Tag: Kingsport

Along the north side of the street of spice, close to the Western Gate lies a small shop by the name of L’eau Célestes, run by Beauclairois socialite by the name of Céleste Deschamps. What is remarkable about her shop is that it seems to be permanently stocked with bottled wines of amazing vintages as well as with barrelled wine of different sizes. Her prices are amazingly steep and yet she seems to keep her head above water quite well. What is remarkable about Céleste Deschamps is, well…

For a start, she has managed to gain access to court in just a few short years after arriving in Kingsport, with little more than a cart filled with wine, a chest of personal belongings and a deed to the shop on the Street of Spice. She has managed to become friendly and associated with every ancient noble house in Kingsport, and she has become the exclusive vintner and sommelier of many of them. She has openly joked when addressing Queen Isabella that she will not rest before she exclusively stocks Her Majesty’s cellars.

Madame Céleste is assisted by Pip, an intelligent, young halfling who has helped to establish Céleste’s business. Together they have leveraged the success of the wine business into a burgeoning information brokerage.

Just outside of the Brown gate lies an area where trappers, tanners and leatherworkers have congregated with a cattle market close by. It’s here that Lyandra Wildrunner, an elven woman from the Worthwilde has set up shop. She only crafts leather items upon commission, so that she does not have to maintain any valuable stock outside of the city walls, and only if the price and assignment is to her liking. A boiled leather breastplate, or a simple leather saddle, or an unremarkable pair of riding boots is not enough to tease her interest, but ask her to make an elaborately decorative, full leather armour and she will deliver the most amazing quality that coin can buy.

Her shop consists of a half-open shed with all the required tools, and she knows almost all the leatherworkers, tanners, dyers, cattle farmers, hunters and trappers in the area, so if she can’t help you, she will likely know who can.

The most important armoursmith in Southside is Dagran Forgewright, a mountain dwarf and member of Clan Thoradun. His shop is set on the corner of the river and the Street of Steel. His forge sits behind his shop, on a courtyard he shares with several other craftsmen. He is considered a wellspring of knowledge and experience by the rest of the Street of Steel and while the rest of the crafters compete with him in terms of business, he has proven to be a generous father figure to anyone willing to learn. Dagran specialises in beautifully crafted metal armours but has a good working relationship with Lyandra Wildrunner, a leatherworker just outside of Kingsport who specialises in leather, scale and hide armours.

While Dagran’s presence in Southside is a welcome one, and people are always fond of seeing his steel-grey beard and soot covered bald head walk down the Street of Steel, there is some controversy that surrounds him. When he first arrived in Kingsport, three decades ago, he requested an audience with the Steward to request special permission to set up business in Kingsport and function as a informal ambassador to the dwarves of Ard Thoradun. He was eagerly welcomed with open arms. His only demand was that he could keep a bonded servant; a young orc by the name of Kargath of the Stormwolves clan.

Years before, when returning home from a trading expedition to White Fork, his caravan was set upon by a raiding party of orcs. The orcs had underestimated the dwarves and they were defeated. When it came time to kill the defeated orcs, Dagran decided to spared a young orc’s life and nurse him back to health. Unable to return to Ard Thoradun, he was allowed to leave his ancestral home without forsaking his clan allegiance. Over the years he trained Kargath in smithing techniques and developed him into an outstanding weaponsmith.

When the Steward of Kingsport was presented with the conundrum of either turning away such a valuable member of the Thoradun clan, or accepting him on the grounds that he bring his orc apprentice into the city, he chose to let Dagran stay with the caveat that he become personally responsible for the orc and anything that happens as a result of his stay in Kingsport.

Recently, it became clear that Dagran has the ability to take the fabled lyrium crystals and socket them into weapons and armour in order to imbue them with additional properties.

The is no real place of worship for the followers of Ioun in Kingsport. The closest temple is in Bournemouth. According to Lord Caedmon, head of House Bromley, this is an affront to Kingsport’s status as the capital and has opened up his private library at his estate in Ravensbourne every last day of the ride for worship. The proximity of the Circle of Mages has meant that this service is heavily attended by the mages and apprentices that study there. It is a relatively informal gathering, and in recent years Lord Caedmon has been corresponding with the Iounic order in Bournemouth to get an anointed priest of their order to lead the congregation. Until then Lord Caedmon himself, with the aid of his librarian, Raedelus, lead the services and read from Iounic texts.

In the ward of Ravensbourne, right next to the Daerlan embassy, stands a modest Church of Deus, the monotheist god who represents the just, righteous and everything good and who stands in opposition of Asmodeus, who represents the wicked, vile and everything evil. The church is lead by His Excellency, bishop Menno Haanstra.

Very few people attend the church. The people who do attend mass are almost exclusively Daerlanian. Occasionally a Lyrian will wander in to check it out, but they rarely stay. The only reason for its existence is its proximity to the Daerlan embassy, and it has been suggested that the presence of the church is a form of cultural encroachment that should be forbidden. In order not to strain relations, the church is allowed to practice and all are welcome, but many believe that this might change as soon as Lyro-Daerlan diplomatic relationships worsen.