General

Colchester is a city located in the western end of the Kingdom of Medora. Once a large centre of trade and power, it suffered significant damage in the Devastation and the >Name of War<. It now houses the headquarters for the Order of the Brown Dragon.

Description

Built on both sides of the river Colne, Colchester was built on the remains of the Temerian City that stood here before it. Many of the older buildings in the high district, bear Temerian influences in their architecture and the sewage system of the city has been around for centuries. The city proper is surrounded by a 50-foot-high wall that stretches around the city, making it accessible only through the 3 main gates, or via the river. Swaths of farmland surround the city, spreading primarily towards the southwest. The part of the city within the walls is separated into 3 sections, the Pyramid District, the North District and the South District.

Pyramid District

In the very centre of town lies the Pyramid District. Surrounded by a 20-foot-high inner wall, this is the home the the city's wealth and government. Luxury merchants lined the central square, around which the entrances to the Mage's Guild and the Pyramid, for which this district, is named could be found. Some of the temples make their home here as well, including the main temple to Pelor. The cities within this district bore style of ancient Temeria, with some of the cobbles still carrying carvings and colours reminiscent of the fallen empire. It streets were patrolled by iron and stone golems, prior to the fall of the Mage's Guild. For much of it's history the pyramid District has had strictly restricted access, requiring special permits, or marks of passage, such as the rings give to the Order, in order to enter. This restriction has largely been lifted since the Devestation.

Like the rest of the city, the Pyramid District suffered significant damage during the Devastation. Most of the merchants and craftsmen had their shops destroyed, and the city streets themselves melted under the acid breath of the black dragon. It was the Mage's Guild which suffered the greatest damage. The destruction of the ground caused the river to escape it's riverbed and plow straight through the main tower, this combined with the dragon's assault resulted in the tower crumbling and being consumed by the massive crevasse that opened. The flooding river water would then make it's way through the underground sewers and tunnels, used by the Five. The majority of the Guild staff is through to have been killed during the collapse.

One building which stood largely unharmed was the Pyramid itself. It has since become the base of operations for not just the city's government, but it's city watch and trade community. The surrounding temples managed to survive the attack with only minor damages, keeping the community alive. Rebuilding efforts have been strongest in this part of Colchester, as it is where they begun initially, with much of the population hiding in the Pyramid during the attack.

Notable current and former locations within the district include:

• The Pyramid: Main headquarters of the city's leadership.
• Elfanrinka's Library: The ancient Temerian library, protected for centuries, by the Couatl Elfanrinka. Located under the Great Pyramid, this library has since been claimed by the city.
• Griffin's Teacup: Upscale tavern, used as a meeting spot for the city's elite. Frequented by Five leadership within Colchester, before their purge.
• Grand Temple: Temple dedicated to Pelor, the patron god of Medora. Lead by high priest Richard.
• Mage's Guild: Large tower, serving as the local central for the Conclave.
• Temple to Erathis: An ancient underground temple, formerly used as the local headquarters of the Five. Has since been flooded and cleared by the Order. Contains a teleportation circle.
• Tesarian Goods: Magic items shop within the Astral Sea. A single door served as a portal to it. It was destroyed after a githyanki raid.
• Alchemist Grotto: Shop selling lotion and potions. Proprietor is the one who identified and told us about the Edar poison.
• Hornblowers: High-end jewelry store.

North District

This district is located north of the river and is where the majority of the middle classes live. Building made of stone with some decorative designs are common and most shops have well carved or painted signs. The free accessibility of this district, has made if a popular location for traders and craftsmen of more specialized nature. Blacksmiths, armorers, tailors and alchemists plant their business here and also call it home, unlike the Pyramid District which is inhabited by a very exclusive number of people.

Most notably this is where the present base of operations of the Order of the Brown Dragon is located. Due to this, part of town suffered the heaviest damage during the raid by the dragons, whose intention was to send a message and turn the city against the Order, something they tried to accomplish by reducing most building to rubble the leaving the Order's house untouched. Since then the Order has avoided rebuilding the nearby structure to avoid similar attacks in the future. As such most of this part of town is still rubble, but plans for it's reconstruction are in motion, with funds from the Order. One part where the rebuilding effort is alive and strong is near the northern wall, which suffered significant damage in both the Devastation and the war with Astrium. With the assistance of the iron golem Vinny, and the Pick and Hammer company of Flottyem, much of the damage has already been repaired and efforts have been focused on building a new city gate to the north east, leading to the currently named Brown District.

