Alabaster Valley

Alabaster Valley is located in the mountains of the Arathi Highlands where the mountains join in an almost flat plain. The mountains around and under the valley were found to be rich in marble, a beautiful white variety used for many sculptures around the world. The Ravenshadow family discovered the rich resource after they were granted the land back in their earlier history. Back then, it was considered unexplored but useless mountain area, for the theory that the stone would be the same regular stone that the rest of the area is already rich in.

The white stone is almost a pure white, having very little veins of clay or other settled rocks meshed in between it, and makes the best busts of important noble figures, or so is the opinion. The Duchy obviously became quite rich in the meantime, mining the precious marble and shipping it across the human kingdoms for ages to come.

Geography
Aside from a few mountain paths, there are no main roads to the Duchy itself, the Ravenshadow family preferring to send any shipments themselves, keeping privacy instead of having pick ups come through. In this, Alabaster Valley remains a quiet peaceful untouched region.

Arotha
The first town on the way up the mountains is perhaps one of the most interesting towns. Each house is made from the side of the mountain, with only a small path to get to each, fenced often with simple stones. Each house faces the rest of the Highlands, having what could be considered, the most beautiful view in all of the Highlands. The town itself has one inn, with four empty rooms, only two of which having any sort of window outward. The families that live here consist mostly of the miners themselves, that are employed within the Etwa mine, a marble mine famous for it's unique rose colored marble. There is one large building off the main path that hosts not only the warehouse, but the mine itself under it. The town itself is called Arotha. Its population is less than 500 people.

Loam
The second town on the path is another small town of course, hidden from view by the mountains that surround it on nearly all sides, aside from the one pass. This towns contains a small lake, a general store, an inn, a tavern, as well as a bakery. Most of the people here are the stopping point for visitors, doing their best to keep the people of the Highlands happy, treating them to some of the best bread. There is a small mine here, but it happens to be a salt mine. The smell in the air smells like drying meat, as much of the Duchy's meat is shipped here to be cured. This town is called Loam with the population of perhaps 1000 people.

Achundsul
If you venture further, you'll get to the city of Achundsul, the main city of Alabaster Valley. Within it is all the basic needs of any city. A school house recently built, a library, a town hall, a chapel, several stores for shopping such as a general store, clothing store, and so on- There's the small barracks for the militia type guard of the area, a public fountain and garden in the center of the town. And of course the tavern, a large building filled every night with the workers of the city enjoying their brew. Down the road is the large Alabaster Marble Mine, in which the Duchy gets its name from. Up on the hill, back side to the ocean sits Ravenshadow Manor, a lovely large manor that almost could pass as a quaint cottage if not for its size.

Ravenshadow Manor
The manor itself boasts large exotic gardens as well as an exotic stable, almost a zoo at that. The house's color is an interesting light shade of lilac, with a few green vines growing up the lattice, flowering in the spring. Large windows over look the city itself with an almost judgmental but motherly feel, as the back of the house watches the sea itself from it's cliff side perch. The manor boasts many bedrooms and marble floor interior, easily being the most expensive home in the area.

The founding of Hiraedd
Hiraedd is a town founded on newly purchased land, added to the Alabaster Valley Duchy. The town's major purpose will be the new meadery, with a mead hall attached. The bees have made the transition to the Arathi Highlands to supply the mead hall with the required honey to make mead. The flavors will vary depending on the prepared mead available.

(Cinnamon, Vanilla, and Peach are the three common "Novelty" flavors.)

The town itself is a destination spot for travelers and new citizens of Arathi both. A network of farms will be connected to the town, to supply the duchy with new crops to be more self sufficient.

Arotha: A Visitor's Guide
Arotha is an old settlement that takes pride in it's unique buildings. The settlement itself is built high into the Arathi mountains that face the rest of the Highlands. Each house is built from the white stone, like the mountains around them. Many beautiful stone bridges connect different parts of the town to span from various heights of the mountains, creating a scene worth painting. The bridges vary from simple stone bridges to intricate bridges with arches and covers to keep the dwellers shaded from the rainy and cold Arathi weather. There's a simple road through town to lead further back to the duchy that bypasses most of the town, letting the visitor see very little of the amazing area.

Points of Interest
The visitor needing a place to stay can hope to hang their hat up in the White Mountain Inn. If you are lucky, you'll get a room with a window. The view from this inn can be described as breathtaking. From here, a view of not only part of the town, but the rest of the highlands is to be seen. The upstairs of the inn is reserved for tavern use, where many merry times are spent and many meals are served.

Shopping and Food
A few shops make their home here. The most notable and famous shop is of course the Marbled Rose, named for- of course the famous Rose Marble that is mined in this town. Various polished marble samples are found here for the wealthy to browse and order for their own homes.

