Mivon

The land of Mivon is, like all the River Kingdoms, heavily crisscrossed with rivers. Much of the low-lying land is marshy, and the locals have built high and arching stone bridges for their flocks of sheep and herds of cows, who feed on the high hills and in the highlands of the southeast. To the southwest, the kingdom’s borders give way to the Embeth Forest, and in the northeast lives a tribe of exiled elves. The northwest of Mivon shares an uneasy border with Pitax, and though hostilities have largely ended between the two kingdoms, the history between them suggests that the longstanding enmity is never far from the surface.

The city of Mivon fills a small, low-lying valley, and sits at the confluence of two branches of the Sellen River, neighboring a large fen. The kingdom’s greatest exports are eels and fish—fishermen and drab eel catchers haunt the byways and sodden trails of the marsh, and drag their catch to market. The swampy land is home to quicksand and sudden pools, and someone not native to the area might see a slow and gruesome death in the sands.

Occasional bogs provide excellent sources of peat in more far-flung corners of the kingdom, and the Aldori exploit these as much as possible. Additionally, enterprising would be lumber barons have started logging in the north of Mivon. Their only concern is the band of elves who’ve taken that forest; each side appears bent on total destruction of the other.

The chief exports of Mivon are bands of mercenaries trained in the Aldori swordpact. Every year, the Houses in Exile assemble select members of their militias and send them off to fight for the highest bidder, with the money coming into House coffers.

The Aldori exiles have brought their love of dueling to Mivon, and here they have formalized its status: the basis of Mivon’s current society is the List of Suitors, a monthly publication that lists the results of the previous month’s duels. Fortunes rise and fall on the basis of a duel, governmental positions are won or lost, and scores are settled with a quick thrust or lunge.

Additionally, the central square of Mivon hosts the Sevier, a weekly gathering for swordsmen and swordswomen who wish to prove themselves in public. It was here that the Kingmaker Hero, Quarik Jartang, lost his life as Lucio Derro's champion in a duel with a mistress from one of Mivon's fighting houses.

The city boasts few temples, yet the one to Pharasma is sufficinetly impressive that it would honour many much larger cities. It is a frequent place of pilgrimage across the River Lands, and a known sponsor of the building of other places of worship to theh Lady of Graves. It was from here that a new temple to the Lady was commissioned to be built in the Stolen Lands, with the Kingmaker Hero, Haia, as its high priestess.