Tesmius
Tesmius is a city of northern Cerlain. It sits on the road north from the capital Tamish, on the feet of the mountains of Jorlinum further north. It sits upon the River Dolma which flows southwards through the capital and on to Port Epinum.
Background
Tesmius sits to the side of the main trade route from Jorlinum through to Tamish, and is a relatively new city. It was not until the heyday of the Empire that the small mining town grew beyond a staging place where ore and oil were loaded onto barges bound for the Capital.
It was in these times that the stone available to the north and east of the town was identified as being of particular beauty. Its stone was quarried and used to build many of the buildings and monuments in Tamish, an honour that saw its population grow along with its reputation for fine stone. Its position on the River Dolma also allowed it some small exports of stone to Amastus for building works in the heart of the Empire itself.
Political
These days, the city falls within the lands governed by the Count of Tamish. It has a Viscount of its own, but the role does not hold the political bite of some of the other viscounts, especially his peers the Viscounts of Mellinara and Saclos whose territories span the major trade routes with Jorlinum and the rest of the former Empire. It also has a smaller population, which also devalues the influence of her ruler.
The city has 25,000 inhabitants, making it one of the smallest cities in the small nation, and has far fewer farms and outlying areas, although the lands spanning the road to the south produce a particularly sharp grape, used to produce a fresh clear wine. The Viscount of Tesmius is proud to declare his city's reputation, boldly proclaiming that his land built the palace of the Prince and wet his tables with its wine.
City Facilities
Travellers used to the comfortable life in the decadent cities further south in Cerlain may be surprised by the sparse, bare welcome that greets them here. The town is open to the elements, and is built from solid stone taken from the mountains away northwards. It can seem a little bare, and somewhat cold as it is city with the highest elevation above the sea in all of Cerlain and among the furthest north too. This cooler climate is often something of a surprise to visitors.
The cool weather contributes to the quality of the grapes grown in the city's lowland slopes away southwards. A most unusual grape and very popular across Cerlain as a refreshing, almost citrus drink. Locally, the wine has long been the most popular drink of choice among the guests of local inns.
The city is spread out too. Having only been a town during most of the recent warring it never needed proper defences. All that have been provided now are a series of banked defences facing north to the mountains, where any attack would be expected during times of excess cold or famine from goblinoid creatures that dwell there.
Places to Stay
There are three big inns in town, catering to the burly stone workers, dock workers and miners that pass through frequently. These are:
Melussa's Inn - a dockside inn, which is popular among the dock workers, but is perhaps a little too close to the docks for those that don't need to be at work before first light of day. The docks are a notoriously noisy place, and this inn is right in the midst of that noise.
Sably Balgarricks Inn, a large and sprawling inn with special facilities for Dwarfs (which is unheard of among other towns and cities of Cerlain, and maybe the whole Empire). Balgarrick is a former trader who used to load and unload his own carts and (later) his own boats. He is a big man, and has set up quite a sprawling inn that appeals to miners and stoneworkers on their way to and from the quarries of the north. The inn butts up to one of the defensive dikes at the northern edge of the city. The Inn has stood here since the city was a small town of miners and traders, and has been called many names down the years. Balgarrick has extended it considerably, although sometimes wishes he hadn't taken it quite so far with the fall off in stone trade recently.
Collamina Duferris's Hotel - the smallest of the three large inns. Tries to cater for the regular traders rather than directly appealing to the dockers or stone-workers, but it is not the cheapest of the three and so is rarely as busy as the other two. A clean and pleasant place, right in the heart of the city, but always seems colder than the surrounding landscape and the town itself.
Alongside this these three, there are another dozen or so small inns and boarding houses that pick up any overflow of visitors around the city. Some of these are transient, appearing for a while and then closing just as quickly as the workers turn up and then flow away in times of hardship.
In addition to the inns, there are many small taverns and bars used by the working population. A hard days work is quenched with local wine or cider. There are even imported beers from Hebria and Amastus available.