Of all the Vallanholds that I have had the privilege of visiting, never have I seen one simultaneously as peaceful and chaotic as Saellac. Being known as “the wooden city”, the hold rests almost entirely upon wooden support beams, meticulously hammered into the hard clay that lies beneath Loch Draco, making the hold appear to be floating upon the lake’s murky deep. The city is predominantly built around the eastern–most confluence of Loch Draco, which also serves as the hold’s paramount provider of drinking water and arable irrigation. Due to its placement on a small lake-penninsula giving resemblance to a dragon’s head, the city has gained another name of “the Maw”, from locals living around the main dock-city
Due to the hold’s rapidly increasing size and wealth, it has become rich with factions and guilds of differing motives, only being bolstered by the expansion of trade, and a seemingly never-ending stream of refugees flocking towards Saellac, in search of a new home. It is an apathetic and somber order, not the peaceful, hidden strength of the capital, nor the bloodied might of authority I did expect when first entering the gates. If you cause a stir over a purse, and you are an outlander, the guard will leave you be and carry on. It is terribly efficient, for enmity from thieves threatens their potential power abroad, and it is best to let the stolen coin feed the local economy and bring forward new prosperity.
The architecture is extremely chaotic in nature, only worsening as the woodwork city continues to expand onto Loch Draco. With infrastructure consisting of wooden labyrinthine bridges, expansive shoreside docks and twisting serpentine canals. Forcing the majority of residents to reside within rudimentary timber–framed houses. The royal Citadel however, looms over the entire hold. A towering limestone fortress, incorporating flying buttresses, ribbed vaults and fortified exterior walls, erected around the peninsula it rests upon. Preceding all other structures in the Vallanhold, the Citadel has served as the primary assembly point for official royal matters, in Saellac, since its inception.
As Saellac rests on the edge of Loch Draco, it has become the realm’s hearth of trade, as nigh–all trade in the realm must first travel through the lake, before reaching its destination. Causing Saellac’s infrastructure and culture to be almost entirely built around trade, with the hold’s coastline being covered in monolithic stone ports for merchant vessels, along with the formation of not only numerous unofficial thieves guilds known for pickpocketing unwitting merchants, as well as occasionally raiding trade vessels, but also a traders guild, whom negotiate larger trade deals, while offering hired protection, among other benefits to its members.
While Saellac is mostly known for trade, farming remains one of the holds most vital industries. As the rich fertile soil encompassing the hold and the nigh–infinite irrigation that comes from Loch Draco allows the city to not only harvest larger crop yields than all other Vallanholds, but also cultivate the largest variety of crops, outside the Great Capitol. With Saellac’s edge being defined by bright fields of crops and vegetables, stretching for miles in every direction.
As Saellac is relatively peaceful, its official militia is extraordinarily small. With the majority of its kingdom guard being stationed at fortified outposts, which primarily stand about the realms most vital trade routes. As a result of this the kingdom guard is stretched extraordinarily thin, with each outpost often being held by no more than two guards at the lowest and five guards at the highest. This has forced Saellac to heavily rely on hired mercenaries to guard vital trade routes and merchant vessels from marauders, culminating in the establishment of an official mercenaries guild, which now remains in charge of protecting most merchant ships within the hold, in exchange for payment. While also occasionally fighting off smaller beasts that intermittently wander into Saellac.
-Written by Collector Argus Mullow.
Saellac pub song
(By chronicler of Poetry Ollie)
Hey ye! Welcome to the house o’ thieves!
Here, where we all have knives in our sleeves.
In here everyone is in your pockets.
So ye better watch ‘em with your sockets!
Wary be of those in cloaks and hoods,
In the shadows eyeing up your goods!
All to hide ‘em up under some leaves,
Oh be careful of the Guild o’ Thieves!
Well when there’s matter of defence,
Someone else will gain at your expense.
So your gold escapes the thieves’ hoards,
And goes to a Guild o’ Hired Swords!
When you think that all the thievin’s done,
Some thieves work under the light of sun!
So before you get your satchel spilled,
Oh be wary of the Trader’s Guild!
Hey ye! Welcome to the house o’ thieves!
There are more of us than one perceives!
Collected Records
“Oh aye, this place is great! I moved here when I was 19 for work, after my da’ died, and it was the best decision of my life. I always loved the water, and being able to sit on a boat, staring at the open waves for hours at a time was a dream come true, and when I officially joined the Trader’s guild, oh it just got better and better. Suddenly, I was going on royal deliveries, to the farthest stretches of the Spire’s shadow, with hired mercenaries to protect us from both man and beast! It’s an honour to be able to carry goods to every corner of the realm, and the sights you get to see are second to none! I’ve seen it all! From the cliffs of the Fjord to the sea stacks of the Bay, and let me tell you, they were beautiful beyond description, and I’ve nothing but the Maw to thank for that every day! I wouldn’t trade this job for the world.”
- A statement from Markus Quentin, veteran member of the Traders guild
“Ever since I was a child I’ve always dreamed of guarding the royal citadel. I don’t know what it is about that place; but, I can’t help but be enthralled by it. The towering walls, the breathtaking stained–glass, it’s just mesmerizing in a way I couldn’t even begin to describe. That’s why I joined the Mercenaries’ guild in the first place. To learn how to fight well enough that I may be granted the privilege of being stationed at the citadel. Well, that and the fact that I come from a family of mercenaries. Still though, I’ve a long way to go yet. I’ve only been a member for around a year and a half now, and you have to serve at least 5 before you become eligible for consideration to join the kingdom guard; but, I’m making great progress though! It’s only a matter of time before it’s me on those walls!”
- Spoken by Mirou Sidharth, rookie member of the Mercenaries guild
The raid went wrong. At least half of us were killed, and I can’t imagine more than a third of us living to see tomorrow. They must’ve seen us coming a mile away, because the second we stepped on board we were ambushed from all angles. I managed to dive overboard and swim ashore, and I thought I’d gotten away, but one of those bastards on board shot me right through the side, with their crossbow. I don’t know exactly what it hit; but I know it hit something vital, as I’ve been vomiting on and off for over an hour now, and I’m all but certain I’ll die before the sunrise. Hopefully Quirret finds this note. He’d let my family down easy. Honestly though, if I’m being honest, I don’t regret a thing. Wow, guess I was wrong. Sun’s rising right now. It actually looks rather nice.
- Final note of a dead member of the thieves guild
Credits
Written by Charcoal-624, Chronicler of Poetry Ollie, and Chronicler of Prosody Myr. A big thanks to Lizard Eating Pasta, for drawing the map, and I took some inspiration from Joe the Chronicler on the formatting, so thanks to him. Thanks to Chronicler of Prosody Myr, and Chronicler of Poetry Ollie, for helping to merge our submissions.