Serraine

Status	Free City
Government	Democracy (of a sort)
Location	Various, about 1.5 miles up
Area	0.3 Square Miles or ~200 Acres
Geography	City on a flying island
Population	~2,000 Sky-Gnomes ~400 Vanara ~150 Nagpa ~150 Pegataurs ~150 Elves, over half being Vanyarami ~100 Humans ~300 Others (including Harpies, Sphinxes, Gremlins, and Ogres) ~50-350 Tourists or temporary residents
Urbanisation	100%
Languages Skycommon –Common –Gnomish –Elvish –Others –Literacy	95% 60% 60% 30% 30% 90+%
Exports	Gnomish mechanisms, cut gems, magical training, knowledge
Imports	Food, leather, cloth, ore, uncut gems

Overview

Behold the marvellous city of Serraine. If it is splendour you seek, look to the gleaming timbers, shining metals, and shimmering marbles of the Flying City. Serraine, wonder of the age!
- Serraine Traveller’s Guidebook

A gnomish city build atop a floating island, the Flying City Serraine is outfitted with techno-magical devices that allow it to move around freely, and hover over places of interest. The city frequents areas where it has cultivated commercial agreements but occasionally heads further afield in search of new trade partners. The city imports raw materials and large amounts of food, and sells complex gnomish mechanisms and some of the finest cut gems and jewellery anywhere on Alusia. It also boasts a prestigious library, and a number of entertainments for visitors.

Despite its size, and the moderate height at which it floats, the city is virtually impossible to spot from the ground as its supporting island usually surrounded by cloud banks and the the underside is enchanted with magics similar to illusory terrain.

History

Details of Serraine's earliest history are not well known, or perhaps not shared outside of a select group.

What is known, is that the oldest parts of the city date back over 1,200 years and are not originally from Alusia. The floating island to which the city is affixed is Alusian, suggesting that the earliest incarnation of the city was entirely artificial in structure.

The first reliable account of Serraine in Alusian airspace comes from Alfheim and dates its first contact with the elves back nearly 800 years.

Serraine is known to have traded with the Old Western Kingdom but stopped visiting the region circa 500 WK as the political situation destabilized. For the last 300 years the city has treated Alfheim as its westernmost stop and traded extensively in central and central-south Alusia.

The city returned to the West in 790 WK where its military was employed by a group of druids in a violent clash with the Vicomte de Vole. In the aftermath of the Vicomte's death Serraine was pronounced unwelcome in Bowcourt, an edict that still stands.

Places of Interest

Many