Sigiliem
The city of Sigiliem is in south Jorlinum, and has grown out of the mining and stoneworking trade arising from the mountains to the east of that former Imperial nation. While mining is still a local trade, the old town found itself on one of the major trade routes and the expansion of commerce after the unification has seen the city grow at the same pace.
Being nestled up to the foothills of the mountains it had been unable to sustain farmland until the middle of the last century. Some time between the 1250s and 1280's the growing of crops finally became possible and while yields are still low compared to lowland farms, they're improving year on year.
The status of 'City' is also a recent addition. It was only granted in 1391, when church of Anbartae expanded its operations in the old town to include a new cathederal, near to where Pendaroch had theirs. Since then, Danethrae too has added its own impressive cathederal to the city. It is a smaller building that those in many other cities, but is outstanding and different to most of the local architecture.
Location
The old town sat between between two arms of a river. To the north, and flowing at this point away past the city westwards is the River Kinner, while its southern tributary, the River Stant flows much closer around the south. The town always occupied the higher land to the north of a flood plain, part of which has now become the new farmlands.
This placement means the city needs three river crossings to service the roads that pass west to Malberina, north to Wolsnium and south-east along the trade road to Cerlain which leads to the City of Aromon. Each of these crossings is made by a short but heavy set bridge. The rivers are both young and narrow here in the mountains and need only small crossings. The northern crossing is the Lantich bridge, the western one is the Walen bridge and the southern one is often called Sigiliem Bridge, but it's real name is Stant Bridge.
Facilities
Inns
As it is part of the trade network for goods passing from Malberina and Shemonen (and hence from Ticetia) to Cerlain, Sigiliem has excellent inns along the road, expecially in the Walen district to the west of the city and in the region to the south of Sigiliem, the Gatehouse district. Finding somewhere to rest along the road here is usually easy. Here are some of the popular choices.
Sigiliem:
- Langmeadows Inn, at the southern tip of the city. It's situated just north of the Guard's Revenue Station which sits on the run-off on the north side of the bridge.
Stalonhoff's Inn and Tavern - well away from the city square but popular among the passing traders. This inn has a reputation for being rowdy, and frequently has bardic music in the common room during the evenings, making it a popular place to visit for the locals too. It brings in bards from Hebria and Tholain mostly, but has the occasional visitor from Caldonacia.
- Pindery's Hotel - used frequently by visiting nobles and those of high station. It's situated right next to the Cathederal of Pendaroch off the main square. This place can be a little pricey.
Lantich:
- Edgar Medil's Hostelry - Medil's is a place aimed at the stone and ore traders, the place seems permanently dusty inside, but is welcoming. Their style is considered, locally at least, to be Ticetian. The floor is strewn with rushes, and the beer (unusually for this part of the world) is dark and hoppy. They have a strong lockup, but most importantly they can cope with large heavy cargoes. They have a new building at the southern edge of the suburb along the road.
- Barkey's Inn - Run by Denis Barkey, this is a warm and reasonably priced inn just off the main road towards the north of the suburb. Denis caters to travellers of all kinds, but cannot handle large caravans or those with heavy waggons. He tries to cater to those travelling light, perhaps those with few trade goods, or those delivering messages.
Walen:
- Belski's Walen Inn - a large trader's inn right in the middle of the Walen district. The building is wood fronted but has a stone frame, and is designed to stand out and be eye catching. Inside the inn seems to go on for miles, the old building is full of twists and tight corridors, but it has plenty of storage space for trader's cargoes.
Religion
There are three large church facilities in the city, and most of the others are represented in some way.
Pendaroch
The oldest of the cathedrals in the city, this is now an old and somewhat crumbly-looking building. Like most of the centre of the city, it's built from the local stone, and has been patched up frequently. It's right on the square, almost opposite the Viscount's residence. The church has always had a big presence in this city, but its facilities let it down somewhat these days.
The church is run by Father Gerald Lieben.
