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With the 65th Map of the Week we continue in the land of Slovania, a corner of the fallen Ćsir Empire that is not ruled by forces of evil but that is not necessarily good aligned either. Today's map shows us Newhouse, the royal seat of the Slovanian kings. Key to the Map of Newhouse:

1. Wizard Bořivoj's Compound. The wizard Bořivoj does magical research here, he sells magical services and, for high fees, he also trains natural sorcerers to become wizards and magi. Bořivoj seldom hires out his personal services to customers, but he does sell the services of wizards, magi and sorcerers who are in his service. He also accepts commissions to produce magical items and to ensorcel non-magical items with arcane powers. The tower is 75 feet/22.5 m high.

2. Dark Road Inn Stable.

3. Dark Road Inn Brewery. The inn brews its own dark beer and sells it in the Bridge Tavern across the road and to some of the other taverns in the city. The brewmistress is 38-year-old Dorota, a human female master artisan. She employs two laborers, both human male commoners. Her brewery also has the city's only malting house. All other brewhouses buy their malt from her.

4. Dark Road Inn. The inn is Newhouse's elite hostelry. It is owned by one of the city's biggest business magnates, Řehoř, who is the devil Gadreel in disguise as a human male merchant-thief. His manager and innkeeper, Květoslava, operates the Dark Road for him. The inn has two suites, six double rooms and 14 single rooms. The suites cost 30 gold pieces per week or 100 gold pieces per month. Meals in the public room begin at 8 bronze pieces and can go as high as 1 gold piece and a silver piece. The dark beer from the house brewery costs 4 copper pieces per pint/half-liter tankard. Imported Windland wines run from 1 to 40 gold pieces per quart/liter bottle. Spirits from the royal distillery cost a silver piece per shot/0.1 liter glass.

5. Dark Road Inn Woodshed.

6. Market Square. The open markets of Slovania are the main retail source of contraband and loot from the Ćsir ruins and small, illegal merchandise smuggled in from the North Kingdom and the Dreadlands. It is conceivable that almost anything but high-powered magical items might be found in the market stands.

7. Ljuba the Wise. Ancient Ljuba is the last in a family line of Slovanian spellcasters. Almost any knowledge that is worth having and knowing in Slovania either is known to one of the two seers or is accessible in their library. Prices for their services begin at 1 gold piece. There is no upper limit.

8. Butcher Michal. Master Butcher Michal, a rotund 45-year-old human male artisan, is the fifth in his family line to own and operate Newhouse's biggest butcher shop and slaughtering operation. Michal sells fresh meats to the public rooms in the city that serve food. Butcher shop customers also can order fresh meat in advance or buy it if any is available that has not yet been packed or processed, but most meat is packed in barrels in salt brine, smoked or made into smoked sausage to preserve it.

9. Tinker Nadá. Nadá, a human female artisan, is the proverbial jack of all trades and master of none. She repairs things, almost anything, but she makes nothing new. On the side, she also sells some second-hand goods that she receives from customers as barter payment. Her only employee is her laborer, Mikuláš, a human male commoner.

10. Market Bakery . Master Baker Gizela, a human female artisan in her early 50s, owns the northernmost of two bakeries in the city's center. She has a retail shop and sells to most of the eateries in the northern part of town. Her baked goods also are sold on the market square.

11. Chandler Zikmund. The bespectacled, 77-year-old Zikmund, a human male artisan, is in his last years as Newhouse's sole candlemaker. Zikmund's eyesight is failing, and he soon will be unable to see well enough to make quality goods. His 52-year-old son, Maxim, also a master chandler and human male artisan, wishes his father no ill but is eager for him to step aside so that he can modernize the business.

12. Northland Inn. A quiet hostelry, the Northland seeks no adventurers as guests and refuses to book those who arrive wearing armor or bearing any weapons except those a traveler might carry in self defense. The innkeeper and owner is Ferdinand, a shy human male merchant in his early 40s. He has four double rooms at 5 bronze pieces per person per night and 10 singles at 6 bronze pieces a night. The public room is run by his brother, Felix, an outgoing human male merchant. Drinks are limited to the house brew, at 3 copper pieces per pint/half-liter tankard, and spirits from the royal distillery, at 1 to 3 bronze pieces per shot/0.1 liter glass. Food runs from three to seven bronze pieces per serving. Felix also has a small brewhouse operated by his wife, brewmistress Ester, a human female artisan.

13. Terezas General Store. Tereza, a human female merchant in her late 40s, sells a wide variety of items except for meat, fruit and vegetables. Food items are limited to trail rations and the like. Adventurers heading out of town should be able to find almost any normal gear they need in this three-story shop. Even some dried healing herbs and potions are available. The eastern half of the ground floor is devoted to saddles, tack, saddlebags, back packs, boots and other leather goods suited for the trail.

14. Temple of the Mother's Waters. This temple serves the power Mokoš, who really is the Earth Mother. The fact that the Aleksandreska call her Mokoš never has impressed the Earth Mother. She ignores those who consider themselves to be her priests and priestesses. As a result, the clerics of the temple have no command of clerical magic. However, they do know how to charge the waters of life and death, and all priests and priestesses are, in fact, herbal healers rather than clerics.

15. Goodwater River.

16. Millstream.

17. King's Cove. Only King Jáchym, his family and his guests are allowed on or in the cove.

18. Royal Brewery. The court brewery is the city's second largest, but it still is considerably smaller than the brewery of the Dark Road Inn (Location No. 2). Alewife Vendula, the master brewmistress, is a human female artisan in her early 50s.

19. Royal Distillery. Unlike the royal brewery, the distillery is a monopoly business.

20 Royal Castle Complex. The castle complex of the Slovanian kings, currently of King Jáchym. The central building is the palace. The royal administration is housed in the building to the left or west. Servants and staff live in the building to the right or east. Jáchym is not a king who is inclined to entertain socially. Therefore, the counts and the margrave usually are the only guests who ever enter the palace. The king receives official visitors in the reception hall of the administration building.
 
21. Royal Grain Mill. The royal master miller is the 60-year-old widow Svatava, a human female artisan who followed in her late husband's footsteps. King Jáchym already has agreed that when Svatava retires in two years, her son, Master Miller Matouš a 38-year-old human male artisan, will succeed her.

22. River House Bordello. Another of the operations of the devil Gadreel in his disguise as one of the city's biggest business magnates, Řehoř, a supposed human male merchant-thief. The madame of the house, Slavěna, a 50-year-old human female thief, runs it.

23. River Inn. This rather basic and economical inn is owned by Ignác, the 55-year-old human male warrior who owns and operates the New Dawn Mercenary Society (Location No. 24). The inn specializes in housing adventurers and mercenaries. The 12 single rooms cost 5 bronze pieces a night. There are no doubles. Meals run between 3 and 9 bronze pieces.

24. New Dawn Mercenary Society. This rather strange organization was founded and is owned and operated by Ignác, the 55-year-old retired human male warrior who also owns the River Inn (Location No. 23). Ignác, who seldom is seen outside of his compound, explains little about his organization. He maintains a band of his own here in the society's compound that he sends out to do commissioned work, usually to eliminate marauding bands of orcs or brigands or to destroy rings of thieves in cities and towns. He also has a number of solo headhunters whom he sends.
 
25. Drowning Draug Tavern. When adventurers, soldiers, mercenaries and the like finish eating and drinking in the public room of the River Inn, the diehards among them tend to gravitate to the Drowning Draug for a serious nightcap. None of the "decent" population of Newhouse ever passes the tavern's threshold. The tavern is owned by a 66-year-old retired human female ranger named Darja. It's no secret that bar brawls are frequent in the Drowning Draug. At times, they even come to a fatal ending. The guests understand that it's in their own best interests to pay for Darja's damages. The watch usually has no interested for the bar corpses. Such deaths usually are written off as self-inflicted accidents.

26. Řehoř's Mansion. Inside the gate, one can see a large mansion and two towers. The one to the north is 80 feet/24 m high. The smaller southern tower is 60 feet/18 m high. The walls and roofs of all three structures are shielded on the inside with lead to prevent seers from using divination magic to see what's inside. Few Slovanians ever have been inside of this compound.

