Seahold

Map of Seahold

### History

Seahold is a bustling port city, the largest hub of civilization along the northern stretches of the Adarion Coast. It lies close to the border between Avolencia and their once dwarven-ruled neighboring kingdom of Durgran. The city was built on the remains of an old dwarven stronghold from the Great War, and thankfully the outer wall was among those things of a stouter influence that survived.

Seahold itself was established through a joint effort between the dwarves of the nearby Emberspine Mountains and the gnomes of the fertile Great Plains to the south, a successful attempt to bury their differences in the wake of the Great Demon War and attempt the rebuilding process as allies.

Seahold was built with both security and efficiency in mind. It was once the technological hub for the whole Western Continent, but fame and fortune led most of the younger artificers east, to the capital isle of Drevi. The old guard remains faithful to their roots in Seahold and the surrounding countryside, choosing king and country over the fleeting nature of fame and fortune.

But as they start to fade into the sunset, not many are stepping up to take their place, and the industrial shift has begun too slow.

### Relations

As far back as most people can remember, there has been a steady sort of peace between the nations of Avolencia and Durgran. Millenia ago, after the Great War, the two nations hated each other. Dwarves and gnomes, while similar in size, have little else in common. The dwarves focused on the ore, the mining, the resources, and storing them in the event there was another war.

The gnomes only cared about what to *do* with those resources, believing that advancements in technology and the betterment of society were more important than the betterment of one’s own clan. They claimed the use of all natural resources was the divine right of every citizen in the civilized world. There was no reasoning with either party. And as the nations began the healing process from the Great War, they turned even further inward. Which is where they remained, until the Great Demon War almost five hundred years ago.

After the war, with Baphamet fallen and the remaining demons driven back to the Abyss, the Council of Sages closed and sealed the last of the Rifts, ending the war for good. Because the great Arcane Schools in Morinbour remained closed, and the island itself was uninhabitable, the influx of refuges to the mainland of the Western Continent was immense.

The dwarves of Durgran remained somewhat closed off to the newcomers, so Avolencia became a melting pot where the races and tribes of the other nations came to live, one of the few places in Drenwal where such a melding of cultures somehow managed to remain sustainable. The peace wavers from time to time, as these things do, but the local Council of Sages has always been able to restore peace before tensions rise too far. That is, before the Order of Trentham disbanded the Council as part of their purge.

The land has seen several generations roll by since the last great war, but something is brewing. An unseen catalyst is driving the neighboring lords and ladies into a maelstrom of unrest. As tempers flare, borders are breached as often as they're established, and trade routes are embargoed on a whim. With no Council left to guide them, and the Order uninterested in local politics, who knows what the future has in store for this somewhat small pocket of the world.