Tor Celer

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Tor Celer is a major city of the Aurian Empire.

## History

1500BE: Supposedly the Avatar of Knowledge in his guise as Celer the tradesman founded the town. He made it a way point between the men of the plains and the river men of the Siren Water. Elves built a settlement and here trained humans in Divinia and Arcania. The First Shrine and the foundations of the elven archives in the city are said to already be in place by this date.

800BE: Under the leadership of a human Praetor of Knowledge Everknown Tor Celer becomes the capital of its own city state. This grows to be a powerful nation known as Vale Celer . The official church of Celer is founded here upon the First Shrine.

795BE: The humans of Vale Celer take the elven archives and oust the elves who they claimed were hiding the most powerful knowledge from them. A civil war ensues resulting in a racial divide.

750BE: Tor Celer is now a human only city.

560BE: Vale Celer fights off an invasion from Tor Zeric. It is seen as a sign of Celer's favour. The Praetor of Knowledge Philosopholes is the hero of the war defeating the invasion and leading the clerics and Templar to victory.

371-364: After the death of the archmage Arkadius there is a dispute between his followers called the Clash of the Cabals in the north. The conflict almost destroys both Tor Honarik and Vale Celer. The city is spared when a party of heroes made of the faithful called the Golden Force unite and kill off one of the pretenders which makes the rest of the cabals avoid the area.

40BE: Auria is a rising neighbouring city state. It is financially and organisationally superior to most of its cousins. It enters into an official trading agreement with Tor Celer with whom it has had a long standing relationship previously.

7-4BE: The First Commerce Wars – The invasion of Kanlan results in that state and its military schools joining the Aurian Monetary Union which was the precursor to what would become the Aurian Empire

4BE: Vale Celer joins the Aurian Monetary Union when the union officially adopts the Cellan as their common currency instead of the Mark. In the Union Tor Celer is a balancing force to the wizards of Tor Armakan.

0BE: Aurian Empire announced by Jomark. Tor Celer is officially made centre of religion, and research into the divine in the new empire.

2-22PE: Unification Wars:Tor Celer is established as one of the four great cities of the Empire.

2-3PE: Tor Celer helps put religious and economic pressure on the remaining members of the Aurian Monetary Union who did not originally opt into the Empire at its founding. Some of their involvement is still not fully understood and the records have been altered.

4PE: Templar, trained in Tor Celer, descendants of the Golden Force and precursors to the Cellan Guard and the Golden Knights provide support to Auria's Tor Kalash trained armies. With these new legions the new empire conquers states in the eastern Protectorates gaining land for farming and building. Wizards and clerics are particularly useful in the taking of Leyroch as the powerful wizard, the Viperlord Enerest, lived there and resisted the occupation.

5-6PE: The Northern Campaign, Tor Celer is little involved.

6PE: The War of Thorns begins with the Bold Offensive. The war is deplored by the church and they are little involved in it. It is very unpopular in Tor Celer and there is a small movement to secede from the Empire in protest. This however is quietly strangled before it can come to the capital's attention.

22PE The Mountain Campaign formalises wizard involvement in the military and as a reaction to that and also the ongoing and disastrous War of Thorns the church centred in Tor Celer distances itself from the military.

34PE: End of the War of Thorns. Tor Celer holds a week long celebration this is viewed poorly in Tor Armakan and Tor Kalash.

39PE: The cleric hero Jerome Faithful sees in a vision that Lorn Hunter will open new doors in the world. He then goes on a personal crusade to preserve this man and further his career. Later in the year he saves him from a disease outbreak.

43-48PE: The Second Commerce Wars. Lorn Hunter becomes a very successful war hero and Marshal of the Empire.

44PE: The assault on the elven fastness of Weatherdark is resisted not only by fully trained elven rangers, but also by druids (The Shrouded) and Itali the Pantherlord Eternal Roar, the Lionlord Titansmane and the Equinelord Tallwalker. For the first time large numbers of wizards and clerics are mobilised with the legions. Some powerful artifacts are recovered and taken to **Tor Celer** when Weatherdark is taken.

50PE: The failed Forked Offensive into Alkan and Saracan. The clerics limit their involvement in this war and are partially blamed for its failure.

64PE: By now Kolaran, Yewdon and Rak Danning have massively increased the trade opportunities of the Empire. The influence and riaches of the church grow with these thanks to extensive proselyting in conquered territotries and the fact that the religion often preceded the trooops.

121-123PE: Border war with Torash. This is again resisted by the church and was supported by the wizaards of Tor Armakan. This further entrenches their distrust and rivalry.

137PE: Emperor Solemnus creates the position of Imperial Vizier. It seems this was created in part to give a civilian counselor equal or even superior weight to military and magical equivalents. However if this was the case, it backfired horribly as the clerics of Celer and the mages of Tor Armakan vie for the title from the moment it is created. The vast majority of all Imperial Viziers are either Sarrifs or Cellen priests.

