April 13, 2025 8:33 PM PDT
Availia and The Forlyn
Tonight, i want to take you on a journey to the human township of Avalia, highlighting three distinct groups that operate in the idyllic land outside of the capital city of Thronefast. Availia sits nestled amongst the hills and waterways outside of the human capital city, an area known locally as the Forlyn. Wrapped around the feet of the roan mountains, the land is gentle, airable, and green allowing for farming and mining to serve as dueling exports at different times in the region's history. If you'd visited the Forlyn 400 years ago near Thronefast’s founding, you'd have heard the sharp refrain of pickaxes, explosions, and falling dust from a siltstone quarry up to the north. Barges made from thick timber moved in solemn military procession up and down the coarse inlet, each laboring under the weight of a single slab of siltstone cargo.
Over the centuries as the quarry was tapped of its titular resource, the land became a hub of agriculture, feeding much of the booming population of the nearby town. The ships in the course weren't as large or as heavy-laden and the harsh rhythms of a mining camp gave way to the soft melody of a farmhand whistling about his day.
However, this honorable use became mired in the abuses of the Sevil house, who prioritized profits over the peasantry and, as the city found new resources in the seas and beyond, the principal members of this offending noble family were tried, banished, and, in one case, executed. Thus the Forlyn became forested once more even as the town of Availia was founded just over a hundred years ago. This founding, less as a bustling settlement, was more a retreat for ex-soldiers and former navy blue coats.
Until five years ago, this was still the town's chief purpose, serving as a home for those deeply unsettled or physically injured by the horrors of Thronefast’s wars, Just over five years ago, the catastrophe at Azeris took the life of the ruling Oceloth king, most of his family, as well as countless other nobles officers and soldiers. In the wake of this disaster, Amenthiel,
Queen of the burning heart, ascended to the same throne that her ancestor, Avendyr, first took nearly 500 years prior. Accompanying Amenthiel’s ascension were a host of reforms each aimed at reorienting one of the more militarized sectors of the empire. One such reform took Availia on a path away from something of a soldier's retirement village and into a more egalitarian hub of culture and trade. To oversee this transition, Amenthiel appointed the Vintori noble house which is where we start our exploration today.
The Vintori are a true Thronefastian low noble house. Interestingly, they draw their wealth not from a single family, but from a collection of families in a merchant holding. This is unconventional but it is not unprecedented within Thronefast, and the Vintori still obey the strict customs and protocols of the high noble court of lords Under the shrewd and fastidious eyes of Vaedru Vintori the family has flourished in merchantry, both locally and across the seas. On the ground in Availai, it would be difficult to dispute the results thus far as everything from steel to steeds are fetching the highest price of anyone's lifetime.
Indeed, it has never been better to live in Availai unless of course you're one of the ex-soldiers who used to call the town home. While any layperson would happily admit that the wealth and talents the Vintori have invested in the town have raised its suitability significantly, there have been some rather vehement detractors along the way. The list of former sailors and soldiers who have been displaced by this transition is long and their outcry is not altogether unwarranted. For a time, this sentiment merely simmered beneath the surface; a cold but reserved disdain that flickered in conversations like a flame looking for a torch. Yet, after an unattributed arson of the soldier's favorite tavern two years ago, the flames of their disaffected resentment began to climb further up their bodies and out of their mouths amidst the smoke and cinders of that day. The men and women of the military class took emblems of their former units, collectively naming themselves The Deserted, a somewhat jaded take on a soldier who flees the army he or she serves.
Adding to the furor of the deserted was the unfortunate and uneven way in which the Vintori dealt with the crisis. On the one hand, the lady mayor of Availai, Agrasil Vintori, entreated the soldiers to come and take counsel to help shape the future of the town. However, her subordinate Domas, the lord in waiting, cracked down militarily with swift and unbridled justice as he saw it. This sent many of the soldiers into the outlying areas with many refusing to re-enter civil society at all, and others continuing to fight their own private war alone. Still, others chose the least reputable option of all, and here we shall end our journey today.
With an economic titan like Thronefast, it should come as no surprise that criminality waits in every shadow. To combat this, another of Amenthiel’s reforms was to target the organization of banditry and piracy. Yet, despite this, the capital still has its share of thievish gangs and networks. Chief of the day in the Forelyn are the Gadai, a group founded by the Farrow clan nearly a decade ago. They are in the midst of a golden age of kidnapping, smuggling, and worse. Keeping mostly to the heights of the Roans and the forests of Avendyr’s Pass, the Gadai’s specialize in swift, strategic actions rarely will they risk themselves for inferior prizes. Led locally by native sons, Joran and Gatta, the Gadai possess an almost animalistic knowledge of the Roan Mountains and valleys, making their camps difficult to find and subdue by traditional military action. Adding to this, the Gadai now include members of The Deserted, giving a new and unique advantage against the Thronefast regular army as well as any would-be infiltrators who come into the group from outside. Despite this level of uncertainty, Availia is still a place where destinies and desired outcomes have a chance to flourish.
