» Fri May 27, 2011 1:46 am A traveller's guide to the city of Anticlere
An exploration of the city of Anticlere from a traveller's point of view, as written by Voltaire du Guesclin
To the common adventurer or pilgrim, used to traversing the wilderness, on foot or by horse and capable of finding the way through the thickest of forests, High Rock's sprawling, densely populated cities may appear daunting to navigate through, particularly so the old city of Daggerfall and the port-city of Wayrest, trade centre of the province.
However, as these cities have been more or less covered by the works of others, I have chosen to ease the burden for the traveller who would find himself in the city of Anticlere, one of the numerous port-cities of the Iliac Bay and one of the major trade ports, losing out possibly only to the trade giants of Sentinel and Wayrest.
Although not particularly important, the Lorddom of Anticlere is by no means a forgotten and neglected corner of High Rock; the past and future of the state I have summed up in my previous work, http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=971916, which a traveller should most likely also take the time to read; I say this not seeking glory, which should come to a great writer on her own, but to encourage travellers to seek out at least some knowledge of the overall situation of the duchies of High Rock, not only Anticlere, for from that information frequently depends one's safety while travelling the province, unfortunately riddled with internal struggle far more than even the eastern neighbour, Skyrim, which has recently been united into the 'Nordic Confederation'.
To sum up the situation in High Rock in a few sentences, Elysana's attempts to do the same in High Rock, while not completely unsuccessful, have been met with scepticism of the lesser rulers, somewhere even outright hostilities and renouncing of all oaths to Wayrest, since a centralized government would mean the loss of their power. Many have also splintered off of Wayrest quietly, and Anticlere currently finds itself in the position of one such splinter.
To a traveller who would seek to learn more I would recommend my two other works about http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=978374&hl=.
The city is, given the troubled times, heavily defended by Anticlere's local troops, ever since the withdrawal of the Legions from High Rock, even though the Legion never quite managed to gain a firm foothold there and local troops still had to be maintained, given that the legionnaires were constantly being harassed by the peasantry that had taken to the woods in search for freedom, and occasionally even some of the lesser rulers, looking for a chance to break off the 'yoke' of Wayrest.
Auberon Flyte, while not one of such shameless opportunists, did not approve of the Imperial presence in High Rock, and, if rumours are to be trusted, even encouraged peasants on the northern borders of Anticlere (since the whole northern border, where feudalism has survived quite well, is the only place where a traditional Bretic peasant might be found) to flee to the woods and pester the Legions, cutting off their supplies and killing wandering troops.
If that is to be believed, then Auberon did his city a bear's favour with such behaviour, given that sadly, Anticlere finds itself to be as unsafe as most other Bretic duchies outside of the walls of the city and the few fortresses that dot the Lorddom, garrisoned by the Lord's troops.
The walls of Anticlere, while nothing greatly spectacular to look at, are sturdy enough to make many a potential attacker reconsider. They form a crescent around the city and the docks, with two gates ? the northern gate, with no doubt the main gate of Anticlere and the western gate, through which pass messengers, travellers and merchants from the lands west of Anticlere. Due to the hit with the Lorddom's relationship with Daggerfall, traffic is quite rare and the gate is usually closed.
Probably one could also count a third gate, the Gates of Mara, a topic upon which I shall expand later.
