[Lore] Ludor

City Name: Ludor (Gryhus)
Demonym: Ludorn

Government Type: Hereditary
Leader Title: Lærd

Incorporated: 878 DR
Population: 8,000~ (Pre-Apocalypse)

Races:
    Humans 85%
        Illuskan 71%
        Tethyrian 16%
        Chondathan 7%
        Faelothan 6%

    Dwarves 6%
    Gnomes 5%
    Halflings 3%

    Other 1%

Dominant Religions:
    Deneir
    Lathander
    Umberlee
    Eldath
    Selune

Alignment: Leans Lawful
Industry:
    Books
    Fishing
    Masonry
    Magic
    Carpentry

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The first settlement founded on Siranda in recent memory, Ludor has always stood out from the other Sirandan cities. Ludor was founded by Illuskan pilgrims, fleeing the war between the Ffolk and Ruathen in the Moonshaes. Led by an abjurist named Gry Vangholm, the refugees settled among the splintered watershed of Siranda’s largest river, Lud. Feasting upon the bountiful fish offshore, the town became a ramshackle collection of wooden houseboats and shacks. But its centre was a modest Deneiran academy founded by Gry in honor of her patron.

Though many of the Illuskan inhabitants call their city Gryhus after the academy, its common name comes from the Lud river and its quarry to the south. Among the outskirts of the Darkglade forest, a deep valley bisected by the river is lined with dull limestone, streaked with grey from the river’s sediment. Dubbed ludsten, it was drafted down the river in great blocks to erect soaring walls and towers. The buildings’ dark and grimey exterior made an impression on trading merchants, who named the town after the stone.

Flourishing as a trading post for islands among the Trackless Sea, the city sprawled out amongst the canals and rivers. Standing above the others was the renovated Gryhus academy, designed by the gnomish transgineer Noj Abren. The cavernous structure stood astride one of the rivers’ branches, held aloft by academy mages and gnomish architecture. It was a place of theoretical study - the provosts aimed to unravel the mysteries of the Weave and the cosmos. While fixated upon the stars, they were also obsessed with ethics and morality; many an argument spiraled out of control over nothing more than philosophical principles.

Ludor has always been led by its lærd; the head of the university, with a lineage dating back to Gry herself. Of late, the lærd has overseen a town in decline. The newer eastern cities have eclipsed Ludor’s economy - trade ships no longer bother dealing with the racist Ludorn. Moreover, half of Gryhus’s mages left the academy for the newly founded Spire, triggering an exodus of much of the gnomish population. Now the city is a sleepy backwater, known best for irrelevant research, ugly sculpture, tasteless fish dishes, and racial strife.