The City of Stonegate
Stonegate takes its name from two sources. The first is the pass, through the Greystone mountains, for which it serves as the southern entrance. The Greystones neatly bisect the larger island of Avonleigh, running from east to west along its spine. Good passes through the mountains are rare, making Stonegate a strategic location, both for the inland trade, and for military reasons. The second is the mountain against which the city nestles. Stone Mountain has been the ancestral home of the Stone Mountain Dwarves since time out of mind. Even the High Elves of the Tremblewood forest can’t remember a time when the Dwarves weren’t in Stone Mountain.
Several hundred years ago, when the kingdom of Avonleigh held sway beyond the pass, a town of human craftsmen and traders arose outside the gates of the dwarven citadel. Later, as wars with the Darkrune hordes went poorly, refugees from the ravaged lands beyond the pass swelled the town into a city. For some years, the city was sporadically besieged both above and below the surface, as the Darkrune elves unleashed their hordes of orcs, ogres, and fiends against both dwarves and humans. Finally, however, the dark tide receded, leaving a lasting bond forged between the battered defenders. Now, the city swears fealty to the dwarven Thane of Stone Mountain, who is also a Duke of Avonleigh. It is by far the largest city in the north of the kingdom, and serves a large part of the north as a market and military center.
Stonegate is home to approximately ten thousand people, though if the dwarves of the connected Stone Mountain are added to that, the total rises closer to fifteen thousand. Humans and dwarves are the most common races seen on the streets of the strongly walled city, though elves from the Tremblewood, three days leisurely walk to the east, and gnomes and halflings from the Silver Hills to the south, are by no means uncommon. There are perhaps one hundred thousand humans living in villages and farmsteads within a three day journey of Stonegate, and on market and festival days, the population of the city can easily more then double. Half-orcs, mostly born of dark deeds, are fairly rare, though not non-existent. Some of them come from beyond the pass, as well, leaving the orc clans behind for their own varied reasons.
Physically, Stonegate is laid out in a long ellipse, running almost exactly east to west. Its eastern end runs right up to the gates of Stone Mountain, which are rarely closed. The gate is protected by a walled citadel that also forms the eastern defense of the city. A twenty foot tall stone wall, crafted by dwarven stone masons, surrounds the rest of the city. It is pierced by three gates, north, south, and west, and marked at 100’ intervals by fortified towers, rising an additional twenty feet above the walls. Just outside the gates of Stone Mountain is the City Square. This large expanse of flag-stoned ground is where much of the civic life of Stonegate takes place. The Hall of Guilds, where the Guild Council meets, abuts the Square, as does the Temple of Iron Virtue, where much of the city gathers in time of worship or great trouble. In general, the wealthier citizens live nearer to the Square, with others living further and further from it as their economic station dictates.
The city is governed by the Guild Council, which makes the laws of the city, and governs its economic affairs. A representative of the Thane sits upon the Council, and holds a vote, as well as speaking for the Thane when it is necessary. A Mayor is elected from the council, and is responsible for the city’s day to day administration. The city’s defense is in the hands of the Stone Guard, a force of approximately one hundred professional warriors paid by the city. In times of serious trouble, the Guild companies can be raised, adding almost a thousand militiamen of varying competence to the available forces. The Guild companies also take turns acting as watchmen in the city at night. In addition, the Thane has his own guards, and the Stone Mountain dwarves are fierce fighters, when roused to anger.
The Festival of Renewal – Each year, at the first of May, the population of Stonegate more then triples, as people from all the surrounding territory flood into the city, for the Festival of Renewal. This festival celebrates the success of the year’s planting, and the burgeoning of new life as the grip of winter is finally shaken from the land for another year. A highlight of the festival is the great Parade of the Journeymen, a torch-lit ceremony held in the Great Square, where apprentices of all sorts are marked as having completed their time of training, and become journeymen and adults in their communities. It is considered quite a mark of Virtue’s favor to be passed into adulthood in this manner. Many marriages are also performed immediately following the ceremony, and a great feast is held, provided by the Guilds Council, and the generosity of the Thane. The small Medallions of the Journey that are given to the apprentices are often held as prized heirlooms for generations.
The festival goes on for a week of merrymaking and fun, with all manner of contests and entertainments, plenty of strong ale, and hard trading in the tents of the traveling merchants who also come to the festival to do business. Even the elves of the Tremblewood, and the gnomes and halflings of the Silver Hills, often come to Stonegate to mark their coming of age.