The wall of Anticlere, called Rodok's Wall, named supposedly after the lord who rebuilt Reich Gradkeep after a fire destroyed the original town, has twelve towers, counting in the two towers of the Gates of Mara. Starting at these gates and heading clockwise by the wall, the towers are:
Lord's Eye (also the lighthouse of Anticlere; I will expand on this very important tower-lighthouse later, upon reaching the Gates of Mara)
Southron (originally the southern-most tower of Reich Gradkeep until the addition of the wall to protect the docks)
Nightwatch (standing at the western gates, it has retained this name from the older days when the relationship between Reich Gradkeep and Daggerfall was in full swing and guards had to watch the road all night for messengers from the Kingdom to open the gates for them) and Daywatch (the sister tower of Nightwatch; when the troops at Nightwatch would sleep, Daywatch would watch the road ? from sunrise to sunset)
Elder (the oldest tower of Anticlere, as the name would suggest; originally it was the southern-most wooden tower of the old town of Reich Gradkeep, however since then it has been rebuilt many times and now isn't much different from the other towers, save in name and history)
Lady's Tower (one of the towers of the northern gate; legend has it that once the lady of Reich Gradkeep was murdered in this tower by a jealous lover of the lord; it's a true, well-known fact that the tower is haunted, however the ghost is completely harmless, even if still frightening to new recruits) and Broken Heart (the second tower of the northern gate; here, the lord supposedly killed his lover and then jumped off the tower in grief after finding out what had happened; the tower isn't haunted, though, and this part of the story is impossible to confirm; this doesn't stop the playwrights of Anticlere, however, and many plays based on this old tale have been written)
Tale-teller (the first chronicle of Reich Gradkeep was written in this tower by the ruling lord himself, who was apparently quite the eccentric; he locked himself away for a month and wrote the history completely undisturbed instead of having the monks or his scribes do it; apparently he went mad, though this didn't make an impact on the quality of the chronicle (some even claim this made the chronicle unique and quite a bit more accurate), the original of which was sadly lost during the Riot of Reich Gradkeep; Manfred Flyte has been putting all efforts into rewriting it, even though he decided not to do it the way his predecessor did)
Wailing William (once the place of a torture chamber, where a thief named William died a slow and very painful death; every morning at Sundas, accompanying the bells of the cathedral of Mara, wails and screams can be heard from the tower, a source of fear and surprise for many visitors; curiously, the ghost itself was never once seen, although that may owe to the fact the responsible lord's successor ordered the chamber to be buried; whatever is down there (the chamber was a dungeon, as fit for a room with such a purpose) continues to be used as a source of gossip for the citizens when they run out of things to talk about)
Fortress of Friendship (the tower, larger than most other towers of Anticlere, once saw a peace signed at swordpoint between the lord of Reich Gradkeep and one particularly rebellious vassal; the tower, having many hidden places to position guards with crossbows, was the first candidate for the signing of the peace between Sentinel and Daggerfall during the War of Betony; however, Lord Graddock decided to have the peace signed in his castle; many believe that, had it taken place in the tower, the Riot of Reich Gradkeep could've been evaded or (at the price of royal blood) suppressed)
Easterner (a tower similar to the Southron in history and in design, it was, before the addition of the dock wall, the eastern-most tower of Reich Gradkeep)
Lord's Mouth (the companion of the Lord's Eye; being not as tall as the companion tower, it was here that the guards of the city would (and still do) welcome or bid farewell to their naval counterparts and exchange all manners of jokes and light-hearted insults one could imagine between two branches of the same army who, although not outright hostile to each other as may be the case in some other armies, have always been competing for glory in the eyes of their lords)
The towers and the wall are maintained in top condition, using the growing treasury of Anticlere. Several major repairs have been carried out recently, particularly to the Elder, and the city has been returned to its former, pre-Betonic glory, perhaps even surpassing it.
While many would blame the fact the city was rather neglected during the Empire's rule upon the indifference of the Imperial authorities in regards to the well being of the provinces, I could say in the defence of the Empire two things.
Firstly, the claim that the Empire did not care for the provinces can obviously be proved false by the many fine roads that were paved during the first years of the Empire's rule, unfortunately falling into disrepair due to the carelessness of the appointed local authorities on that matter.
And secondly, considering that the Empire had to see things on a Tamriel-large scale, it's no wonder that Anticlere, being just another city, received little to no attention, and that when the local bloodline reassumed full control of the city and gathered enough funds its condition improved greatly.
Since the population of Anticlere has been growing steadily ever since the beginning of Manfred's rule (one may even use the term 'quickly' instead of 'steadily', as the growth of Anticlere is, in my humblest opinion, greater than the stagnated populations of Daggerfall or Wayrest, who have reached their prime as cities and possibly, in the case of Daggerfall, are a bit past it, too), the city has been expanding as well to accommodate the new arrivals; already one can notice while travelling to Anticlere's northern gate that a number of small villages have popped up right outside of Rodok's Wall, many a shack leaning against the wall itself. Manfred has promised support and eventually citizen rights to these new arrivals, and plans are already drawn for another wall to be built, in the fashion of Rodok's Wall named 'Manfred's Wall'.