If the visitor should need various daily needs, such as soap or food, stop by Gar's General Goods. The shop has everything you could need from preserved peaches to bed linens to of course, soap.

A specialty clothing store called Leaving in Stitches is a great place to get anything special made for any occasion. From fancy wedding dresses, to simple every day outfits, Leaving in Stitches will make it for you.

The Market is a building within town, circular in shape, almost like an arena. Different vendors of various fresh goods sell their wares here on weekends, keeping dry under the partial roof. The center of the Market has no roof, but takes advantage of the rain with a freshwater well in the center to collect from. The well is stocked enough that a stream runs through town from this point, giving that extra special touch to the beauty.

Entertainment
While there's no formal theater, there is a park that boasts beautiful highland flowers that is often used for plays and other entertainment for the town.

Loam: A Visitor's Guide
Loam is a quiet town sitting on a small lake, or perhaps better described as a big pond. A single waterfall feeds the pond, keeping the water fresh and full. It's not the beauty of Loam that most people describe when they come; instead, it happens to be the smell that fills the air as soon as you walk into the area. The fresh baking bread and smell of smoking meat are a constant warm reminder that you are in Loam. The local bakery is one worth traveling to from anywhere in the Highlands, boasting some of the best bread that has ever graced the tongues of man. Combined with the sweet and dried meats, this town has a rare beauty of delicious food.

Architecture
The buildings of Loam are not terribly fancy, having the same wood and stone structure as many human houses. Many of the houses have red borders, giving the appearance that they definitely belong to Strom. Nothing really seems to stand out from the simple beauty of this mountain town. It's cradled in a nook between mountains, giving it that picture perfect quality.

Points of Interest
Of course the Bun in the Oven Bakery is the favorite. The fresh soft bread with that light crunch on the outside is just to die for. Coming early in the morning is the best time to ensure you are getting a hot fresh loaf, but more bread is baked throughout the day.

The "Meatery" (taking it's name from a Meadery) boasts the best prepared meats you could imagine to find. A lot of the meat is of course, dried into jerky, using the salt that comes from the nearby mines. Worth a stop in for a pouch of the jerky!

A Loamy Place is the inn for visitors to stay. They offer a meal with your room and welcome visitors like family. (Seeing as not many visit Alabaster Valley.)

Shopping
The general store here is called The Pine Road. No one has so far been able to answer what the name came from, but the name has stuck for as long as anyone can remember. It has everything you could need for day to day needs.

A few other buildings that I found interesting were of course, Loam's own doctor's office, the two room school, a small library, and a blacksmith. In progress is a flower shop that will be on the edge of town, taking advantage of a large empty field.

Entertainment
There is a small open building in the middle of the park area where some of the townspeople get together to play their various instruments. Usually on weekend evenings, and especially in the summer when the fire flies comes out to add to the show.

Aschundsul- A visitor’s Guide
Aschundsul isn’t a simple town like the other two towns mentioned. Aschundsul, with its fancy name, is just as fantastic as it sounds. The white stone city is a hidden gem of the Highlands that should be a highlight! The stone city is open, leaving walls to cities that have no mountains protecting them. The city feels almost cradled by the large mountains around it. Two breaks in the mountains provide the only places that someone could even see the city without being up in the air. One view is just a peek from the ocean, only seeing the tallest of the buildings and of course, the beautiful Manor Ravenshadow. The other view comes from the single road coming into the city from Loam. And both views, I must say, are worth seeing.

Coming towards the city, the road begins to finally break out from its linear pattern. The streets of Aschundsul (still made of a white common stone), spider out from the center to take you through the various districts of the beautiful city. From the center district, you can get to each portion of the city easily. The major districts from there are Central, Trade, Craftsman, Living Quarters, and the Manor District.

The Central district is the meeting stone of the town. The road into the city goes around it in a perfect wide circle, with branches leading off into the other areas. The circle itself contains a beautiful marble fountain of a white raven, manicured grass and plants, and plenty of seating for the citizens to come and gather. Near the north portion of the circle is a small stage, often used for plays, proclamations, and rare visitations from the Duchess herself. North of the road is city hall, where all town meetings are held. Once a month, the Duchess seats herself in council, to listen for herself as to what problems are concerning the duchy.

Trade district is closest to the east, closest to the manor. This district is broken into two tiers, the upper being built up with the scaling of the mountain. The lower tier contains the everyday market. The lower tier is considered quite a loud place, full of vendors yelling about their goods and people bartering the best prices.

The higher tier tends to be the upscale shops. The finer clothing stores, the spice merchant, the little cafes that tend to serve those with disposable income- It’s a quiet place. No one needs to yell about their goods on the upper tier. Some of the finer places even have their own form of entertainment, be it a harp player, or perhaps a flute, giving the quiet district a touch of lovely music to flow through the area. It is THIS area, the Duchess is seen most.