Notable current and former locations within the district include:

• Order of the Brown Dragon's Headquarters: A two-story house with a basement and an attics, acquire from and old lady, by the Order, via deception and persuasion.
• Old Smith's Guild: Large stone building at the end of a major square. Former home of the Smith's guild that has since become a venue for local community events. Used as a hiding place by the Crown Prince and Commander Vettle, during the assassination attempt by Arcanist Saxel.
• Mystic's hand: Magic item shop, where the Ioun Stone of Insight was purchased.
• The Fluorescent Garments: Tailor's shop ran by Kenneth and his daughter.

South District

Situated south of the river is the poorest part of town - the South District. Here live most of the lower class citizens of the city, some farmers as well as the majority of the labourer, live here. Most of the buildings were wood, the nicer ones having stone foundations. Many traders of basic necessities, such as food tools and clothing exist, of varying quality, but all too poor to afford a location within the other districts. One thing that could be found in abundance here is entertainment. Pubs, bars fighting rings and racetracks, any vice available to the poor can be found within a short walk. Many of the locations frequented by travelers and even the Order, are here. Due to this, it has also become the den for the city's underbelly - gangs, thieves and bookmakers. The city's Coliseum was located here, little of which remains now. Despite this, this remains by far the biggest district and the one the majority of the population calls home, as most residential buildings are here.

The damage to this district was mostly focused on it's notable buildings and markets, as opposed to the residential area. Despite this, many lives were lost due to the sheer density of the population here.

Notable current and former locations within the district include:

• The Wizard's Tower: A pub located at the north end of the district and a favourite of the Order. It's job board is where most of the early work undertaken by the Order came from, and it retains that very same board to this day. Is now under the management of Skonis.
• The Fighting Pit: A bar hosting nightly brawls. Early on was the site of a fight between Sar and one Heiric, who had attacked Quiggly by accident.
• The Fighter's Respite: Pub owned by the Five, which connected to their network of tunnels leading within and outside the city. Was managed by a doppelgänger, before the Order eliminated him.
• Coliseum: A large arena, where regular combat events would happen. Twice a year, a large tournament was hosted, attraction fighters from across the continent.
• Manticore Inn: An Inn which had appeared suddenly within the city. In reality was a huge immobile mimic, which the Order destroyed.

Outcity

Most of the life beyond the walls is focused on the southern and western ends. Here two main types of dwellings could be found - farmhouses and estates. Most of the workforce engaging in agriculture was located here, outside the restrictive wall and the narrow streets, where there was sufficient space for farming equipment and animals. Stables, dairy farms and orchards lay close to the wall, turning into rolling fields the further out one goes. Commerce is not focused on a single location, but rather sporadically spread, with people's houses doubling as places of work.

These parts of town were left largely untouched by the dragons, but suffered damage during the war with Astrium.

Notable current and former locations within the district include:

• Sphinxes Crown: Tavern with an attached stables, where the Order fought agents of the Five, including a doppelgänger.

Brown District

Society

Demographics

Colchester is the second largest city within the Kingdom of Medora. As of 774Y 4E it's population stands at 52638, following the loss of almost 20000 lives in the Devastation and the War with Astrium. The majority of the city's inhabitants are humans, with significant minorities of dwarves from the nearby Mountain Holds and elves from the south-west. Members of all races from throughout the continent could be found here, due to the city's central location within Northern Velinde, however after the recent events, travel has stalled.

Notable People

History

Early History

Not much is known about the early history of Colchester. It was founded during the rise of the Temerian Empire, serving as a regional capital of central Temeria. Due to it's lack of a coastline or sailable river, the city would not grow as large as Covernport or Maidenview, but despite that, it's position at the land crossroads of the empire meant it saw a steady flow of trade. Being close to the mountains, meant that the city had a steady supply of ore, and the nearby woods provided sufficient lumber. These two factors, combined with it's defensible position within the heart of the Empire, made it the centre for the Temerian Automaton production. With these automatons, Temeria created an army which didn't need rest and started rapidly expanding, before an alliance of the remaining nations resulted in the empire's destruction. Following that Colchester became part of the Kindom of Medora formed from the eastern part of former Temeria.

Pre-Devastation

For centuries Colchester served as the main city in western Medora, becoming a trading crossroads, between the Dwarven Holds' settlements in the mountains and those in the Northern Archipelago, such as Isoks. It was a prominent enough city to house embassies, including ones from Astrium and the Great Forest. Events, such as the bi-annual tournament at the Coliseum and the admission tests for the prominent Mage's Guild made the city a popular destination with travelers. Leadership of the city was done by the council, which included government official, as well as various influential members of society.

