Nidaros

<infobox accent-color-default="#0f2a5f"><title><default>Lordship of Nidaros</default></title>
 <image><default>File:SigilNidaros.png</default>
 <default>Sigil of the Lordship of Nidaros</default></image>
 <panel>
 
 <label>Location</label><default>North-eastern Drakesland</default>
 <label>Founded</label><default>50 TE</default>
 <label>Geographical Distinctives</label><default>Mountain City by a river and its caves</default>
 <label>Predominant Religions</label><default>VareismSoleviel</default>
 <label>Denonym</label><default>NidaroseanNidarosi</default>
 <label>Primary Languages</label><default>DrakaeshlangeValrean Dialects</default>
 <label>Historical Lords</label><default>Tiffany CanalopinMaria Canalopin</default>
 
 </panel>
</infobox>The City of Nidaros, officially the Lordship of Nidaros, was one of the oldest long-standing cities in the Drakaesland. It was founded on the year 50 TE as a Drakaen colonial outpost, during Arnin's Conquest of the Eastern Drakesland. It grew to became the main city northernest of the Regnum Drakaes.
After the collapse of the Drakaen Concordat, Nidaros declared the independence of the former Province of Greater Nidaros and established itself as the Kingdom of Nidaros with Vin Helianthus at its head. After the reunification with Nujharia, Nidaros became the Jewel city of the Kingdoms of Valreach.
After the disolution of Zie Drakaen Köntrybund, and as a reaction to the vassalisation of Valreach under Simulami, Nidaros declared independence and proclaimed the Second Kingdom of Nidaros. It would be dissolved after its defeat on the Siege of Nidaros, in the context of the Valreach Civil War. Even after its fall, the city stood as one of the main settlements in the Drakaen continent. However, its importance diminished.
==Etymology==
Nidaros /nidaɾɔs/ composed by 'Nid', 'ar' and 'os'. Nid stands for 'Nido', the name of the native tribes that inhabitated the region before the arrival of the Drakaen settlers, 'os' stands as a common sufix for settlements that north-eastern Drakaens founded, and 'ar' is used as an infix or particle that can be translated to the common tongue to 'in' or 'at'. Therefore, Nidaros could be translated to 'The city in Nido' or 'The city at Nido's'.
==Vexilology==
File:SigilNidaros.png|Sigil of the City of Nidaros
File:NidarosFlag.png|Flag of the Kingdom of Nidaros
==Geography ==
The City of Nidaros lays around the Segrespent on its pass through the Lion's Ridge, a chain of mountains located in the north-eastern border of the Drakesland and south of Simulami Empire. The city is built beneath, around and above the mountains closer to the river.
===The Tunnels of Nidaros===
==History ==
===Foundation===
The settlement of Nidaros was founded on the year 50 TE by Tiffany Canalopin as part of the Drakaen colonisation of the north-eastern regions of the Drakesland. The shores of a river passing through a mountain were chosen for the settlement due to its defensive and strategic value, as well as due to the presence of remains of ancient local settlements, most probably from the Nido Tribes.
===Sorbian Dispute===
During the year 72 TE, a foreign group known as Jorvs arrived in the Drakesland led by Ackyi Jarl and founded a small settlement south of the city of Nidaros. This new village, Sorbia, as they named it, worked as a base for the Jorvs to raid towns in the Drakesland. The Round Table of Nidaros decided that the nearby settlement had to go and seek help from Autarch Arnin. Ilnur Almirion, a citizen of the city, was sent as an envoy to the Jorvian settlement to offer them a place far from the city of Nidaros. They were offered as well to be recognised as Drakaen citizens. Ackyi Jarl agreed to the terms. A valley to the west of the county of the White Corridor was chosen for the new settlement. 
Some days after the agreement, the Sorbians began digging trenches around the settlement and building watch towers around the forest. President Vin and The Round Table decided to prepare a small force to assault Sorbia but a Jorvian envoy, the cousin of Ackyi Jarl, Bedaer, arrived to the city and said that the Sorbians had no intention of moving. However, he had taken the position of Jarl after killing Ackyi and signed a treaty with Nidaros.
This group of Jorvian raiders finally settled in a definitive settlement that they named Jorvick. The relations between the Nidarosi and the Jorvs would not end with this dispute. With the reform of Regnum Drakaes into the Drakaen Concordat, Jorvick got its own province or Polity. Out of the Nidarosean authority, Jorvick began to expand to the north, closer and closer to the border with the lands of Nidaros. After weeks of tension, a land agreement was reached, putting the tensions to an end for some years.
