Aadda

Located in the southern part of the kingdom, Aadda is the strong arm that never tires. While the land to their north-east is fertile and supplies the city with the food that they need, most of the land to the south is useless and dangerous. The lands to their east are used for training grounds for their extensive calvary so the area surrounding the city is well patrolled and near free of any crime or banditry.

It was originally founded as an outpost to watch the southern border against any hostilities, as the land beyond the hills was relatively unknown. It was hard to cultivate so it was left to grow wild. With the Holy Dominion having its border relatively close, there is a large population in the city who have strong religious beliefs. And being they have assisted in building a stone roadway from the border of the Holy Dominion up the border of their neighboring Kingdom of Cerab that shoots north to the capital city of Volmara, they are in the middle of a heavily traveled trade route.

The city has expanded over the years to include a two great walls that surround the city completely. The original city was built after the Battle of the Plains with a large wall surrounding the entire city. This wall stood twenty feet high and was close to twenty feet thick in most places. The castle has evolved into a hulking beast that watches over the lands in all directions looking for attackers at all times. They put only four gates in the entire wall, each one leading to a compass point. The gates were massive hulks that closed when night fell, or an advancing horde loomed in the Hills of Bone. When the city grew to fill the entire inner wall section, another wall was built, this time further out from the original city. The upper city as it is called now, is where all the nobles, rich merchants, and the important live. The lower city is home to all of the populace and businesses. There is a large academy for Conocha that nestles in the western side of the lower city. This academy is not looked on with any stigma, as magic is used frequently to defend the city from hostilities. It is there and welcome, and out of the mind as it is a daily feature in the city now. There are also temples to each God in the eastern side of the lower city near the old wall. This has been dubbed the Prayers District and both civilians and the rich and noble come here to pray together. The lower cities walls are thicker than those in the upper city. These walls are roughly thirty feet thick and stand roughly eighteen feet tall. There are also only four gates into this wall but they are not in direct line with the other four, to prevent an easy approach to the upper city and the castle.

This is the only city in the Kingdom that requires all men to be drafted into the military. Everyone that lives in the city registers their entire family with the Tally Office and every young man at the age of 15 that lives in the city at his birth age is required to serve up to two years. The pay is rather well, and they get to stay with their families while not in training. Most of the young men agree to this and nearly all serve their time if not more in the military. Once their time is finished, they are assisted by the military in getting started outside the military. Most view this as an honor as it is a tradition more than a law. Many young men opt to stay for a longer term as it is all they know.

Magic is seen with little suspicion, as it is used often at times to defend the city from the hordes that try to raid the city. There is a fairly large academy of Conocha that has built up a rather good reputation among the populace. And while there are factions of all the religions here, they are small and tend not to make to many waves with the local government by causing problems for themselves.

Over the other cities in the Kingdom of Kerabarr, Aadda has the bloodiest history among them. As this city was built as an outpost there has always been a major military presence here. In 1680A, during the Flight of the Dragons, a horde of Oba`ke swarmed from the lands to the south to raid the then striving town. While the horde was fought back, many were wounded and could not follow in pursuit. A rider was sent to Volmara and Dongarld for help, but it would be weeks before help arrived. They dug in and continuously fought the advancing hordes back to the hills just south of the border.

Three days after the original assault, night fell and the hope and moral of the surviving troops were waning thin. They were making the horde pay, but while the horde continued to send new creatures at them, the defenders were losing men that could not be replaced. Men who had limbs cut off previously had weapons strapped to their arms or were staked up to poles to fight the onrushing swarm. A traveler named Amyrin Lordaemere, who had gotten trapped by the two armies fighting, began taking a leadership role when the officers were falling in battle. He saw the inevitable so took his commanders aside to inform them of the bad news. No one was coming, and they couldn’t last the night. He decided to take as many with them as they could and devised a plan to rush the hills the horde were using as a staging area and try to assault the main camp or their leaders.

The entire army set out at once while there was a lull in the fighting and rushed the hills. Over 3,000 men rushed into that final battle and only a third of them returned, none unscathed. Amyrin’s plan succeeded however, as the horde was camped just over the first few groups of hills. They rushed in and began slaughtering anything that did not yield, and even then those were dealt with. While they did not destroy the horde they did route them and send the few thousands left into the plains to the east. When all was finished and those who returned to their home saw the bodies littering the hills and the plains below they felt sorrow at the destruction.

The hills were aptly named the Hills of Bone and over the years the bones of the fallen have turned to dust leaving the hills grey and white, no more would grass or even weeds grow on the turned soil. The plains to the south were named the Plains of Sorrow for those lost that night and the battle has been called the Battle of the Plains by the historians. When the armies from Volmara and Dongarld arrived it was a sorry state that the town was in. Out of the 6,000 soldiers that were originally at the town, only about 1,100 of them survived and were still in condition to serve. Both armies got with Amyrin, who received a field commission of General for his duties and actions and a noble title of Baron as the previous Baron had died in the battle. With what was left of the soldiers and the addition of the two joined armies, they set off to find those of the horde who had escaped to redeem that which was brought on Aadda. All three armies met and fought till the horde was no more. The plains in which the battle was fought was aptly named the Plains of Redemption.

Resident Ruler - Duke Neidric
Population - 108,364
Military - 8,000
Calvary - 3,000
City Guard - 1,500
Navy - 0
Militia - 1,500
Civilian - 94,364
Nobility - 2,803
Commoner - 81,711
Other - 9,850 Includes travelers, miners, farmers, those who live outside the city and rogues.

Racial Demographics
Derevo - 10%
Gison - 15%
Hewdamian Humans - 46%
Keirn - 9%
Lemiean - 5%
Olwynn - 10%
Sslassti - 5%