Twilight of Empires

Fort Sinister is a trade town found in the southern Fallow Marches. While independent, it has strong ties to the Asterian Empire and the Elven Principalities.

The Fort is located on a bluff overlooking the juncture where the Gonglin River meets the Castella River. This is also where the New Road splits off from the Old Trade Road. The nearest community north of the Fort is Fort Goldenrod, eighty miles up the Gonglin River, and while south along the Castella there are a few small villages and expanded farmsteads, the closest large community is Tamwood Fork, nearly one hundred miles away. There are no major permanent settlements along the New Road until one reaches Dawnfalls Landing.

Originally, the site was the center of Duchy Leetah, a powerful family under the House Glamourous banner. At the time of the territorial hand off between Glamourous and House Stellar, certain key defensive features were permanently disabled. This didn't prove to be an issue, as no one in Stellar ever took up residency here.
About a century after the Starfall, the Asterian Merchant's Association, in conjunction with the Ministry of trade, took possession of the site, and invested heavily in refurbishing it. Since then, the Fort has had varying levels of Imperial support until a century ago when the new Minister of Trade simply cut the budget entirely, and deleted the community form the tax records. It has operated independently ever since.

Fort Sinister is perhaps 30% Asterian Human, with another 10% from other nationalities. The rest of the population is a diverse mix of the non-human races, exceeding even Blackstone Freeholding. Thanks to increased traffic on the Old Trade Road, the population has swollen to over 10,000, with nearly a thousand individuals scattered throughout the surrounding region.

The Fort is the only major community on either trade road for a week, minimum, in any direction: most of its income comes from supplying and housing merchants, and Mercenary Guild bounties on the various road hazards. In addition, Duke Rayek Leetah and his people appear to have been in a hurry to relocate to their new homes, so there is quite a bit of valuable House Glamourous salvage to be found to this day.
The farms surrounding the Fort raise wheat, barley, beans (black and soy), garden vegetables, sheep, and dairy cattle. There is a friendly beer rivalry between Fort Sinister and Tinker Hall.