Although a traveller might be offset by this exterior, especially upon reaching the gate itself and being faced with the rather complex procedure of getting into Anticlere should he or she do not possess a recommendation or the necessary papers, I can assure firmly that the inside of the city does not disappoint.
Upon stepping through the gates, I was faced with the wide main street, along both sides of which stood a row of traditional tall Bretic houses, typical of the middle class. However, unlike the dark alleys, the main street is wide, bright and bustling with honest life. Stalls dot both sides of the street, although I would not recommend the goods from them, except for one whose pouch may be dangerously light; rich citizens' servants hurry back and forth between houses, carrying invitations or letters.
However, Anticlere's true nature is revealed fully only by the cathedral square, which can be found by simply walking along the main street which, after meeting the square, breaks into several smaller, more traditional and thus more narrow streets.
The dominant feature of the square is, of course, the cathedral of Mara, an enormous building that makes it clear that Mara is the only Divine that matters in Anticlere (even though, as I've heard, worship of Zenithar has become increasingly popular due to the boom in trade). Two imposingly tall towers stand guard at the front of the cathedral, both of them with bells, the ringing of which can be clearly heard throughout the whole city; they hide three more towers, neither as tall nor as imposing, sitting on the three other corners of the cathedral.
The door that sits between those two towers is indeed very large; I've heard some suggestions that it is the size of the city's northern gate, although this estimate is likely exaggerated. Regardless of their true size, though, they are still impressive, and what can be found behind them is even more so. As per an old tradition, many papers can be found nailed to them, the content on them varying from theological to political debates, the work of scholars or monks hoping to spark a new debate or revive an older one.
Immediately upon entering the cathedral, the visitor is faced with a large altar of Mara, behind which is an enormous stained glass window depicting the Goddess herself. To the sides one will be faced with the images of the other Divines, four on each side, with a small altar for each of them. Rows of benches can be seen on both sides of the entrance, interrupted by the occasional colon. Sadly, I could not stop to admire the cathedral for a long time, and thus this is all that I know of it, having left after offering a short prayer to Julianos. Doubtlessly, however, there is more to the cathedral than what I saw, as the number of monks and priests residing there suggests.
A less pious traveller will, no doubt, be far more interested in the square before the cathedral; even I, a devout worshipper of Julianos, have to admit having found it more interesting to explore, and spent far more time there.
In the amount of business that goes on in it, the square is matched only by the docks, and even they fall behind. This square is the heart of Anticlere, and even though all politics are based in Lord Flyte's castle, to the commoner this is the most important part of the city.
The cathedral does little to inspire piousness in the people that visit the square; fortunately, neither does it cast a shadow of silence over it. Innumerable stalls are set up around the square, most of them far more reliable than the ones that can be found along the main street. The middle of the square is reserved for a rather imposing sight, a gallows, although the citizens don't let it scare them, even if it does remind the possible troublemaker not to break the law.
Although there were no executions during my stay, I would guess that the citizens of Anticlere, just as all other Bretons of High Rock, find public executions an attraction of sorts, even if some of the more educated citizens may find it distasteful and barbarian to watch such things. On this matter I would completely agree with them, for despite having been born in Wayrest I never found executions amusing to watch, even if it is the worst of criminals who's being punished.
All around the square one can also find innumerable bands of artists, orators, debating scholars and monks, also other people whose trade would bring them to such a place to make some coin. During my time in Anticlere, I had the pleasure to watch a play, possibly a tradition that remained in Anticlere from the times of the Empire, since the masks used were remarkably similar to those used in Cyrodiil. For plays, a wooden stage is constructed in the square temporarily, although I've heard some talks of plans to build, among other things, a permanent theatre; an effort by Manfred to encourage playwrights and artists alike to visit and perhaps settle down in Anticlere.
