Andoran Cities

Almas

When foreigners speak of Andoran’s arrogance, they mean Almas. When they spit and snarl about gilt temples to mob rule, they mean Almas. When they talk about slaves rubbing shoulders with free men, half-breeds walking with purebloods, or commoners acting like kings, they mean Almas. Everything such people hate about Andoran is typified in Almas, and as the city has grown from a provincial seat to one of the major powers in Avistan and beyond, the character of Almas has changed accordingly.

Augustana

The second city of Andoran, Augustana is primarily a military seaport. The small Arthfell river empties into the sea here, its mouth comprised of an inner harbor (the “fresh harbor”) and an outer harbor (the “salt harbor”) bracketed by two tall headlands. The part of the city surrounding the salt harbor is industrial, including numerous shipyards and dry docks both military and civilian, along with moorage for deepwater sailing vessels of all types.

Bellis

Each year Bellis plays host to several transient lumberjacks who come in the spring, work, then leave before winter. Members of the “old families”, as native Bellisians call themselves despite the fact that the town is barely 50 years old, generally view the rowdy lumberjacks as irritants they must tolerate since they need more loggers than the town’s population can provide. The lumberjacks tend to spend their off-duty hours drinking, fighting, and making nuisances of themselves.

Carpenden

Each of Carpenden’s seven fiercely proud neighborhoods, positioned on seven different hills, believes itself the original settlement and the other six mere additions created as the city grew. In years past, fractious disputes between the hills sometimes erupted into vicious street fighting. This forced succeeding governments to station more and more troops in the city simply to keep the peace.

Oregent

Oregent rings with the steady, almost constant peal of bells. Rather than calling the devout to prayer, however, the bells instead summon workers to the factories, mines, and mills that dominate the town. All facets of city life revolve around bell tolling and the special codes every Oregentan learns growing up. Bells tell Oregentants when to rise in the morning and when to go to sleep at night. They chime for meals and send children tromping off to school, then out into the streets to play.

Other Settlements

The following locations are very small.

Alvis: Alvis is home to the Andoren Alchemical Society. The society officially moved from Augustana the day after a large chemical fire nearly consumed the naval shipyards; half of the garrison was reportedly detached to help move the alchemists as quickly as possible. Alvis’ newly built Alchemical Quarter features stone buildings with wide alleys and firebreaks, along with the constant smell of sulfur and other unidentifiable substances. Most shops here carry alchemical goods at a 10% discount.

Claes, Cyremium, Lavieton, and Souston: Andoran’s Inner Sea coast is studded with small fishing settlements. Other than seafood and subsistence agriculture, these towns have little to offer visitors, and the Andoren Navy and merchant marine swell with sons of the coast out looking for adventure – or at least looking to escape the boredom of where they grew up. All of the coastal towns feature cellars, caves, or redoubts the townsfolk can retreat during a pirate attack or slave raid.

Falcon’s Hollow: This logging town is the primary settlement of Darkmoon Vale and is detailed at length in the Falcon’s Hollow page.

Fusil: Isolated and completely surrounded by the ancient Verduran Forest, Fusil is largely at the mercy of its fey and druidic neighbors. A generations-old pact enables the township to survive: more than a century ago, the druids of the surrounding forests revealed to the town elders a rich gem vein in the nearby hills. The residents of Fusil make a comfortable living mining those hills, and in return chop not a single tree.

Olfden: Olfden is a pleasant farming community, home to many retirees from the Eagle Knights. Most of these former knights join the town militia, which is consequently as well-trained as the army and is often called upon to serve during military campaigns. The Olfden volunteers are considered the finest non-military unit in southern Avistan, and the town is extremely patriotic. See also Darkmoon Vale civilization page.

Riverford: Riverford stands where the high road crosses the Andoshen river. An old stone bridge sprawls across the shallows and gives the town its name. There has been a town on this site for 3,000 years, and at least 10 major battles have been fought in the surrounding farmland. Farms and orchards form a patchwork with monuments, graveyards, and barrow mounds, and farmers regularly till up relics from the past, be they old coins, arrowheads, or something more valuable.

Sauerton: This wine community is infamous for Sauerton Red, a cheap wine floated in enormous barrels down the Andoshen River to Almas. From there the dubious spirit is shipped across the Inner Sea. The wine is so cheap and plentiful that it has rarely been considered worth the effort to steal and has fueled one of Andoran’s many colorful colloquialisms – shoddy craftsmanship or a poor stage performance may elicit a comment that the object of ridicule “must be down from Sauerton”.

Steyr: Steyr contains a large Galtan exile community, including many expatriate artists and philosophers. Thus Steyr casts an unusually long shadow in the arts community and among Andoran’s literate middle classes. The money that comes in from expatriate artworks is often funneled to those families and friends still in Galt. The Andoren government is ambivalent about the practice – helping those in need is Andoren to the core, but pumping money into Galt may only prolong the violence.

Triela: This rough-and-tumble town serves as the final port of call for the lumberjacks who herd Andoran’s Verduran timber down the Sellen River, and is regularly flooded with new money as the men do their best to spend it away before their hard slog back up to the wood. Taverns and brothels line the streets and respectable folk stay in the “upper town”, a few gated streets of nicer houses and mercantile establishments that don’t traffic with the tough river men.