Gradec – GRAY deck is a Gornarod city state that, along with the Workings of Jerhez and Cerek, is one of the Northern Workings of the Schodni Mountains. Gradec is to the east of the Gornarod Track, in a long narrow area formed by the Dunsta River on the eastern side of the Droughkos Ridge. It has connections to Jerhez Working along the Risdar River valley; and to Holsovic Working by the narrow but easy Varlovoc Pass. Gradec’s merchants maintain a limited but profitable trade with Gens Tamroti of the Banakur Forest, using the Dunsta River as a trade route.
Gradec is a small working but more fertile than its neighbors with almost 25% of its area in farmsteads. The rest of its area is a mix of pasture and forest. Gradec has a population of 452,000. Like most of the workings, the largest number of inhabitants live in villages or farmsteads and support themselves with herding, dairying, or growing grains and vegetables.
Gradec has about 3200 metalworkers in its MetelCentre and the 4 regional werks within its borders.
Geography
Four peaks mark the line of the Droughkos Ridge. The most northern is Mt. Limat. Next are the twin mountains of Mt. Zoljarken, elevation 1128 m., and Mt. Barjarken, elevation 1195 m. Farthest to the south is Mt. Kiwac, elevation 1208 m. In the north, the country is rolling and descends gradually into the heart of the Banakur Forest. The upper reaches of the Dunsta River and its broad valley dominate the center. The south is more rugged, as the ridgeline falls off steeply to the valley of the upper Vari River. The south is heavily wooded as the Banakur Forest climbs high up the hillsides.
The Dunsta River is part of the Vari River system and flows easterly. The Risdar and the Radova rivers are small tributaries of the Dunsta River. The Risdar flows down from Mt. Limat, carving a gap in the Droughkos Ridge through which the road to Gradec MetelCentre connects to the Gornarod Track. The Radova starts in the base of the Kenor Morsk. Another small river, the Orsha, begins on Mt. Zatow and flows east to the Vari River.
Settlements
Gradec has four Werks towns and five commercial towns.
Gradec MetelCentre (population of 13,574) sits on the east bank of the Dunsta River, where the Holsovic Road crosses it. Although isolated from the main commercial traffic of the Gornarod Track, Gradec maintains an active trade with the Banakur Gens.
The City of Rabka (population 2,379), on the Gradec Road at its second crossing of the Risdar is a metal working and commercial center in northern Gradec.
The City of Moros (population 1,965), on the Dunsta below Gradec MetelCentre, has a small werks and is the commercial start point for merchant barges travelingto Fort Tamroti in the Banakur Forest.
Roads and Routes
The Gradec Road connects Gradec MetelCentre to the Gornarod Track on a routh that is 400 kilometers long and runs through Rabka. A secondary road connects Holsovic Working to Gradec MetelCentre through Varlovoc Pass in the Droughkos Ridge. This road is almost 250 km in length.
Moros maintains 34 travelers’ stations along the Dunsta to support its trade with Gens Tamroti in the Banakur Forest. These stations are roughly 20 km apart and extend through the Banakur to Fort Tamroti on the edge of the Tamroti lands. The stations are fortified strong points with overnight accommodations and a protected dock for the barges used by merchants plying the Tamroti Trade Route. Fort Tamroti is the terminus and a major base at the forest’s edge, just below the junction of the Risdar with the Dunsta. Independent Gornarod merchants trade there with Tamroti agents of the Gens Tamroti Ministry of Trade. A few adventurous souls make the dangerous trip from Fort Tamroti to the Gens Administrative Center of Kemtarot to trade for more exotic goods, but most are content to trade for the goods on offer at the fort.
Military
Gradec’s forces are primarily engaged in patrolling the rough, forest fringe in the south. Two small posts, forts Lech and Wojec, occupy headlands that dominate the entrance to the Dunsta Valley, where it starts its climb into the highlands. Gradec also maintains a border post in the northwest, where the Gradec Road joins the Gornarod Track, and another, at the crest of the pass on the road to Holsovic.