===First Kingdom of Nidaros ===
After the dissolution of Regnum Drakaes by Autarch Tiffany Canalopin, former president Vin Helianthus proclaimed the Kingdom of Nidaros, with himself as King. This new state contained the northern half of the former Drakaen province of Great Nidaros. It adquired and traded land with the new state of Mugen, that had annexed most of the land south of the Kingdom. Its borders finally stabilised after the annexation of the lands by the Strait of Vircon, after the fall of Saror Haven.
The early history of the Kingdom it is defined by the common clashes with the city of Jorvick, close to the southern border, that was expanding and seeked land that Nidaros owned. Most tensions were finally resolved by the new appointed Hand of the Kingdom of Nidaros, Delta Sien. A friendship with Jorvick would then begin thanks to the good relations between Tiffany Canalopin, still mayor of the city of Nidaros and Kendal Reach, second in command of the city of Jorvick. Both would end up marrying and having children.
===Nidaros under Valreach ===
On the , The Kingdom of Nidaros and The Island of Nujh unified into The Kingdoms of Valreach, in the form of a Diarchy led by Vin Healianthus, King of Nidaros and Vix Aulian, King of Nujharia. The unification was mostly pushed by the Hand of Nidaros who seeked a stronger Realm without grudges and tensions.
The Kingdom of Nidaros would keep its rank of Kingdom and the ceremonial title of Monarch, both rights granted by the Valrean Constitution. This order would ensure peace and growth for the following years.
== Culture ==
Even if it was founded during the times of the Drakesland Autarchy and its Vareist philosophy, the people of Nidaros always embraced folk tales and legends. The Nidarosi were more supersticious than other peoples of the Drakesland. Most of their stories and songs talked about the Nido folk. Little the Nidarosi knew about them, for the city was founded years after the Nido societies collapsed. However, their regional identity was forged around the idea of a spiritual succession inherited from the Nido.
Other folk tales were introduced later on, during the First Kingdom of Nidaros. Some were adaptations of Drakaen myths to fit the new state of Drakesland, without a unified Drakaen state. Another source of tales and collective memory was the arrival of Soleviel from the north. The significance of the first church of Soleviel being erected in Nibury made the conversion of pagan beliefs into a regional Soleviel dogma very easy for the local priests.
==Construction and Landmarks==
During the first decade of its history, Nidaros had built most of its structures underground, carved into the faces of the tunnels naturally dug by the Segrespent. Later, artificial tunnels would be excavated to connect the streets made out of planks by the river to the surface, by the mountain. Before that infrastructure was finished, the citizens had to use small boats to access the city through the river.
==== Nido Shrine ====
The Nido Shrine is the only structure that precedes the foundation of the City of Nidaros. Its origins seem to be related to the Nido Tribes that inhabited the region before the Drakaen settlers arrived. Located at the peak of a mountain just south of the Segrespent's shores, it made the city's scholars believe it was a sort of shrine to praise the moon or some other deity. It is a solitary place that doesn't attract the citizen's attention, for ghost stories by the Shrine began to be shared among Nidarosi after the city's foundation.
==== Main Hall ====
The Main Hall of Nidaros is the first underground room that one finds after entering the city through the Old Gate. It is a large and wide covered space by the river's shore that serves as a main plaza. Some citizens use the Hall for meetings and improvised markets, allowed by the Round Table. Sometimes, the Hand's builders use it, temporarily, as storage for materials that are being transported from one side to the other one of the Segrespent within the cities' walls.
Following a stairs up, there is also a room that publicly displays relics and significant treaties of Nidarosean history. Some of the items that can be found in the hall are: the Grave of Hubert the Virtuous, the first woven banner of the city, the Nidarosi-Jorvian Land Agreement, the Final Road Agreement, the original manuscript of The Valrean-Catanian Commonwealth Compromise and King Vin's Royal crown.
==== Treasury ====
The Treasury is the city's oldest governmental building. Its administration is directly conducted by the mayor of the city. The Treasury is in the Lower Sea Dragon Street, and it was built on the rock, by an open section of the cave, receiving natural light from the sun. It is composed by a simple room filled with storage, chests and vaults. The access is prohibited to the citizens without express consent of the mayor.
==== Round Table's Chambers ====
The Round Table's Chambers is the main administrative and governmental building of the city. It is located just west of the Main Hall, above the sealing of the river cave by its western entrance. They were originally a set of rooms excavated to the sides of a tunnel that connected both shores above the river. Overtime, however, it became a well established hub for all the governmental affairs of the city and the Kingdom of Nidaros.
The main room, right above the river's gate is where the Round Table is located. The shape of this table, where the aristocrats appointed by the mayor and the Monarch sit gave its name to the same group of politicians.
