Another Beginning!
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General Lavindo has finally declared the initial reconstruction works on the City completed. The skeleton force of Defenders has been run ragged since the devastation left by the N'Jast war many months ago, their time split between asissting in reconstruction works, assisting the depleted guard in keeping the peace among first looters and then disenchanted survivors and still maintaining a meagre garrison on the walls to keep the kobolds out.
After the Great Flood washed over the City many thought the Gods must surely hate them, a despair that was compounded when reports of a marauding Orc horde arriving in the Giantspires from Damara reached the beleaguered Jewel of the Icelace. Nonetheless, for the time being the Orcs have concentrated on hunting down kobolds who have fled the open foothills giving the city some breathing space from both the old and the new foes to the west. The smell from the flood's passage through the sewers and over the streets has finally receded, seeming to allow the troubled populace to begin to put their troubles behind them and concentrate on the future for the first time in many months.
At last the people of Peltarch seem to breathe a sigh of relief; the worst is at last behind them…things are beginning to look hopeful once again. Merchants are starting to reopen their closed businesses with newly repaired warehouses, stalls and stores, traders are beginning to import materials again and though the trade situation in the pass is looking increasingly unstable the city's shipping Guilds are said to be working on purchasing river boats and building additional warfs in the docks after a river course has been successfully plotted southwards, bypassing the potential dangers of the pass entirely! Citizens who fled the City before the N'Jastian force besieged it are beginning to return in numbers.
The General has also proudly announced the opening of the newly built City Hall in the Commerce district, on the old site of the Amythest Festhall which had to be demolished and relocated due to the extent of the damage it took during the war. The stonework for the City Hall, built much stouter and more resiliently than its predecessor that it might not share a similar fate, came from the demolition of the Defender Headquarters which was nesscesitated by the flooding of the fortresss as the lake's level rose after the cataclysmic events at the end of the war.
Many Defenders were disheartened at the loss of the city's bastion, but the general populace seem to be pleased at the new City Hall and what it symbolises; many had been terribly demoralised at the sudden loss of the old Hall. Many merchants and organisations are still rennovating their holdings, but the major surge of reconstruction has now been completed.
Politically, the city has been showing the effects of a lengthy period of martial law. Many are now clamouring for the General to call an end to his stewardship, admirable though it may have been, and hold new elections to the Senate. Some non-traditionalists seem to think the General should just keep running things, but Lavindo cut short their hopes in his recent
announcement that the Elections shall be held early in the new year and will be run by the Office of the Herald, placing the new Herald Damian Fisher in charge of keeping things above board. Speculation has already begun on who the first candidates to announce themselves will be, though the Herald has yet to officially open nominations.In a climate of rebuilding there are many pressing issues the people are already discussing, such as the unstable situation in the Nars Pass, the recent sightings of Orcs in the foothills, the need to restore numbers in the Defenders and Guard to protect the city from these new emergent threats and of course the traditional mercantile guild politics between the Wavebreakers Guild and the Seafarers Guild.
Recent facts have been emerging about the Seafarers own Vaster Ashald that are making him even less popular than usual among the labourers and working classes of the city, and even denting his support amongst his own wealthy merchant backers, namely that he continued to import and sell food south to the town of Norwick even while the people in the City were starving due to shortages, all to get a premium price for it. Conversely, the Wavebreakers Guild are experiencing a surge in popularity for playing the opposite move and selling their own stores of food and produce for cost price during the war period and during the initial phase of the reconstruction. Captain Wesley Hardin declared that the welfare of the people was more important than winning more profits for his Guild than their rivals the Seafarers.
All in all the air of grim resolve has at last lifted from the city, and has been replaced by an eagerness to return to business as usual, a goal which after many long months of toil and work is now at long last within sight.
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((And the OOC post to accompany this new beginning; Welcome to B9 Peltarch! Your DMs for the city are now myself, Zyphlin, DrDreadlock and Coaan and we've got plenty of stories lined up for the start of the build that'll hopefully be kicking off right away in the holiday season and the new year.
The Peltarch I envision is one with thousands of people in it, and various factions who all interact with each other in different ways. Sometimes the fact that there are so many NPCs and NPC groups in the city can be a little bit daunting for players who want to get involved, but I want to ensure that its my goal to use these groups as a means for involvement rather than an obstacle. The great thing about the City is that even small actions, when carefully thought out, can have impressive results.
Obviously one of the first plots we will be running is the election plot. More on that in a later post, though I will point out that for those PCs who don't think they have a chance at being a Senator yet, there are a myriad of other jobs and positions within the city that one can get involved with that are great fun (many of which have been used in the past as a path to greater things by enterprising players).
When in doubt about ways to get involved in something going on in the city, getting a job in the city or especially if YOU have any ideas for things you would like to do or see happening in the City, don't hesitate to PM me!
See you in the new build!))