Esgrettio

*'[T]he land dropped away to a vista that presented a flat land of hundreds of lakes shining like coins as far as the eye could see. There, in the centre, a palatial city, ringed by a wall.'*

## Introduction

Esgrettio is a mixed-alignment city near Paelfort, north of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Gwyn ap Nudd, Mosk Manytrees, Eran Iliakambar, Augus Each Uisge, Ash Glashtyn, and Julvia Dubna Vajat visited on their quest to defeat Olphix, during which Gwyn delivered a speech to the Esgrettians, and Mosk demonstrated his magic. It was also where Gwyn met some of Taronis' followers, who were members of the Cult of Taronis.

## Appears in

Major canon:

*The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*

## Description

Esgrettio is a walled city surrounded by open landscape. The roads leading to Esgrettio are made of neat, pale green and yellow tiles. The land around Esgrettio is open and made of wetlands and bridges, a flat vista with a city surrounded by round lakes. The city itself is ringed by a wall.

Augus destroyed Esgrettio's surrounding waterscapes and lakelands during his destructive reign as King of the Unseelie. Augus later healed many of them, presumably during or after *The Court of Five Thrones*, but many Esgrettians still hold significant enmity towards Augus. Augus commented that they're still dealing with assassins sent from Esgrettio.

After the ice plague began, there were riots in the city, and many Unseelie fae who consume humans were driven out, while the others stayed and 'it got ugly'. The city also took in many refugees from Summarvale who fled the ice plague. Albion visited the city ahead of Gwyn and his party to seemingly let them know that Gwyn is now technically King of both Courts, making the city a bit friendlier to Gwyn and his party.

One of the green and yellow tiled roads leading to Esgrettio is wide enough to easily fit hundreds of fae, indicating a town of great popularity and industry. Some of the roads, closer to the town, are inlaid with mosaics depicting fae with water lilies on their heads (laecquetti), and slender fae with long, pointed ears (alven ottermaaner). The gates themselves are large wooden doors with curling verdigris fixings, as well as a doorknocker. There is a section of the gate which can be moved to allow guards to look through to whoever is visiting.

The bricks used to build Esgrettio's many tall, spindling towers and buildings are inset with glass, which causes the city to light up and shine whenever the sun hits it. Obviously once a much more beautiful and grand metropolis, when Gwyn and his party visited, many of the buildings were fire-blackened, the citizens impoverished and starving, and much of the town looted for anything that can be traded, including tiles from the walls and floor of the buildings.

Within the city, there are cobblestoned and tiled roads and pathways, terraced housing alongside towers, as well as the northeast square where Gwyn made his speech to the city against the plague of ice, promising to defend them. At that time, Mosk magically grew many mature fruit trees to provide food for the citizens, as well as a hybrid silver and gold oak tree, inventing new species to do so, which the citizens ended up calling the King's Tree. The northeast square has a dais tiled in green and gold. It is surrounded by sixteen broken fountains, as well as broken and shattered sculptures of elegant fae. As with the bricks making the buildings, the pillars are inset with glass to catch the light.

## Residents

Esgrettio's lakes are guarded primarily by Unseelie alven ottermaaner and Seelie laecquetti, who, along with sidhe, common fae, Seelie ellyllon, and aelves, form the main bulk of Esgrettians.

* El'eth (Door guard - South Gate)
* Melio (Door guard - South Gate)
* Tamyka (Adept of the Cult of Taronis)
* Venorio (Acolyte of the Cult of Taronis)

## Trivia

* It's possible the water surrounding Esgrettio deterred the ice plague, similar to how the ice plague doesn't cross the sea.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 4: Esgrettio. Accessed 14 March 2021.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 5: The Dryad and the King. Accessed 03 June 2021.
3. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 1: The Ice and the Dryad. Accessed 03 June 2021.