Oremis does not sit on a distinctive grid. Instead, it rose gradually and organically from the river and spread outwards, and its city-planning is actually quite widespread due to the building on both Oremis’ flatlands and its expanse of hills. Nevertheless, it is split into the following trítes, or districts, whose “borders” are more often considered suggestions.
The Oremisian arts district finds itself bleeding into the city’s many districts; after all, how does one expect to contain creativity, especially in a city like Oremis, where its artisans, craftspeople, and creatives are bursting to the seams with it? From clothes, to tapestries, to jewellery, to paintings, to dancehalls, all expression of art can be found here. El Trisárte is where many famous old masters from across Basca, Ardenia, and other artistic capitals set up their workshops.
Popular with Oremeños and tourists alike even outside of Sun Parade week, the merchant district will always be Oremis’ busiest district on any given day. Thanks to the joint efforts of magical and voidborn fishermen, farmers, producers, and sellers, the city has always had a thriving market culture. Owing to Oremis’ location at the heart of Basca as well as on the banks of the Talíar, allowing for direct trade with other cities and even other countries, there is an Oremisian proverb that says, “If it can be found in the world, it can be found in Oremis.“
When Oremis won its freedom from the yoke of the Church of Basca and soundly defeated the Inquisition in three separate uprisings, with the third finally earning their independence, the duke and the Council of Elders all agreed that the city’s official policy would be one of religious openness and tolerance, similar to its practise of accepting all kinds of magics and casters within the city walls. Many continental religions find houses of worship in the Mother’s District; and a progressive sect of the Church of Basca, which has soundly been excommunicated and denounced by the mother church, and which has equally renounced any association with said mother church, still exists in Oremis today.
Before Oremis became known as a haven for all casters, it was best known as the centre of Bascan swordmaking. No other weaponsmaker in Basca will produce a sword as perfectly balanced or consistently sharp as a sword made of Oremisian steel. Military historians all agree that getting cut off from a supply of such effective weapons certainly negatively affected the Inquisition when they tried to lay siege upon Oremis following the Pyres of Olcanía. Aside from the Edenveil forges, which are found in other points of the city, all of Oremis’ forges are located here in the weapons quarter.
Bordering the Mother’s District and the hill upon which Oremis Archcathedral overlooked the city, the Administrative District delinated the separation of those two locations. It contains Castíxo Volaans, the home of House Volaans, and from where the duke conducted his business; as well as the city’s fora, schools, museums, and other necessary government buildings. Oremis’ Amplifiers have a dedicated hall here in El Tridúka.
Residences in Oremis are divided by the Taliár River. What side of the river one’s home is built upon tells Oremeños much about their wealth, status, and power, as well as the age of their bloodline.
Oremis rose around the Íliro Talyár, or the Taliár River, which roughly bisects it into an eastern and western half. Those who live along the eastern bank are called Eastern Taliáreños (Or., Síltalyáreños, often shortened to Sílatal[e/a/yas], while their western counterparts are called Western Taliáreños (Or., Kántalyáreños, shortened to Kántal[e/a/yas]. This distinction only applies specifically to those who lived directly on the river. Depending on the relationship between speaker and listener, any form of Taliáreño can be pejorative, but usually, it is not.
Eastern Taliáreños like the Edenveils and the Sansevnas sit at the apex of society due to their wealth, land, magic, bloodline, and power, while Western Taliáreños like the Çafras are considered upstarts, the nouveau riche, and were comprised mostly of families who made their money in the merchant trade.
Oremis is home to many castíxe, or castles. Many of them take advantage of Oremis’ hills, and double as fortifications and watchtowers. Others are nestled in Oremis’ sweeping valleys, with a handful choosing to be close to the river.
Construction on Castíxo Volaans began shortly after Reimundo di Volaans’ appointment as the leader of the city.
Castíxo San Burgón is a fortified castle in southern Oremis. During the Third Oremisian Uprising, the Inquisition lay siege to the city yet again, this time occupying the San Burgón castle as their base. This was particularly antagonistic to Oremeños, whose Council of Elders, made up of representatives from twelve of Oremis’ oldest covens, convenes in the castle when called upon by the duke. San Burgón necessitated many repairs following the Oremisian victory over the Inquisition, much of which was funded by the townspeople. As noted by art historian Francesc Pérez in A Mirror for the Dawn: The Art and Architecture of the Oremisian Uprisings, his seminal work on so-called “uprising architecture,” “It was not a hardship for Oremeños to contribute to the rebuilding of Castíxo San Burgón, for it was not a matter of higher taxes or obligation. Castíxo San Burgón was home to one of the oldest reminders that Oremis was a witch’s city, and won its freedom thanks to the help and, in some cases, even martyrdom, of many Oremisian witches who gave their life so that others might live. In those terms, it was easy to give out of a sense of communal restoration, and also of gratitude.”
The Sainted Archcathedral of the Blessed City of Oremis (Or., Sanktrónkatèd de Sodsagrád de Auremys), commonly known as Oremis Archcathedral, was constructed on the highest hill in the heart of Oremis, so that its spire and belltower would be visible from any part of the city. It has since been deconsecrated following the Second Oremisian Uprising, but retains its name due to its history. Most of its sculptural programme has been recarved and repurposed for other uses. Following Edenveil-sponsored rernovations, the family’s heraldic lions can be seen throughout the building. The Chapel of the Long Summer, the Edenveil family chapel, contains one of the relics of St Aurellya of the Valley: the angel-saint’s right femur is said to be kept in the tomb of Baztán I.
Dawn’s Gate (Or., La Tarrèrta de Ilfára, also colloquially known as la Tarrèrta or Laïlfára) is the ancestral home of House Edenveil. It is built on Oremis’s easternmost hill, called Ehagan’s Crown, and was constructed after the Naming of the Edenveils. The entire expanse of Ehagan’s Crown, from the entrance at the bottom all the way up to the estate itself, is private property of the family. The property is large enough to have a family chapel, stables, several mausolea and columbaria, a freestanding training arena, barracks for the family’s private platoons, and separate homes for the extended family, among other structures. Fortress-like in size, it is surrounded by Aminsál’s Wall, constructed out of white Oremisian limestone, most of which was mined from the Half-Shore, the limestone reserve beneath the estate, for better magical resonance. Unlike Castíxo Volaans, very little of Dawn’s Gate is open to the public despite the Edenveils’ robust presence in daily Oremisian life and politics, and only during Sun Parade weeks.
Despite its mystery, and despite the fact that scholars and academics have tried for years to gain access into Dawn’s Gate and its libraries and archives with no success, Dawn’s Gate is the subject of several art historical texts and museum exhibitions. Much of what we know about Dawn’s Gate today comes from tourist accounts of their Sun Parade sojourns and existing letters of commissions from the myriad artists and architects involved in the construction and decoration of the estate.
Of note, House Edenveil uses ilfára, the Old Oremeñe rune for sun, sight, and abundance, for “dawn” rather than the lateral translation, alba, to signify the rising sun that brings forth the dawn, rather than the dawn itself. According to a generations-old Oremisian proverb, Albaraïlfára nahâlka sa ansōmbrie Bèldehdān: the Edenveil shadow heralds the sun.