27. Jolana's Bakery. Master Baker Jolana, a 40-year-old human female artisan, owns and operates the second of two bakeries in the inner city. She sells her baked goods over the counter in the bakery shop and she delivers to inns and taverns in the southern half of town.

28. Bohdan's Wagons. Master Wainwright, a 55-year-old human male artisan, is the only inner city maker of wagons and carts.

29. Northwestern Foundry. The ore of copper and tin taken from the illegal mines in the mountains above Minadoka is made into bronze in ovens fired by coal taken from the same mining region. The foundry is a national operation owned by the crown. The royal manager is Klaudie, a 52-year-old female merchant.

30. Vanda's Woodworks. This operation belongs to the 48-year-old human female artisan Vanda, who is a double master, as a carpenter and joiner. Outside of the shop, Vanda's carpentry crews construct wooden building frames and the like. In the shop, her joiners make furniture and other wooden objects.

31. Gabriel's Weaponworks. Master armor maker Gabriel, a human male, and his human female wife, Master Weaponsmith Marta, both artisans, make the bronze weapons and armor used by the army and the watch. They also are the main makers of weapons and armor for private customers in Newhouse. Gabriel and Marta can make and repair master quality weapons and armor.

32.-34. Warehouses. All three warehouses belong to the trading companies across the road: No. 32 belongs to Distant Trails Trading, No. 33 to Windland Overland and No. 34 to the Slovanian Merchants League. Each warehouse is watched around the clock by three guards apiece, all human male and female warriors.
 
35.-37. Distant Trails Trading. Exactly who or what owns this trading company is uncertain, but it seems certain that Count Arnošt of the River County has a substantial interest in it. Ostensibly, the company transports ore and coal in heavy duty wagons from Minadoka to Newhouse and bronze products and other wares back to Minadoka on the return trip.

38.-40. Windland Overland. Little is known in Slovania about this trading company, nor has anyone asked a lot of questions. It's a foreign operation that claims to be based in the small coastal town of Dark Mountains in northwestern Windland. Windland Overland does both honest and dishonest business in Slovania. On the honest side, it is one of the main transporters of goods between Slovania and Windland. On the shadier side, it's one of the big customers of Distant Trails Trading for forbidden wares from the North Kingdom.

41.-43. Royal Trading Co.. Slovania's largest trading company is headquartered here in Newhouse. Despite its name, the domestic company belongs to neither the king nor the crown. Instead, it is a national transportation operation jointly controlled by the crown, the four counties and the Border March, with the king, the burgomaster, the counts and the margrave all having a say in its dealings. The national manager is the 42-year-old Olívie, a human female merchant.

44. Royal Granary. Agricultural goods that are tithed to the crown from farms in the royal district within a 5-mile/8 km radius of Newhouse are stored here.

45. Royal Ministry of Finance. Royal Minister of Finance Radek, a 62-year-old human male merchant-warrior, has the primary responsibility of assessing items for tax value and collecting taxes and tithes. He has a large staff of assessors and tax collectors, but most work in the field and not in the city headquarters..

46. Dark Temple. This location is not publicly known as the Dark Temple. Most residents of Newhouse have no idea that a temple is on the site. Instead, it's referred to as Miluše's Wizard Tower. Miluše, a 76-year-old human female, is not exactly a wizard but rather a black necromancer. Recently, she found what she believes may be her salvation after admitting the disciples of the dark draug Mýsing in the Ćsir ruins and hearing their word. Miluše has become a high priestess in waiting in Mýsing's Society of Immortal Darkness, the developing new dark religion that is intended to make a deity of Mýsing..

47. City Hall. The ground floor and second story of city hall house the governmental administration. The ground floor also houses the duty station of the city watch. The watch has its administration and sleeping areas for watch members on standby duty on the third story. The cellar dungeon level is the city jail, which is run by the watch.

48. Royal Prison. This is the national prison where all hardened criminals serving sentences of five years and more are sent. (Those serving lesser sentences are confined in city jails.) The prison is an unpleasant place, to say the least, bit it has no torture chambers or places where death sentences are executed. Both are outlawed in Slovania under the terms of Aleksandra's royal charter. The prison cells – 14 on each floor – are on the second through fifth stories. Six solitary confinement cells are in the cellar dungeon level.