Amongst those were the Mage's Guild leader - Magi Ardrelle. Under her the Mage's Guild took prominent role in the city's management and expanded its influence. They were responsible for the teleportation all of the teleportation circles in the city, as well as the golems patrolling the Pyramid District. Some 70 years prior a major breakthrough happened at the Guild, a wizard by the name of Hector Blanchnetta, managed to create a fully sentient construct during his experiments - Quiggly Cartwright. In an attempt to prevent the creation of an army like that of ancient Temeria, Hector's research was deemed forbidden and he was exiled. Quiggly however was kept imprisoned within the Guild's anti-wizard prison, for decades, before his escape. Some years after two further members of the Guild would leave - the duergar brothers Maldor and Taful. Their knowledge of teleportation magic, became highly coveted, and as such they disappeared one day. Years later Ardrelle's son would be kidnapped and trasformed into a parrot, by a Rhakshasa known as Lex. Lex was working as an agent of the lich Porton Thanan, whose wished to use the duergar brothers' research to find a way to connect the Material to what remained of the land of dragons - the Deadlands. From then on Lex took the guise of Alexander, the spymaster on the City Council and used Ardrelle to further his goals.

The next major shake up within the city, began with the arrival of what would later become the Order. In 771Y E4, a group consisting of Quiggly, Sar, Panis, Varen, Mumear and Maldor, teleported unannounced within the Guild. After an initial encounter with the mages, Ardrelle ordered for Maldor and Quiggly to be placed under arrest, but a well-timed sleep spell, allowed the Order to escape, albeit without Maldor. From there the city would see the Order complete various quests including:

• Unearthing a ancient Temerian library underneath the Great Pyramid.
• Defeating a massive mimic tavern.
• Slaying a doppelgänger agent of the criminal organization known as the Five.
• Assisting in the excavation of a nearby Temerian tomb.
• Putting to rest a group of undead which had arisen in the neighbouring town of Lengrave.
• Saving a group of missing children from the lair of a Hag in Buckgrove.
• Disposing of a group of roaming gargoyles, which had come to live in a nearby church.

Soon after disaster struck, as massive portals to the Deadlands started opening up all over the country, as a result of the Order, failure to stop Lex from destabilising the boundary between the Deadlands and the Material. A huge portal appeared within a major street in the Southern District. Heaps of sand flowed into the streets, followed by a variety of monsters. Chief amongst them were a Hydra and a Manticore, only defeated by the combined efforts of the Order and a then captain of the City Watch - Sebastian Vettel. Soon the portals were successfully closed, thanks to the Order breaking the ritual focus in Templeton.

From then the Order gained the respect of the council and began working for them, specifically the Mage's Guild, with whose apparent help they were trying to deduce the plans of Lex and the location of Taful. Ardrelle and Lex seized the opportunity and manipulated the order into helping their cause, by acquiring a particularly potent toxin known as Edar Poison.

Their goal was to use this venom to kill the city council and replace them with Devils, which Lex had summoned. This poison was procured from the lair of a young blue dragon that had found its way to the Material plane - the Roving Storm, one of the 3 dragons working together with Porton and Lex. After defeating the dragon, the Order's caution lead them to do some research into the toxin and the council. With that they deduced the Rhakshasa's plan and gave them a fake toxin, while working with the local clergy to set a trap and defeat all of the fiends at once. Following a council meeting where a large portion of the concil were killed by the devils, the Order together with captain Vettel and their new companion Kalen, slayed Lex and his devils and captured Ardrelle within a Bead of Force.

The Order were recognized as heroes of the city and setup their headquarters, where they would do a wide range of jobs over the coming year. The city however, had entered a period of political turmoil. With a large portion of the council dead, and the Mages loyalty called into question, it became challenging to find stability. A red dragonborn of noble descent - Maximilian Xanagos, took over the mage's guild. Under his leadership a tighter control on magic was put into place. Travelers to the city would have to declare all of their magic goods and be scanned for any magical auras. In addition to his presence, the King decided to sent the royal heir - Crown Prince Estavere Beaumont, to take charge of the city. There were also news of a banding lord, calling himself Gazzarel, Lord of the Woods, who had also began operating in the forests west of the city.

Having reunited after a year, the Order resumed their group activity, much to the chagrin of the Prince and Maximilian, who saw them as vigilantes, who needed to be put under control. After some verbal clashes between then and the Order, the Order left the city, in search of Hector Blanchnetta, as well as clues to the mastermind behind Lex's plot and the rest of the dragons who had come through the portals.

