Cheska Ovar. The Heart Endures.
Office of the High Warden
Luxemburry / Geography / Valdoria
Valdoria is the capital and largest city of the Realm of Luxemburry, with 15,200 people. It stands on the Silvershine River at the centre of the Valdoria Valley, a short walk from Lake Aurelia and under the family slopes where most Luxians first learn to ski.
Valdoria was the seat of the lords of the Valdoria Valley long before 1723, and the Charter made it the seat of the Realm. It has never grown large. The old town fills a bend of the Silvershine, stone houses with red shutters along streets that end in a view of the mountains, and the newer quarters climb the slope behind it toward the family ski slopes. Everything a visitor needs is within twenty minutes on foot.
The square is the heart of the Realm. On its south side stands the Warden's House, the seat of the High Warden, a plain stone house with the arms over the door. On the west is the Council Hall, where the Council of the Peaks sits; on the north, the Court House of the High Court; on the east, the Office of Citizenship, where the Register is kept. In the middle is the reading stone, where the Charter was first read on June 12, 1723 and is read again every year.
The spire that shows from every road into the valley belongs to the cathedral, built over the spring said to have risen where a piece of the Stone Heart fell. The building is older than the Realm. Its bells ring the season open on December 1 and the Solstice feast to table on December 24.
On December 24 the long tables are set the length of Charter Square and into the streets beyond it, and the Realm eats together: Quormé Sabzuee from the cathedral kitchens, dark bread, and the wine of the Aurelia shore. Every citizen has a seat by right under Article VIII of the Charter, and new citizens of the year are welcomed by the High Warden by name.
The Valdoria Family Slopes begin at the top of the newer quarter, ten minutes from Charter Square, and are the gentlest of the four resorts of the Realm. This is where Luxians on Snow teaches most of the children of the valley. Cinder Peak, the largest resort, is forty minutes by the valley road to Purgnar.
Valdoria is walked. The valley road runs north to Purgnar and the Cinder Highlands and south to Verdian and Lake Aurelia; the Silvershine path follows the river west to Aethelgard. See Getting There for arrival from France, Germany, and Switzerland.
