Ascal

**Ascal** is the capital city of the kingdom of Galland. It is the seat of Queen Erida of Galland.

## General Information

Ascal is a grand city of half a million people. It’s a bloated metropolis, sprawling across the many islands in the delta. The streets are crowded, the markets are overrun, the canals are dirty, and the bridges are prone to collapse. The avenues of Ascal connect the bridges like veins through a body. Even at night market stalls and performer pavilions crowd together. There are fountains choked with people washing clothes and filling buckets. Sorasa describes the city as “an experiment in how not to plan a city. Everything is infinitely more chaotic than any city of the south or west.” Outside the city's walls is green farmlands.

Ascal straddles the river delta, sprawled across the many islands at the mouth of the Great Lion River, which meets Mirror Bay. Bridges and gates are strung across the waterways. The delta is jammed with galleys, trade cogs, merchant ships, barges, and ships of the fleet. Temple domes and cathedral spires stand tall. The storied walls of Ascal are yellow in sunlight and gold at dawn and dusk. They hold in the city like a belt. Smoke rises from the slums. The bridges and water gates force all but the smallest vessels to use the same avenue to reach the port. Wayfarer's Port is the first place anyone arriving by water arrives in Ascal and is always crowded. It smells incredibly foul. Inns and taverns sprout like weeds all over and its streets are narrow and overcrowded. The Moonbridge, named for its smooth, half-circle arch, leads from Wayfarer's Port to the Fifth Canal.

The navy's base is Fleethaven, an island in the river mouth. It is dug into the island next to Wayfarer's Port, with a long channel leading to an interior circle. It’s a cothon, an artificial, protected inner harbor. There are berths for each ship of the fleet and can dock twenty warships at a time. Doghead is the upriver slums. Cowbank is the slaughter yards. Conqueror’s Gate is the biggest and has the most traffic. Godherda Gate has fewer guards. It's small, barely a door in the outer walls of Ascal. It arches over those who travel beneath it and has a door of iron-bound oak.

On the far bank from the New Palace is the famed Garden of Ascal. It's an island of trees and flowers manicured to perfection. The nobles and wealthy merchants stroll the lawns and paths. Erida had played there as a child. The Hill of Heroes is another island in the river delta, it is walled like the palace. Countless tombs and headstones march in endless rows. Knights and great lords are buried here. The graves of the kings crown the Hill, marked by statues and flowering trees. Tiber Island, named for the god Tiber, is for merchants and traders. The city garrison is a great fortress that's as big as a lord's castle. It has stout towers and guarded ramparts. The banners of Galland fly from the walls. Stone towers called the Lion's Teeth stand on either side of the delta channel. Gigantic chains attached to the towers sink into the water that can be raised if need be to close access to the port.

### Cathedrals

The Konrada is a cathedral to every god of the Ward. It was built by King Konrad the Great. Its tower spikes up from the center of the city. It’s made of black stone with windows. The tower is open inside, two hundred feet from dome to floor. While the vaults no longer hold anything of value, they go deep. The Bridge of Faith brings people to the Konrada.

The Syrekom is the cathedral on the grounds of the New Palace. It’s a monster of gray marble and glass and is a crown jewel of Ascal. It was built to honor Syrek. It has a rose window and other vaulted windows. The walls of the New Palace run up against the Syrekom without a gap. The curved doors are made of solid oak. The nave is tall enough to house a forest. Columns march in double rows to the far wall of windows. The aisle bisects pews. The alter is solid gold with six windows behind it. The windows are stained-glass portraits of Syrek and his great deeds.

### The New Palace

New Palace rises at the city’s heart, walled on its own island in the delta of the Great Lion River, and is a city unto itself. It’s surrounded by river channels and canals. Gates keep the water around the palace clear. Thousands of people live and work at the Queen’s pleasure. The palace is two hundred years old. There are a dozen towers and keeps made of a soft gray stone that flickers gold under braziers upon the ramparts. Hundreds of Gallish banners fly on them. Gargoyles and spires spread across the rooftops. Many of the windows are stained glass. Newer parts of the palace are made from stone that almost looks white, with flamboyant and daring architecture that stands in stark contrast to the older parts. The palace is accessible by the Bridge of Valor, which is lined by twenty-four knights and ends at an iron gate. The passages of the palace are full of long halls of vaulted ceilings and soaring columns supporting pointed archways. The windows are all made of intricate stained glass. The castle garrison is made up of two hundred soldiers. The Queen's seneschal oversees the palace and its doings.

To the left of the great hall is the servants’ wing. Its hallways are narrows and winding, composed of a warren of storerooms, sleeping quarters, kitchens, cellars, a brewery, a buttery, a laundry, and a bakehouse. The servants’ wing also has its own gate, dock, and bridge to the rest of the city. The royal residence, great hall, and east wing are part of the newer construction completed in the last decade. They are a riot of vaulted archways, soaring stonework, and stained glass built for style rather than safety. A long passage runs the southern length of the great hall connecting the east wing to the keep. A gallery rings the great hall in a wide balcony. Unlike in most courts, petitions are heard in a small chamber by the Queen, her chosen advisors, and her knights of the Lionguard.

### History

There were riots after King Konrad Righand III died due to opposition to a girl, his daughter Erida, assuming the throne. There were fires in the slums, floods at the ports, and religious upheaval between the dedicant orders. There’s a criminal underbelly thick as smoke. The court resides at the New Palace. Ascal was formerly called Lascalla, and was once a Cor city. There are still ruins beneath Ascal. Notably, the New Palace stands where a stadium used to be. during the time of the Cor Empire. Only a sliver of the stadium remains, located at the east end of the palace. Below the foundation and canals is a maze of tunnels. Many burned when the Old Palace fell and others have collapsed or flooded, but not all, resulting in secret entrances to the New Palace. It has been destroyed and rebuilt a dozen times, in a dozen places.

## Known Locations

* New Palace
* The Syrekom
* Garden of Ascal
* The Hill of Heroes
* The Konrada
* The City Garrison
* The Lion's Teeth
* Fleethaven Island
* Tiber Island
* Wayfarer's Port
* Doghead
* Cowbank
* Conqueror's Gate
* Godherda Gate
* The Moonbridge
* The Bridge of Faith
* The Bridge of Valor
* Kingsbridge
* The Fifth Canal
* The Great Lion River
* Mirror Bay

## Known Residents

* Erida of Galland
* Andry Trelland
* Valeri Trelland (formerly)
* Tedros Trelland
* Rian Konegin (formerly)
* Bella Harrsing
* Grandel Tyr
* Davel Monne
* King Makrus
* King Konrad the Great
* King Konrad II
* King Konrad Righand III
* Queen Alisandra Reccio
* Sir Edgar North
* Sir Raymon North
* Sir Eiros Edverg
* Sir Hyle of Gilded Hill
* Sir Konrada Kain
* Sir Otton of the Castlewood
* Sir Tibald Brock
* Sir Emrid
* Sir Welden
* Lord Heralt Konegin (formerly)
* Lord Otto Thornwall
* Lord Derrick
* Lord Ardath
* Lord Okran
* Dr. Bahi
* Karl Daspold
* Margrit Harrsing
* Fiora Velfi
* Countess Herzer
* Percy

## References

1. ↑ *Realm Breaker*: pg. 204
2. ↑ *Realm Breaker*: pg. 194
3. ↑ *Realm Breaker*: pg. 52