• Allesin Scindaer: Full-blooded elven refugee from House Metamorphos territory. Quite talented with the Augmentation school, bouncer at the Mourning Star under Una.
• Agatha Bonesetter: Uruk beastmaster and mercenary (Crimson Vale). Her beast-only Mind magics are master class, and she has a touch of Blue magic, allowing her to borrow the abilities of her partners. She's also hot, in a lean, predatory sort of way.
• Bora Flintspine: Lead priestess in the Fort's temple. Half-dwarven representative of Autumn. May or may not have an inappropriate relationship with the elemental spirit of the Castella River.
• Bruniere Kell: Wife to governor Kell, also Merchant's Guild Master. More ambitious than her husband.
• Castella: The manifest spirit of the Castella River. His physical manifestation is that of a lean man of middle years, with dark hair and clothing. Generally he doesn't interfere in mortal affairs, but appears to enjoy watching people do people stuff.
• Damascus Kell: Governor of Fort Sinister, third since independence. A competent leader, but lacks the ambition to properly expand his holding.
• Dahlia Scratch: Crimson Vale's newly recruited Champion of Passion. Some sort of Yamato-origin half-troll. Very huggy.
• Echigo Takaeda: Ronin mercenary, pure swordsman. His brother's wife didn't like him much, and convinced his daimyo to exile him.
• Gai Fourstrikes: Human hammer dulcimer player at the Mace & Eye. Teams up with Paloma.
• Gorm: Half-uruk/half mountain-troll bouncer at the Mourning Star. Works for Una. Much smarter than he presents himself.
• Gurgar Flintspine: Mercenaries guild Master, dwarf, semi-retired Champion of Autumn.
• Mick: Just Mick. True goblin priest of the Herd god.
• Nelson Schmidt: Half-uruk cellist/percussionist at the Mace & Eye, true bardic gift. Excels at adapting the most unlikely musical forms to his chosen instrument.
• Naiadine: The ruling elemental spirit for the Fort Sinister developed areas. Her true form is a centuries old cherry tree in the temple gardens, and frequently manifests as a young woman with seasonally appropriate hair colors.
• Niko: “The Artillerist”. Halveling male, 2'11“. Professional master arbalesteer, mercenary (Crimson Vale), and artificer. Nico has no overt supernatural abilities, but does know how to shop. His weapon of choice, “Daybreak”, is a 5' span steel dwarven arbalest golem.
• Paloma: Male harpy vocalist at the Mace & Eye. Teams up with Gai. Cute
• Pansy Bramblefoot: Halveling proprietor of the main tavern for locals, the Rustkettle.
• Portia the Wind's Blade: Half-Elven leader of the Blades of Aramis. NOT one of Vaedra's girls, though she would love to poach several into her all-woman mercenary troupe. Despite their name, she is the only one of the eight to use swords.
• Rufus: Pansy's business partner and bouncer. A professional Warg-were, a Warg with the ability to transform into a Human.
• Seth Ploughman: Human priest of the Dragon God. Leader of the mercenary team Raging Talon. His team is comprised of five half-trolls, and he is fortunate he can manifest his patron's Charm as well as his Wrath.
• Sylvie: Human priestess of Hope. She's been serving her goddess for two entire months, ever since her 16th birthday. She's bright, cheerful, caring, and a powerful representation of her patron divinity.
• Tamil Sunspawn: Half Fire-elf of Asterian lineage and mercenary (Crimson Vale). A powerful fire mage, but only marginal at outdoors skills. Also the team Indignity Magnet. Only member of his team without any pets.
• Tim Spritebinder: Human male, aged 43, and Fort Sinister's resident spirit-based enchanter. Was intrigued by Va'retha's spirit-house shower head.
• Usegi Shingen: Ronin mercenary, leans hard into the ki manipulation arts. His lord, and pretty much the rest of their army was erased by Elven Prince Imrahil's lightning artillery in a skirmish. he decided large scale warfare wasn't for him after that.
• Vaedra T'Leetah: Proprietor of the Mourning Star, main tavern/inn for visiting merchants and adventurers. Full-blooded Glamourous bloodline Elf, she's been running the place for the last 200 years, and claims the building was her grandfather's in the Duke Leetah era. Knows a lot, probably has an agenda.
• Vaedra's girls: staff at the Mourning Star, eight women of either half-elven blood, or mixed elven bloodlines. All bastard children of Duke Leetah's sons.
  • Ayame T'Vaedra: A half-elven woman of Glamourous and Yamato blood, Skye's cousin/niece (age 22). Probably the smartest and best educated of the lot, but not the strongest personality. Vaedra snatched her out of a brothel apprenticeship before her public debut. (Book keeping, client documentation)
  • Dephys T'Vaedra: A full blooded elf of Glamourous and Ukko lineage, the aquatic bloodline at that. Skye's cousin/niece (age 83). Faintly blueish skin and green-gold hair. Most senior of Vaedra's girls, and the tavern's libations mistress. Quite settled, thank you. (Barkeep)
  • Ruvona T'Vaedra: A half-elven woman of Glamourous and Granblue blood, Skye's cousin/niece (age 16). The youngest and least confident of Vaedra's girls: she was rescued from Aldus right before the Sorcerer's League took over. Close friend to Sylvie. (General staff)
  • Sierra T'Vaedra: A full blooded elf of Glamourous and Salamander lineage, Skye's cousin/niece/stunt double (age 41). Ringleader of the girls' misadventures, fiery in her passions with strong appetites: she'll probably take up the adventuring life in the near future. Vaedra found her begging in the elven capital. (Serving lead)
  • Una Chang T'Vaetra: Una is an excruciatingly rare half-elf, half-uruk. Skye's cousin/niece (age 33). Una inherited her sire's attractiveness, and apparently none of his extended lifespan: she seems to be aging like an ordinary Uruk. She also appears to have the exact opposite of “mastery of the illusory arts”: True Sight and the power to overload or break an opponent's senses. (Head of bouncing staff)
• Weig: Corporal in the Fort's cavalry unit. A little old for his rank, but gets along well with the townsfolk.
• Wenceslaus: “The Woodwise”. A human spirit tamer with some Elven ancestry. He specializes in Wood elementals, as “the other elements don't listen to me”. One of the local mercenary adventurers (Crimson Vale), he usually has eight Wood hounds out and about, and is known to have other powerful spirits on call.

• Deepmaw Mercantile
• Lynne's Hall
• Tower of Serrin

• Deepmaw
• Longfalls
• Scuttlevale