Tikira is a small human city in Rakore, located near the headwaters of the Tumas River and on the western slopes of Mount Basilisk. The city of some six thousand people is the last part of the river that is navigable, and sits atop a small hill amid the ruins of several other civilizations. The city has a reputation for being somewhat dark and dreary, with guards in gray who have dour expressions. The city serves as a trade hub for the capital of Rakore, and helps to funnel resources and people and mounts to Mount Basilisk.

Classification: Small City

Population: 6,270 (86% Slate, 5% variable transient, 4% hill dwarves, 2% Sylvan elves, 2% Drow elves, less than 1% all other races)

Spending Limitations: 200,000 silver maximum

Economy: The primary industry of Tikira is agriculture. The local ruins support large farms and ranches among their fertile fields, with all surplus being sent up the mountain to the capital. The secondary industry is service, catering to the many visitors that go through the city on their way to or from the capital.

Rulership: The city is ruled over by Count Dolsin and a Circle of Priests. Secondary rulership rests on the shoulders of the priest of Rahne known as Father Bluebeard.

Count Dolsin: Dolsin is a local slate whose family can be traced back generations in the city. He has seen the city explode from a small town to a small city in the last decade, with many of the outlying farmholds seeking safety in numbers. Dolsin is grim-faced, never-smiling man in his early 40s that takes his job very seriously, caring for the locals as well as supporting the dwarven clans that saved the lives of many in his community. His personal sigil is the base of a broken column in white on a dark gray background.

Alignment: Lawful Neutral. Count Dolsin and his Guard maintain order within the city with stern discipline out of necessity, due to the constant undead problems, as well as many travelers.

Defense: Tikira has a full-time force of 50 guards, who wear the gray tabard with the count's sigil on it. In addition, the local temple of Rahne supplies another 50 full-time warriors and investigators.

The current city of Tikira is at least the third incarnation of a settlement at that location. The ruins of an elven city and another human city built atop the bones of the other form the foundation for the mound of the humans that began living there within living memory. Sometime around 1310 Avard, as the War of the Undead began, several ancient libraries were discovered beneath Tikira. Some of the libraries were Karatikan, and others elven. Most of the libraries were shipped to Kashin in later years, but many ruins remain beneath the city.

The original elven city is thought to have been named Githeledeyea, and was made of flowing marble and skarn, with many garnets scattered throughout. The human city of Kobrand was built upon the ruins of Githeledeyea, mining it for gems, minerals, and more for some centuries before the more lucrative spots dried up. This has caused considerable tension between humans and elves in the region, as some elven histories might describe a trinket worn by a human gravedigger many generations removed from plundering.

The largest temple caters to a pantheon of gods: Barith the Harvest God, Elinthar the Hunter God, and Arpelos the Sun God, as well as nominal services to Brigain the Storm God. The temple is watched over by three vicars of each faith

The Church of Rahne has established a strong presence in Tikira, forming the Fist of Defiance temple on the southern side of the city, away from the river and the count's court. The structure and its grounds were built in 1315 Avard and suffered significant damage during the War of the Four Winds. The temple is watched over by Father Bluebeard, a Stormblade (Warkore) Bishop, who is an elderly hill dwarf still capable of wrestling with giants. The temple serves as an elite place of quiet study for the church of Rahne, and does not accept those of other faiths into its halls. What happens inside the walled enclosure is a mystery to those not of the faith of Rahne – but witnesses to the War of the Four Winds claim that a pack of wolves easily twelve feet tall at the shoulder loped out of the temple during the ogran invasion and savaged the orcs long enough for the people of Tikira to finish evacuating up the mountain into the fortress of Mount Basilisk.

None listed to date.

None listed to date.