Cartographic Decompression

The fledgling capital city maintained lodging facilities both for legislators and guests.

Lamora and Skott were not ‘back together’ much to Lucy-Kignora’s disappointment. What they were now was mutually-agreed-upon coparents. Lucy and her siblings had an acknowledged father, and the free people of Aeirun had an old hero returned from his otherworldly homeland.

It was a strange feeling, discovering he’d been a dad all along. In one weekend, Skott’s entire precious little life had been turned upside down. The lodging facility at this inn was grand, intended for high-ranking dignitaries. A fancy map sat on a desk in Skott’s room.

Back in the day, elvan maps were vague and abstract. They were also smaller in scale: mansion lords seldom cared about the lands beyond their control, so all cartographic efforts had been small and provincial. Only now, with the lands united by the coalition government, did mapmaking as an art form truly take off. With only a quick request, Skott had received a detailed map of all Aeirun.

To the ‘east’ (insofar as compass directions even applied in Aeirun) lay a shallow inland sea. Shallow, but extremely broad. The merchant marine sent many expeditions skirting the coast in search of natural ports to the north and south. Jutting out on a naturally uplifted peninsula was a great scholarly tower, impossibly high. This is where most magical research and advancement on the continent was developed.

Skott had two children in this region: one in the mage’s tower, one at sea. Grognar the mage and Sara the sailor. At least the naming convention represented elements from both their parents’ cultures.

To the west was a mountainous abode. Homeland of the dwarves, per fantasy standards. They’d bankrolled the rebellion following a longtime rivalry with the elvan. Stout and excellent smiths, they were the coalition’s strongest soldiers.

Centrally located were the plains. Good, natural place for the capital. So, of course, the ancient regime had marked it as a preserve for the most powerful elvan lord’s vacation manses. Non-elvan were forbidden from setting foot on some of the most fertile farmland in the region pre-rebellion.

To the south was a realm of jungle, brush, and rivers. Crossroads Ford was still listed as one of the larger cities in this region.  It was this region where he’d first come to Aeirun during both his journeys. Northern highlands were made up of lightly forested hills and peaks. Deep in this natural redoubt was Elvwood, the one city on the map that was majority-elvan. Everywhere else, they ranged from fifteen to about forty percent of any given population. Despite this, they were the undisputed ruling caste until their overthrow fifteen years prior. Skott’s remaining two sons were there, part of the regular and professional coalition army.

In terms of humanoid geography, lowlanders were mostly from the coast and a few designated areas of the central plains. Having a lock on these key central regions gave them a hearty block of representation in the Senate. Dwarves were ubiquitous in the mountains and made up occasional enclave-sized populations down south. This gave them a narrow senatorial delegation specific to their mountain province.

High men were common up north, crowding out the elvan representatives of certain highland cities. They made a point of caucusing with their distant elvan cousins, though, which increased the power of these two tiny factions.

Orcs were populous in wide areas of the south, in the newly opened up areas of the plains, and occasionally on the coast. Tied with lowland humans for the most populous species in the realm. That elvan Redeemer bands were marching right through orc territory unopposed was… ominous.

Skott sighed. Which was more difficult? Being a parent or keeping a fragile coalition of a half-dozen species intact?

He really should get to bed… but the more he thought about the twin situations, the more restless thoughts kept him up.

Should he have bought presents? Maybe he could head back to Boston one of these days and buy some souvenirs? The kids deserved to know about their paternal heritage. Maybe he should get to know them first, though. If they were all half as eccentric as Lucy…

What more could Skott have done to prepare? This was all thrown at him so far. At least he had more prep time than that first marooned graduation trip.

What ultimately kept Skott awake long into the humid Aeirunian night was the situation with the Redeemers. Fifteen years after total victory, armed bands of guerrilla marauders were roaming around, setting fire to entire towns! Now he was tasked with putting a stop to it. Counterinsurgency was not his expertise, but armed rebellion hadn’t been either. Skott and Lamora were quick learners.

Thoughts of how to counter this wave of terror left Skott up and pacing the length of his inn’s spacious room. He eventually settled for propping open the window and gazing out over the city at night.

New Omaha. He got another chuckle at the name. They put it to a vote, supposedly. Well, the people of Aeirun certainly came to embrace democracy quite easily. Not bad for a realm ruled by unaccountable elvan aristocrats not too long ago. The new capital was a nice place! Better than Old Omaha (there was a reason Skott left). Still had room to grow. Nice and cozy, really. He could get used to this…

Somewhere in the government quarter, in the Prime Ministresses’ mansion, Lamora would be asleep right around now. Lucy probably dwelt there as well, Skott had to assume. Ah, even Lamora begged him to leave and return to his realm. There was nobody to blame! This was a unique situation, and he was here now to be there for Lucy and the others, is what Skott told himself. Maybe that was enough?

Warm glows of lamplights lined the streets of New Omaha. Just enough to go on an evening stroll by. The roads were patrolled by beat cops, ensuring order. The society had been radically transformed in a little over a decade!

“I… really want to stick around,” Skott told himself. “Both for the kids, and to see how everything’s changed…”

A warm glow rose over the governmental quarter. If Skott’s knowledge of the map was accurate, that ought to be the fledgling capital’s elvan quarter…

“Wait a minute…” Skott leaned up, peering over the stone buildings to get a better look. The glow crackled and waned as distant embers filled the air.

“… is that… a fire?”