#verchiel

We don’t know a lot about Verchiel in canon. It is somewhere along the Imperial Highway, it’s in a valley, it’s heavily militarized, and it has an alienage. There is little else in canon. So, when my amazing, incredible, stunning, and magnificent partner Lydia, known to this fandom as @dalishious​, asked me to help them visualize Verchiel for the upcoming events of their fic Journey’s End, I couldn’t resist making yet another map.

Influences:

This one isn’t that deep. I took influences from ancient Korinth, medieval Carcassonne, the city that I live in that I will not name as not to dox myself, and my pre-existing map of Halamshiral in 9:39 (which means a bit of second-hand Versailles sprinkled in) and remixed it all together a bit. I did not invest nearly as much time into this map as into the Halamshirals.

Headcanons:

- The population is around 20,000, fluctuating daily with trading caravans arriving and leaving en masse. The population of the alienage is roughly 200, the population of Petit Halamshiral is around 500.

- A lot of the economy of Verchiel is based on it laying on a central node in the Orlesian trading network.

- Given the trading traffic Verchiel receives, merchants often camp in tents on the two vast market places, depending on whether they transport common or luxurious goods, giving the two market places their names.

- “Petit Halamshiral” is a heavily fortified district behind high walls that lies on a small, rather even space in the mountain north of the city. As the mountain is rather steep, the district is easy to defend, especially since every army who wishes to conquer the city is forced through the so-called Bottleneck, a fortified wide path connecting Petit Halamshiral to the main city.

-Petit Halamshiral has been a pet project of the rulers of Verchiel since they fell out with the local administrators of Halamshiral in 5:05 exalted. It imitates the architecture of Halamshiral’s High Quarter, somewhat mockingly. The Palace in the Fortress is a direct imitation of the Imperial Palace in Halamshiral. The Imperial Crown has always somewhat tolerated that insult. This is not me reusing assets because I am tired

- The eight estates around the Chantry in Petit Halamshiral belong to the eight Chevaliers of Verchiel. Their estates are vast and contain large meadows as every month, the position of host of the weekly tournaments and duels changes.

- The military academy has been the ace up Gaspard’s sleeve during the Civil War. Commoners can enlist and receive strict military drill, akin to that of the Chevaliers, who also teach in the academy and lead the elite soldiers upon graduation. The academy grounds feature an artifical forest and artifical city block to train for different combat situations.

- Petit Halamshiral could never house all of Verchiel’s population in the case of a siege. Before his death by Ethena’s arrow, Gaspard devised an emergency military strategy of scorched earth where the besieging army could be tricked into entering the Commoner District and shut in while the district would be systematically burned.

- The western walls of the Commoner’s District are more fortified than the ones on the east because the rulers of Verchiel feared their enemies to the west more. The northern walls are less fortified because the rulers of Verchiel expected to see any upcoming army that could stage an attack from the mountain down long before it could assemble properly.

- The Fortress stands on the same place a small Dalish castle stood before the violent annexation of the Dales during the Exalted Marches.

- The area around the Alienage is worn-down and inhabited by Verchiel’s poorest because the Chevaliers do often drunkenly set fire to the area after their violent raids on the Alienage.

- The Commoner’s District features several dozen city meadows, on which the population grows their own crops and even engages in animal husbandry to offset the oftentimes draconian taxes.

Creation process:

Took me six hours or so to make this map. I probably made a lot of rookie mistakes because it has been so short of a time. I am quite exhausted lately. I am extremely tired right now

Additional notes: