Elturel

Elturel was a city lying on the River Chionthar in the Western Heartlands. It was a center for agriculture and trade in the region, and was renowned for its elite mounted defenders, the Hellriders.

Demonym
People and things from here were called "Elturian", while "Elturelian" was considered incorrect.

Geography
The city was situated atop a bluff or tor with a cliff dominating the River Chionthar. This was both a good defensive position and a good crossing-point, as the river below was narrow, shallow, and easily traversed by poling barges; the city was founded here for this advantage. The river linked it with Berdusk, Iriaebor, and Scornubel, and to Baldur's Gate on the Sword Coast.

The Skuldask Road ran through Elturel, linking it to Thundar's Ride in the Fields of the Dead in the northwest, and to Berdusk and Uldoon's Trail in the sorthwest. The lesser-used Dusk Road began at Elturel and went northeast to meet the Trade Way at Triel.

In the 1360s DR, Elturel laid claim to lands along the Dusk Road northeast as far as Triel, along the Skuldask Road northwest to where it met Thundar's Ride and southeast down to Windstream Lodge, and along the Chionthar upstream to Scornubel, and downstream to Stone Eagle Lodge. The border was distinct: within, the land was farmed and settled; without, wilderness reigned, covered in shrubs and scrub trees. Elturel's domain was characterized by agriculture, where cattle and sheep grazed, brush was cut back, and farms fenced by hedges and stone walls studded the landscape.

After the Spellplague of 1385 DR, a small pocket of plagueland appeared a few miles south of the city.

History
A natural stronghold, this site had long been one of the few defensible locations between the Sword Coast and where the Chionthar met the River Reaching. At one time, it was occupied by trolls, with a stronghold on the hill home to a troll lord. They were later driven out by ogres, and their chieftain ruled from a crude stone fortress. At one point, it was also held by orcs. The ogres were in turn replaced by humans, who settled and built a castle here to guard against the trolls, ogres, and others. Over time, it became the possession of one lordling after another but remained as a refuge for human settlers.

Great battles were once fought on the neighboring Fields of the Dead, and the folk of Elturel and their Riders stayed armed and vigilant, patrolling and protecting the farms.

The city was well-established by the mid–14 century DR.

The famed travelogue writer Volothamp Geddarm visited Elturel and wrote of in his Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast around 1366 DR.

Once an independent city, in 1479 DR, Elturel served as the capital of Elturgard.

Government
By 1356 DR, the city was ruled by its High Rider, Lord Dhelt, a former leader of the Hellriders. He remained in power through 1367 DR and past 1372 DR. His focus was on maintaining Elturel as the most efficient, secure, and well-policed city in the region, with interests in farming and trade. The Hellriders helped Elturel establish and maintain civilization in these harsh lands. His reign went unquestioned, but was seen as just and far and wise and competent. He was vigilant on defense and preventing crime, and in keeping the city clean and lawful. He was known to be respectable and tolerant, as a leader who actively promoted trade while letting merchants getting on with business with minimum interference.

Elturel has only ever been noted as having a single, absolute ruler. Around 1479 DR, the city was ruled by the High Observer of Torm, who made certain that the city was run efficiently and that the area surrounding the city remained safe.

Relations
While it remained an independent city, it was a firm member of the Lord's Alliance in the mid–14 century DR.

Elturel was a mutual rival of Scornubel,  a city of comparable size and capability lying upriver. Lord Dhelt looked for ways to overthrow Scornubel's position as the major trading town between Iriaebor and Waterdeep and Elturians themselves endeavored to beat them in riches.

In the 1300s DR, the main threat in Elturel's domain were bandits preying on the traders and travelers, and orcs, trolls, and ogres from the High Moor raiding the farms of the Fields of the Dead.

Defenses
The city was surrounded by a stout stone wall, shielding all but the southern river side. There were two gates, on the northwest and northeast sides. Inside the eastern wall, a canal served as a partial moat.

