Sanction

Sanction represent Eroth and all it stands for. It is a symbol of freedom and prosperity. It is a place where anyone, poor or rich can come and earn a living. It has no restricition on how you live, earn, or worship. It does have a set of laws however that must be followed at all times.

History
The city was built in the year 24 and was to replace Twin Suns as the capital city of Eroth. The King of the time, Aragon the First, wished to build a seat of power that was more central to the kingdom. At the time Eroth covered all of East and West Aranthar, and The twin cities were far to the East. He built Sanction on the Lake of Veseture, more or less the center of northern Aranthar. He built the city with the help of Dwarven and Elven crafters. It was built in the center of the lake, not for defense, but to show how people of all races can come together and achieve great things. Building a city on water was thought of as impossible, at the time. The city was completely built in 25 and opened with the first great Sanction Games, where people from all over the world came to compete in a variety of event, including magic, weapons, and philosophy. The city prospered and soon became the center of commerce in the world, not because of its location, but because of its importance to the kingdom, which at the time was the largest know kingdom in the world.

In the Year 275 the city was attacked by Evil Dark eves during the first war with the Black Land. The city was sunk and many of its inhabitants perished. In the years of darkness following the attack, Eroth had lost much of its hold on the world. By the year 375 Eroth finally defeated the Black Land, and it's evil ruler. By this time however, it has to concentrate its forces and abandon much of the land it once healed. It was now half its size and in a rebuilding stage. To keep the symbol of Eroth alive, the City of Sanction was to be rebuilt, but as Eroth no longer had any hold on Western Aranthar, it had to be rebuilt in a different place. The king of the time King Averon, decided to rebuild the city on Lake Biddo. As in the past, he received help from his allies the Dwarves and the Elves. there was a difference this time, however, for there was an actual island on the lake the city could be built upon. This ensured there was no way to sink the city again. It was rebuilt much as the first city had been, and to strengthen the city, all nine Great Mage Towers were moved to the city center. It was during this "golden age" after the century of darkness that many great achievement in magic and civilization happened. It lasted until the Second Shadow war in 450 when King Calic thought of the war as more of a battle between armies, rather than a match up of mystical power it was. Instead of seeking a way to end the war through magical means, he increased the size of his army. Although he outnumbered the Forces of the shadow greatly, the shadow forces were not normal men, and could not be fought like men. They decimated King Calic's army and ravaged the city. Just when all was thought lost, a young warrior named Perive, battled the incarnation of Ba'azlemon, and brought down a great flame, himself and Ba'azelmon, ending the control the dark leader had over his creatures and making them vulnerable. All across the continents of Aranthar, the battle turned, and the shadow creatures were driven back, but it was too late to save sanction. The city had been looted and much of it burned.
The city was again repaired and rebuilt in 465, and again took its place as the center of Eroth. Even more so now, as Eroth has lost much of the land to the south, and now only consisted of the norther half of Eastern Aranthar. This period of relative peace lasted until 521, and the third Shadow War. While the war never reached Sanction, it was however ended by the destruction of the Seven Stones of Power. These Magical Items, focused much of the magic in the world, and with their destruction, many things built with the aid of magic were destroyed. The magic used to build and strengthen them had gone, and now the natural force took their toll. While Eroth was not entirely built of magic, it did play a great part in the creation of the capital city. IT also held shut a powerful gate that led entrance to the lower planes. With the magic protecting the city from the gate gone, denziens of the lower planes escaped into the city, completely ravaging it and its inhabitants. It is said the king and the council were all destroyed, ending Eroth's Chapter of the world.

In the year 725, over 500 years from the fall of Eroth a young knight of the Mark, Robert Drake, fascinated with the stories of his great great grandfather, a one time Knight of Eroth pledged to bring back the great kingdom, and the knights that defended it. He traveled with a group of adventurers known as the Band of the Red Fox. They found that what used to be Eroth was a land controlled by warlords and tyrants, the most powerful being Borehold the Bold. After working toward the goal for over 10 years, Sir Robert, was able to rebuild the knight of Eroth, and retake the land from Bornehold. While he died in the attempt, he was successful in killing borenhold and freeing the land. The rest of the Band of the Red Fox continued his work and restored the old laws of Eroth. The city of Sanction was rebuilt once more in 735 and and has been regaining its former glory a bit more each day.

