northward across the Sea of Dawn, and clockwise within the Aaslan Gulf.



4 comments:

  1. Hi Bruce, I am really enjoying your series on Alphatia. Just wondering about your take on Eagret v. Aaron Allston's. DotE describes Eagret as Alphatia's largest naval base which dominates the city.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I saw this yesterday while I was looking for something else. I'd say Eagret owns the best facilities to host a massive air fleet, including landing pads, hangars, and qualified maintenance personnel. Such fleet may gather when Vertiloch summons airships from all corners of the the empire, those owned by realms and others privately owned, such as the Princess Ark. It would be highly impractical to assemble this Grand Fleet in or near "Sundsvall" for reasons I explained earlier (see the post on Vertiloch), so Eagret would be the best bet.

      Delete
  2. I like the detailing & naming of the fleet. I hope you plan to extend it to the other kingdoms.
    Nice touch with the map of the the city, you're getting really good with the tools! I wonder how Thorf will deal with it; it might give him ideas to expand his own set. Naturally, I wish you did the same with the other capitals.
    Hervé

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the praise. You probably noticed I've been following the coast sort of clockwise. Eventually I'll reach Ambur once more, which will be a good time to revisit/redo/flesh out the previous entries and implement some of the ideas that cropped up along the way. I'm expecting Geoff Gander to send some stuff to develop Frisland. Hopefully, that'll happen by the time I round the northern coast once more.

      It's going to be several more days before I can resume "the great march." I learned that a good friend of mine passed away while I attended Gen Con. I'll be setting sail to Iowa soon and return to port before week's end, providing fair winds. After this, if I hadn't managed to complete it before shipping out, I'll be resuming work on the Gen Con writeup for the blog.

      Next, I want to spend some time learning the ropes with Campaign Cartographer (CC3) & its City Designer add-on, so I can start working on Alphatia's cities. I obtained a copy of the software while at Gen Con. Ideally, I'd like to try it out on Archport. This won't be easy. To preserve visual continuity (and for the sake of my own sanity) I'll retain Hexographer for Gazetteer-style maps.

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.