Vesper Aestas

**Vesper Aestas** is the largest city and capital of Arena. Many Arenae call it the **Greatest City Of All**. Just like the other cities of eastern Arena, its flag still bears the gryphon of Augustus.

## Geography and Layout

Vesper Aestas lies south of the Curve, on the coast of the Ocean to the North. The Horea flows just north of the city into the ocean. The Sand Road, which follows the coast from Castle Rho through the Emperor's Pass via Vesper Primis, ends at Vesper Aestas.

Vesper Aestas is according to many the most formidable and beautiful city in the northern hemisphere (or the entire world). Its walls stand higher and thicker than all other cities. The capital is one of the only cities in the world where many different cultures live together peacefully: Arenae, Scaeptarians, Talvi and Silvae can all be found inside the walls. On the western wall, which faces the ocean, five humungous statues hang over the water. These are images of the Five Gods. They were built to scare any enemies coming from the ocean and to show they had the support of the gods. The Emperor (or parliament) live inside the Pantheon, a huge, round building in the centre of the city.

The Five Gods are worshipped inside the Deveon, a temple resembling the Pantheon in shape and size. Other, smaller buildings like these are scattered around the city for different purposes. The Lecteon is a large library and school, the Saniteon is a hospital, and the Porteon is a huge hall hanging over the ocean, where traders lay out their boats on docks and trade their goods.

## People

Vesper Aestas' population is around 500.000 or more. This is about as much as the capital of Scaeptre, but this city is much more multicultural. Four completely different cultures are able to live together in peace in Vesper Aestas, but still they are mostly seperated into four different neighbourhoods, which they named themselves. The Arenae confiscate the largest part of the city. Their part stretches from the Porteon to the Pantheon and is called Vicinia. The Scaeptarians take up a small part of the coast, as well as the Lecteon. They called their neighbourhood the Quarter. The Talvi live mostly in the northern part of the city, on the back of the hill in the middle of the city. They called their neighbourhood Piäri. Finally, the Silvae can be found in the northeastern part, though these people are quite rare, as their original lands are very far away. They called their small neighbourhood the Minntaq.

The original eastern Arenae in Vesper Aestas are copper-skinned and very often brown or black of hair. Some say the purest Arenae have the blackest hair (like Alexander Augustus). The richest Arenae can afford to wear purple gowns and doublest, though most of the citizens wear simple brown cloaks.

## Economy

Vesper Aestas is one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Trade from and to northern Scaeptre, western Arena and Talvi Mäa reach the Porteon. Many other traders from eastern Scaeptre and Vesper Primis cross the Sand Road. Copper is plentiful in Arena, as it is shipped there from the Bronzebite Mountains. Weapons and armour are also popular goods in Vesper Aestas.

The money in Vesper Aestas is divided into three different types of coins. The ''golden gryphons'' are worth the most. Ten ''silver lions'' fit into a golden gryphon, or g.g. Another hundred ''copper eagles'' fit into a silver lion.

Vesper Aestas is popular with sellswords as well. Many small armies are housed inside the city, ready to be bought. Secret underground fighting competitions are often held in the city as well, but according to the law they are illegal. Though there hasn't been an Emperor who really tried his best to punish the ones who held them, as they made quite a lot of money.

## History

In ancient books it is often said that Vesper Aestas is as old as the world itself, built by the Five Gods. The oldest scrolls go back to the time where gryphons still wandered the world. The Tamers came to eastern Arena and found the beasts, taming them. They went from settlement to settlement and conquered them. Not with violence, but with respect. There had been not one person capable of doing this, but they had. The Tamers eventually settled in the southeastern corner of Arena on the coast of the Eastern Sea. They built the city of Vesper Primis, meaning ''the first evening'' in the Scaeptarian tongue.

But like all things, the friendship of the Tamers came to an end. One of the group rose in rebellion and slaughtered his friends' gryphons. He left them to die in a prison in Vesper Primis and gathered an army he put together in secret. With that army and a large part of the population he travelled northwest until he came upon a new body of water. There, on the coast of the Ocean to the North, he established a new capital and called it Vesper Aestas (the summer evening). This last man of the Tamers called himself Alexei Augustus. The family he started would grow to become the most powerful and succesful family in the world.

Years of peace and calm in Vesper Aestas ended when Aurelius Augustus grew bored. He desired action and adventure, and therefore he desired to hold the lands Scaeptre to the south. The Arenae mostly saw Scaeptre as a barbaric wasteland, but Aurelius saw prosperity. He abandoned Vesper Aestas and marched his army south.

Centuries after House Augustus is defeated by Tyran Carlysle, Alexander Augustus secretly returns to Vesper Aestas as the last living heir to Arena and takes up the crown. He is renamed Emperor Alexander I.