Dumas

Dumas
Dumas was built by the Dwarves originally and the quality of its fortifications reflects their craftsmanship. With its fertile plains, and the Iron and Gold mines to the North, Dumas has always been one of the economic powerhouses of the Kingdom. With the death of William, the cities ruler Duke Reston immediately declared his support for Solara. This had a number of impacts upon the city, with the rise of Gemidiah – the cities Dwarven and Halfling population left the city nearly en-masse – they would soon settle in Sarantaplo. Also, Alvera moved quickly to try and capture Dumas before Reston could build up his defensive forces. Alvera failed, but in the attempt laid waste to much of the cities Eastern farmlands.
Dumas then had to resist the onslaught of the Elven Empire, but by then Reston had amassed sufficient force to repel their multiple assaults.
==Major Personages===
===Duke Reston (Male Human):===
First born bastard son of King William's youth, Reston has always been a loyal supporter of Solara. There are rumours, born on cautious whispers, which tell that his mother was a Witch who seduced the young prince William with magic. Reston himself is an extremely powerful arcanist, who some would say has ventured too far in his search for arcane power. Certainly the Dwarven exiles in Sarantaplo regard him with deep distrust. Darkly charismatic, Reston has wisely led the city, delegating much responsibility to Sir Elias Boran and Lady McOvan.
===Sir Elias Boran (Male Human):===
Sir Elias was personally knighted by Duke Reston for his courageous acts during the first Alveran assault on Dumas. Since then he has risen rapidly through the military command structure and is now High Marshall Of Dumas. He founded the “Neverana Sanctonium” as an elite training ground for the Dumas Knights. It was also Sir Elias who allowed the establishment of a Church of Garm in the city, as this allowed him to bolster the defences with a large contingent of Lizardmen, initially mercenaries but now regarded as an integrated regiment within the cities military.
===Lady McOvan (Female Human):===
Rumours would have Lady McOvan as being Duke Restons mistress though neither party acknowledge this tittle tattle. With the loss of much fertile farmland and the closure of Dumas’ traditional primary trade route to Vagen the city faced potential economic collapse. The fact that it didn’t collapse, and in fact continued to thrive owes much to Lady McOvans intellect and drive. Her grip on the cities economy is unshakeable and it is said that if you try to avoid paying even 1 copper of taxes she will know about it within the hour.
===Sava Warson (Male Human):===
High Priest of Shanah in Dumas and once a good friend of Sir Elias, although he strong disagreed with the establishment of a Lizardman enclave within the city and this has caused a rift between the two of them. Given the cities war footing, Sava continues to have a strong voice on the city council and is regarded highly by most of the military.
===Tina Vanelis (Female Human):===
A strident, forceful, energetic and fundamentally disagreeable High Priestess of Gemihadist. No-one really understands why she was appointed to Dumas and certainly over the past few months attendance at her church has shown signs of decline. There has been at least one attempt on her life, although the would be assassin escaped – her firm belief is that it was a Dwarven plot and she has started to campaign for a military move against Sarantaplo now that things have quietened on the Empire front.
===Reskissss (Male? Lizardman):===
Priest of Garm and commander of the Lizardman regiment. He makes much of his devotion to Garm and regards the move to worship Shanah amongst the Lizardmen with great dismay. The Lizard Regiment is often found to the forefront in any defence of the city, and Reskissss is actually the fourth commander to take the post over the past year. It is this willingness to defend the city that has led to the Lizardmen being, somewhat grudgingly, accepted by the cities general populace.
==City Areas/Locations==
===Dumas Castle:===
A castle, on a fortified island in the centre of a strongly fortified city, folklore has it that Dumas Castle will never fall unless attacked by the ‘First Dwarf’ (who or whatever that is). Reston himself has carried out much research into this, but what he has discovered he keeps only to himself.
===Neverana Sanctonium:===
A military training complex that houses the elite city regiments. During the darkest periods of the civil war and subsequent Empire invasion, Reston resorted to press ganging recruits into the army and having them run through a crash course at this complex. As such, most of the general populace now regard this complex with more than a little distrust and whilst the Dumas Knights are still a force to be feared in battle, they no longer receive the respect and adulation that they used to take for granted.
