Revalis

Art by Nextmars

Revalis is the largest and most sparsely populated of the five kingdoms of the Vestian Empire. It spans the southern reaches of Hellan, from the borders of Snowpeak across the rest of the continent's southern expanse, encompassing vast forests, coastal cliffs, and wild frontier lands.

The kingdom was founded by Queen Hestia Dawnwalker following the Verunist Crusade, tasked by the Vestian Empire with unifying the disparate and unstable peoples of southern Hellan under a single crown. As part of her conquest, she revealed herself to be a dragoness. She bears a fearsome, dread reputation.

Revalis is a diverse kingdom. Sun elves, humans, halflings, and various frontier peoples all live within its borders. The kingdom is too large and too thinly settled to enforce the kind of cultural uniformity found elsewhere in the Empire.

---

The City

Revalis is a fortress city built on sheer cliffs rising from the ocean. Massive white walls enclose the island at the waterline, forming a protected harbor. Ships pass through the Dragon's Gate to dock within the walls.

The city is protected inside the walls. It is comprised of dense residential districts, terraces of lush gardens, and the central palace: a gothic structure of dark stone. A smaller fortified island nearby is used for martial garrisoning and naval operations.

Amongst Revalis' nobles and merchant class, alliances frequently shift. Testing the queen's patience is a quick way to disappear. The citizens of Revalis experience daily hardship. They are heavily taxed, and labor and infrastructure projects are numerous as Hestia expands the city into the Dark Below. There are many knives in the dark unchecked by the League of Assassins.

Life in the villages and farmlands outside the capital is comparatively ordinary. Inland farms supply the city. Small settlements have grown up along the roads leading to the capital, populated by the mixed frontier peoples the kingdom was founded to unite.

---

Leadership

Revalis is ruled by Queen Hestia Dawnwalker, formerly the conqueror of Isandor and founder of the Kingdom of Erendor. Following her divorce from Arilos Dawnwalker and the transfer of Erendor's crown to her son Casimir, Hestia departed for the southern frontier and built Revalis from nothing. The kingdom is her sanctuary and her fortress.

Hestia has a close relationship with Imperator Asgarion Dawnwalker and King Casimir. The port of Revalis was deliberately positioned to allow easy sea travel to both Vestia and Erendor.