Nothenvell, also called New Edinburgh, is an obsidian-mining city built against a volcano on the edge of Caloria, in the Sogol gesta (campaign-cycle). Its local date is 1926.
| Type | Place (city) |
| Realm | Caloria |
| Other names | New Edinburgh, Novati |
| Chronicle | SGL |
| Spanish entry | Nothenvell |
Description
The volcano both heats and threatens the city; its tremors are lived like rain. The inhabitants are Scots from another world, with a schoolboy accent, who stack stones to mean “we came this way”. It is a city of geothermal power, steam and forges: chimneys, heaters, hard-living workers, riot guards, drunken laborers and a cemetery.
It exists to mine obsidian, which cuts well against the cold; in a war of fire against ice that makes it a weapon, a commodity and politics. One vein is ancient and especially enchantable, the same as that of a certain black dagger brought to the city by a tiefling; through it the city’s assayers learned to recognize the vein. The city has a thane of weapons, a ten percent tax, proper adventuring permits, and a planar contact, Uken.
It is a very Athar city: industrial, without temples worth the name. When a paladin tried to grow a white rose of rest in its cemetery, nothing happened.
History
The refuge of a year and a day
The angel of the hammer and the chisel, with the dabus’ tools wielded by Lucio, wished that the company appear near a safe place where no demon could follow or condemn them for a year and a day. Reality readjusted: the four found themselves settled in the city “for several days already”, with papers, permits and a stocked pantry they did not remember filling. Dandy, who had arrived earlier on Uken’s sled, received them as if nothing had happened. Uken’s cairn in the snow, with the rune “Come to New Edinburgh”, was the only reminder of the road. The same day saw the caravan commission and the departure of the thirty sleds.
The other end of the road
Karlstorf, on the coast, is the capital the company visited after the Halls. The project of Sidqa and Union envisages connecting both ends of the Road of Mertylmane, the only route to the coast. No branch has been opened here and the travelers have not returned; they chose first the court and then the forest of Aries.
See also
- Uken · Basalt Pits — the other source of obsidian in the land of ice
- Burkestein