Lake Town (Duh)

This city may have been mentioned, but it doesn’t make an appearance until Book 8.  This means I should explain the Northern Sister City a bit.  Everthorne sits on the craggy northern coast of Ralian.  It is nestled in a swath of cleared ground between the Swamp of the Sun and the Ice Fields.  The swamp is home to various were-creatures and is perpetually warm and bright.  It even glows at night.  The Ice Fields are home to the mammoths and Ice Goblins who herd them.  To the south is a long region of hallucinogenic briars that take a day to traverse down a solitary path.  These surroundings make it difficult to visit Everthorne and trade is equally challenging.  So this is probably the poorest and weakest of the Sister Cities.

The reason Everthorne is included in Serab is because it is the only northern port.  They are maintained by the Duke and kept afloat, but there is only so much that can be done without them giving up all government control.  Even though the populace wishes for this to happen, the ruling party refuses.  They fear that another cataclysm will occur and leave them on their own, so removing their personal system would leave them susceptible to chaos.

The rulers of Everthorne are called the Pillars and they’re similar to the Grand Counselors of Gaia.  Each member is in charge of a certain area and may be a specialist.  There’s no way to be sure because the only known Pillar is the King who is more like a Lord, but refuses to change the title.  When these people meet, they wear billowing robes and masks to hide their identities.  Even their voices are disguised.  New Pillars are recruited by a mask appearing at the new person’s house with instructions.  Only the King knows that an immortal oracle lives under the castle and watches the future of the city.  That is why Everthorne will never truly fall.

The problem with this system is that the Pillars tend to fight for their own interests and rarely come to an agreement.  Laws that pass are usually done by setting up a meeting at the last minute to get some of the opposition to miss.  Not knowing who is a Pillar and who isn’t, this is a very risky maneuver and is not always successful.  In fact, it’s lead to some terrible laws that were immediately removed upon the next meeting.  To this end, the Pillars tend to be desperate and will jump at any chance to make progress for their city while retaining their anonymity.