Scarlene

Purposefully established by the Sallow Princes, Scarlene never grew into its present city status through the gradual evolution of village to town, and thence to city, as its citizen base grew. Rather, much has been seen in the last year with Keys, it was a deliberately sited and chosen location that served to fulfil two aims. Firstly it created a civilisation base on the east coast, the Principalities then being strongest further east, and secondly to create what amounted to a playground for the Princes and their scions. The importance of the former has become more clearly understood only in recent times as Keys has drawn back the veil that previously shrouded Armastas. Whilst the adventuresome and active tribals had been pushed far to the north much of the eastern regions of the continent were still littered with their more sedentary relations. Even the Sallow Princes baulked at hunting down and killing whole tribes whose only crime was a mastery of the land and the potential for taxation.

The establishment of Scarlene thus spread the Principalities and called into being a City Spirit. Though many generations had passed between Weaver and Prince still enough of the old lores remained that many still understood the significance between land and soul. Many of the Weavers Blood descendants cared little any more for rite, lore or tradition. They only knew that there was better land to be had on the east coast than on the west. Whilst in their more traditional demesne the terrain was broken and wild and merely ‘perfectly adequate’, it did not compare to the softer hills, herds and more richly glittering oceans to the west. So the early Nobles hunted and created extravagancies, building a city about what had previously been little more than a fishing port.

But the erosion of the Sallow Princes and the rise of the Republic saw the city wither. Though this was a time of growth for the cities, Scarlene sunk in importance even as it rose in population and the people started to return to the Gods. A strong vein of religion was sewn into the city then that continues to this day and the people are more tolerant about other, even rival, faiths than the majority of the other cities. Whilst such a deep-seated attitude has seen less of the constant, bubbling suspicion that characterises other faith-divergent cities it has meant that when trouble has flared up it has done so in the most dramatic and damaging way possible. It is easy for extreme cults and beliefs to take hold as the people are both tolerant enough to keep their thoughts to themselves and plentiful enough for word of such to be lost amongst the babbling tongues and minds of thousands of people.

Scarlene is big, it has a large population spread over a wide area amongst a city that has grown across a series of five flat hills that act as the step for yet greater examples of the kind between the settlement and the rural lands over which it governs. Almost all of the rural folk on the east coast acknowledge Scarlene as being their ‘home’ city even though geographically there are many who were once closer to Gileenim, which had few rural adherents, and those who are still closer to Alguz and even The ‘Rest.

Recent History
Of late yet more changes have come to the city. The last few years have seen the city become famous as the location for the Festival of Fish. Pilgrims, often coming from cities a considerable distance away, have taken to coming to the city at such times in order to enjoy the entertainment and celebration, and fish, on offer in the old, jumbled streets of the aging city. Of late, Gysmo has been joined by a number of companions in forming a Council for the settlement and though the holy spirit now goes by the name ‘Mirras’ the citizens are well versed in the nature of faiths and understand how bodies, names and even spirits change in the course of a heroes long life.

More recently still the city has become the home to what seems to be every bird in Primus. Not one ledge, roof or tree has been left free of the nests of birds, even those that are more commonly only seen in the forest and even fens. The return of the cities fishing fleet is announced first by the formation of a cloud of such creatures who seek to snatch what they can from the catch and even those most natural-hearted of the citizens are finding it hard to find a silver lining to the guano carpet that is growing upon the city of Scarlene.