The square is at all times very noisy, as one could imagine. The haggling of merchants, yells of artists, gasps of the crowds observing them, the louder debates and the occasional noise of a monk or scholar nailing a new debate to the doors of the cathedral for others to read and discuss all create the kind of noise that can only be called a symphony of a city alive and well. Indeed, the cathedral square of Anticlere is quite a bit livelier than places serving the same function in other cities of a similar size, proving my point about the growth of the city's population.
The houses of Anticlere's citizens show that the city is quite rich; very rich, in fact, compared to similar cities inland or on the northern coast. The architecture found in the city is a bit unlike that of other Bretic cities, influenced by its proximity to Hammerfall, even when trade was not as heavy between the cities of Anticlere and Sentinel as it is now. This combination of Bretic and Ra Gada architecture created a quite unique style.
The houses of the middle class citizenry, the most common and almost the only kind found in Anticlere, are usually coloured brightly if they're not left grey or white depending on the material used to build the house. Usually it is a three-storied house, with an additional storey if the owner of the house is wealthier or one less if the owner is poorer or his business does not involve much local activity and instead focuses heavily on travel, i.e. the house of a captain.
The ground floor, usually the only one open to strangers, is devoted to the trade of the owner of this house. This could be a store of a merchant, a smithy or something of the sort. Usually the second storey cannot be accessed directly from here; instead the stairs leading to it are closed off by a door, the key to which is in the possession of the owner of the house, with an additional copy should he or she be married, and then one more for each child past the age of 16. Those who rent rooms in their third floors usually also provide their lodger with a key, although not the key to the second floor, which is off limits to the lodger(s).
The second floor is for the family and friends. The layout of this floor differs according to the wealth of the house's owner, however it usually has a bedroom (two if the couple is expecting children), a small kitchen, an office if the owner's job involves paperwork and a living room where guests are accepted, meals are eaten and where the family usually spend their evenings and general calmer moments. One could notice that usually only one additional bedroom is built for children; this reveals the Anticlearians' preference to have only one child.
The third floor is, depending on the wealth of the owner, either a group of small bedrooms for lodgers (usually there are two-three of such bedrooms) or servants' bedrooms if there is a fourth floor or if the owner does not keep any lodgers. Renting the third floor out, however, is very frequent practice in Anticlere; it also explains the lack of a great number of shacks outside or inside the city, for renting a room is usually not all that expensive and many of the poorer inhabitants of Anticlere find themselves a bed to sleep in that way, at the same time increasing the wealth of other citizens. Should the third floor belong to the servants, then the fourth floor will include rooms for rent should the owner choose to improve his profits this way.
Usually richer citizens also have a small garden behind their house, which is closed off to the public's or neighbours' eyes by a tall hedge. Usually, the garden, while not occupying a huge amount of space, is enough for its owner to take a relaxing walk after eating.
The nobles' houses can be noted to have quite large gardens and a first floor devoted only to accepting guests, also lacking a floor that'd be rented out, instead replaced by another floor for the family while the servants usually live in a section of the house that takes up roughly a third of the first floor; if the noble is a richer one, however, he or she may have a separate building for his servants next to the noble's house.
The nobles' houses are, almost without exception, built around the castle of the Lord Flyte. There are also several houses whose only permanent residents are servants; these belong to the landowning nobles who spend most of their time outside of the city. One such house belongs to the current Magister of the Knights of the Restored Flame, Wilfred du Lombard.
Anticlerian architecture places great emphasis on symmetry ? rarely will you find a house with, say, an uneven number of windows. All the arcs that can be found on the many structures in Anticlere ? even the buildings constructed by non-native architects ? are, invariably, with a rounded top. The capitals of most of the colons are very elaborate, a feature taken over from Nibenese architecture. Many buildings that in High Rock would usually have a pointed top, like, say, the towers of the cathedral, in Anticlere are instead domed; in fact, where possible many elements that would otherwise be pointed are rounded here. I believe someone compared the main street of Anticlere to a wavy sea due to the number of houses with rounded tops.
