Basilea

## The Town of Basilea

### Description

Perched on a hill,  the unique red-and-blue-roofed walled town of Basilea is easily seen from the crossroads and the Vainamoinen river. Built in 1442 6th Sanctus Era by a forward-thinking ex-adventurer who had saved a town from destruction, the town was built to give its residents a sense of protection. The town is well guarded and all visitors are questioned and inpected before entering. There is a small collection of buildings at the bottom of the hill, housing mostly the stables, tanners, guard barracks and training grounds, and other utility buildings, as well as the town's poorer citizens. Up a beautiful white staircase and through another defensible tower one walks in to the town proper - here there are homes, shops, the manors of the city's nobles, and on another smaller rise, a great and beautiful temple to Iomedae.

Another path leads away from the village at the top of the hill out in to the Viridian Vale, but this entrance is rarely used. All of the houses are made of white stone found in the low hills in the Vale, and roofed with either red or blue clay tiles, the clay and dyes also mined locally. A small few families of dwarves live around and indeed below Basilea, carefully mining and maintaining the buildings. Not far from the temple sits a partially-rounded indoor market, filled with all manner of goods. While the town is mostly populated with humans, its place on the crossroads and along the river makes it a favourite stop for merchats and travellers of all stripes, and its inn is famously hospitable.

### Current Government

While there are still those who claim desendance from the original Sir Bail Lea, the current Baroness can actually prove her lineage through records kept by the church. Other families have ruled the town in years past, but the people are always pleased when one of the Leas are in power. Currently the seat is held by Baroness Maeven Lea, an elderly human whose kind eyes hide a sharp and tactical mind. Her eldest son, Sir Bail Lea the 17th, stands to inherit the town upon her death, but the Baroness seems in excellent health. She is well-liked and generous to the locals. The local council, alongside Sir Basil sits his wife, the head of the Merchant's Guild, Retha Taggert, and the head priest of the temple, a wood elf named Cassianus Subramanian.

### Day to Day Life

The people of Basilea focus largely on production of goods, as it is a busy crossroads market town, and most anything that can be made by hand can be found here. Farmers till the rocky flats of the Viridian Vale for food, always accompanied by the town guard. Masny guards train here in Basile, for while the town is peaceful, its traditions are strict and they have used the original Sir Basil's training methods for the last three thousand years. Exercises and drills often happen on the Vale, and these are causes of great entertainment for the townsfolk. The temple of Iomedae is a bright light of the town, always filled with singing children and bedecked with flowers in the summer.

The town has a strict midnight curfew, however, which makes the place ideal for people looking to raise a family. Children are schooled and apprenticed here before being sent off to perfect or ply their trade elsewhere. While many begin life here and move on, it is always easy to come back and see family.

### Points of Interest

The enclosed marketplace is always a fascinating place to be, enever quite the same from week to week with all of the traveling merchants.

The large temple to Iomedae is lovingly crafted and always upkept, the historical aspect of the town maintained. Much of the upkeep to the temple is done by local builders who donate their time and resources to maintaining the building. Sir Basil Lea is entombed below the temple, and on his death day (September 16th), the crypt is opened for those who wish to receive his blessing, leaving flowers and other tokens behind. The crypt is packed with small tokens that have been left over the centuries, those items all line the crypts that go deep beneath the hill.

### History

 Sir Basil Lea was a paladin of Iomedae who has grown up in the city of Bylonne to the south, The Goddess called him to save a small village on the Viridian Vale under attack by vicious beasts. He was able to slay the beasts and save the town, but the buildings and supplies had been demolished, and many of the adults had been lost in the battle, defending their children and homes. The roads along the Vainamoinen between Bylonne and Nalmel had just begun to become commonly used, and so here Sir Lea brought the townsfolk he had saved. Mostly children, the elderly, and those who could not otherwise fight, he nevertheless managed to build the walled town with the help of some dwarves he had befriended. Ever since, the townsfolk have sworn to maintain the walls and defenses to the best of their ability. Sir Basil was quite brilliant and the defenses are designed that only a few well-places soldiers can defend and entire city. The town has been attacked and besiged a few times over its three thousand year history, but always Basileans have managed to stand against those that would take their home.

### Rumors

They say Baronness Lea is staying alive out of concern for her people, because her son is seen as lazy and selfish, and is not well trusted by Basileans.

If you leave a token in Sir Basil's tomb on his death day, you will be protected on your journeys. Sir Basil is the local patron saitn of travellers. Do not invoke his name in vain, and only ask for his protection if you truly need it (and are faithful to Iomedae).

### Interactions

Basilea considers itself independant but it technically under the rule of the kingdom of Bylonne, which covers the Viridian Vale. It has very good relations with the merchant's guilds of the nearby cities of Nalmel and Ionze, as well as Malbec across the river. A merchant *must* go through the proper channels in Basile to set up shop, or they may find hemselves in the town's underground prisons (called *oubliettes*) or paying a hefty fine. They welcome far-away and merchants of unusual and exotic wares - so long as they can stand up the city's rigorous standards. The merchant's guild employs wizards to identiy and inspect trade goods as they come in, and there is a very small but well-respected school of magic here.