Bethgorod

Bethgorod is the capital city of Suisland.

History
Bethgorod was founded by the hero Suiruss in the year 722 BU (or year 1 in the Suisland calender) who was drawn to the defensive value of the flat-topped hill bordering a river. For several centuries, Bethgorod was little more than a citadel where successive Dvoryan monarchs dispensed justice and co-ordinated national policies. Although it grew steadily, it was only one of a number of important towns in Suisland – an administrative centre rather than a cultural capital.

The name Bethgorod is a shortening of the original “Berot-trzi-gorod” (literally “Triple-Gated City”). This name is usually taken to refer to the three walls of the city and the symbol of the city is a gate surmounted with three towers. However, the name precedes the development of the walls by several centuries and it was the name adopted by Suiruss when he built the first citadel at the location of the city. Scholars are divided over what the name might have originally meant. Some have argued that the earliest form of Suiruss’s fortress had three gates (although this would not be consistent with the architecture of the period). Others suggest that there used to be three caves or other openings in the hill the city was built on.





Bethgorod really began to grow in 7 AU, when the mysterious College of Bethgorod (Suislandish "Uchrezhden ili Bethgorodzi") was founded within the hill on which the city stands. Since then it has become one of the most developed cities in the world, with magic used to provide a range of public services such as street lighting and a hygienic sewer system.



Cityscape
Bethgorod is a roughly rectangular in shape and organised in two broad rings around the Palace District at the centre, with each area defined by walls. Most of the city is built on the hill that dominates the north banks of the rivers Beliznya (“Snowy”) and its main tributary the Temno (“Dark”). The palace crowns this hill. Bethgorod is surrounded by a broad moat and fortified with a stout walls that run around and through the city.





Outer Ring
The outer ring of the city is defined by the First Wall. The First Wall is pierced by eight gates, each of which is accessed via a drawbridge over the outer moat. The main point of entry is at the north-western corners, where two gates in close proximity open onto a wide square in which the city’s main market can be found. It is rare for all of the gates to be open at the same time; access is determined by security concerns and the need to move people in or out of the city.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first sight that greets most visitors is the broad flights of stairs beyond these gates which lead up the slopes of the hill. Since these stairs are almost impossible for carts and other forms of transport to traverse, porters make a good living carrying trade goods up and down these stairs either on their own backs or with the help of the small, tough ponies of the eastern steppes.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The First Wall surrounds the city on the northern, eastern and western sides, with the Beliznya and Temno forming the southern border. The Beliznya river runs up from the south and then turns sharply to the west, eventually meeting the sea, and the Temno flows in from the east, feeding into the Beliznya at the bend. Properly speaking the First Wall does not include the southern fortification around the Noble District, which was built much later, but it is generally considered an extension of the outermost defences.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Within the First Wall, occupying the lower slopes on the north, east and west sides of the city, is the Merchants’ District. This area comprises mostly houses of the moderately wealthy non-nobles and merchants. It is also home to markets, museums and other cultural institutions, embassies and religious edifices. The inner part of this district is a broad swathe of parkland which is used by the people of the city for markets, recreation and festivals. It can also be used as a “killing zone” by defenders of the Second Wall.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The southern portion of the city is the Noble District. It occupies the flat land south of the Beliznya. It is walled along the south and accessed via three drawbridges over the moat. These defences are, however, relatively slight compared to the rest of Bethgorod. The Beliznya forms the northern boundary of the district and on the other side of the river is the steep southern side of the crest of the hill. Only one bridge, the Vorota Bridge, connects the Noble District internally to the rest of the city. The Noble District is distinguished by broad, leafy and open spaces, clusters of estates where the nobility of Suisland while away the winter. This district is also home to the famous Winter Gardens which house trees and flowers planted by generations of Dvoryan royalty.

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<span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Middle Ring
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The middle ring of Bethgorod is defined by the Second Wall. The Second Wall has more gates but access through most of these is restricted to military personnel. Most traffic flows through only two gates: one large gate in the north-west near the market, another large gate in the north and two smaller gates on the east side. Some of the gates are virtually never open and the key for one gate has been lost for centuries.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Within the Second Wall is the Artisans’ District, acting as a sort of shield around the Palace District on the north, east and west. Within this zone are workshops, stores, taverns, inns, places of entertainment and working class houses. The families of soldiers and Royal Guards also reside here. The Sverkayushchiy River (“Sparkling”) cuts a deep channel through the hilly Artisan’s District, flowing into the city from the north-east and joining the Beliznya River on the west of the Palace District. There is a small dockyard area in the Artisan’s District. This area is mostly under the control of the Admiralty although some wealthy merchants are able to use it to export goods by river from here.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The main streets that climb up through the Artisan District are broad, well-lit and regularly patrolled. Beyond these streets, however, the district becomes a warren of laneways, dead-ends and small courtyards behind these thoroughfares. This is especially the case in the area between the Sverkayushchiy and Beliznya Rivers.

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<span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Palace District
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Third Wall surrounds the Palace District at the top of the hill, and defence of this area is supplemented by a moat formed by the waterways of the city. Although there are a number of drawbridges across the rivers and gates in the wall, these are largely restricted to military use. The only public access to the Palace District is over Lidya’s Bridge on the north side.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The site of the palace marks the place where Suiruss established his citadel some 1,100 years ago. This eventually turned into the Dvoryan Palace on the west side of the district, separated by a wall from the east side of the district. The “Palace” is actually a sprawling complex of multiple buildings (including three smaller palaces) which hold throne rooms, apartments, ballrooms, audience chambers, libraries, treasuries, trophy rooms and the like. The eastern side of the district is home to the Admiralty and the Army High Command, barracks for the Royal Guard and city garrison, the ministry, law courts and hospitals.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Below the Palace District, within the hill of Bethgorod, is the mysterious College. Here, the vedma of the land come for training before going out into the world on their inscrutable missions.