Akşelale

Akşelale is the chief city of the province of the same name in the campaign Mürekkep ve Çelik ("Ink and Steel"). Unlike other provinces, the province and above all its capital are governed by a Council of Lords of eight members, three of them elves.¹

The city and its water

The city takes its name from the river that foams down its southern slope. A small stream, the Akçay, joins the elves' river, the Kalinordal, and the city's drinking water flows from it through the waterfall, channels and pools; there are wells as well. The water is held to be a gift of the elves, good for health and beauty, and it is said to be the reason the people of Akşelale look a little elven.²³⁴

Approaching travellers pass fields, stone roads and metal signposts unlike the empire's usual ones. Akşelale has no wall, only towers of ten to twelve metres with stone bases and wooden tops. Two separate bodies keep watch: the city guard, with halberds and arms of flowing water, and silver-armoured high elf archers whose starry tree arms belong to the family of Lord Fungal.⁵⁶

Life here moves more slowly than in the other great cities. The fine trading quarter lies around the waterfall and the council, with buildings that recall elven art, but the city also has poorer outskirts. Towards the upper town wealth, guards and good roads increase, the elves grow fewer and most people are human.⁷⁸⁹

Places

• The Council of Lords. A cylindrical stone building with eight great entrances, only one of them open, looking over the pool where the city's waters gather. It houses the court, the council and the rooms of the trade and craft guilds; blades are left at the door against a receipt, though staves are not taken.⁹¹⁰
• The Da'fat embassy. A small tower of white marble beside the council, marked with a shining white tree shedding its leaves, represents the Da’fat Federation, a partnership of different elven communities. It has a courtyard with a fountain and many rooms; no weapons are carried inside, and two masked guards with long glaives keep the door. It holds a shrine and a priest of Aquaron, Azanis, and an old wood elf ranger lives there as envoy.^1112131415
• The temple of Amarath. The city's nearest place of healing, where the priest Marcus, in a high priest's robes, tended the wounded Starseeker Glamrin.¹⁶¹⁷
• The Starsong scriptorium. A large shop of dark wood bearing the symbol of Melas, selling goods of the elven Starsong academy and wares from Melas, with the best books and spellbooks in the city. It is kept by the high elf mage Esnarril.¹⁸¹⁹²⁰
• Karaca Kitap. A bookshop selling handsomely bound books written on deer hide and gift-like wares, which also binds and repairs books. Its keeper Selim Molan sold Leonard books for learning Lingua Imperium.⁸²¹²²
• The Silver Hammer. The forge of a high elf rune-smith who carves enchanted runes into scimitars with a silver hammer. Its wide workshop has a forge glowing white and water that glitters as if with silver dust, and a mithril ceremonial hammer hangs there, a gift of the Stonebeard masons' clan.²³²⁴
• The Gümüşnehir Inn. An inn with a stable, kept by a half-elf, where a room can be had with meals, clean clothes and baths.²⁵²⁶²⁷

In the forest outside lie the ruins of the old council house of the first Akşelale, an elven pioneer settlement about six hundred years old.²⁸

In the Raphael Efsanesi ("The Legend of Raphael") campaign, an elven shipment from the capital was said to leave by the south gate and follow the main road to Akşelale and on to Gümüşköprü.²⁹

Unrest

Shortly before the Mürekkep ve Çelik campaign opens, an imperial officer in Akşelale fired cannon on the townsfolk. The messenger who brought word claimed that the people had stormed a guard post and beheaded soldiers, and the officer said he had seen heads on poles; later inquiry concluded that he had been deceived by an illusion. The Hand sent Castor there to find the mage behind it.³⁰³¹

Many independent mages live in Akşelale who have cut their ties with the Archon but still pay the tax required of them; some who could not pay were taken away by force or worse. According to Glaran, a pupil of the missing Starseeker Glamrin, the people marched peacefully from Gümüşnehir to the council building against the emperor's new taxes and in support of these mages, and it was then that the commander opened fire. The lord Balbus called the commander aggressive but never before guilty of such a massacre, and suspected that the tale of enchantment might be a cover; after it was posted in the city, angry riots broke out.³²³³³⁴

The protest had three leaders: the tailor Vassal, Lene, and its chief speaker Rockart. Before a cheering crowd Rockart said that the legion had turned on the people the powder bought with their taxes and that no paper could cover his dead sons; he urged them to pay no tax until the emperor gave an account, praised the old elven rule and tore up the posted notice, then called on the crowd to disperse peacefully. Vassal demanded that the emperor speak in person and that the commander be removed.³⁵³⁶³⁷

Spoiler: How the affair endedRevealSpoils: Mürekkep ve Çelik #7 · Say what you have read

The commander, Cornel, was arrested in the legion camp on suspicion of conspiring against the empire and was taken alive by Leonard; command passed for the time to Wilhelm until the emperor named a successor. On the party's return, Lene, Rockart and Vassal were found dead in their beds. The people, believing the empire had silenced them, turned angrily on the bound commander, but a man of the Justicar Alcarin Nova who had stayed in the city swayed the crowd, and cheers for Conrad rose. Who killed the three leaders is not known.³⁸³⁹⁴⁰