Elturel's main defense in the 14 century DR was the Hellriders, a 2000-strong elite unit of well-equipped, loyal, and close-knit mounted troops. For a city guard, they outmatched the armies of whole realms. They were not only the guards and police of the city, they also patrolled the River Chionthar and surrounding roads, and escorted caravans from Waterdeep to Iriaebor. They maintained guardhouses in the Fields of the Dead and warning beacons in the surrounding farmlands. As well as significant raids, expeditions, and punitive assaults on aggressive demihumans were commanded by Lord Dhelt, the High Rider, or by the High Watcher of Helm Berelduin Shondar. All Hellriders were required to give a tenth of their earnings to Elturel's coffers.

After the Spellplague, Elturel was the home of many paladins, who ably protected the city from the forces of evil and plaguechanged creatures coming from the south. A shining orb known as the Companion hung over the city, although only the High Observer truly knew if this was a blessing of Amaunator. The orb produced light that was painful to undead, and could be seen from virtually anywhere within Elturgard.

Law & Order
Well policed by the Hellriders, Elturel was a very safe city for travelers. Its dockside areas were among the safest in Faerûn, thanks to their organization, the loyalty of the handlers guild, and the alert Hellrider patrols. The main threat was theft by pickpockets, not mugging by thugs. Otherwise, there were no Elturian thieves' guilds—Lord Dhelt would not allow it. Just rumoring about a possible band of thieves was enough to see one interrogated by zealous Hellriders.

Trade
Elturel was the farming center of the Fields of the Dead and thrived on the trade that passed through its domain. It was commonly rated as the second-most economically powerful city in the Western Heartlands after Scornubel and it was quite wealthy. Linking overland caravan and river barge trades, it also served as a market for farms on fertile Fields of the Dead and Chionthar banks. Thousands of cattle and sheep were assembled in Elturel every year for trade across Faerûn. Traders greatly appreciated the protection afforded them by the Hellriders; caravans and convoys of riverboats chose routes through Elturel's zone of control so they could relax their own security, if only for a day or two. Summer saw the peak of trade through the city.

Its primary exports were livestock and the products of them, namely meat, cheese, leatherwork, wool, and glues rendered from hooves and horns. Equipment shops in the city had moderate availability of goods.

There was a guild of handlers who took care of loading and unloading goods, both on the wagons and on the docks. They were faithful and assisted the costers.

After the founding of Elturgard, the officials who handled trade in the city became overly righteous and handed exorbitant taxes and punishments to traders who demonstrated even the slightest impiety.

Population
In 1358 DR, Elturel had a registered population of 26,778 citizens, but the real population fluctuated from 29,000 in winter to 33,000 in summer. Much of this population was transient, being traders and travellers just passing through. In 1372 DR, the official population was given as 22,671. In event of war, plague, or orc horde, farmers of the Fields of the Dead could take refuge in the city; the warehouses and cellars could briefly shelter over 400,000 people.

Culture & Society
It was said that every boy and girl of Elturel and the lands around dreamed of being a Hellrider some day, even those whose talents lay in the intellectual more than the martial arts. To call such a child a "hellion" was not an insult but a compliment, marking one as having the courage and drive to ride the Hellriders' destriers. Though they didn't all get special training, Elturians were practically raised in the saddle, learning how to ride and growing familiar with how horses behaved in any situation, even those that never became Hellriders. The downside was that, rightly or wrongly, some folk thought Elturians always smelled of horse.

In turn, all true warriors of Elturel were most likely Hellriders. Those who resigned were stripped of their gear, exiled from the city, and named a heretic in the eyes of Helm for abandoning their post. In the mid-1360s DR, there were no living ex-members of the Hellriders—too many had died in battle.

Elturian wizards, meanwhile, were safer in the saddle, being skilled at attacking from their mounts. They were much more capable of avoiding or resisting attacks while mounted than they on foot, being less able to react fast enough.

Often overlooked in the city's commercial success, Elturian rogues were themselves merchants and traders. They were charismatic, talented in subtle negotiations and driving slick bargains, and skilled in appraising items. However, fighting was bad for business, and Elturian rogues made poor and less-resilient combatants.

Instead, as a legal outlet for the poor, desperate, unruly, maladjusted, or just violent citizens, there was the High Moor Heroes' Guild. This adventuring band made regular expeditions to the High Moor "scouring" whatever they found. They also tutored each other and other adventurers.

Description
The city was split into two districts: an upper city known as the High District and a lower city known as the Dock District. The High District spread over the slopes of a rising, defensible hill with a rocky cliff on its south side, where it met the Chionthar. In this crowded space, the buildings were constructed of stone, with tall narrow houses topped with spires and bedecked with balconies, and the cobbled streets were narrow, steep, and winding. Their cellars were dug out of the solid rock. This area was home to the city's nobility. Atop the cliff overlooking the river was the High Hall, marked by its soaring turrets, where the High Rider lived, government was based, and large commercial meetings were held.

The Dock District, meanwhile, covered the flatlands around. It was home to markets, stockyards, and warehouses, as well as wagon-makers and yards and officers of other trades associated with caravans. It was dirty, disorderly, and smelly, with buildings designed only for function and business. In the east side, it was known for hovels and warehouses clustered around the docks. In the west side there were tidier and more well-off homes and shops, and in the 1360s the area was more often being called Westerly to distinguish it as cleaner and more prosperous than the east side. Those in the east thought those in the west were lazy, soft, arrogant, and pretentious.

The city was not all utilitarian. The Garden, also known as "the Winter Garden" in local songs and stories, ran right through the middle of the city along the ridge of the hill, long, straight, and narrow "like the blade of a naked sword", in the words of Elminster. It began at the High Hall, where a spring rose in the cellars that wound through the Garden and guaranteed the city's water supply, before spilling over the Maiden's Leap cascades to join the canal. The Garden was an open space of woods and flowers, crossed by paths and arched bridges but keeping a wild beauty in wintertime. Elturians enjoyed meeting one another here.

The canal began at the Maiden's Leap in the north and ran east and south within the walls before joining the Chionthar. It formed a partial moat for defense and a passage for barges servicing the eastern Dock District. Four bridges crossed it.

In the mid-1300s DR, Elturel was home to two major temples: Helm's Shieldhall and the High Harvest Home. Thanks to Lord Dhelt's patronage, the fortress-like Shieldhall was both the most influential temple in the city and one of the strongest temples of Helm, God of Guardians, in the North. High Watcher Bereldum Shondar ruled it with an iron fist and was aggressive in defense of the Helmite faith. The High Harvest Home, meanwhile, was dedicated to Chauntea, the Grain Goddess, and was managed by Raulauvin Oregh. Both provided aid and shelter to the faithful. There were also a few shrines, to Ilmater, the Crying God; Tempus, Lord of Battles; Tymora, Lady Luck; and Waukeen, the Merchant's Friend, which was rededicated to Lliira, the Joybringer, by 1367 DR after Waukeen's absence in 1358 DR.

Lord Dhelt decreed that inns and taverns could not operate under the same roof, nor could inns serve drinks, so in Elturel these were distinctly different businesses. The better inns stood in the High District, but were simply converted houses and often several neighboring houses linked into one. Those in the Dock District were simpler, not to mention noisier, but were usually the only accommodations available in summer during the trade season. Inns and taverns were generally good in quality.

Shiarra's Market was held within a town square (actually more of an egg-shape) in the eastern Dock District. It was known for crammed stalls.

The Dragoneye Dealing Coster had a way-base in Elturel around 1356 DR. This was a large warehousing and shipyard area in the eastern Dock District beside the Chionthar, close to the docks.

A six-wagon ferry crossed the Chionthar south of Elturel, linking it to Skuldask Road and taking travelers into the heart of the city.

Notable Locations

 * Buildings: High Hall, the castle where the High Rider lived.
 * Temples: Helm's Shieldhall • High Harvest Home
 * Inns:
 * High District: Hondakar's House • Symbril's House
 * Docks District: Phontyr's Unicorn • Gallowgar's Inn • Oar and Wagonwheel Inn


 * Taverns: A Pair of Black Antlers • The Bent Helm

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
 * Hoard of the Dragon Queen
 * Video Games:
 * Icewind Dale
 * Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter