Notable in Heartland Province

Major Spirit: Saint Silver

Basin: Markets, Trade, Roads, Architecture, Crafts

Manifestation: A young Halfling male with light sandy skin and short, dark hair.

Propitiation: Coins are given at offering boxes at market entrances; coins left on window-cills, threshold or fence-posts, as cherity; small ammounts of valuable commodities are burned, including spices, wheat and flour.

Binds: None known.

Symbols: Coins, Wheat, Emerald Cloth, scales. His colors are silver, emerald and gold.

Saint Silver was a halfling merchant who lived in the early Commonwealth; he was born in Year-of-the-Old-Empire 283, and was was a young, independant trader in YOE 304, when the Old Charter (as it is now called) was signed. Saint Silver was an active supporter of the Old Charter, and embraced his new Gnollish neighbors. He traded actively among Human, Halfling, and the nascent Gnollish communities; he was an early supporter for unity, equality, cooperation and trade between the communities, and supported closer integration throughout his life. By the end of his life in YOE 407, he had earned close friends and great respect amongst all three communities, and could take pride in having been an integral part of the success of the early Charter; upon his death, he was Elevated by Sena, Mother-Market and Sellem, Witness to Contracts, and given as his basin the markets, fields and roads of the forming Commonwealth.

Today, Saint Silver is associated with markets as a benevolant force, tying communities together in trade and seeing to the propserity of all. Icons of Saint Silver can be found in markets throughout the Commonwealth, but are especially common and prominent in Heartland Province. He is also associated with skilled work and crafts, and is often honored in guild-halls; he is also associated with charity, and many of his rituals and feasts involve the giving of alms for the poor. He is also commonly revered by many Halfling, for perhaps obvious reasons; his symbols have also become common among the mercantile Ratfolk of the Commonwealth, who picked up his rituals from the Halfling traders with whome they have frequent contact.

Major City: Saint-Silver's Hold

Saint-Silver's Hold is a large city in central Heartland Province, sitting on the western banks of the Swiftsilver River about 110 demarc from the coast. The city sits on two major trade-routes: the Swiftsilver river carries substantial trade to the cost — being calm enough to safely navigate, despite its name — and the Drake's High Road running between the Worldspine and the Dragonshire. The original walls of the Old City still stand, nestled in the heart of the modern city, where the Drake's Road crosses the Swiftsilver; however, over the centuries of peace since the Commonwealth's founding, the city has expanded massively. It's current walls enclose a long, bulging stretch along the western banks of the river, fully a demarc and a half north-to-south, and a third of a demarc at its widest east-to-west — and districts of the city have spilled out of its current walls.

Saint-Silver's Hold is only informally devoted to Saint Silver; while the government of the city has not formally devoted itself to him, his veneration and symbols are common throughout — as are markets, fittingly enough. Saint-Silver's Hold is a major trade-hub, with multiple great markets both in and outside of its walls. It also houses a number of prominent banks, including one of the Commonwealth's Council Banks — making it a vital hub of the Commonwealth's financial system. The city is also known for a large public hospital funded by a tax on the markets (Saint Silver being a benevolant spirit, after all); being rich and cosmopolitan, the city also hosts a number of universities, libraries and guild-halls.

Its status as a trade-hub — and the presence of a Commonwealth Council institution — means that the city has been selected to host a meeting of the Commonwealth Council before. In its long history, the city has hosted 11 sessions of the Commonwealth Council; not nearly as many as Southharber, perhaps, but still an honor.

Notably, if it isn't quite the seat of power that Southharbor or Crossroads are, the city never-the-less plays a major role in the Commonwealth's diplomacy — since coins minted in Saint-Silver's banks can reach parts of the Goblin Empire of Kingdoms of Men that the Commonwealth's diplomats and soldiers cannot.

Major City: Autumn's Folk

Autumn's Folk is located in the south-central part of Heartland Province, a bit less than 5 demarc from the coast. It is situated north and east of a large swatch of wetland that runs to the Glass Sea to the south. The marsh was a problem to early settlers; while the soil was rich, the water was slow and stagnant, and thus the marsh was not fit for agriculture, nor the water for human use. (This latterw as a particular concern, as there weren't any other sources of fresh water nearby.) Unfortunately, local spirits absolutely forbid draining or diverting the swamp.

The early settlement was saved from disaster when a local spirit, the Autumn Lord, revealed the location of a large, freshwater spring it controlled, and granted the human settlers its use — provided they did not despoil the spring, and held for it a feast-day. Sicne then, the Autumn Lord has been something of a patron and protector for Autumn's Folk; it has negotiated for them the ability to use parts of the marsh for aquaculture, it has helped them to water to irrigate their fields, and it has used their influence to keep safe their harvests. In turn, the people of Autumn's Hold continue to honor the Autumn Lord.

Eventually, Autumn's Folk was able to grow into a regional power worthy of being called a city-state. And it was, of course, the city-state where then-governor Geoph granted a Gnollish tribe a charter, and where the Old Charter was first drafted, with Human, Halfling and Gnollish signatories — making it the site of the founding of the Commonwealth.

While Autumn's Folk is both prosperous and historic, its growth is still limited by the vast stretch of marsh to its west, and by the ammount of water that the Autumn Lord can provide for irrigation. Because of this, despite its historical importance, it is not among the largest and most powerful of the Commonwealth's cities.

Major Cite: Geoph's Legacy

When the Compact replaced the Charter, the Commonwealth was broken into provinces. Most provinces have a provincial government and a provincial capital — but Heartland Province does not. This created a problem, as Commonwealth Council institutions operating in Heartland Province needed to be based somewhere. Rather than put them in Prosperity — which was officially a city-state independent of Heartland — a site was selected to construct a campus that would house Heartland's provincial Council offices; it was called "Geoph's Legacy".

Geoph's Legacy is a small campus measuring roughly 250 strides north-to-south and 330 east-to-west; it is located in the north-central part of Heartland, situated a little less than three demarc from the border with the Dragonshire. Geoph's Legacy is built like a small city; it is walled and laid out with regular roads, with the important Commonwealth offices situated at its center, arranged around a public square. It contains a Commonwealth Council Archive, a Library, a Treasury, and a Hall. It also contains an office for the Generals of Heartland Province, and a small garrison built into the center of the north wall — although, in practice, visiting military commanders typically operate out of Geoph's Star, a large star-fort a demarc and a half to the north-east. It also contains a temple — not officially a Council institution, although it frequently plays a prominent ceremonial role.

Geoph's Legacy does have residents, although not many. The Council Administrator for Heartland Province lives in Geoph's Legacy, as do a number of subordinate ministers and officers; a number of the administrators and functionaries that work in the Commonwealth Council facilities also live in the 'Legacy. However, many Commonwealth provincial officials actually live (and work) in Carved-Balance City, a city of about 150,000 located a demarc to the southeast, and only travel to Geoph's Legacy as necessary.

In Heartland fashion, rather than arrange for a tax to fund the city, or have the Commonwealth Council pay for it's operation Geoph's Legacy was granted the charter to several surrounding manors, under the auspices of Carved-Balance City; those manors currently support the campus with food and labor.