Erðvald

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**Erðvald** is the second largest city of Frostmarch in population, and third largest in claim size. It officially holds the title as the Holy City for Nostíkur due to being the origin from which the religion came (not to be confused with Nyr Nostíkur, the reformed version). More on the city's religious background, Erðvald is the sole city in Frostmarch to have complete religious intolerance within its walls. As such, its population is fervent in its Nostíkur beliefs, creating a reputation of the townsfolk for adhering much closer to Frostmarch's traditions than those outside the city's walls.

Aside from religion, the city holds a significant importance as the cultural and historic capital of Frostmarch, and as such is allowed certain privileges in accordance with the city's will; such as the religious intolerance as mentioned previously (despite Frostmarch's official policy of tolerance towards all religions).

The city is located at the mouth of the River Artir, and sits looking over the Bay of Cod. While the city has existed in the Old March for centuries, it has experienced significant modernisation, especially during the Age of the Five Jarls, including the implementation of an advanced Ice-Rail Highway, reconstruction projects of all major monuments of the city, and an expansion of the city's defences and housing capacity. Given the city's age nearing that of 3 years old, the city's construction plans have many constraints with regards to what work can be done on especially the most historic parts of the city, concentrated mostly in the city square. This, therefore, means that much of the city's expansion in both infrastructure and population has depended on its ability to increase its territory, thus warranting the construction of an additional wall in December of 2022 in order to claim more land; seen in the picture to the right provided, this new district is the most spacious and prime for building of the entire city.

## Districs

### Northside

The Northside District encompasses the area of the city north of the Artir and behind the City Walls. Notable for its heavy focus on agricultural produce, the district is significantly less affected by the growing urbanisation of the city. Holding 3 large hot springs in close proximity to one another, Erðvald is privy to the fertile land that they each provide, irrigating the land around them with mineral-rich water and producing prime farmland; an extremely rare phenomenon within Erðvald's notoriously harsh environment. Due to this remarkable source of warm water and arable land, the citizens of Erðvald make sure to fully exploit the hot springs benefits in any possible, by not only growing many crops that would otherwise never be able to grow in the cold tundra of Frostmarch, but also by bathing in the hot springs due its prophesised healing abilities. The reason for why these

During the city's early founding, the walls of the city did not originally include this region, but they were extended to the borders that can be seen in the picture provided during the Age of Banditry to protect the city's precious hot springs and even more important food supply. The main reason for why these hot springs are so crucial is mainly due to its scarcity. Since the city's founding up until the present day, no other hot springs or similar warm water sources have been discovered within Frostmarch, making the Northside district hot springs the only source of naturally fresh warm water in eastern Frostmarch. As such it holds a great deal of significance in supplying food to not only the citizens of Erðvald, but also the capital of Frostmarch.

### City Centre

The city centre district is the densest region of the city, in both housing for its population, and government buildings a. It stretches from the southern bank of the river Artir down to the southern-most wall which separates it from the neighbouring district. It is most notable for its possession of the grand majority of historical buildings, including the famous pub, the 'Gurgling Donkey', as well as the city's Town Hall and marketplace, alongside the iconic Erðvald National History Museum. This region is naturally the oldest and longest standing district of the city, due largely to its beginnings as Erðvald's first settlement, which would soon develop to become the city we know of today; the area was initially chosen for its ideal and profitable fishing, as well as the surrounding high hills which gave the growing town a greater advantage in being able to defend from bands of pillaging raiders, or attackers trying to capture it. This combination of defensible terrain and a plentiful sea - earning it the name the 'Bay of Cod' - allowed for a safe and prosperous life for the settlement's first inhabitants, and aided considerably in its growth up to today's size.

### Southside

As its name implies, the Southside District is the located at the southern-most point of the city. Due to the dampening presence of the Basker Isles in the Bay of Cod, the waters near this district are calm and steady, and ideal for docking; thus, the region has seen an explosion in growth since then, with new construction projects and people flocking to the newly built and cheap housing, quickly awarding the district as the steadily rising economic heart of the city. Within the district can be found the markets of Erðvald, selling a wide range of both luxury goods and life necessities, such as literature, foreign artefacts, potions, weapons and armour, as well as traditional Valdic food and drinks.

Due to its economic potential and productivity, this region of the city has seen a great deal of investment from the leadership of Frostmarch. The latest extension to the city's Grand Walls is a prime example of the latest investment in Erðvald, having been raised to protect the markets and stimulate further grown within the district by means of ensuring the safety of travelling merchants and domestic shopkeepers alike.

### Citadel

What may be considered by some to be absurdly unnecessary, the Citadel occupies at least a 1/5 of the city of Erðvald's total land area, and has served since the founding of the city to protect its citizenry to the highest degree of protection and safety.

As much of the Valdic population within the city may confirm, living day to day in the wide sprawling tundras of Frostmarch has never been an easy endeavour. Raids, pillaging, failed crop harvests and constant blisteringly harsh snow storms have all served to contribute their fair share of misery and hardship to those living in the Erðvald, and yet somehow the city has survived for many years, grateful for their protection offered by the structural behemoth that is the Citadel. In addition to the main overground citadel, however, the surrounding hills are almost entirely hollowed out in order to make way for a highly sophisticated network of crypts, catacombs, hidden windows, small crawlable tunnels, and -of course- booby traps. All matters concerning either the defense of the city or the military reside within this mountain fortress, and kept safe from any invaders or otherwise potential spies.

The only part open to the public is the Erðvald Arena, built by Jarl Train upon its founding alongside the city itself, and later majorly renovated and refurbished by Jarl Rose and Thane -now Jarl- Fraz. The arena itself serves a deeply cultural and religious purpose to the Valdic citizens of Erðvald, as it is tradition amongst followers of the Nostíkur faith to settle any form of dispute within the arena, with the victor proclaimed not only as the winner of the match, but the as the winner to the dispute.

## History

On July 14th 2021 the city served as the staging area for soldiers of Sørligste before they went to the battle that would become known as Kerfuffle of '21, a relatively minor conflict in which no actual fighting occurred and the only casualties were friendly fire incidents on the Sørligstan side.

The city was used as the administrative capital and rallying point for the military forces of the North Jarldom of Frostmarch lead by Temsyod during the Frostmarch Civil War between November and December of 2022.

On the 1st of May, 2023, the May Constitution of the Jarldom of Frostmarch was drafted by FrazSays and signed by Sir Reginald av Temsyod and Sir Voske av Aldver, officially declaring the start of the Diarchical Jarldom of Frostmarch under 2 Grand Jarls, wherein one would occupy all foreign -or otherwise *external*- affairs, and the other would do much the same for any and all *internal* affairs.