History of Stonebridge (Books)

"History of Stonebridge" is a set of books in Dungeon Siege III. Split into 5 volumes, each describing a notable event in city's history.
== Location ==
Stonebridge. All 5 volumes are at the Meisterhall, in the chamber where Meisters are gathering.
== Contents ==
=== Volume 1: Stonebridge: The Early Years ===
Founded centuries ago by a shrewd Imperial trader, Stonebridge was first settled by craftsmen and merchants of Virsk descent. They gave the town its industrious, mercantile spirit, and their quaint, half-timbered houses are still common throughout Stonebridge. When Ehb became an independent kingdom, Stonebridge was granted a town charter, as well as autonomy from noble rule. The townsfolk were governed by an elected mayor and a council of guildmasters, instead of a noble lord.
Stonebridge suffered terribly during the Seck Resurgence, but the city recovered with remarkable speed. Under the leadership of mayor Rupert Ketzler, Stonebridge became the first city to invite goblins to settle within its limits. The goblins brought considerable wealth and technology, and Stonebridge enjoyed a long period of prosperity, becoming the largest and wealthiest city in Ehb.
The office of Lord Mayor would remain in the Ketzler family for over a century, passed from father to son, through five generations. Despite their unapologetic greed, the Ketzlers presided over a golden age in Stonebridge, popularly known as the Goblin Renaissance.
=== Volume 2: The Fall of the Legion in Stonebridge ===
The last of the Ketzler mayors was Tomas, elected at age 14, after the accidental death of his father. By that time, the office of Lord Mayor had become a hereditary affair. No one questioned the election of a mere lad—and a tiny, girlish one, at that—as long as he was a Ketzler. Besides, he had his mother and his three aunts to look after him. And they were the Tobelmann sisters—the richest and prettiest young women in Stonebridge.
Then the king of Ehb was slain, and suspicious eyes were cast upon the Legion. The Tobelmann sisters looked at the wealthy chapterhouse and saw the riches that could be theirs—so they began to speak openly against the Legion, casting doubt and suspicion in the people’s minds. And when Jeyne Kassynder arrived in Stonebridge, the Tobelmann sisters were waiting, with a mob of townsfolk behind them.
The mob surged into the city square and fell upon the legionnaires, while others (including the Tobelmanns) ransacked and looted the chapterhouse. By day’s end, all the legionnaires were dead—and the townspeople were faced with the horror they had wrought…
=== Volume 3: The Tomcat Rebellion ===
After the fall of the Legion, a sense of guilt fell over the city. The people were ashamed at what they had done, and they had no more patience for the young mayor, Tomas Ketzler, or for his mother, Elsa Tobelmann, who had helped rouse the city against the Legion.
The people assembled in the city square and voted Tomas Ketzler out of office—the first time a Ketzler had lost the office of mayor in over a hundred years. But Tomas’s mother would not give up power so easily. With the right friends, Elsa knew she could take the city back. She sent a letter to the royal princes, knowing that they were planning war against Jeyne Kassynder, and they were desperate for allies. She offered her city’s support if the princes would help her retake control of Stonebridge.
But her letter was intercepted, and a copy found its way onto the desk of Rainald Kassel, guildmaster of the ironmongers. (To this day, no one knows who intercepted the letter, or how they did it.) The letter revealed that Elsa Tobelmann planned to stage a coup against the city on the evening of the Midsummer Feast. So the people decided to stage a surprise of their own…
=== Volume 4: The Battle of Midsummer's Eve ===
Elsa Tobelmann’s mercenaries came riding into the city square at midnight, on the evening of the Midsummer Feast. Young Tomas Ketzler—the former mayor—rode at their head, bearing the tomcat banner of his forefathers. The rebels assumed that they would find a mass of drunken revelers, too exhausted to put up a fight. Instead, the “drunken revelers” rose to their feet, brandishing swords. And from side streets, phalanxes of goblins appeared, bristling with muskets and enormous firecrackers.
Goblin rockets swooped in all directions, bursting over the heads of the mercenaries, sending them diving for cover. Poor Tomas Ketzler fell off his horse, which spooked and fled, dragging the young man by one foot, shedding bits of armor as he bounced from one cobble to the next. His mercenaries took this as a signal to retreat, and they fled in wild disarray.
The people of Stonebridge broke into a merry pursuit, chasing the rebels halfway to Wesrin Cross before collapsing into exhausted heaps and issuing a series of ragged cheers. Neither Tomas Ketzler nor his mother, Elsa Tobelmann, was ever seen in Stonebridge again.
=== Volume 5: The Rise of the Meisters ===
After the infamous Tomcat Rebellion—so named because the symbol for the Ketzler family had been a bristling tomcat—the people of Stonebridge declared another day of celebration, and joyful drinking and debauchery ensued.
Rainald Kassel, who had coordinated the city’s defense, met with the town’s guildmasters and merchant lords, and they revised the town’s charter to their liking. Henceforward, Stonebridge would be ruled by a council of its most prominent citizens—the meisters of Stonebridge. Most importantly, Stonebridge was declared a free and independent republic. Rainald Kassel became the first mayor of the city, under the new regime.
Since the meisters took power, technology has advanced at a rapid pace, and the city’s fortunes have improved. Stonebridge has remained stubbornly neutral in the war between the royal princes and Jeyne Kassynder, forbidding either side to trespass on their territory. Perhaps the only significant trouble has been the rise of an elusive criminal mastermind, the Dapper Old Gent, who has confounded the city authorities for the better part of 30 years.
== See also ==
* Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 on Dungeon Siege RUwiki.
Category:Books
Category:Dungeon Siege III Books
==Appearances==
*