Lady's Rest

Lady's Rest

The City of Succor

Population

16,000 Human 70% • Halfling 15% • Dwarf 10% • Half-Orc 3% • Other 2%

Government

• Chamber of Succor: A republic-style governing body, made up of citizens who maintain charities, orphanages, hospitals, and the like.

Defense

• The Lady's Guard: A permanent militia force that rides patrols around the settlements of Lady's Rest, as well as providing peacekeeping for the city. • The People's Arms: All adult male citizens are required to spend six months as part of the Lady's Guard when they reach twenty years of age, and become part of district-based cadres of militia who train together once a month. • The Hospitalers: The Sovereign Military and Hospitaler Order of the Crossroads lends half of its chapterhouse knights to the use of Lady's Rest at any given time.

Commerce

• Trade: Medicines, Fish, Wheat • Services: Healers • Training: The Academy of the Lady's Mercy (healer's school), the Dome of Ardun (arcane, anatomical and medicinal training).

Organizations

• The Sovereign Military and Hospitaler Order of the Crossroads: The Hospitalers maintain not only one of their largest chapterhouses since the Shattering in Lady's Rest, but they also maintain the Great Hospital, a healing facility for those who have no coin or means to afford assistance. • The Guilds: The Guilds maintain guildhalls for the following Guilds in Lady's Rest: Sacred Stonewright's Guild, Prosperous Mercantilist's Guild, Steady & Sinewed Guild of Teamsters, Most Nurturing Guild of Clothiers, Eminent Sodality of Brewers & Vintners.

City Map

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The city of Lady's Rest has a history lost in legends. Local folklore say that one of the Empyrean goddesses - the modern version claims it was Kaedlah, but evidence suggests it has been claimed to have been others in previous centuries - was badly wounded in some battle she fought. She struggled out of the ocean, where her divine foe cast her, and she struggled to shore at the confluence of two rivers, where a number of fishing huts stood. The legend says the people did not know she was a goddess, but gave her shelter and food anyway, caring for her wounds as best they could. When she departed, she lay a blessing on the folk there, promising them prosperity so long as they would continue to care for one another and for strangers.

In the time since, the city has grown, but has remembered its founding. Lady's Rest is well-known for its physicians and hospitals, and for its houses of the poor and orphans. The Sovereign Military and Hospitaler Order of the Crossroads also maintains a great structure here, the Great Hospital where they both treat the ill and injured for free while using that opportunity to teach their students the healing arts.

Currency

Like most of the River Kingdoms, Lady's Rest uses Guildscoin. They do have a unique coin, however, that is accepted only within their city walls.

• Mercy (1cp): This is a small triangular copper piece (marked with a pair of praying hands on one side, and the hand-and-eyes symbol of the city on the other) called a mercy that can be given to the poor and beggars to spend in the city's food markets and healing centers. Only the clearly destitute can spend them - those who take such coin from the poor are expected to regift them to the poor, or sell the coin to others who wish to do likewise.

Districts

There are three distinct wards to the city of Lady's Rest, with a fourth unofficial one lying outside of its walls.

Chambertown

The most upscale part of town, with the Chamber of Succor at its heart. It overlooks the harbor from a significant height advantage, and his home to the finest shops and the richest homes.

• Chamber of Succor: The large gathering hall for the Chamber of Succor council, as well as the city's bureaucracy in general.
• Lady's Guard Keep: The well-defended base of operations for the Lady's Guard and other locals in training in its numbers.
• Brewers' Guildhall: Established as a very large (and expensive) tavern, this is the guildhall to the Eminent Sodality of Brewers & Vintners.

Templetown

The middle-class area of town, with a great row of temples in its center. The gates out of the city are also located in this district.

• Academy of the Lady's Mercy: A healer's academy, teaching the arts of non-magical healing and herbalism.
• Stonewright's Guildhall: The guildhall for the Sacred Stonewright's Guild is open only to guild members and their guests.
• Clothiers' Guildhall: Established as something of a show-room for the finest works of local clothiers and seamstresses, this is the guildhall of the Most Nurturing Guild of Clothiers.
• The High Hall of the Holy Hearth: Temple to Edyma
• The Blessed Scriptorum: Temple to Kaedlah
• The Sacred Bower: Temple to Elbitara
• The Garden of Ecstasy: Temple to Iritsa

Harbortown

The portion of town built up around the extensive docks of the city. It is filled with rough taverns, poor inns and tall tenements. It isn't entirely lawless, though it can get tough at night.

• Dome of Ardun: Academy for Healers and Mages. A mage's school, the Dome of Ardun doesn't only teach arcane spellcasters. Its focus on herbalism, medicine and anatomy has attracted even non-spellcasters to its halls. There are rumors that Ardun is a necromancer, and his interests in anatomies is motivated by his own dark designs.
• Harborview Crossroads Chapterhouse: Hospitalers' Headquarters. A very large building atop a hill, the chapterhouse of the local Hospitalers includes a set of fair-sized stables on its grounds. Most of its space is taken up by sleeping quarters, a war room, a trophy hall and an extensive library.
• Mercantilists' Guildhall: Also serving as a guild bank and money changer's, this is the guildhall for the local Prosperous Mercantilist's Guild.
• Teamsters Guildhall: A large building where those in the guild looking for work often gather to meet with prospective clients who come seeking men for hard labor in this hall, it is the guildhall for the Steady & Sinewed Guild of Teamsters.

Ragtown

The paupers-and-illfolks' town that has cropped up outside of the city's main gates, filled with folk who are either too poor or too afraid to take rooms in the city. They are all seeking help in one form or another. The only thing that separates Ragtown from utter lawlessness is the presence of Hospitaler knights who oversee order in the area.

• The Great Hospital: Hospitaler's House of Healing. One of the few buildings constructed outside of Lady's Rest's walls, the Great Hospital was established in order to treat the great many ill and crippled who come to Lady's Rest, seeking the succor its reputation promises the diseased and injured. It is manned by Hospitalers, and often aided by students from the various healing academies (who receive tax reductions for the contribution of their students' aid).