147-159PE: The reign of Cartazian, sometimes called the Blue Emperor, in Tor Celer he is called this disparagingly because the church history implies he favoured the wizards of Tor Armakan, the Sarrifs. His reign is a golden season for Tor Armakan. Huge amounts of money and prestige flow to the wizards.

147PE: Cartazian selects one of the Archmages, Whitefire as his Imperial Vizier instead of the Theonist James Garrin.

155PE: After a lot of preparation Cartazian and Whitefire formalise the Sarrifs into a single guild: the Sapphire Wizards' Guild. Having created the guild they also create a leader for the guild called the Saffier. Whitefire's position of prominance and the rise of the wizards provokes the great convocation of 160PE.

160PE: The Great Convocation. All clerics of Celer and even unaligned clerics of Knowledge are summoned to Tor Celer. For the first time the Church of Celer officially proposes that it represents the faith of the Avatar of Knowledge for all of Karandia and indeed the world. A huge debate is had on scripture, doctrine and dogma. At the end several questions are resolved by vote and one by declaration. A new position, that of Cardinal, is created and the previous favourite James Garrin is passed over (possibly due to his supposed failure to out class Whitefire to become Vizier). Instead the Praetor of Knowledge once known as Pug declares that Simon Midaeus will lead the renewed church. He is ordained and set apart in the original cathedral at Tor Celer.

255PE: Whitefire the Saffier finally dies. This provokes a succession struggle between various archmages to take his place. The church begin to have more political influence.

260-263PE: The Split Walls Secession War. Rak Danning and Wrennost go into revolt and attempt to secede from the Empire. Due to internal loyalists and in no small part clerical influence Rak Danning returns to peaceful imperial control within the year. The war to retake Wrennost has little clerical involvement. This allows them to avoid the damage and bloodshed of the Split Walls Secession but at the same time it allows the wizards to secure their position at court as they help solve the difficult problem.

315-347PE: Reign of Garath the Warrior, this is a bad time for the church as Garath is openly a non-believer and wants to promote Tor Kalash over the wizards or the clerics.

325-329PE: Emperor Garath attempts to take the great woodland of Quintox. The clerics again stand apart from the killing as much as possible. Garath limits the Templar order saying that if the church won't fight for the Empire it will not be allowed to fight at all.

345-347PE: The failed invasion of Alkan. A very unpopular war with Tor Celer once again they stand apart. Garath complains and attempts to force clerical involvement as he becomes increasingly desperate for success. There are some clerics who are imprisoned and even martyred in these years.

376-385PE: The Theonist Mark Hillary is made Imperial Vizier. He is extremely influential in expanding the church's influence and in renewing the Templar order which had been neglected since the reign of Garath. The Ro'Tier begins to fill with increasing numbers of clerics.

493-512PE: Reign of Aluap the Organiser.

499PE: The 'Golden Priest' Jonas Petrov was raised and sanctified to lead the Church of Celer. Though he came to Tor Celer for his sanctification he returned swiftly to Tor Honarik and continued to use the capital as his main seat of power rather than Tor Celer. He was very politically active in the Emperor's court.

502PE: The Ro'Tier is officially ended and replaced with the Imperial Senate and the Audit Corporation. An interesting point (one that demonstrates what a powerful leader Aluap was) is that the Emperor used the reorganisation to create rules that banned Sarrifs from becoming Senators or being employed as part of the Audit Corporation, though he allowed them to be appointed as Viziers and elected as governors. He also imposed similar restraints on the church of Celer possibly to balance Tor Celer and Tor Armakan against each other.

502-504PE: In another attempt to equalise the clerics and the wizards and bring them into line with the rest of the Empire, Aluap officially creates the Templar order as an adjunct to the military in a parallel to the Sarrifs. He is clear in his roles for the clerics organising and negotiating rather than demanding and terrorising. The Cardinal (Celestial III) and the Emperor Aluap have an interesting relationship that has a lot of wary respect in it.

505-507PE: Wargak Invasion is turned back by Aurian Forces. The Sapphire Wizards' Guild in combination with the legions and the first full battle mobilisation of the church helps turn the tide. It is a golden moment for the Empire under a powerful but wise leader. As a reward Aluap organises the planning of the Blue Crystal Palace as a fitting guild house for the guild and organises the creation of the Cellestine Cathedral in Tor Celer to balance it.

512-530PE: Reign of Peter I covers several successful wars. Tor Celer grows greatly and all focus is on the building of the new Cathedral. Peter chooses one of the Theonists, North Gant, as his Imperial Visier strengthening the hand of the church in Imperial decision making.

515PE: The organisation of the legions into the modern Protectorans. A single Templar Order is assigned to assist each Legion though numbers are not formalised as they are with the Sarrifs. This retention of independence is often put down to the influence of the Vizier North Gant.

