A description from Ionace

by Elidor Murtagh

So, fer those of ye who wanted ta know what's goin' on in faraway Alphatia, lemme tell ye I've been sailin' the seas 'round there fer the last year. I managed ta find that ol' wizard who provided the previous owner of the almanac with all his information on Alphatia. Ye should get his archive fer the year ta come an' the previous one, an', me thinks, some kinda geographical survey too.
Tho' my plans were ta head ta Bellissaria, Alphatian marines I've met at various ports o' call throughout the Isle o' Dawn told me o' great political changes in the empire. 't was not clear whether 't was an empire or a confederation o' some sort, but they all seemed happy with it. So we set sail fer the New Alphatian Sea, where that new capital o' theirs should stand, on Monster Island-or, as they call it now, I' o' NACE, a weird name if ye ask me.
The Callista dropped anchor in the small, temporary harbor outside the capital. It stands in a natural bay, so that it reminds me o' those harbors typical o' the Northern Reaches, built inside a fjord. Looks like the sinkin' of Alphatia created that weird landscape o' high mountains risin' out o' the waters. Then we took the steep, tortuous road ta Denwarf-Hurgon and Ionace. Tho' I could spend my life in rigging, I hate such roads that take ye far away from the sea into the mountains.
There's no roads leadin' directly ta Ionace yet. The road splits in two : there's a new one leadin' north ta Sanctuary, whereas the remnants of the old road lead south ta Denwarf-Hurgon. So we went ta that dwarf city o' 'em, an ugly, mostly deserted ghost town. There I spent time with the sole denizens of the city : soldiers of Aquas. They're kinda like me, used ta live with water all 'round 'em, 'n they ended up garrisoned here in diminutive buildings surrounded by tall mountains.
We spent most of the night in a tavern, drinkin' as only sailors or marines can do. Tho' part o' the conversation's shrouded in dark mists, I'm sure they warned me 'gainst walkin' alone at night in the city or tryin' ta go in the lower levels o' the city. No chance I ever do that anyway, can ye imagine me burrowed in the ground like a dwarf? No way. They also warned me 'gainst travelin' without a strong guard 'round the island. Seems the mountains and the underground are both infested with all sorts o' terrible monsters. In fact, they even nicknamed the whole isle the biggest dungeon in the world, an' they're probably right.
I also took a glance at the city of Ionace proper. Brand-new buildings that host the government. Totally impersonal, if ye ask my opinion, almost as ugly as the dwarf town. I tried ta enter a building, but the guys seem completetly paranoid 'bout spies, an' they kicked me out.
Seein' no business here, we left the city 'n went to Sanctuary. Now, that's a real city, the way I like 'em. Livin', bustlin', with merchants and taverns. Not very dif'rent from a port city back in Minrothad, or anywhere else on the continent, altho' it's no harbor. The men o' Aquas patrol the city, protectin' it 'gainst all those monsters, but in fact the city seems to rule itself : trade and minin', not bureaucrats from Ionace. I heard they mine a strange mineral that's said to enhance one's spellcastin' abilities, but I couldn't find an ounce o' it fer sale. We spent a few days in the city, but we didn't venture in the countryside, then went back to the Callista, to sail the New Alphatian Sea. We'll probably be takin' a look at that Sundsvall Maelstrom very soon.