Anbartae
In order for Sigiliem to become a city, it needed two cathedrals. Danethrae had been planning one since the 1370's, and when Anbartae discovered this (sometime before 1375) they rushed through their own building plans and work commenced on their current building in 1380. By 1386 it was completed and pushed into service but it was far from ready. Anbartae had cut too many corners to try and get the jump on their religious rivals, and the building needed more work before it was suitable for use. In the end it didn't reach a state where it could be considered complete until 1404. This didn't stop the town being formally regraded as a city in 1391, but it did embarrass the church, as Danethrae's building was completed in 1396, and is of far higher quality.
Despite the problems of its construction, the building's history makes it something of an attraction for visiting clergy of all denominations, and often is used to help teach budding local stonemasons about their craft. The church is lead by Canon Siggut Ablei, who has quite a dry sense of humour about the church building he's taken over.
Alongside the cathedral the church has a monastery in town, but (unusually for Anbartae) this is a separate building. They use the previous church building as the monastery (it's better build but not as centrally located). This can be found away from the centre of the city, near the southern end of town - when the church was first established here, the building was right in the middle of the town but they did not move when the Viscount's home was built and the new city square was established in the early 1100's.
Danethrae
For a small church presence, Danethrae have quite a special building. Unlike most other local buildings, it is not finished in the pale grey stone of the local mountains, but is built of a white stone imported from northern Cerlain. It's only half the size of the Anbartae cathedral, but looks twice the building. They also house a refectory and monastery on the same site, something which neither of the other cathedrals in the city do.
The building was originally conceived in the 1350's, but ended up being pushed down the order of priorities. Eventually (some 20 years later) they looked at it seriously, and had the building plans drawn up properly and had the building work costed. This seemed to alert Anbartae and spark a race in their minds - but Danethrae backed off from the project when they found out about Anbartae's enthusisasm. It suited them more to allow their rivals to continue thinking they were up against the clock to beat Danethrae to getting their building done. It wasn't until 1386, and the Anbartae building was nearly built, that the church seniors looked at the project again. The plans still looked good, but they now had a prime example of what not to build - and they revisited their plans meticulously (and, perhaps, lavishing them with just a little more money than they should). The eventual church building that was constructed was exceptional - and the credit was given to Father Brynn Walsthorne, a Caldonacian, who was senior priest here from 1372 right through to 1400 when he eventually retired who had overseen the replanning and the building work. He always claimed it wasn't a matter of pride that they did this better than Anbartae, but he always wanted to demonstrate that Danethrae's respect for their own gods was far greater than Anbartae's respect for theirs.
The current leader of the congregation in the Cathedral is Father Hennen Wurz, who succeeded Walsthorne in 1400. Father Wurz is assisted by his senior priest Father Gregg Staffenburg, the senior Paladin Wolfgang Dunsten, and the senior monk Tafiel Metzhund.
Others
The other churches are represented in the city as follows:
- Ascheinar's Cult meet in the old building that has been in use since the town was established, originally it belonged to the Viluciae Cult, which became part of the larger church when it joined together in 1271. The building is across the street from the old church of Anbartae - in a certain light, the construction of the two edefices can make it seem like they're glaring at each other. In addition to this, the church also has a newer facility in the Walden district where they try and cater for their worshippers travelling on the trade route.
- Suldurn has a small presence here. It wasn't until 1299 that they established any presence at all - much later than the other main churches. Their current building, which they've used since 1368, is a small hall at the northen end of the city, on a small side road and set back from the main street. This makes their job of evangelism much harder than it should be. The church do not seem to give this place as much attention at many other cities across Jorlinum.
- Melas Uldonia have no presence in the city; at times in the past they've shared facilities with the Cult of Nature, but have had not had a formal priest assigned to this place for two hundred years. There are few elves this close to the mountains, and their representation in nearby Malberina is excellent.
- Nature: there is no druid grove near to the town. The druids do have a representative here, Mikkel Hanter, who has been the city's senior druid since before it became a city. But he is only in town part of the time. He splits his duties between Sigiliem and Aromon, and uses the grove facilities at Malberina. There are few worshippers of Nature this far into the mountains.