==== Drakesrest ====
The Drakesrest is the only proper castle in the city of Nidaros. With most of the city's buildings hidden beneath the mountain, the Drakesrest rises form the largest peak and extends into nearby hills. Originally designed by Drakaen architects, it wasn't finished until the First Kingdom. That's the reason we can find symbology from both states, predominantly Nidarosi on the finishes and details.
The main building operations were finished right before the Holy Drakaen Empire crisis. King Vin Helianthus was removed from power and Lagertha mostly ruled from Eradios, Capital in the West. During the short rule of Tiffany Canalopin as Queen of Nidaros, the castle was getting prepared to be occupied by the Kingdom's royalty. However, with the restoration of House Helianthus, the Drakesrest ended used just by the Nidarosean divisions of the Valrean Army. Over the years, it became a gloomy abandoned titan just guarded by a handful of rangers.
When Delta Aulian was ratified as Autarch by the Drakaen senate, she chose to establish her court at Nidaros until the Drakaen Ephorate had decided a permanent capital for the Köntrybund. However, Nidaros would become the de facto capital of the Köntrybund until its dissolution. It was then when the castle was totally used by the Aulian and Canalopin House. Later on, after Delta's suicide, during Maria's rule as queen in the Second Kingdom, the castle was readapted to fully represent the House of Canalopin's rule over Nidaros and the Drakesland. After the Siege of Nidaros, the Simu-Valrean troops occupied the castle shortly before abandoning it, following the city's decline. The Drakesrest slowly turned into a giant pile of collapsed chambers and dark stone. 
The Drakesrest always has been the biggest castle in the territories controlled by both Kingdoms. Inside, the Throne Room dominates the complex with its size, by far the biggest room in the Drakesrest. However, the castle also contains many bedchambers, council chamber, solar, private garden, guest palace, library, laboratory and an entire complex for the Nidaros Rangers, in charge of the city's defence. The castle is mostly built using dark stone from the underground quarry. With a crane installed by the eastern gates, the Nidarosean builders were able to carry all the materials necessary for its construction.
The Drakesrest has two known entries, one through the cargo bay used by the crane, that connects to the dungeons and storage rooms; and the main gates. This main gate can be accessed through the moutnain road that follows form the Soleviel Stave Church and the Nido Shrine. A bridge from the eastern mountains connects as well to the mountain road, by the castle's entrance.
==== Princess' Gardens ====
The gardens by Delta's old house, usually known as 'Princess' Garden's' were originally a private backyard by the old walls that could be accessed from the Sea Dragon Street. At some point during Delta's rule as Hand of Nidaros, she opened the access to the public, after having expanded the garden to become the biggest green area with all sort of flowers in the city. Delta's old house, that belonged to her father before her, still had the bedroom's balcony above the garden, by the pond were some Nidarosi and Valrean Soleviel Priests began baptising the believers.
==== Stave Church ====
The Nidaros' Stave Church, built by Prince Yorg Aulian & Canalopin around the year 125 TE, was the first Soleviel church within the walls of the city. Until then, most Nidarosi followers of Solaris would gather in the Main Hall to pray together or would attend the sermons at the church of Nibury or even the Summerhall Abbey.
This church was built above the central hills of Nidaros, to be an easily accessible place. It's entirely made of spruce from the Frosty Grove. It is wide enough to fit all weekly attendants to the sermons and ceremonies. Inside, Soleviel relics are stored and displayed, such as crystals and legendary weapons wielded by saints and martyrs. 
In this church several important weddings have taken place. First and most importantly, the Royal wedding between High King Vix Aulian and High Queen Lagertha Moreau, in 131 TE. Duchess Tiffany Canalopin, mayor of the city, also got married in the church, with Hannibal Rockwell. Princess Delta married twice in the Stove church. Once in 134 TE with Wardaddy Luon and in 141 TE with Erica z Červenliška. Other Valrean nobles like Björn Moreau and Maria Moreau have married in the church as well. 
== Economy ==
For its beginings as a colonial outpost during the Wars of Expansion, Nidaros did not have a rich and dynamic economy. Citizens lived off the land and the little surplus of product was usually sent to Aurica and other cities in the Regnum. When the capital of Drakaes was moved to Nidaros in 72 TE, the city city had already a couple of thousand of citizens and small artisan workshops and companies filled the Sea Dragon's street. With its new status, the city's population boomed to the twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and the most prosperous companies and businesses were formed.
=== Local Businesses ===
==== Nivellan Books ====
Nivellan Books Publisher is the longest-running book publisher company in the Drakesland. Founded by Autarch Tiffany Canalopin around the year 75 TE, it served as the main publisher for most biographies and history books written by the Drakaen, Nidarosean and Amarillian aristocracy. Among its authors, there were Tiffany Canalopin herself, her daughter Delta Aulian, Soronaca de Porphyropolis, Lhytt Poliorcetes and Alfric Aulian.
