Telasaro (Dominaria Supplement)
Telasaro, Large City: Telasaro is a city of new power, a city of opportunity and progress. At least that's the news these days. The Lady Lara "Silvertongue" Telas has been reshaping the city and deftly navigating the political landscape of Ramosia ever since she assumed power in the city. She swept herself and her family into power following the city's fall and subsequent anarchy during the Unification Wars. The city was once known as Gardenhall, ruled by the House Terran for a century and a half, and the Landors before them, and another family before them. During the chaos following the city's surrender to the 'Jack of Blades', Adam Renzel's chief general, Lady Telas and her guards and armsmen seized power. She led her men into the chaotic keep and took the Terrarium, the beautiful palace the city was named for. The last members of House Terran dissapeared that night, and in two days Lady Telas had a treaty with the Renzels, the remains of the city guard at her back, and money in her coffers. She has ruled from the top of an ever growing pile of contacts and intrigue since. The court of the Terrarium is full of power brokers, the powerful, and representatives of the Low Houses of Telasaro and lesser Houses besides, informants, and the like. House Telas is still a small House, and their hold on their Seat is more tenuous than it seems. Even with a powerful branch of the Nurims under her sway however, the Lady Telas has managed to stay on top and keep her rule stable.
| [[Image:|200px|center]] | |
| Size | |
| Large City | |
| Power Center | |
| Conventional, Lady Lara Telas Tier 4 | |
| Alignment | |
| Lawful Neutral | |
| Adult Population | |
| 160,000 | |
| Gold Limit | |
| 310,000 gp | |
| Language & Diversity | |
| Ramosi, Homogenous (80% Ramosi, 5% Elves, 5% Dwarves, 5% Other) | |
| Ramosia Menu |
|---|
| High Seats |
| Low Seats |
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The city itself is a beautiful city. Building projects over the last few years have coated the walls in plaster and concrete, patching the damage and giving the now sand-colored walls an exotically angular grace. Beyond these walls a realm of flowers, vines, cobbled streets, and fachwerk architecture stretches up a gentle slope to the Lady's Wood and the High Garden surrounding the Terrarium. The people of Telasaro trade up and down the river and work trade-craft throughout the city to sell to the countryside. They're a happy people in general, given to partying and frivolous feasting, and this is reflected in the city's long held reputation for flamboyant beauty. Northern and southern flowers grow easy in the lands around the city and the people put them everywhere. Creeping vines too add an ever-present hue of green to the distinctive buildings.
Locations
The Terrarium: The High Seat of Telasaro resides on the old campus of the Artain University, a magical school and guild that rose to power in the Third Age and fell near the beginning of the Purge that ended the Second Imperium. House Terran soldiers stormed the grounds and uncharacteristic marble and bronze buildings after a long standoff and negotiation and finally took the land of the catacombs nine days later. Out of respect for the site, the library and grand Terrarium were spared the first week of the fighting. And, although the library was half burned to the ground in a single hour, the Terrarium survived. The Terrarium was the lasting legacy of Artain Windwalker, and magically houses rare and exotic plants from the length and breadth of Dominaria in five climate-controlled rooms.
House Terran restored the grounds over the next decade and spent a considerable fortune to restock the library. The House centered their grand new Palace on the terrarium and reordered the small streets and footpaths to converge there. A shrewd observer could note covered arches and out of place doors, or cellar stairs without accompanying buildings, but House Terran and the intervening decades have hidden most of these anachronisms. The Terrarium became the Seat of the House, after the careful addition of a glass clad throne room, and then namesake of the Seat. In no time, the relatively minor House Terran had the grandest Seat in the Ramosi Crescent, a title that would not be taken from them until Adam Renzel's redesign of the Palace of Aqritar.
The palace soon became a necessary stop on any noble journey through Ramosia and soon a steady stream of wealthy Seats, nobles, hunters, and companies graced the Terrarium each month. The meetings here, along with the money their entourages pumped into the economy of (then) Gardenhall put the city was on the edge of a breakthrough when the Unification War broke out. The vast and mostly untapped regions north of the city along the Daan River remain her most valuable unused resource.
Note: The oddity of a small House having such a grand palace and the semi-ridiculous redistribution of wealth that was a side-effect (and some say primary driver) of the Purge are two data points that meet in Telasaro. Not sure what to do with this...
The Narrows: The northeast side of the city is a warren of canals, mills, and buisinesses. The canals are diverted from the Daan as is flows by the city and allow extensive millworks inside the city. This was once necessary to ensure the safety of the city's small industrial concerns, but has evolved into a streamlined if dirty factory and finishing district. All of the ore and lumber mined in the Ramosi Northlands passes through Telasaro and is refined in The Narrows. The Narrows, despite being the reason the city is a High Seat, is far and away the dirtiest part of the city and the docks outside of it are a close second. The docks are a nearly mandatory stop for shipping headed south to reprovision and give their crews R&R after long excursions north. Locks and an ingenious system of canals take ships north around the rapids near the city.
The influx of water into the narrows also provides water pressure for the city's sewers and public water systems. The city was, at one point, the City of a Thousand Fountains thanks to this high water pressure; but these works of art have fallen into disrepair in the face of the city's new industriousness.
Lastbridge Keep & Lastbridge Market: Lastbridge Keep is the fort that holds the northern approach to the River Daan and Telasaro's northern gate. The stout double-motte fortress straddles the bridge and two stout keeps rise atop the hills. Lastbridge Keep shelters a fortified bailey under its walls, and within in Lastbridge Market. The Market is a holdover to a time when the Nurimanian Reach (current northern Ramosia) was a dangerous place, and entry into the Kingdom of Nurimania and its brief successors was tightly controlled. Presently, there are still markets in the bailey, but it is mostly a stock and lumber yard for landowners north of the city to store product before it is shipped south via river.
Organizations
The Order of the Wardens:
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