Government
Sanction is the home of the council of Eroth, and is directly controlled by them. The current Steward of Sanction is responsible for implementing the decisions of the the council, in regard to the city. All matter of finance in the city are controlled my the Minister of Finance. This position is held by the high director of the Merchanter's Guild of Eroth. He is responsible for setting tariff in the City as well as taxes. The City Guards are controlled by the Commander of the Guard. The commander reports directly to the Steward of the Sanction. The city also has the largest Garrison of Metallic Knights. They are under the direction of the High Commander, who acts on the council as the Minister of Defense. While the minister has no control over the city guard, a guardsman is expected to defer to a Knight of Eroth. While the city allows free religious worship, the clergy have a representative on the council as well. The High Priest of Eroth is the highest ranking Cleric of Kerius. While his responsibility is to ensure equal representation of all churches in sanction, he often makes decisions based on his own personal outlook, to chagrin of the other churches. The Spell Stewards, Sanctions mage guardians, also have a seat on the council, in the form of the Minister of Magic. The Minister is the Archmage of Sanction and is in charge of seeing that the decision on the council take fairness to wizards into account. He is also responsible for for putting on a good face of magic to the people of Eroth, so that the tragedy of the sundering could be put to rest. The office of Steward of Sanction is actually an Appointed office by the King of Eroth. The people of the city also have a say and they elect a representative of the people to sit on the council.

Geography
The City itself is built on an island that sits almost at the center of Lake Biddo. The only way to access the island is by boat. Because of this a small town has formed at the docs south of the city, on the shore of the lake. The town, knows as Sub-Sanction is actually a part of the larger city, but contains a few inns, and warehouses as well as a Garrison of Knights. When Goods are brought to the city, unless they are to be used by the crafters of the city, it is a waste of funds to have them barged to the city, so the Merchant's guild has set up a number of warehouses in Sub-Sanction to store goods. They provide protection in the form of merchant guards, and charge factors a small percentage to store their goods. While the warehouses are well protected with both the knights and the merchant guards, they are not as safe as the main city, so many merchants that deal in valuable items, will bring them into the city.

At sub-Sanction are the main Docks. They are located on the southwest of the lake, as that is where the River Hope meet with Lake Biddo. The river is a main trade route from the twin cities and the ocean to the capital city. Beside the docs for the river boats, there are three ferry docks. These ferries take passengers from the mailand to one of the three ferry stops of the city. Each of the ferry stops, are small floating docks, which connect to the city by Silver Bridges. The bridges are there for effect and tradition only, and the island itself offers a large beach where a boat may land. Once on the floating Dock people may enter the city by passing over one of the silver bridges. The three bridges are on the west, south and east side of the city, each one leading to a different districts of the city. The east bridges leads to the market district. The south bridge leads to the temple district, and the west the residential district. At the end of each bridge is a guard post, but there are no rules for entering the city, unless you bring something dangerous with you.

The City is arranges much like a wheel. The outer hub, is broken up into quarters each representing the type of establishments you can find there. Some of the quarters are broken down even more into districts. The South Quarter is the Market Quarter. The East quarter is the Residential Quarter The west quarter is the Temple Quarter, and the North Quarter, to which there are no bridges is the Nobel's Quarter. The Wheel of the Hub is the Civic Quarter. There are no dock on the city, only the ferry landing which can not accommodate large ships. Only Sub-sanction can handle lake vessels.

The People

Sanction is a town of diversity. People that live and work there come from all walk of like, races, and regions. You can find thin-eyed Chi-Chsurans, dark skinned Siniarians, along with Arantharian natives. The local tend to be dark haired, and light eyed. They are of average height with fair skin. Folks with elven blood (while usually several generations removed) are not as rare here as they are in other places.

As with most large cities, the general habits and ethics of the people are varied. Most are moral and law abiding, thought the fringes do exist. Hard workers are mixed with those who do not care for physical activities. Eroth in general seems to have more scholars than most other places and Sanction is no exception. There are more sages in the city of sanction than any other city known. Because of the number of people in city work is not difficult to fins, but you will still find homeless and begers, especially in the poorer part of the residential quarter.

The Law

The peace of Sanction is kept by the City guard, under the command of the steward. The guard patrol usually in group of four with one being a patrol leader. In rougher circumstance a whole squad of 12 guard can be summoned. This will include a squad leader. All squad leaders report to the commander of the guard. Also protecting the city are the contingent of Metallic Knights assigned to the city. The knight support the guard and are usually called in when dealing with strange or unusual threats. The knights are also responsible for protecting the council, and King. The last part of the city's defense are the Spell Stewards. These wizards are trained to deal with threats that arms alone can not handle. There are less then a dozen of them but they are more than adequate to deal with any threat.

The Code of Law is the document that outline the laws of Eroth and Sanction. There are people who spend thier lives interpreting the code and defining how the guards and magistrates can enforce it.

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