Weeks later following the Order's return after slaying the Vampire Lord of Bloodgate, struck the incident known as the Devastation. Porton Thanan, enraged, by the Order's interference, decided to turn the population against them. He ordered two of the dragons under his command, a young black by the name of Akuir, the Costic Killer, as well as the Adult Green Gazzarel attacked the city. Gazzarel had used magic to disguise himself as an Ancient Black dragon, a guise kept up by his use of magic to conjure acid. Together the 2 dragons attacked the city in the Order's absence, destroying large parts of it and killing close to 20000 people. Only a timely Divine Intervention by Torm, allowed the Order to return to the City and stop the attack. Sar and Calu managed to kill Akuir, while the others assisted in the evacuation of civilians to the Pyramid. Gazzarel, however escaped, with his disguise in tact, but not before using the Skywrite spell, to pen the words "The Order of the Brown Dragon has brought you destruction".

Post-Devastation

The Devastation left the city a shadow of it's former self. The bustling trade, was replaced by streams of civilians flowing away, in search of a refuge. In the crisis, rule of the city fell to the Crown Prince, who had himself been injured in the attack. Captain Vettel, was the highest ranking officer of the watch left, becoming its commander. Despite losing an arm in the attack, he took charge and lead the effort to rescue and rehouse those who had lost their homes. The Pyramid, previously used as government offices, started housing civilians within it's vast halls. The most significant change, was the diversion of the river. The combined attack of acid and magic, allowed the river to flow freely and it directed itself through the Pyramid district and into the vast crevasse that now took the place of the Mage's Guild. Flooded streets, made the search and rescue efforts grueling and it was posed to cause further collapse, by undermining building foundations.

Rebuilding began with getting the river under control. Teams of diggers hired from Flottyem and the surrounding area combined with magical assistance from the Order, saw the river contained. Despite their best efforts, it could not be returned to it's prior riverbed, but not longer flooded the streets. Flying rescue teams, looked for survivors, and priests tended to the wounded. At the main temple of Pelor, a grand service was held for those who had lost their lives in the attack.

The incident shifted the city's perception of the Order with many protesting in front of their headquarters and blaming them for the incident. The Order were warned by the City Guard, that some of the protestors were considering burning their building down. This they replied to, by saying that they are here to protect the people of Colchester, however should they be attacked, they will defend themselves. This threat allowed cooled heads to prevail, with many realizing that the dragon's message was indicative of the Order's efforts in preventing a greater disaster.

Several months later, the city would be faced with a new issue, the invading Astrium army. Making use of Medora's now weaker border, Astrium sought to capture Colchester, with their armies coming as close as Lengrave, before being rebuked. This was caused by a combination of a violent snowstorm caused by Calu's magic, and the order cutting their supply lines by going behind enemy lines. Put togethers, this reduced their army's numbers and made reinforcement difficult. An initial parlay was arranged, where a temporary ceasefire was agreed. This however was but a ploy, while Arcanist Saxel, was having her agents infiltrate the city and plant explosive glyph near the newly repaired walls, as well as temples and barracks. When her plan was prevented, she decided to enter the city herself and assassinate the Crown Prince, who was hiding in the old Smith's Guild. A large fight ensued in the nearby square, culminating with Sar feeding the stunned Saxel to Calu, who had taken the form of a Dragon-T-Rex hybrid.

Following the First Velindean Convention, where an alliance of all the nations was formed against Proton and the Vampires, Astrium and Medora signed a peace treaty, leaving Colchester to focus on reclaiming it's former glory. This was assisted to a large part by the Order, to whom the now King Estavere Beaumont had granted the lands north east of the city, for the construction of their base - the future Brown District. The construction of a new gate leading to said district was started. An event interrupted by an attack from a group of Mind Flayers looking for Ja'adock. After Porton's defeat the city return to relative peace and quiet.

Now under the leadership of the appointed Overseer - Commander Vettel and the protection of the Ancient Brass Dragon Skonis, people began returning to Colchester and the city regained some of it's former liveliness, although it had yet to reach it's Pre-Devastation days. Laying of the first foundations within the Brown District had also began, preparing the city for the future.

End of the 4th Era

Colchester had largely recovered from the additional damage inflicted by Tharizdun's forces during his brief release from the Old World. With the few years of peace and rapid rebuilding, the city had established itself, as one of, if not the most important city in Northern Velide. This is largely due to it serving as the headquarters for the Order of the Brown Dragon, while lead to it becoming a beacon for technological advancements, being at the forefront of the adoption of skyships, as well as the newly developed trains.