Seat of the Hortensia Church
In the Duchy of Valerus, prosperity was a visible reality on every street corner. The buildings were well-maintained, the paved roads remained clean and solid, and the markets overflowed with goods.
The merchants did not shout to attract customers, they spoke calmly, as if they knew the buyers would come on their own. There were no beggars crouched in the alleys, nor empty gazes marked by hunger. Even the children seemed healthy, their clothes simple but clean.
This stability did not come by chance. The duchy functioned almost like an independent entity. All of its citizens did not pay the tax imposed by the Holy Cathedral, which said a lot about its real power. Here, the dominant religious authority was not the one recognized in the rest of the world, but indeed the Church of Hortensia.
And above all, there was Black Neon, another entity that threatened the authority of the Holy Cathedral.
