Quartz 5

Verra

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Verra

Verra was once a Theocratic military outpost that grew into a soldiers’ town during the Theocracy’s rule over the disputed lands. With the signing of the Verra Agreement it gained formal standing as one of the three governing cities of the Hub, alongside the City of Raven and Teremisis, and it remained under heavy Theocratic sway - the more so after the cutting of the nearby Senegarte Pass, which also drew in stronger Clairnian influence. In character the city is deeply Theocratic, with a Clairnian streak.

Verra is famed above all for its strategic position. It is known as a fortress all but impossible to take: four watchtowers stand in the surrounding mountains, called the “Four Pillars of the Sky of Verra,” and between them they ensure no army can approach unseen.

Economy

The city’s chief income is mining and quarrying; as part of the demilitarized Hub it profits little as a trade hub, though many of its people work in commerce, haulage, and storage. The neighbouring town of Haymerkate likewise prospers from the proximity, the two linked by the Senegarte Pass - whose fortunes, like much trade in the region, are credited to the whims of the terror dragon Ko Arto. Import and export taxes fall mainly on food, goods, and magical wares; taxes on mining produce are kept low.

Crime

Two organizations dominate Verra’s criminal scene.

  • The Modern Miners practice a “soft,” low-violence trade. They smuggle anything - people, cults, weapons, drugs - sell knowledge of smuggling routes, and use their mastery of the tunnels to control the city’s mining business.
  • The Kazuko Mei are a classic crime family that has fallen on hard times. Descended from a corrupt logistics officer named Mei, they did in Verra what was done in Daggerwatch - and, with no competitors, found it easy. But once the pass was cut and rule passed to a council, the family began to collapse, unable to handle rivals, enemies, or government. They have since been absorbed into the city’s nobility and even hold a council seat; the authorities use that very place to justify watching and curbing them, and the family scarcely manages to commit crimes at all anymore.

Inns & Shops

  • The Cooker Rooster - a pub founded by Sitanos Domaye in 1495, when he was just eighteen. Over the years it became one of the city’s cultural centres, marketing itself as an inn for adventurers and travellers and a stop for all of cheerful, companionable temper.
  • The Knowledge Seeker - kept by an old and solitary man, Cornelius Conrad: genial, eclectic, and no friend to either the Imperium or the Scribes, for he holds that knowledge should be free to all and clean of religious interest. He will happily ramble for hours about his young days as a wandering sage and his studies in magobotany. In a back room he keeps a small private shrine to the Lord of Spiders, whom he has worshipped since a journey on which he was saved from ambush by a devout Descathi named Kolna.
  • Other shops include The Kadoo, The Shiny Jinar, The Blade Itself, and The Safe Distance.

Appendix

See Also

Sources & Attribution

  • Primary lore: content/private/_originals/Settlement/Settlement-Verra.original.md, author TrueMichato.

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