North east of trade is the Craftsman terrace. This area is reserved for the craftsmen of Alabaster Valley. It is here that armor is made, and ore is refined. Marble is also refined into a finished product here. The tier isn’t nearly as clean and tidy as the rest of the city, so visitors aren’t exactly seen walking around the Craftsman Tier.

To the north of the center square is the basic living quarter district. There’s two distinct areas of the living quarters, for the lower and middle class. The middle class tend to live closer to the manor district, living in nicer bigger homes, whereas the lower class live in smaller homes, close to the smog of the craftsman’s tier. The style of home here tends to be rather- rectangular, different for any Arathi or human home for that matter. The white stone gives a lovely look as the houses are built up, and uses very little wood, as wood is not a resource the Highlands has much of.

The square roofs are often used as gardens for many of the citizens. The lower class tend to grow food, whereas the middle class tend to prefer flowers and other decorative plants.

The Manor district is filled with much larger homes that have yards of their own. The well-kept district contains the nobles and rich of the city, keeping them as happy as possible. (Though we know how much nobles complain about very little.) The manor district happens to be gated, so it is very difficult to visit without a pass.

Lightstone Sanctuary
Built through a mountain, stood one of the most beautiful structures ever imagined by man. It used the white stone mountain as the base for such a creation, and used the top of the mountain for a sturdy roof. While that itself made for a breath-taking creation, it was what was in between that made heads turn and focus on the masterpiece. She called it the Lightstone Sanctuary. Large white pillars held the mountain above up- but this served another purpose. To keep the structure open to the world.

A single mountain path lead to the palace, leading to a grand white staircase that brought visitors into the main room. The main room consisted of luxurious pristine white marble floors that were always polished to reflect the most light to the world. Then there was the large water basin in the center. Surrounded by intricate marble railing, the basin carried pure and clear mountain spring water that sat on top of a mirror, the main reflector of light in the room. Above it sat a main skylight that had a series of smaller skylights and mirrors to reflect light to the basin at any time of the day. This created and effect of the room being washed in the Light.

Some smaller skylights decorated the room, but each was covered in a unique stained glass window. When the light hit these skylights, a rainbow of light was poured down upon the white floor, giving the room a much needed splash of color. It became apparent that this sanctuary was not built for someone to worship the light within, but to walk with the Light itself. To be with it in the most pure form possible. To bathe in it.

The stained glass depicted various scenes of peace and hope to continue to inspire the visitor. There was one that gave a vision of a woman in white, pouring water and light down upon the people that gathered. It said "Life" under the scene, and that Life reflected down upon the white marble floors. None were battles, none were war or death. Just hope, love, and self worth.

While the castle was open to the world, there were of course- rooms, rooms that were only blocked by curtain to continue the open flow of the palace. And each room had it's own open view of the Highlands through a white balcony. Where the pillars permitted, there were walls to have some privacy in the bath-rooms.

But what made this structure the most unique, was the way the Light spilled from it. As if it all came to this one place then came to touch all of Arathi. This was a place of hope, it said. Where life started. And where LIFE would win.

The Raven's Rose
Hiraedd was well on it's way to becoming a new town. The mead hall's finish was the most important start to the new town. It was named the Raven's Rose, giving it's name to honor the Duchess who founded the town for all the settlers. The town itself carried the influence of the many unwanted Gilnean who were more than welcomed to come to Alabaster Valley. But the Mead Hall carried the proud Arathorian building style that matched Arotha. The stone building stood near the waterfall that marked the border of Arathi, giving it the view of the open ocean for those who wished to walk out on the deck. (Braving the cold of course.)

The interior of the tavern could best be described as warm. From the smoldering fire in the center that kept the room warm, to all the red decorations that gave it's love to Arathi, the room had a good feeling of home. To the left of the entrance sat the bar itself, where the barkeep could serve the patrons directly as well as have access to the kitchen behind it. The smell of cooking meat is obviously heaviest here. The center of the room has the table for the patrons that wish to share not only the warmth of the fire, but the warmth of friends around. Stories are told and shared as well as meals that seem endless. Behind this table sits a second tier, built up for the visiting nobles, and more importantly, for the Duchess herself to come and share a meal with the workers of Alabaster Valley.

To the right leads down into the rooms that house anyone who needs a place to stay. Built down into the mountain, the basement is kept warm with smaller smoldering fires with windows leading out towards the ocean.

It's perhaps the small touches that make the Raven's Rose the most interesting. Each corner has it's own seating area for private conversations, making it feel similar to visiting the family dinner table. Roses are carved into the interior, dedicating themselves to the "Rose" of the valley. And of course, carved ravens adorn the place, keeping watchful eyes on the patrons.