Verdcastle

**Location**
 **Religion** | The Allfather

Verdcastle, the supreme domain of the Dragon Seat, is one of Athelorn’s most populous cities and is situated on the shores of the Silver River floating down from the Worldspire Mountains just to the north of the mighty city. Verdcastle is one of only three larger settlements throughout the Aiedonian province and serves as the provincial as well as the Imperial Capitol. The city is home to almost a million people, including one full Aiedonian Legion sworn solely to the protection of the Ascendant of the Dragon Seat and Verdcastle itself.

The city is, in many ways, a thing of legend filled with all manner of secrets hailing back to the art of Olthan craftmanship that laid the foundation of Verdcastle. The city was supposedly ordered to be constructed by decree of Braedon the Conqueror toward the end of his reign, but it took more than two generations to complete. The finished structure was significantly smaller than todays massive metropolitan, and over time a second and third wall was constructed to cover the ever-expanding permanent settlements. While the outer walls and gates are impressive, the gravity of how lesser these works are compared to true Olthan craftsmanship is laid bare when compared to the inner city in general and Oathalla in particular.

Trade via the Empire’s capitol is rampant and it serves as a main hub for trade with Thaerdon, Guthandom, Laithdom, and Earedh. Not only is pure trade great in the region, Verdcastle also has access to huge quantities of silver, iron and gold from deposits in the Worldspire Mountains and most of the Empire’s raw metal flows through Verdcastle, enriching its ruler greatly. The areas directly surrounding Verdcastle is also very fertile, sustaining the cities need for grain resources.

Further away from Verdcastle arable land declines rapidly, as most of Aiedon consist of harsh highlands populated by the nomadic Aiedonian clans. These clans are often structured around the Riedhon-structure into highly mobile cavalry legions herding a majority of their own food supplies across Aiedon.

## Oathalla

Explaining the significance of Oathalla to the Aiedonian people would be a daunting task for any scholar, as Oathalla is viewed as the birth of their people, their greatest defeat and their greatest triumph wrapped into one. It is said that Vizzelthezz fell on the very spot that the Dragon Seat was erected and that his fall created the great hill upon which Verdcastle is built. While Verdcastle itself towers toward the sky, Oathalla reaches even further with towers and spires clawing the heavens. In actuality, Oathalla used to refer to what is now the throne room, but as the keep grew around the hall, the name became synonymous with the Keep itself. The keep, although it has grown over the years, has been meticulously planned by Aeiheron the Swift and later modified and renovated further by Aerick the Keeper. Thus, the keep is filled with secret passageways and doors such that not even the Imperial Houses or the Blood Legion knows all of them.

The throne room itself also functions as a chapel to the All-Father and the holiest of ceremonies are held within the citadel. Among the most widely spread secret ceremonies held in Oathalla includes the Oathing Ceremony following the ascent of a new Emperor or Empress. It is said that the very first sarchophagous to Braedon the Conqueror can be found in its depths. The hall also contains a huge statue of the first Emperor, towering over the resting place of Oathdregu.

In short, Oathalla is the spiritual and political centre of the Empire from which the Empress governs with an iron fist.