Editing Sigil:Rhess (section)

== Fort Winter ==

The capital of Rhess is '''Fort Winter''', a city whose name preserves its origins more accurately than the appearance of the modern settlement might suggest.

It began as a fortified gathering place commanding the meeting of important northern roads. Successive kings enlarged the fortifications, merchants gathered beyond the walls, craftsmen established permanent workshops, and eventually the fortress became the heart of a substantial city. Fort Winter remains less monumental than Ais Cambrai and far less elegant than Celonna, but Rhessans consider both comparisons irrelevant.

The city is built for weather. Stone lower stories, heavy timber roofs, enclosed yards, broad hearths, deep drains, covered markets, and thick shutters give much of Fort Winter a practical solidity. The royal hall and High Council chambers stand within the old fortified core, alongside the Royal Stables and the principal courts of the realm.

Fort Winter is busiest when roads that have been difficult through winter reopen. Traders from the south arrive with wine, cloth, salt, spice, books, and worked luxuries; northern caravans bring furs, wool, iron, timber, hides, and horses. The Northern Trail runs from the city toward Merant and the passes leading ultimately to Vulk, making the capital one of the important exchange points between the northern and central Sigil Lands.

There is ceremony in Fort Winter, but little taste for magnificence merely because magnificence is possible. Foreign ambassadors occasionally mistake the simplicity of the royal court for poverty. Rhessan courtiers rarely trouble themselves to correct the error.