Vorone

Vorone lies in the northern Wilderlands of Alshar, on the edge of the great northern forests and the high country that rises toward the Mindens. It was established as the summer capital of the Dukes of Alshar: a cool, green retreat from the heat of Falas, with hunting parks, timbered palaces, shrines, and a modest permanent population of craftsmen, servants, temple clergy, and Wilderlord retainers. When the court was in residence the city swelled with southerners; when it withdrew, Vorone subsided into a frontier town of the Wilderfolk.

Vorone's strategic importance grew catastrophically during the gurvani invasion. After the fall of Boval Vale, refugees streamed into the city, and Duke Lenguin raised his last, doomed levy from its walls. When Lenguin and the flower of Alshari chivalry fell at the disastrous Battle of Timberwatch, Vorone was left without a ruler. The city was sacked by goblins and slavers, its palaces looted, and its people driven out or into chains. For years it was a half-ruined shell, haunted by Rat Brothers and rogue mercenaries, before Duke Anguin II returned from exile and claimed it as his seat.

Under Anguin, and with the considerable aid of Court Wizard Pentandra, Vorone was rebuilt into a working capital. Carmella's warmage engineers and the Malkas Alon Wood Dwarves of Salik Tower restored palaces, walls, temples, and workshops. Anguin spent freely on defence and infrastructure, and Vorone became the administrative heart of northern Alshar — with its own garrison, courts, and a growing merchant class. Though the young duke's long-term ambition was to reclaim Falas and the Coral Seat, Vorone remains his summer capital and the political anchor of loyalist Alshar.