The city that was named in honor of the home of the Gods. It was built when a few hundred people were "born" and found themselves here. That was either a few centuries ago or yesterday, all depending on who you ask. 

The merchant road flows from the outermost ring of the city to the innermost ring. However to pass each gate requires a privilege that increasingly few have as you grow closer to the innermost sanctum of the city. However, those merchants proudly display their goods and wares no matter where they have been allowed to setup shop. The less competition that is experienced allows the merchants to take more space to display their mundane and exotic wares. The city, at the very center has the White Palace. 

Five districts of Astra

The White Palace 

The White Palace is the innermost part of the city and has the least access allowed to it. The ruler of the city is Anthwun Amalo and his wife Saeline Ilphelstacia. Their children Siliqui and Erdan are expected to take over rulership once Anthwun returns to Arvandor. Beneath them is the Council of Astra comprised of elven, dwarven, and human nobles who themselves or their ancestors were key in the city's construction.  One must be part of a noble family to gain access. Servants in this district are always arcane or divine in their origin. It is not an uncommon occurrence to see deva that have been sent to help the city thrive acting as servants to mortal nobles to bring the city to greatness. In many ways, it helps to hide the darkness that is also in the hearts and minds of the nobles that rule the city. 

The Solar District

Outside the White Palace is the Solar District and is open to the nobility and select teachers and artisans and students or apprentices, others require travel papers. The solar district is the home of the University of Divine and Arcane Studies. This prestigious university is one that most children of nobles are sent to be educated. However, due to the elite status of the district it usually also is a place that breeds arrogance. However, Headmaster Thalanil Rojyre, who attempts to keep level headed professors teaching students who feel entitled. 

The solar district is the home to many fine smiths and a place where the noble and common mix with far more nobles than commoners.

The Planatar District

Beyond those gates lays the Planatar District. This district seems a mix of those nobles, but has far more commoners than nobles. However, the artisan and trade district is open to nobles and members of the military, others require travel papers.

The Deva District

The residences of free people of Archon that are not members of the Dwarves, Elves, or Human leadership.

The Plains District

Farming and livestock land. Primarily Human and Elven farmers overseeing halflings working the land.

The Founding of Astra (Y2-Y25)

Part I: The Lawless Shore (Year 2)

In the second year of the Fifth World, the coast north of the (future) Forsaken Demesne was not a nation. It was a refugee camp of thousands.

Souls plucked from a thousand dead worlds had been reincarnated onto the plains, emerging confused and terrified into a "vicious new world" that was only 24 months old. They had memories of full, complex lives—of science, magic, art, and law—but now found themselves huddling in driftwood shanties, with no government, no army, and no protection. Monsters, the lingering chaotic remnants of the last creation, prowled the edges of the camp, and the only "law" was what a man could enforce with a club.

Into this power vacuum stepped a party of nine reincarnated heroes. They, too, had mismatched memories, but they found a leader in Ghale Anthun Amalo (Male, Elf). He was not a "king" because he claimed a title; he was a king because he was a leader. He was charismatic, powerful, and possessed a Feywild wisdom that felt ancient.

His eight companions, who would become the Founders of the city, were:

• Brorin Stonefist (Male, Dwarf): The party's unshakeable defender.

• Helga Ironhew (Female, Dwarf): A master architect and engineer who remembered how to build walls that lasted.

• Durin Goldbeard (Male, Dwarf): A master smith who despaired at the crude tools of the refugees and began forging true steel.

• Cullen Asanodel (Male, Elf): A sage and wizard who acted as Anthun's chief magical advisor.

• Corvusa Black (Female, Human): A grim ranger and scout who mapped the dangers of the new world.

• Seraphina Vance (Female, Human): A cleric and healer who became the spiritual heart of the fledgling settlement.

• Kaelen Swift (Female, Human): A diplomat and rogue who could navigate the tangle of desperate factions.

• Pippin "Pipp" Goodbarrel (Male, Halfling): A bard whose stories and songs were the first to give the new world a culture.

"We are not refugees," Anthun declared to the huddling masses, his voice amplified by his innate power. "We are survivors. And survivors build."

The First Nine took on the role of protectors. While they fought back the monsters and fiends that raided the camp, the thousands of other reincarnated people began the hard work of building a civilization from nothing. Civilian leaders emerged—people who organized fishermen and gatherers, people who dug the first sanitation systems, and people who found and herded sheep to provide wool for clothes. The Nine were the shield, protecting the thousands of people who, with skill and grit, were building a city from the ground up.

Part II: The Divine Intervention (Year 3)

In the third year, the gods themselves intervened.

Anthun and Helga were planning the first stone quarry when the sky tore open. It was not a violent storm, but a glorious, golden rift. From the Astral Sea, a structure of impossible beauty descended: The White Palace , a gleaming fortress of alabaster and pearl. It settled perfectly, magically, upon the highest cliff overlooking the sea, a divine proclamation made manifest.

Awe-struck, the First Nine approached. From the palace emerged Saeline Ilphelstacia, an Elven woman of such grace that she seemed to be a living extension of the divine. She was not a refugee. The gods, in a voice that echoed across the plains, announced that she was their "Advisor" and had been sent to advise the builders of the new world.

This created the central, defining political tension of Astra's future. Anthun was the "Ghale," the leader accepted by the people below. Saeline was the Advisor, appointed by the gods above. She immediately became part of the nine, except now there was 10.

