Narashtovik

Narashtovik has three concentric circles: outside the Pridegate, the section between Pridegate and Ingate, and the interior of the city, where the Sealed Citadel sits behind its own walls. There's a large bay on the north and a small river running through it.

Formerly part of the Gaskan Empire. Won independence at the close of the Chainbreakers' War.

## History

Narashtovik is more than 1200 years old, and has long been a center of worship for the followers of Arawn. It also has a long history of getting sacked.

1200 years before the Cycle of Arawn Trilogy, Narashtovik was home to the Rashen people. To the east, the Elsen roamed among the Woduns- still hills, at that point. The Elsen's skilled cavalry made them very good at sacking Narashtovik. After several decades of getting sacked, the nethermancers of Narashtovik taught themselves earthmoving and laid traps in the eastern plains to slow the Elsen. This was largely successful, and in their victory it was decided to make a more permanent end of the Elsen and their raids. This was largely *un*successful, and ended up with most of the soldiers Narashtovik sent dead and the Elsen antagonized. Their raids resumed, now focused more on destruction of the city than looting (it's also worth noting that much of Narashtovik's material wealth had already been plundered by this point). Narashtovik was near collapse when they received word of strange lights sighted in the Norren Territories. A party was sent out, and they returned with Cellen. The Council at the time then sent a raid of their own into the Wodun hills, where the earthmovers used Cellen to raise the Woduns into mountains. Nearly all of the Elsen were killed, and the survivors settled east of the new-made mountains in the area that would later become Weslee.

In the wake of the massive amount of death caused by this act, Narashtovik descended into civil war. In the end, the earthmovers destroyed all knowledge of their skill and left to found Pocket Cove, where they remained in self-imposed isolation for the next thousand years. The rest of the story was systematically excised by spies from Spiren at the Minister's order as part of his plan to claim Cellen and use it to exact vengeance on Narashtovik for the ruin of the Elsen. In recent times, this story only became known in Narashtovik because Minn broke her vows to the People of the Pocket to explain to the current Council of Narashtovik why it was that they were about to be destroyed by an enemy they had never known existed.

Narashtovik was once the regional capital, but after years of repeated invasions that eventually earned it the titles of the City of Nine Fragments and, more recently, the Dead City, the capital was officially moved to Setteven, where it has remained for several centuries. Narashtovik still retained a substantial amount of political and religious power despite this.

Around the time of the last Scour, Narashtovik fell into disrepair as its population shrunk. After the Unlocking and the subsequent power shift within the Council, Narashtovik entered a renaissance of sorts, with more people (many of them refugees ousted by the Unlocking) moving into the city and turning the abandoned housing and young pine forest outside of the Pridegate into active farmland.

After the Chainbreakers' War, in which Narashtovik backed the norren fighting for their independence, Narashtovik declared its own independence from the Gaskan Empire and has since maintained its status as an independent state.

## Culture

Though the other gods of the Celeset are of course recognized, it's largely an Arawnite city. Because it sits so far north, people wear heavy coats, usually lined with fur, and high-collared shirts. It's far enough north to be able to see the Ghost Lights. There are mass graves located throughout the city and it's not uncommon to find bones in older, unused basements thanks to the age of the city and the repeated invasions. The language of Narashtovik is a dialect of Gaskan that is different enough that a few people consider it its own language. The architecture is more gothic in nature than that found in Mallon.

The Pridegate, Narashtovik's outermost wall, is so named because no one has ever willingly quit its defense (though it has been destroyed more than once). It is dotted with three-story towers along its length. Within the walls of Ingate, the second wall ringing the city, lies the Cathedral of Ivars, where weekly sermons are given by members of the Council, who rule both the city and the order of Arawn. Across a plaza from the Cathedral is the Sealed Citadel, a walled compound that houses the bulk of the religious figures in the city.

Narashtovik's economy is largely maintained by the various guilds in the city. There is also a thriving underworld, with several organized gangs, including the Order of the Alley and the Little Knives.

There are two major tunnels (that are known) under the city. One extends from one of the dungeon cells out past the walls of the Sealed Citadel, dug by Dante when Kav had him imprisoned on suspicion of murder. The second, also dug by Dante, runs from the Carneterium into the Citadel's basements. It was intended to be used as a last-ditch escape hatch if the Gaskan invasion at the end of the Chainbreakers' War went very badly. The Carneterium tunnel is still open and functional, while the dungeon tunnel was plugged on either end to prevent passage.