===Halls of Man:===
Once a temple of Universal, it was reconsecrated to the Gemihadist faith by Lady Larstar as soon as Reston declared for Solara. Conflict with Alvera and more recently the Elves has kept the congregation swollen but more recently the overt bigotry of the High Priestess has begun to alienate many once faithful and there are rumours of a new shrine to Universal being established somewhere in the city.
===War Halls:===
The temple of Shanah, once based on the central island, the temple was relocated close to the East Gate by the current High Priest, Sava Warson, “to be closer to the fighting”. Most people believe that Warson simply wanted to away from the politicking on the island, and in particular – closes to the Lizardmen so that he could keep an eye on them.
===GARM Walks:===
An old warehouse complex that has been repurposed as a Temple of GARM, nothing extremely ornate – and actually with a shrinking core of faithful as many Lizardmen are converting or at least paying joint homage to Shanah. The complex doubles as the training grounds for the Lizardmen regiment and is positioned to be able to rapidly deploy to the walls.
===Lizards Quarter:===
Once inhabited by a variety of races, this quarter became depopulated as Gemihadist gained ascendancy in the city. Once Reston allowed the Lizardmen to settle here, the remaining humans in the district moved out to other areas of the city and now it is rare to find any non-Lizardman walking the streets of this area, except for city patrols.
===The Murks:===
The slums of Dumas, damage incurred during the many assaults on the city have left this area a warren of narrow streets and alleys many of which are still blocked by uncleared rubble. Press ganging was rife here during the height of the wars. This has left the area only sparsely populated, primarily with young children, elders and invalided “veterans”.
===Smoketown:===
Once a thriving centre of metallurgy, with many Dwarven forges working with the metals and ores that came down from the mines on barges. The departure of the Dwarves badly hit the city, and the human smiths that moved into the area have not been able to return the area to its former glory. Of course, with the focus on weapons, in bulk, up to now that hasn’t really been too much of a concern.
===Gold Quarter:===
A prosperous area of Dumas, with a lot of merchant houses, jewellers and goldsmiths. The economic damage from the civil war was felt most strongly here, but Lady McOvan has sponsored new trade routes, particularly to the West and North that have kept the area thriving. Of course it is also rumoured that many of the merchants have opened up their own trade routes and certainly the city authorities are regularly inspecting the local warehouses and auditing the accounts.
===North Quarter:===
With Tronston town becoming such a major trading partner, this quarter has seen a rise in popularity and prosperity, despite occasional damage from Elven or Alveran assaults. There is even talk of expanding the highway and enlarging the city gate to alleviate the bottlenecks that occur when a major caravan passes through.
===The Jewels:===
This district houses the noble families of Dumas, all notionally loyal to Reston and Solara there have been tales of some unrest here. This no doubt stems from the fact that Reston forced each of the houses to actively participate in the city defence which over the years has led to more than a few casualties amongst the families and also significant costs in replacing their personal retinues.
===Eastern Market:===
Once the richest market in the city, the area has taken significant war damage and has lost all trade to the East. Nowadays much of the area has been levelled and there is the beginning of a shanty town springing up, particularly ex residents of the Lizards quarter.
===Southern Market:===
Though not as damaged as the Eastern market, this area has seen a marked decline in prosperity with Vagen and Sarantaplo closed to Dumas a trading partners. Nowadays it survives by purely dealing in the agricultural produce from the Southern territories which is sold back into the city.
===Western District:===
As the Southern and Eastern markets have declined, the traders in the West have begun to thrive. Expanded trade routes West providing a ready market for the foodstuffs and metals that Dumas is famous for have brought money into the district. The authorities have stamped down on anything they see as war profiteering, but even so this area is becoming notorious as the place where anything can be bought….for a price.
===The Granaries:===
Not actually granaries as such, most of the remaining agricultural production of Dumas passes through this area. Lesser merchant houses, wagon companies, guard company quarters, food processing houses, warehouses and all the supporting industries are to be found here. Always busy, even during the depths of winter, the locals proudly state that the Granaries never sleeps.