Part III: The Paradox of the Princes (Year 3)

Saeline did not arrive alone. She was accompanied by her two sons, Arwon and Mortheus.

This was the paradox that cemented the strange reality of the Fifth World. The world was three years old. The two sons were twenty.

They were Elves, physically mature, and already skilled, powerful wizards. Saeline had absolutely no explanation for this. She only knew her truth: she remembered giving birth to them. She remembered their childhood, their first spells, their every argument and triumph. To her, they were her sons, and she was their mother. It was an impossible, divine fact, and the new world had no choice but to accept it.

Part IV: The Autocratic Union (Y4 - Y25)

The new, divine-right monarchy and the old, charismatic-warlord government could not exist separately. Anthun, pragmatic and wise, did not see Saeline as a rival, but as the final, necessary piece of his new nation.

Ghale Anthun Amalo and Queen Saeline were married. It was a perfect political union, a joining. This union formed the "Autocratic Feudalism" that defines Astra.

• The Executive: 

  • Queen Saeline became the divine, royal face of the nation. Later, in 162 she was granted a seat on the council herself to balance out a new lord seated at the council.

  • Ghale Anthun became the Executive, the man who held ultimate authority. In times of emergencies or war, his word was first, last, and only.

• The Legislature (The Council of 30): Anthun, a wise leader, did not want to be burdened with the daily minutiae of running a city. He and his eight companions—the First Nine—established a permanent ruling council. The Halfling, Pippin Goodbarrel, famously opted out. "Ruling is a burden, not a prize!" he declared, establishing a tradition that Halflings would serve the city, but not on its council. The remaining Founders then selected the first "Council of 30," a body composed of 10 Humans (5 male, 5 female), 10 Elves (5 male, 5 female), and 10 Dwarves (5 male, 5 female).

• A Merit-Based Council: These 30 were not chosen for blood, but for their deeds. This was a true merger of the city's leadership. Seats were granted to some of the First Nine, like Brorin Stonefist, for their heroic protection. But just as many seats were granted to the civilian leaders who had built the city—the organizers of the fishing fleets, the first agricultural engineers, and the logistical minds who had built the sanitation systems. A key example was Nephinae Nimrodel, an Elven woman who, despite being no adventurer, was granted a seat for her exceptional leadership in organizing the refugee camps and keeping thousands safe from sickness and starvation.

• The Ghale's Role: Ghale Anthun was not a member of the Council. He served only as its non-voting Chairman, presiding over meetings and acting as the tie-breaker when the 30 members were deadlocked. He also is the head of the courts, similarly as he heads the council.

Over the next two decades, this stable government transformed the refugee camp into a mighty city-state. The White Palace became the heart of the "Solar District," the exclusive inner ring. Here, Queen Saeline raised her twin sons, Arwon and Mortheus. In time, the political marriage between Saeline and Anthun deepened into a genuine bond, a testament to the doctrine of No'Mitra (Goddess of Wives and Love) that arranged marriages could become loving ones. They would go on to have two children of their own, Silaqui (F) and Erdan (M), uniting the divine and mortal lines of Astra's founding.

When the Aasimar battalions finally landed far to the south in Y25, Astra was already a 23-year-old, self-sufficient power, built on a divine miracle and ruled by the impossible, reincarnated heroes of the First World.

Part V: The Great Tree of Stone (Y4 - Y82)

With the government established, Ghale Anthun and the Founder-Architect Helga Ironhew (Female, Dwarf) immediately laid out the master plan for the city. Anthun's design was not a typical human fortress, but a philosophy born from his Feywild memories. He was a Ghale of the Tobodo, a lost people who built their cities inside massive, skyscraper-trees.

"A tree does not have 'expendable' rings," Anthun explained to the council, his voice resonating with ancient wisdom. "The bark is the first and strongest line of protection for the heartwood. So it shall be for Astra. We will not build a city that sacrifices its outer citizens. We will build a city that weathers the storm—all of us, together, from fiends or from a hurricane."

Helga Ironhew, the Dwarven engineer, translated this Fey philosophy into a masterpiece of stone fortification: a series of five massive, concentric rings. The design was not a "defense-in-depth" where outer layers were expected to fall; it was a holistic shield. The outermost ring (the future Plains District) was designed to be the strongest bastion, stopping an invading force at the gate with massive portcullises and high, defensible walls. The inner rings were secondary layers of that same, unified protection.

This noble vision of a "Great Tree of Stone" unified the population. Driven by the skill of the Founders, the divine power of the monarchy, and the grit of the survivors, the entire grand, walled city was miraculously constructed in just over a decade, with the final stones being set around Year 12-14.

The city was a defensive marvel, built to protect everyone. But this noble design, intended for unity, was not immune to time. Over the next 70 years, as the immediate threat faded, this purely defensive layout was "misappropriated by social standards." The "bark" (Plains District) became the home of the farmers and laborers. The "heartwood" (Solar District) became the exclusive domain of the elite. By Year 82, the city's social structure was a betrayal of its founder's original, unified vision.

The White Palace became the heart of the "Solar District." Here, Queen Saeline raised her twin sons, Arwon and Mortheus. In time, the political marriage between Saeline and Anthun deepened into a genuine bond, a testament to the doctrine of No'Mitra (Goddess of Wives and Love) that arranged marriages could become loving ones. They would go on to have two children of their own, Silaqui (F) and Erdan (M), uniting the divine and mortal lines of Astra's founding.