Of the other noticeable buildings asides from the cathedral of Mara or the castle of Lord Flyte, which is a very old castle dated to Rodok's rebuilding of Reich Gradkeep (in fact, since many of the parts of the castle were added in different periods, the castle seems rather odd, with many of its parts being built completely differently than others, with mismatching colours as well), I can mention that in Anticlere can also be found three public baths (one of them built by Manfred and the other two by Auberon), a library (built by Lord Graddock and expanded by Auberon) and a small temple to the Yokudan pantheon (built by Manfred in the middle of a small 'Ra Gada district' ? a spot in the city where most of the houses are true-to-original examples of Ra Gada architecture).
Anticlere can also boast a good sewer system, which has started with a very basic one and has been improved greatly since then, the bulk of the improvements coming from the time of the Empire's rule due to the increased contact with Cyrodiilic cities and their advanced sewers.
I must also note that, unlike some other Bretic cities', Anticlere's streets, starting from the main street, are quite bright during the day. Of course, the narrow alleys between houses are and always have been dark, however the average street, while being only a bit wider than usual for Bretic cities, are brighter, mainly due to the efforts of the city's lords ? the law against buildings leaning forward is maintained strictly, with a cavalryman with a long staff being sent out to make sure that no houses lean forward more than they should every two months.
From the main city, I shall now move on into the docks. If the cathedral square is the heart of Anticlere, then the docks are the mouth; the city's coffers see their food enter through the Gates of Mara, chewed by the merchants living nearby and finally swallowed into the rest of the city. Some call it the most important part of Anticlere, and I would agree, since all good that has come to the city mostly came through the docks.
The docks themselves are enormous and still expanding, especially in terms of the number of shipyards there. Fortunately the sea wall was built with enough foresight that it could still guard the port even if it grew considerably, thus that does not worry Manfred Flyte for now. The docks can house a considerable war navy alongside dozens of merchant ships.
The sole entrance to the port is through the Gates of Mara, named after the patron deity of the city. The Gates were built during the reign of Lord Graddock's grandfather, whose name is, unfortunately, lost to the ocean of time; some have taken to calling this mysterious lord as 'granddad Mara'. The lord expressed a wish upon witnessing the completion of the gate and the sea wall that 'one day, all the trade of the world would flow through these gates'.
On the sides of the Gates are, as previously mentioned, two towers ? Lord's Eye and Lord's Mouth. Lord's Eye is twice as tall as the Fortress of Friendship, the second tallest tower of Anticlere; it has to be this tall, given that it acts as the lighthouse as well. Not only that; the importance of this tower was further increased recently by Manfred's efforts, having bought an expensive chain, far larger than your usual chain naturally, and enchanted against all manners of arcane attacks. In times of danger for the port, the chain is lowered by the combined efforts of four mages that make up a part of the tower's garrison and hung on a correspondingly sized hook on Lord's Mouth. Two more mages reside there to aid with this process.
Right next to the docks stand a great number of warehouses, built by merchant companies and groups, individual merchants or the lord of Anticlere to house various goods; these 'goods' range from Anticlerian olive oil to Ra Gada weaponry. Many of the warehouses are shared by merchants who otherwise have nothing to do with each other, since building a warehouse on one's own is understandably costly.
The docks are ever-busy, full of workers, sailors and soldiers from the ships. The symphony of a growing city can be heard here as well, except that one may notice the various accents and even languages other than Bretic that indicate the number of traders that visit Anticlere, some of them even deciding to stay. Testament to that is the Ra Gada District, a small group of houses which, as I've explained previously, stick completely to Ra Gada architecture, being nearly identical to middle-class houses one may find in Sentinel or any other city of Hammerfall.
Not too far off the warehouses one can find the Merchant District, as some call it. It is a group of houses that belong to the most successful merchants of Anticlere; some of them are more like offices belonging to merchants or companies; in fact, one of the houses used to belong to the East Empire Trading Company. They are much the same as other houses of Anticlere, leaning more towards nobles' houses than middle-class ones.
This, then, sums up the city of Anticlere, the capital of what I believe to be a power on the rise; if nothing else, a trading power. However, the future is unknown to us simple mortals and may hold unpredictable secrets and twists, and the fate of Anticlere remains to be decided. For now, it remains a fine example of a Bretic city, if not entirely traditional then certainly attractive to many.
-Voltaire du Guesclin