522PE: North Gant is renamed Truest and ordained Cardinal to replace Celestial III. It is rumoured this was to force him to abandon the position of Imperial Vizier. However if that planned to reduce his effectiveness at influencing Imperial policy it failed. Peter chose yet another cleric as his next Vizier and the Cardinal was a frequent visitor to the Imperial Palace.

550PE: The completion of the Cellestine Cathedral. Truest dedicates it himself and begins the order of the Golden Knights. This creation of a militarised group outside of the Protectorans is not officially contested by the Senate or the Emperor.

650PE: The Protectoran Mutiny in Tor Celer is put down ruthlessly by church loyalists and the Golden Knights. The creation of the Knight Stalkers (officially) on the other hand is unsettling for the clerics. Many argue against it, but only privately.

662PE: Peter II publishes his life's memoirs and though this act sponsors the three Great Libraries one of which is The Tome at Tor Celer. The building is part of the Cathedral complex. This infusion of money, staff allows the contents to be significantly added to, reorganised and enhanced.

753-761PE: The Conclave Dispute a group from within the eight archmages that make up the conclave attempt to remove the current Saffier. This is resisted and internally the guild has a cold civil war amongst the Sarrifs. This weakens the church's main rival and Tor Celer takes advantage.

763-781PE: Reign of Renis the Pious. With the guild weak from the Conclave Dispute these years see the rise of the Church of Celer. The Imperial Vizier 'chosen' by Renis is a powerful Cleric of Knowledge one of the Theonists of Tor Celer. The church manages to position a large voting bloc in the Senate behind the 'pious' Lord Rodney Byrott. With pressure from his council, the Senate and a powerful Cardinal Simon VIII the Emperor allows the creation of the Vormach. This is an independent state within Auria run by the Cardinal. The church now can have its own official military the Cellan Guard independent of the Protectorans.

1187PE: Under the reign of Carlson the Waymaker the Oakland Trail is planned and commissioned. It is the first road of the new imperial road network. This road links the vital central cities of Tor Honarik, Tor Celer, Tor Kalash and Tor Armakan with Oakhome, Yewdon and the Vormach.

1486-1491PE: Tor Celer resolutely stands against the War of Vengeance. Many clerics flee to the Vormach where they can not be pressed into the Aurian war machine. It is a time of great tension and for a while it is thought that Auria might invade the Vormach. If it tried, it is not officially recorded.

1512-1514PE: First Dragon Army Invasion is turned back in great part due to the combination of the Protectorans, the Church of Celer and the Sapphire Wizards' Guild.

1643-1677PE: New roads are built enhancing the Empire's trade links and specifically bringing into Tor Celer goods from all over the world that previously had been unavailable. The wealth of the Empire soars again. This also allows the spread of the church across the Empire reaching into lesser known and less populous areas with greater ease.

1761-1779PE: Tor Celer is involved in the War of Ears but like the Wizards they wish to end it long before it is actually ended. This creates even more tensions between the Protectorans and the church.

1898PE: Second Dragon Army Invasion

## Geography

Tor Celer as the name suggests is built on a hilltop. The city has long since grown beyond its humble beginnings and since the city state became part of the Aurian Empire it has grown hugely. The Siren river passes below it and the river trade plays an important part in the reason for its founding history and growth.

## Economy

The Economics of Tor Celer are strong. It does not make the tremendous amounts of cities such as Tor Honarik, Kolaran or Rak Danning but its income is regular and reliable. It receives large revenues from the Vormach as well as sends huge amounts of funds to the church centre from the united faithful of the Empire.

## Demographics

Though it is not even half the size of the other three major cities in the Tor Honarik Trading Area Tor Celer is an important and very large city. Indeed it is an older city than both Tor Armakan and Tor Kalash. The majority of its inhabitants are humans but as with any city of this size its has representatives from most races.

### Religion

As might be expected Tor Celer is the most religious city in Auria.Here is the Cellestine Cathedral a place run by two Theonists, high priests of Celer. The Church of Celer well entrenched in the city with over fifty chapel as well as the great catherdral and its complex. There are also temples to all six of the Avatars.

## Politics and Government

Tor Celer has a governor that is almost always chosen from the Cellan Clergy. The city is large enough to have its own Senator as well and though the Senator cannot be a member of the Clergy traditionally the local nobility choose a man who has strong religious leanings and will represent church interests in the Dome of Debate. The city tends to be conservative in its views and aims.

## Military

The Red Protectoran have a strong presence in Tor Celer due to its size. Yet these units have to treed carefully as the Cellan Guard also have a presence in Tor Celer and are not in the Protectoran chain of command.

## Culture

The city is old and proud of its holy traditions. Every year it has a long festival of pilgrimage and innovation where it celebrates loyalty, writing and invention. The city is also one of the locations of the Great Libraries. Attached to the Celestine Cathedral is The Tome a huge library specialising in the histories of religion and research into Divinia, Runecraft and some say even a Hidden Archive on Soulcraft.

## People of Note

* Everknown
* The Theonists