Metropolis, population 135,303 (79% human, 9% dwarf, 5% halfling, 2% gnome, 2% elf, 1% half-elf, 1% half-orc, 1% other)
GP Limit: 150,000 gp
Cash on Hand (Total for City): 1,014,772,500 gp
Imports: Brass, bronze, charcoal, cheese, clay, coal, copper, cotton, dyes, fruit, glass, gold, grain, lead, linen, livestock, luxury goods, olives, lamp oil, silver, steel, stone, tin, vegetables, wine, wood, wool
Exports: Alchemical goods, armor, cloth, leather, magical items, pottery, ships, tools, weapons
Community Authorities
Emperor Aurelon V, Anointed Champion of Agon, Commander of the Legions of Auresh, Glorious Spokesman of the Gods and Ancestors (LN male human ari 8); Prelate-Warden Florian Barriost (LG male human clr 15 of Agon); the Aureshan Collegium, led by President Elemin Dedarion (N male elf rog 13); the Aureshan Senate, led by Senator Renna Barda of Wellen (NG female halfling ari 15); Prefect Marshal Wilusa (LG half-orc war 16)
Military Formations
Aureshan Prefecture (commanded by Prefect Marshal Wilusa)
The Prefecture is a unit of elite heavy infantry which bears responsibility for protecting the Emperor’s person, and for keeping the public order in the city. It is doubly noteworthy for its inclusion of a small contingent of hobgoblin berserkers.
1353 soldiers total: 1,300 heavy infantry troops (war 1), plus 30 members of the Emperor’s personal guard (6 hobgoblin brb 3, commanding 24 hobgoblin brb 1), an herald (half-elf brd 1), a surgeon (gnome drd 7), a courier (elf rng 1), and officers (10 lieutenants (human ari 1) and 10 captains (1 dwarf ari 2, 9 human ari 2)).
Urban Levy (commanded by Prefect Marshal Wilusa)
The Urban Levy is a part-time militia which undertakes regular drill as a measure against disasters, invasions, and uprisings in the city of Auresh. About half of them are retired legionaries; the balance is composed of able-bodied citizens with sufficient drill to make them proficient in the use of a long spear, crossbow, or other simple weapon.
6765 levies total: see Other NPCs, below.
Other NPCs
699 adepts (3 14th-level, 1 13th-level, 6 7th-level, 2 6th-level, 16 3rd-level, 671 1st-level); 701 aristocrats (1 16th-level, 1 15th-level, 1 14th-level, 7 8th-level (2 militia), 2 7th-level, 12 4th-level (3 militia), 4 3rd-level, 14 2nd-level (5 militia), 661 1st-level (200 militia)); 18 barbarians (1 16th-level, 1 15th-level, 1 14th-level, 1 13th-level, 2 8th-level, 4 7th-level, 2 6th-level, 6 3rd-level); 107 bards (2 18th-level, 1 16th-level, 1 14th-level, 4 9th-level, 2 8th-level, 2 7th-level, 12 4th-level, 4 3rd-level, 24 2nd-level, 55 1st-level); 75 clerics (1 17th-level, 1 15th-level, 1 14th-level, 2 8th-level, 6 7th-level, 4 4th-level, 12 3rd-level, 8 2nd-level, 40 1st-level); 122,101 commoners (4 20th-level, 6 11th-level, 2 10th-level, 16 5th-level, 32 2nd-level, 122,041 1st-level (2,500 militia); 75 druids (1 17th-level, 1 16th-level, 1 14th-level, 1 13th-level, 4 8th-level, 1 7th-level, 8 4th-level, 4 3rd-level, 16 2nd-level, 40 1st-level); 4,086 experts (2 20th-level, 1 18th-level, 1 17th-level,2 11th-level, 2 10th-level, 2 9th-level, 2 8th-level, 8 5th-level, 8 4th-level, 32 2nd-level, 4,026 1st-level (1,000 militia)); 92 fighters (1 18th-level, 1 16th-level, 1 14th-level, 1 13th-level, 2 9th-level, 2 8th-level, 2 7th-level, 2 6th-level, 8 4th-level, 8 3rd-level, 16 2nd-level, 48 1st-level (10 militia)); 108 monks (1 17th-level, 2 16th-level, 1 13th-level, 6 8th-level, 2 7th-level, 12 4th-level, 4 3rd-level, 24 2nd-level, 56 1st-level); 60 paladins (3 15th-level, 1 14th-level, 8 7th-level, 16 3rd-level, 32 1st-level (10 militia); 59 rangers (2 14th-level, 2 13th-level, 4 7th-level, 4 6th-level, 16 3rd-level, 31 1st-level (10 militia)); 91 rogues (1 18th-level, 1 16th-level, 1 15th-level, 2 9th-level, 2 8th-level, 2 7th-level, 2 6th-level, 8 4th-level, 8 3rd-level, 16 2nd-level, 48 1st-level (5 militia)); 76 shamans (1 16th-level, 2 14th-level, 1 13th-level, 2 8th-level, 4 7th-level, 2 6th-level, 4 4th-level, 12 3rd-level, 8 2nd-level, 40 1st-level); 76 sorcerers (1 16th-level, 1 14th-level, 2 13th-level, 2 8th-level, 2 7th-level, 4 6th-level, 4 4th-level, 12 3rd-level, 8 2nd-level, 40 1st-level); 5,462 warriors (2 17th-level, 1 15th-level, 6 8th-level, 2 7th-level, 12 4th-level, 4 3rd-level, 24 2nd-level (20 militia), 5,410 1st-level (3,000 militia)); 60 wizards (1 15th-level, 1 14th-level, 2 13th-level, 4 7th-level, 4 6th-level, 16 3rd-level, 32 1st-level).
