Falconia: A Visitor's Guide

- Written by Orvel Fireside, legendary explorer & Captain-Confidant of the Redbeard Clan, 6th of Winterseve, 100 C.E.

                                 A color-coded chart of the sections & districts of Falconia.

Falconia, the City on the White Crest. Once a simple port town established by the empire of Nerath to allow them to better transport goods to the old imperial capital in Highroad, Falconia has grown into the largest and busiest of Titania's cities. Though Highroad remained the capital until well after the collapse of Nerath, Falconia was made Titania's seat of power in 71 C.E., approximately 30 years ago. This change was necessitated not only by Falconia's growth into Titania's largest city, but by the ascension of King Justician Hawklane. Though his rule was brief and the four major cities of Titania have since returned to recognizing their own rule, many, particularly humans, still see Falconia as Titania's capital, and in a sense it still is - Falconia continues to host the Wintersend Assembly, a meeting of the leaders of the four major cities with various other diplomats in attendance, as it has done since Justician's ascension.

Most visitors to Falconia will enter the city in one of two ways: either along the High Road (highlighted in gray) passing through the miles of farmsteads which provide food for the city (highlighted in red), or through arriving by boat at one of Falconia's two large harbors (highlighted in purple). From there, most visitors will head to the Wayfarer's District (highlighted in green) to shop at the markets, rest in one of its many inns or revel in the taverns of those inns. The Wayfarer's District is built to be welcoming to all travelers, and it is known for the Wayfarer's Grand Basilica, a large temple near the center of the district dedicated to the worship of Avandra, Corellon, Kord & Moradin.

Visitors of a more noble persuasion often bypass the Wayfarer's District, instead heading into the Manor Rows (highlighted in gold) - city's upscale aristocratic district, where the many Falconian nobles reside in grand manor houses. Many of the more upscale guildhouses are also found here, as well as the Cathedral of St. Valerus, a church near the southern part of the district dedicated to worship of Bahamut, Erathis & Pelor.

At the very tip of the peninsular cliff (known as the White Crest) upon which most of Falconia is built sits Castle Seahawk (highlighted in royal blue), Falconia's seat of power and home to the ruling family, House Hawklane. The grand castle overlooks Titan's Breath Bay and its parapets burn with great bonfires, allowing the castle to serve as a lighthouse of sorts. Falconia's current ruler, Duke Graeme Hawklane, holds court here, and the Falconian leg of the High Road ends at the gates of the castle.

Though the above covers the areas of Falconia that most visitors would frequent, for completion's sake, the Tracts (highlighted in brown) must be discussed as well. Originally carved out from the sheer cliffs to facilitate passage between the harbors below and Falconia proper above, the Tracts have since been claimed by the poor, the destitute and the criminal as residences. Citizens in the Tracts live in hovels built into carved-out sections of wall originally used by workers or precariously hung along scaffolds. The great roads once used to take caravans through the passages have been claimed by these citizens; black market stalls, criminal guildhouses and various other unsavory establishments clog the roads down to winding horse-paths. Though the flow of goods into Falconia continues unimpeded thanks to more modern roads passing through the farmsteads, most of Falconia's citizens see the Tracts as a cancer upon their city and make a point of avoiding them.

This covers the various districts of Falconia - before ending this guide, it would be beneficial to speak briefly on the Falconian citizenry. Most of Falconia's citizens are human, but there are a number of half-elves found in the city as well. The other races are found in smaller numbers, primarily made up of small communities of dwarves, halflings, elves and tieflings, but Falconia is a large enough city that all Titania's races have a few representatives living within the city. No matter what race you are or where you hail from, you should be able to find a little bit of home when you visit the City on the White Crest.

A Summary of the Dwarven Caste System

- Written by Archmage Davic Malatankion, Chief Scribe of Elanath's Tower, 12th of Harvestfall, 103 C.E.

Dwarves are peculiar among all the races of Titania for their very unusual method of determining one's lineage. Dwarven ancestry is determined via a very simple process, and parentage has something to do with it just as it does in any culture - but where dwarves differ is in the methodology they use to determine one's noble ancestry. Quite simply, any dwarf from any clan can be considered "nobility" to a certain extent - providing, of course, their hair is the right color. There are four common hair colors among dwarves, and their meanings are as follows:

- Brown, the most common hair color, is considered the "ignoble" color of the four, and dwarves with brown hair are almost always seen as commoners, serving as laborers, enlisted soldiers, and servants. Many brown-haired dwarves choose to live among the surface races rather than be relegated to such a status, and for this reason, most dwarves found in Falconia and other cities of the like are brown-haired.
- Black, the next most common color, is considered a color denoting minor nobility. Traditionally, black-haired dwarves have been peerless military leaders among their people. All black-haired dwarves are allowed to claim some percentage of ancestry from the noble Blackhammer clan, and most black-haired dwarves are groomed for lives in the military from an early age.
- Blond, the second-rarest of dwarven hair colors, is a color which denotes aristocracy and refinement. Blond-haired dwarves are known for their shrewd mercantile experience and acumen for business; as such, many blond-haired dwarves use their noble lineage to establish themselves as prominent merchants. Blond-haired dwarves can claim ancestry from the Amberforge clan, however many choose to refrain from doing so as a result of the Amberforge clan's recent history - namely, their exile from the primary dwarven seat of Kinsfort.
- Red, the rarest dwarven hair color, signifies the blood right of leadership, and is considered the most noble of any hair color for a dwarf to be born with. Although not all red-haired dwarves become great leaders, all are treated as the ancestors of kings in some respect. Red-haired dwarves count themselves among the ancestors of the legendary Redbeard clan, a noble clan which has produced many great kings of the dwarven people. Though not all dwarven rulers are red-haired, most of the greatest and oft-revered rulers have been of the Redbeard line.
- Though not technically a hair color found a birth, dwarves with white or gray hair should be mentioned here, as they are afforded their own special status. Elderly dwarves are considered to be a unique caste "outside" the system of nobility - they are revered as elders of their people, and whether their hair was brown, black, blond or red in their youth, they are all seen as equals in their later years. Most elder dwarves technically remain in their original caste, however, staying with their sons and daughters, whose responsibility it is to care for them.


As a race which bears as its most prominent physical feature the growth of a beard, it shouldn't come as a surprise that hair plays a role in determining such an integral part of their society. What is surprising, however, is the social mobility this can provide (or afflict) a member of dwarven society with. A red-haired dwarf born to brown-haired parents can often move several social stations above his parents, despite his family name; whereas a brown-haired dwarf born to blond- or red-haired parents is doomed to the life of a commoner. Though it is deeply unfortunate, many brown-haired dwarven children are killed or abandoned, as their "noble-blooded" parents would rather lose their child than face the shame of birthing a common dwarf.


Though it is not entirely unheard of, hair dyeing is severely, severely discouraged among dwarven society. A dwarf who attempts to alter his or her social status by dyeing their hair puts their life very much in danger, as those found guilty of trying to cheat the system are relegated to a "dishonored" status below that of even a commoner at best; more often, they are put to death.

As one of Titania's oldest societies, the dwarves are a race known for being steeped in tradition and history. This tradition of nobility by hair color, while perhaps idiosyncratic by all other races' standards, should no less be revered and respected, and other races would do well to be mindful of this tradition when interacting with dwarves.

Campaign Introduction

We will be using the default campaign setting for this campaign. The physical setting of the campaign will be the island-continent of Titania, named for its rich history as a former outpost of the primordials' mightiest servants, the titans. Titania itself is a continent of extremes, playing host to a number of biomes; there are the icy Winterspring Mountains in the north, the arid Tarranine Wastes in the south, the wet marshlands of the Crimson Fens in the east, the rolling green plains over which the High Road travels, the thick forests of the Wildwood, and many others.

Most people live around Titan's Breath Bay, particularly in the cities of Falconia (the seat of the realm), Highroad, Kinsfort and Vulkannen. All races can be found in settlements here, though most common are humans, dwarves, halflings & the "half-" races. Tieflings are the majority in their city of Vulkannen, maintaining small communities in the other cities & towns. Elves are rarely found in the mapped settlements, preferring the nameless communities they have constructed for themselves in the forests found across Titania (primarily within the Elven Wildlands). Dragonborn reside in the Tarranine Wastes, either in scattered encampments (the largest being mapped) or in the sandblasted ruins of their once great city, Io'vanath. The Eladrin maintain no major communities in Titania proper, however portals to the Eladrin city of Illu'vanath (or "Sunbough") open often in the Wildwood, and a permanent one is maintained by elves within the Fey Gardens. Those Drow who choose to live apart from their evil kin primarily reside in a large quarter of Vulkannen, having escaped the Drow city of Umeth'shol (or "Nightshore") in the Underdark via caves in the Peaks of Woe.

The threats to Titanian citizens are many, and the danger grows greater the further one goes from the cities connected by the High Road. Marauding orcs maintain encampments in the lands beyond the hilly region known as the Borderlands, believed to be under the command of hill giants. Evil cults fluctuate in membership and influence, and all too often their evil plots spell disaster for the people of the communities these cults hide in. Bandits from Underwood and pirates from Albacora make life difficult for travelers on land and at sea. Perhaps most dire of all are the whispers that somewhere deep within the Khades Necropolis, under the shadow of the great mountain known as the Titans' Throne, there stirs a timeless evil so great that the titans themselves may again be moved to act - and the last time the titans acted, Io'vanath was destroyed and the Tarranine Wastes were made the harsh desert they are today...