49. Slovanian Textiles. The spinning mill weaves linen out of the flax from farms in the Leipt Valley north of town. The spinning mill is in the upper (northwestern) building. The lower (southeastern) building is a warehouse where both raw materials and finished goods are stored. The company is a cooperative owned by the farmers who grow the flax. The manager is Master Weaver Nora, a 56-year-old human female artisan.

50. Bridge Tavern. The small watering hole is open only evenings. It's a place where managers, merchants and other business people tend to gather for a night cap before heading home after a day's work. Scuttlebutt is limited mostly to news of commerce and trade. The owner and only person working on the premises is tavernkeep Kazimer, a 58-year-old human male merchant. He serves ale from the royal brewery at 3 copper pieces per quart/half-liter tankard and spirits from the royal distillery at two to four bronze pieces per shot/0.1 liter glass.
 
51. Cobbler Abrahám. Abrahám, a 57-year-old human male artisan, is the shoemaker for Newhouse's elite, moneyed set. He makes excellent, luxury quality leather shoes and boots that he sells at proud prices.

52. Antonín's Maps. Antonín, a 74-year-old human male scholar, is a retired adviser to the kings who makes maps more as a hobby than a profession. His business has too few customers for him to make a living with it. For nearly two decades, Antonín has collected information on the surrounding lands from merchants, soldiers and adventurers. Once he has sufficient and corroborated information about an area, he makes a map of it. He has reliable and relatively accurate maps of all of Slovania and the trails southward to Windland as well as the smuggling trail from Minadoka to the North Kingdom. Antonín also has mapped various areas of the ruins of the Ćsir Empire, but most areas there remain unmapped, although he has produced excellent maps of the northern lands before the empire failed. Most of his few customers are looters going into the fallen empire to seek treasure or adventurers planning to enter the Ćsir ruins. Antonín always tells his customers to what degree his maps are reliable.

53. Mother Anežka's Medicine. Mother Anežka, an 82-year-old female human healer, and her daughter, Apolena, a 59-year-old female human healer, make Newhouse's herbal medicines. Neither of them does healing work. They devote all of their time to making potions, poultices and the like. Many of their raw materials come from their herbal garden on the west (right) side of their house, but they also buy other plant materials from farmers and from rangers who work in the Southwood.

54. Libor's Haberdashery. Master Tailor Libor, a 53-year-old human male artisan, not only makes fine, expensive apparel for Newhouse's wealthy class, but he also sells dry goods from other areas include coveted and fashionable but illegal items smuggled in from the vampire draug kingdom to the north.

55. Blacksmith Emil. Master Blacksmith Emil, a 42-year-old human male artisan, makes all types of heavy to light metal items, and he shoes horses. However, his shop does no work with weapons or armor.

56. Jeweler Denisa . Denisa, a 61-year-old human female artisan, makes jewelry, deals in precious stones and metals and changes money in those rare cases when foreign coins come to town. She employs six guards, all human male and female warriors. They work in three shifts daily; two always are on guard at any given time.

57. Garrison. The headquarters of King Jáchym's small army. The commander is Rút, a human female warrior. She has 75 human male and female warriors under her command in Newhouse. The barracks are in this building.

58. Garrison Stall.

59. Garrison Headquarters. Rút employs four civilian clerks here, all human male and female merchants.

60. Guard Towers. The upper levels of the tower between the castle and the garrison are used by King Jáchym's court wizard, Oleg, a 66-year-old human male wizard.


You can get the map in two versions:

1. The Fractal Mapper (TM) 8 map in FMP format, fully editable, from our Jörđgarđ web page (29 MB).

2. As a JPG flat map of 3000 x 2180 Pixels (4.5 MB), available above.

Both versions are released for personal and commercial use under the Open Game License Version 1.0a, which you can read on the Jörđgarđ web site.

The Jörđgarđ web site:

http://www.vintyri.org/joerdhgardh/joerdhgardh.htm

Next: The Slovanian border town of Sentinel City