The grand city of Auresh is the center of culture and public life in the Aureshan Empire. It is the site of the world’s largest temple to Agon, the imperial deity of government and justice, and the seat of power for Emperor Aurelon, the fifth of that name to sit upon the Ivory Throne. Auresh is a great crossroads of trade as merchants and cargo from all over the known world arrive by water and land to conduct trade, and the endless tides of commerce in the city support a thriving culture that values music, drama and fine cuisine as well as warfare and industry.
The holders of power in the city are just as varied. Chief among them is Emperor Aurelon V, newly seated on the throne following his survival of the assassination of his grandfather, Aurelon IV, and his father, Aurolis. Aurelon is a mere twenty-three years old, but his ruthlessness in putting down insurrection in the city has cowed his opponents for the moment. The young emperor is blessed with an instinct for military and political strategy, and is still doggedly consolidating his power and hunting down the last of the renegade nobles who attempted to overthrow his family’s dynasty.
To guard against further attempts on his life, Aurelon has reshaped the Aureshan Prefecture, the legionary unit which has traditionally been responsible for protecting the Imperial person and keeping order within the city. Under Prefect-Marshal Wilusa, the Prefecture is composed entirely of mercenary soldiers from outside of the Empire. The elite guards who are tasked as the Imperial bodyguard are, to a man, hobgoblin berserkers from the mountains of northern Enteria. Their lack of ties to Aureshan politics makes them far more difficult to subvert than a native citizen of the Empire.
Nevertheless, the Emperor is not the only powerful force at the center of the Aureshan Empire. The church of Agon has always had a quasi-governmental status in the empire and the weak rule of Aurelon’s grandfather encouraged Prelate-Warden Barriost to gather more power for the church as a way of compensating for their shortcomings. With the coronation of Aurelon, the Prelate-Warden has worked to transfer power back into the hands of the Imperial government. Ambitious underlings in the city and throughout the Empire have not and do not always cooperate fully with his plans. The conflict within the church of Agon has led to strains in the relationship between the Imperial Throne and the Prelate-Warden.
The Aureshan Senate, which shares with the Collegium the powers to make law and set fiscal policy for Imperial enforcement, remains a hotbed of intrigue. The loyalist faction under Senator Renna Barda now controls the majority of votes, in contrast to the chaotic mess that characterized the Senate under Aurelon IV. But sub-factions within the loyalist party are an ongoing challenge for Senator Barda, especially on difficult questions such as taxation and land use. Fiscal policy and druidic relations are heated issues, and they lend a disproportionate influence to the interests of a coalition of minor parties and factions.
On the mercantile front, the Aureshan Collegium is simultaneously a trading organization and the battleground for inter-guild warfare. Aureshan trade houses represented by the Collegium band together and lobby for trade tariffs to protect their interests or undermine the success of their rivals. In general, the Collegium argues for higher taxes on imported manufactured goods and lower taxes on raw materials, reasoning that a mercantilist approach to fiscal policy is to the good of the Empire’s merchants. On matters relating to internal policy, the Collegium is stridently anti-regulation. Price controls, minimum wage constraints, and workers’ unions are anathema to its members, and the Collegium spares no expense in quashing Senatorial efforts to institute such measures.