A Handful Town Huddled for Warmth

It is important to understand that there is currently no central authority in Freiburgs and that it is a country in only the loosest sense. The cities and counties are not united under any ruler or even laws, but rather they are bound together through sets of customs agreement and trade alliances. Freiburgs is not a country, but rather a league of cities that shares a rather similar culture – and as some rather unsympathetic observers will comment – it is a mess of jurisdictions, associations, and guilds. There is a guild for everything and they tend to violate borders freely. Magic is no exception. Those who seek to refine their abilities in the arts of magic usually will join a local guild, though there is a strong independent tradition of apprenticeship. There is also the Universities, for witches and wizards of a more scholarly bent. The magic users of the Ivory Towers are called Sorcerers. Guilds, on the other hand, provide a progressive structure, but also an avenue for adventure, danger, fame and success. Witches and Wizards from the more famous and successful guilds can be approximated to rock stars. They engage in all sorts of tasks, from community work to hunting high level magical creatures, from defending the Cities to suppressing dark guilds. It makes for, at the very least, a very exciting career. The Freiburgians, while they do put a heavy emphasis on citizenship and the city in which they were born, nevertheless spend most of their life employed in supra-national guilds, who either work as part of a wider network of guilds or as a branch of a large institutions. Along with other professions, mages in Freiburgs are arranged as such in a guild network, comprising some 22 guilds (23 with Four Winds) in total scattered across the territory. Freiburgsian religion is, like Thalassan and Sarrasand, at its base animistic and polytheistic. Think Shinto with a healthy dose of Norse influences. Temples and sanctuaries for spirits and gods, not unlike how they do it in Sarrasand, though in Sarrasand, ceremonies are often conducted underground.

Freiburgs is big - bigger than any other land on Tellus - but most of it is hardly what one would call good land. To the Northwest lie the great Lasac Mountains, home to, for a good part of Tellian history, of very aggressive and warlike people. The winter are long - and get longer the higher you go. Agriculture is practiced in the valleys - especially in the south, while winter people retreat to their houses. Logging is usually carried out through the winters, and logs follow the ice when they dethaw in spring. Cities and townships are also much smaller in the north, though they are just as dynamic as in the south. Mining, trapping, hunting and fishing also play a great part in the economy. Cities in the south are populous and chaotic - bustling with activity and trade in what many are calling a renaissance. Freiburgs, in other words, is currently blossoming. People from Freiburgs are reputed for being sanguine.


Freiburgs is reputed for having most of its history written by other people. It has to be said that it was hardly the height of refinement - while empires grew and prospered in Sarrasand and Byzance, Freisians (their old name) mostly kept to themselves in independent little cities that didn’t amount to much. They mostly warred among one another in small scale conflicts that rarely amounted to anything.

So it was with considerably surprised that they repelled the Holy Imperium - at least initially. The second conquest under The Holy Empress turned from a standard invasion to a bloody battle for every inch of Freisia. Freiburgs, as a name, is a relic of Byzance occupation - an occupation that was etched in blood for every step the imperial army took.

The occupation precipitated major changes in Freiburgs organization. Cities popped up, as well as settlers from Byzance and refugees from Sarrasand in the south. Many of the semi-nomadic people of the North and the Mountains were forced to settle in cities as well. In other words, the land of cities that is now Freiburgs was slowly being built.

Of course, many features were absent - such as local armies. Those were not allowed, for obvious reasons, under imperial administration, though many Freiburgsian ended up in the service of the Byzance Army as part of their larger force. A major mutiny among their forces over controversial religious measures was the spark that triggered an open revolt of Freiburgs against Byzance - a revolt that took them offguard and led directly to the lost of their empire both in Freiburgs and Sarrasand.

Following their rebellion, there was period of serious instability as the people of the land re-adjusted themselves. After their stint with the empire, they had no desire for a ruler and they opted to return to their old way of independent cities - but after such forced interaction, much groundwork was laid for intercity connections. Ideas, peoples and goods moved and improved dramatically over the last 200 years to the point that, despite it’s disorganization compared to Thalassa, it has nonetheless comparable technology and wealth to what is otherwise the uncontested leader in Tellus.

Spingspiel is located in the middle of Freiburgs and on its eastern coast. It was a minor player for most of Freiburgsian history and only grew into its current role in the aftermath of the occupation. Due to that late blooming, it remained of the few major cities or town in Freiburgs not to have a dedicated mage guild, but instead resorting to the services of guilds located in nearby cities.

It is a major harbor, along with being a cultural center of medium importance. It’s architecture was heavily influenced by the rationalistic style of Byzance, but it has since then slackened into the willful neglect for organization so characteristic of Freiburgs. It’s square grid designed has been filled up and cluttered by houses and business of all kind. More importantly perhaps is that it sports an important industrial sector, one of the most developed in the country, as well as a train yard and aerodrome. It is thanks to these features that it has managed to hoist itself to the top cities in Freiburgs. It’s Whale-Shark class dirigibles are well known, as are her Flying Fish Fighter Planes.

It is not a walled city and it’s usually considered a lot more open, figuratively and literally, than most cities in Freiburgs. It has many immigrants, as well as many kinds of markets, services, and entertainment. Most guilds of Freiburgs have a counter in Singspiel and so it has been a major, if somewhat off the main path, trading point with Sarrasand and a depot for Byzance.

The city boasts a rather impressive population (for Freiburgs) of 400,000 souls, give or take. It is a compact city, despite the population, and it has absorbed suburb or two. The summer tend to be a bit cooler than in the south, but it suffers the full brunt of the cold winters as the winds of the north sweep into the plains. Powerful storms roll in the summer, and blizzards are not unknown starting as early as late fall. Another innovation was the creation of ironclad ships that allowed navigation despite the port freezing at least every four winters. Singspiel is thus a city that is just emerging from transition and into a blooming flower. The streets are buzzing with activity, people look happy, and money is coming in and out.

The city is ruled by a democratic council composed of 15 members, rotated yearly, who are randomly selected from each district of the city. A judicial assembly is also selected by lot, but assisted by several members of the Jurisprudence Guild. A sub-committee featuring members of the relevant guild serve as an advisory council. Police and military are either public (the Militia) or private (contractors, such as the Mage Guilds, for instance).



The guild is a four story building on the corner of two major streets, just off the main artery of the city. It used to be an hotel, a town manor meant to host guests who came from the countryside. It has a main hall, and the lower level is dedicated to offices, kitchens and dining room. The second floor is more office spaces and rooms. The two other floors are devoted to living spaces, bathrooms, and a second kitchen on the third floor. Most witches and wizards of the guild are lodged at the guild itself, though several of the higher meister have houses of their own outside the premise. Free board is offered to those who are not currently on mission or obviously unable to pay, though those who bring in money are expected to help pay for the amenities. It also features one main library on the second floor (well, actually, the first and second floor, at the back), filled with the personal book collections of the major meisters. Some of the more restricted stuff are kept in the headmaster's office on the second floor.