Tiffany chose an old house in the Lower Sea Dragon street for the headquarters of Nivellan Books. This two story building once belonged to Ocelot Caeli citizen of Nidaros since its foundation that had disapeared some years before the company's foundation. There, Nivellan B.P. had its printing workshop and a bookstore. Decades later, with the expansion beyond the shores of the Segrespent, the mayor's company comissioned a bigger store by the Gate of Björgsvin, in the northern district.
==== Thunderbird Club ====
The Thunderbird Club is a tavern run by Ralozi Miva, a descendant from the Nido Tribes that had returned to the Drakesland after the Drakaen Concordat's dissolution. The establishment was opened next to Ralozi's own house, towards the Hand of Nidaros' house. In fact, the kitchen of the tavern is shared with the Rithean'sRithean, race the Nido Tribes were part of. Ralozi's race. own house. The main room, used by customers to drink and eat by dinner ended up overcrowded from the Club's success. For that reason, the Thunderbird Club expanded and opened an terrace by the river. Some years later, after the Jorvian casino was closed, the Thunderbird Club bought the building and used it as a banquet hall for bigger events. 
Some Nidarosean locals, customers of the Thunderbird Club report hearing someone or something crawling and growling to the other side of the rock's walls. These folk tales brought the belief that in somewhere in the Club there is an entrance to the infamous Tunnels of Nidaros, allegedly dug by the Mole King.The Mole King, also known as The Underking and The Tunneler.
====Jorvian Casino====
The Jorvian Casino was during the times of the economic boom that followed the Nido Games, years after the end of the tensions with the city of Jorvick. It was founded by Jorvians with double citizenship in Nidaros. The mayor herself, together with the Hand, allowed its construction, on the southern face of Dragon's hill, just above what would become the Princess' Gardens.
It's opening wasn't too well received by the local Nidarosean population, since many prejudices were held by the Nidarosi still. It might have been for that reason or some other that just two years after its opening, it shut down and the owners never appeared around Nidaros again. 
====Magical Menagerie====
Many blacksmiths opened their workshops in Nidaros but none had as much success as Alfric Aulian's Magical Menagerie. Years after having moved from New Yoake to Nidaros, the King's brother brought all his knowledge to the city of Nidaros. He sold all kinds of magical high-end weapons and other goods gathered from the Island of Yoake. The store was opened near the new Nivellan Books store, by the Gate of Björgsvin.
===Notable Goods===
Part of the economical development of Nidaros can be found on its several natural resources and produced goods. These mostly come from the geogrpahical characteristics of the city, located mostly around a river on its way through a mountain range. But they also are result of the cultural diversity of the peoples that inhabitate the city, such as members carrying the cultural heritage of the Nido folk and immigrants from nearby countries like Yoake.
====Nidaros' Special====
Nidaros' Special is the name given to the unique breed of pufferfish that lives in the Segrespent. The first citizens of Nidaros discovered that its flesh was not poisonous if smoked or cured. It has psychedelic effects, however, that made the locals use it as a ceremonial and recreative drug. Among its effects there is: Dizziness, excitation, hallucination and fever dreams.
Its unique effects led to the Nidarosean fishermen to actively seek this product along the river's course to export it to other cities in the Drakaesland. Famously, a trade route to Porphyropolis in the Amarillian Islas Doradas was established by Soronaca, husband of Hand Delta and member of the Aulian Royal House.
====River Fisheries====
Since its foundation and for centuries, the Segrespent has been the main local food source of the Nidarosi. Many species of fish use the caves beneath Lion's Ridge to travel up and down the current or even lay down their eggs. The rich biodiversity of this spot allowed for productive fishing industries.
====Bows and Arrows====
The Ancient Nido Tribes that inhabitated the north-west of the Drakesland were, most likely, a hunter society. Next to the Rithean buried bodies, Nidarosean archaeologists have found the remains of elaborated bows and spears. Researching these old relics, together with the skill of the last descendants of the Nido, Nidarosi artisans were able to replicate the craftmanship of the old. From then on, the Nidarosean longbows were the most valued in the Drakesland.
====Black Stone====
Benaeth the Lion's Ridge, where Nidaros lays, there are massive deposits of a rare black-shaded rock that became very precious among Drakaen builders and architects. Since the cave system beneath the city was discovered, many quarries have been opened to extract this material. It used to be exported in boats from Nibury and Frostport to other parts of the Drakesland, such as Motu, Aurica and many Catanian cities. This stone can be found used in buildings all across Nidaros. From the Main Hall and the Round Table's Chambers to the Drakesrest.
==Notes and References==
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Category:Towns
Category:Valreach
Category:Drakaes
Category:Traveler's Era